Parshas Shelach

In G-d We Trust!

“All the People cried that night” (Bamidbar 14:1)

Sam was very excited. He was going to Great Adventures amusement park for the very first time. He was also going to the Safari, where you can drive your car through a jungle, where the animals roam free, without cages. The Safari was very exciting as all sorts of animals literally came right up to Sam’s car. Suddenly, three lions ran up to the car and gave the loudest roars Sam had ever heard. He was petrified and almost lost control of his car. When he realized that the lions couldn’t hurt him while he was safely in his car, his heartbeat slowed, and he felt calm.

Sam had a similar response when he visited the Land of the Giants. It was a terrifying experience as he felt like an ant compared to the giants. When Sam’s family heard about his experiences, they totally understood his fear.

In this week’s parsha, The Jewish People also felt fear. The spies that were sent to scout-out the Land of Israel returned with a terrifying report. They said that the people were very tall. In addition, there also were giants roaming the land. The spies heard the giants describe them as ants- that’s how tiny they were compared to the giants. The fruit of the land was also unusual. At one point, the spies entered a cave. Imagine their fear when they realized that the “cave” was really a discarded pomegranate shell. The enormity of the fruit was also disconcerting to the spies. In addition to all that, the spies saw that death was rampant – they witnessed many funerals, as a result.

When the spies reported their findings, all the Jews cried in fear. They were terrified what would happen to them and their children if they would attempt to enter Eretz Yisroel.

Seemingly, the Jews were justified in feeling fear. The Jewish People’s response seemed totally normal – they cried due to their terror.

Yet, the Midrash says that Hashem viewed their crying as “for nothing”. “Tonight, they cried for nothing. I will cause them to cry for generations.”

That night, the 9^th of Av was designated as a night of sadness (Many sad things have occurred on that night in history, including the destruction of the Temple).

Why didn’t Hashem justify their fear? Why were they punished for it?

To understand this, we must remember what the Jewish People had just experienced first- hand. They saw how Hashem changed nature in bringing the 10 plagues upon the Egyptians. Hashem took them out of Egypt and split the Red Sea for them, as the walls of water divided and rose miles, up towards the sky. There were 100 different miracles at the sea, including the sea splitting into 12 different see-through tunnels, walking on marble instead of mud and getting fresh water or fresh fruit from the walls of sea water. When in the desert, 3 million people and their numerous animals got water from the miraculous well and received miraculous food daily-the mun.

The Jews should have had the highest level of bitachon, trust in Hashem. They should have felt that there was nothing Hashem couldn’t do. They shouldn’t have felt any fear at all. Feeling fear showed a lack of faith in Hashem, on some level.

We say in our Havdalah after Shabbos, “Hashem is my salvation, I shall trust and not fear…. Hashem was a salvation for me”. When we have trust in Hashem and when we look back at His past “track-record” of how he saved us in the past, then there is no need to feel fear, at all.

When we find ourselves in difficult life-situations, we must remember:

1) Hashem loves us more than a parent loves a child
2) Hashem is All-Powerful and can do anything for us
3) Hashem has a track record of helping us in the past

Parshas Beha’aloscha

Here Comes the Judge

“Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe, regarding his wife…They said, Did Hashem only speak to Moshe? Didn’t Hashem speak to us as well?” (Bamidbar 12:1-2)

Moshe was looking for a good photographer for an upcoming simcha. He asked his friend Shmuel, “Do you have a good photographer to recommend?” “Sorry but I don’t”. Moshe suggested, “What about Chaim Klein?” “Don’t even think of him” replied Shmuel. “He isn’t reliable. I heard that he came late to the Schwartz wedding and missed most of the chuppah”. Shmuel thought to himself, “That doesn’t sound like Chaim Klein. I know that he is a responsible person”. Moshe looked-into the matter and found out what really happened. The photographer that the Schwartz’s hired never showed-up. Panic-stricken, they quickly called Chaim Klein and asked him to do them a favor. He said, “I will come as soon as I can”.

It was “very obvious” to the onlookers at the wedding that Chaim Klein was very irresponsible. They couldn’t believe that the photographer came so late. To those who knew the true story, Chaim Klein saved the day by rushing to the wedding.

We are not permitted to jump to conclusions. That causes strife and ill-will. We have a mitzvah to judge others favorably. The guests at the wedding should have judged Chaim Klein favorably.

If an action is done by the average person who sometimes sins, we must judge him favorably only if it is 50%-50% if his action was correct or improper (although it is meritorious to still judge him favorably). If it is more likely that his action was proper, we are obligated to judge him favorably. If we don’t, and subsequently speak badly about him, that is considered as if we spoke loshon hara. If a G-D fearing person does an action, we are obligated to judge him favorably, even if appears strongly that he did the wrong thing.

Miriam heard Tziporah (Moshe’s wife) remark offhandedly that Moshe stopped having marital relations with her because he had to be ritually pure before speaking to Hashem. Miriam felt Moshe’s actions were not appropriate. She and Aharon were also prophets yet they did not have to abstain from marital relations with their spouses. Miriam discussed the matter with Aharon. Miriam was punished for that by contracting leprosy.

The Chofetz Chaim zt”l explains what Miriam did wrong. Had Moshe truly acted improperly, Miriam would have been correct in zealously trying to correct the situation (however, to properly give reproof, she should have spoken to Moshe directly). That would not have been considered loshon hara (speaking negatively). Miriam’s mistake was that she did not judge Moshe favorably and then spoke about it to Aharon. Moshe was a G-d-fearing person and even though it really seemed that he did the wrong thing, Miriam was obligated to judge him favorably, (Miriam was not aware that Moshe was following Hashem’s instructions). Since she didn’t, it was considered as if she had spoken loshon hara.

The Gold’s were too poor to make a wedding and purchase items for their soon-to-be-married daughter. Their neighbors raised money to help them make the wedding. When the neighbors arrived and saw such a lavish affair, they were deeply offended and felt resentful. They felt that a poor family should not have used their tzedakah money in such a manner.

Did the neighbors act properly in feeling the way they did? After all, didn’t the Gold’s take advantage of them? Would they have been obligated to judge the Gold’s favorably in such a situation?

Had they known the true story, they would have felt differently. When the caterer realized that Mr. Gold’s father saved his life from the Nazi’s, he offered to make the wedding himself. The Gold’s, themselves, were shocked when they saw how lavish the affair was.

How often do we unfairly judge others in an unfavorable light? Won’t there be less strife and more happiness when we think of acceptable, albeit far-fetched, explanations of actions that our friends did? Often, these explanations are the reality of what actually happened. Our rabbis tell us, if we judge others favorably, Hashem will also judge us favorably. That is something that we all want!

Don’t be so quick to judge. Often, truth is stranger than fiction.

Parshas Naso

How Valuable is it?

“The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nachshon son of Aminadav of the tribe of Yehuda. And his offering was…” (Bamidbar 7:12-83)

At the dedication of the Mishkan, all 12 nesiim offered korbanos to Hashem. All the korbanos were identical; three vessels of a specific weight, containing flour, oil, or incense and 21 different animals. There are 72 psukim in the Torah – repeating over and over the exact details of each identical korban from all of the nesiim.

Rabbeinu Bechaya questions this oddity. The Torah is always careful to be very brief- Why did Hashem include in the Torah, so many psukim? It could have been written once and indicated that this is the same korban that all of the nesiim bought?

The Midrash explains that the “intent” of each nasi was different. Each tribe had a tradition from our forefather Yaakov what their specific destiny was. At this auspicious time, at the dedication of the mIshkan, when bringing the korbanos, each nasi had in mind the destiny of their tribe. Since each intent was different, each korban was, in reality, different. Thus, the Torah listed each one separately.

Two people can say the exact same bracha or do the same mitzvah, yet qualitatively their actions can be miles apart because their intentions are different. The value of each mitzvah is determined by the act of the mitzvah, the way it is done (quickly, happily, etc.) and by the intent.

1) Let’s do our mitzvos with the highest quality, by elevating our intent, acting purely to serve Hashem.

If we can’t elevate our intent and even if our intent is self-centered, it is still important and still productive to do a mitzvah. On the way to the Land of Israel, the Jews had to battle two very powerful kings, who were also giants. Moshe had no problem with the first battle against the mighty Sichon. Before battling the next king, Og, Moshe felt a sense of fear. What was the basis of Moshes’s fear? He knew that Og had performed a good deed and was concerned that this good dead may protect Og and make it difficult or impossible to defeat him. What was that good deed? Og was kind enough to tell our forefather Avraham that his nephew Lot was captured. This information enabled Avraham to mount a rescue mission to save Lot – which he did. It was this good deed that Moshe feared. How could Moshe possibly have been afraid of this deed? Og’s intention when he performed this good deed was not very nice. Rashi tells us that he hoped Avrohom would die while trying to rescue Lot. Then Og would marry Avrohom’s wife, Sarah, himself. What an evil intent! Yet the deed was still credited. Moshe feared that the reward for this deed would protect Og, until Hashem told him not to be concerned.

2) Doing a mitzvah, even without pure intentions, still has some value.

As he was about to die, the great tzadik Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai started crying. He explained his emotions, by showing his students his tzitzis and saying that this easy mitzvah costs pennies to do, yet after death, one can no longer do it.

We are born to develop a close relationship with our Creator. The way to do that is by learning Torah and performing mitzvos (between us and Hashem and to between us and our fellow man). We must grab every single mitzvah we can, while we still can. Every single mitzvah we do is precious.

Parshas Bamidbar

Stand Up and Be Counted!

“The entire assembly were gathered together…and they established their genealogy according to their families, according to their fathers’ household, by number of the names, from 20 years of age and up…” (Bamidbar 1:18)

Hashem commanded Moshe to take a census of the Jewish People by “counting the number of the names.” The pasuk should have only said “counting the number” – the word of the names, appears to be extra. The Ramban (on pasuk 45) explains what Hashem meant by “counting the number of the names.” Hashem was commanding Moshe to count every Jew with honor. It wouldn’t be good enough for Moshe to pass each house and ask the head of the house for a total number of occupants in the house. Moshe was required to count each Jew personally and individually.

The Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, HaRav A. Henach Leibowitz zt”l questioned this and derived a very important lesson for all of us:

The purpose of a census is to determine a total number of people. The most efficient way of accomplishing this is to ask each head-of- household how many are in his family. It would be very time-consuming, tiring, and inefficient to count every person individually – especially since there were three million Jews! Yet that is exactly what Hashem required Moshe to do. Why?

Hashem was teaching Moshe and the Jewish People the importance, value, and uniqueness of every individual. Every person is an important person and not just a number. Everyone must be treated with honor and respect. We must learn from Hashem’s example to show love and concern for each person.

We often deal with groups of people- co-workers, family members, students in a class, or people in our communities. We must remember that each group is made-up of individual people, each of whom deserves our personal attention. Every individual is worthy of having the entire World exist for his/her sake (Talmud: Sanhedrin 37A). When we spend a few moments speaking with each person, or even just smiling and saying good morning, we make people feel good. We can even uplift a sad or discouraged person and help him through his day.

A Jewish lawyer who lived in Germany benefited from following this lesson. He regularly noticed and paid attention to an individual – the elevator operator of his office building. This lawyer was the only person to be friendly, show concern, and offer advice to this solitary, “unimportant” person. When the Nazis stormed the office building, looking for Jews, it was this elevator operator who saved the life of this Jew who had made him feel like a valued person.

Every individual counts! We should treat every person with courtesy and respect.