Parshas V’eschanan

Loving Hashem Means Loving His Children and Getting Involved!

“And you shall love Hashem, your G-D with all your heart…” (Devarim 6:5)

Sholom lost his job. When his friend, Menashe, heard about it, he arranged for food to be delivered to Sholom. Then Menashe helped Sholom find another job. When Sholom’s car would not start, Menashe gave his car a boost. When Sholom had to go to the hospital, Menashe arranged childcare for Sholom’s family. Menashe cared so much for Sholom and took care of him. Sholom truly loved Menashe. At every opportunity, Sholom would tell others how special Menashe was.

The Chofetz Chaim zt”l says that it is a positive mitzvah to love Hashem with all your heart, soul, and resources. The Rambam says that this mitzvah comprises bringing others closer to Hashem; to serve Hashem and to believe in Hashem.  The Chofetz Chaim continues that, when you love someone, you praise him and encourage others to love him as well. This what our forefather Avraham did. Avraham loved Hashem and spent his life trying to bring others to an awareness and love of Hashem.

The Talmud (Gittin 55B) quotes a famous story. There was a wealthy man who lived at the time of the Second Temple. The Talmud does not tell us his name. This man had a close friend, Kamtza, and a bitter enemy named Bar Kamtza. He was having a party and instructed his servant to deliver an invitation to his good friend Kamtza. The servant mistakenly delivered the invitation to Bar Kamtza. Bar Kamtza assumed that he was purposely invited in an attempt at reconciliation (see the Maharsha). Thus, he went to the party. When the host saw Bar Kamtza, he flew into a rage and wanted to know why he had the audacity to come to his party, as they were hated enemies of one another. Bar Kamtza explained that the host’s servant had mistakenly invited him. The host did not care and ordered Bar Kamtza to leave immediately. Bar Kamtza, seeking to avoid humiliation, offered to pay for whatever he would eat at the party. When this offer was refused, he offered to pay for half of the party. When this was refused, Bar Kamtza offered to pay for the entire party! The host angrily turned this down as well, physically grabbed Bar Kamtza, and threw him out!

As the story continues, Bar Kamtza became very upset that the rabbis who were present did not intervene when he was humiliated. (The Maharsha gives two reasons explaining the rabbi’s inactions). Bar Kamtza responded by visiting the Roman Caeser and falsely accusing the Jews of rebelling against Rome. That led to a chain of events which ended with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, along with the destruction of the Temple.

The Talmud blames the destruction of Jerusalem on the actions of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. Bar Kamtza was the person who falsely informed on the Jews. Rabbi Yaakov Reischer zt”l,  in his commentary Iyun Yaakov, asks, what did Kamtza do!? Why was his name included as a villain? Furthermore, the party’s host was quite nasty.  Why wasn’t his name recorded, together with Bar Kamtza, as the ones who caused the destruction?

During this era, the Jews learned Torah and performed mitzvos. Unfortunately, they had sinas chinum. They felt unwarranted hatred to one-another. There was too much divisiveness. That hatred caused the destruction of the Temple.

Chacham Yosef Chaim Ben Yehoyada zt”l, known as the Ben Ish Chai, answers the Iyun Yaakov’s question. Rashi explains that Kamtza and Bar Kamtza were two people who were not related. The Talmud says that Kamtza was a “beloved friend” of the host of this party. As such, when he observed Bar Kamtza being publicly humiliated, he should have said something to his friend. He could have explained that this was an honest mistake. He could have said that Bar Kamtza only came because he thought that the host invited him to make peace (see Maharsha), so maybe the host should accept that offer of peace. Or perhaps he could have told the host that he was 100% correct but that he should not embarrass Bar Kamtza publicly. The point is that he was able to prevent this outrage, yet he did nothing! According to the Maharsha, Kamtza and Bar Kamtza were father and son. If so, Kamtza must have known the hatred that this host had for his son. Even before this party, he was obligated to try to end the strife and promote peace. Had he done so, then Bar Kamtza would not have been humiliated at the party and the catastrophic, ensuing events would not have occurred. Therefore, Kamtza was culpable and the devastating episode is also called in his name.

We often find ourselves in a position where we can be a peacemaker or help guide others to do the right thing. If we shirk our opportunity/responsibility, then we, too, are accountable for what happens. When we actively work at creating peace and bridging happiness, we are showing how much we love Hashem and His children.

Parshas Devarim

You Lose Some, You Win All!

“So I took the heads of your tribes, distinguished men who were wise and well-known, and I appointed them as heads over you: leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.” (Devarim 1:15)

Yitzchak was a shochet in a small town in Europe in the 1800’s. Once he questioned if the cow that he had slaughtered was kosher or treif. He asked the Rav of the town who told him that it was treif. Even though it was a large financial loss, Yitzchak accepted the ruling calmly. Sometime later, Yitzchak had a financial dispute with Yosef, another resident of the town. The dispute did not involve a large sum of money, but they did not resolve the dispute on their own. They went to the Rav who convened a bais din (a Jewish court of law). After they ruled against Yitzchak, he became furious, lost control, and screamed at the Rav. Even though the sum of money in question was relatively small, the idea of losing to someone else was too much for Yitzchak to bear.

When the Jews camped in the desert, after leaving Egypt, they were told to pitch their tents together with members of their own tribe. Shlomis was the only Jewish woman who had been violated by an Egyptian man. A dispute arose when her son wanted to pitch his tent with the tribe of Dan, the tribe of his mother. Another member of the tribe of Dan said that he was not permitted to camp there because his father was not from Dan. Instead of trying to work things out, the Jew from the tribe of Dan was quick to say that they had to go to Beis Din to settle the dispute. Beis Din ruled against Shlomis’ son. He responded by cursing, using Hashem’s holy name (for which he was punished).

The Da’as Zekanim (Shmos 24:11) brings a story from the Talmud (Pesachim 4A) about a person who, whenever he disagreed with someone, immediately suggested that he and his adversary bring the matter to court.  Rashi explains that for any monetary disagreement this person had, he would immediately say, “Let’s go to court”.

Eventually, people who knew him concluded that he must have descended from the tribe of Dan.  Our forefather Yaakov blessed the tribe of Dan, “Dan will judge his people …” (Braishis 49:16). The tribe of Dan had the tendency to take all their arguments to court and not listen to their peers.

Rav Henach Leibowitz zt”l says that this trait of Dan was a positive one.  Yaakov gave this blessing, having Shimshon (Samson) in mind. Shimshon came from the tribe of Dan. Yaakov’s blessing was that Shimshon would have strong convictions, uphold the truth, and be able to fight to the very end.  However, as with any trait, it can be used in a good way or in a bad way. One would think that it is good to have a desire for justice and to constantly want to go to Bais Din to follow their judgements. In reality, rushing to do this all the time is bad. Instead, a person should first try to settle his differences out of court. He should try to avoid arguments by respecting an opposing opinion and trying to work-out a compromise.

In this week’s parsha, Moshe repeated the guidelines used for instituting their judicial system. Moshe had changed the system at the suggestion of his father-in-law, Yisro. The Netziv, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin zt”l quotes the Talmud (Sanhedrin 6B) that Moshe ruled court cases with strict justice, according to the law. As soon as Moshe heard both sides of the argument, he knew immediately who was in the right, and ruled accordingly. Yisro had suggested establishing a comprehensive court system, with many judges. The judges would often need time to analyze both sides before rendering their decision. That would allow time for compromise, to end the dispute. Yisro’s main intention was to establish a justice system based on the idea of compromise, enabling it to become a judgement of peace (See the commentary Harchev Davar on the pasuk, Shmos 18:23). Without compromise, the one who loses will often feel embittered towards the winner and towards the judges. Yisro’s system promoted peace since no one loses. Each side would feel that although he did not win, he also did not lose.

Rav Avrohom Pam zt”l (quoted in Rav Pam on Chumash by Rabbi Sholom Smith) quotes the Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 12:2) that the Beis Din should always try to settle a case by negotiating a compromise. The Sma says that “The pursuit of peace is so important that it justifies a monetary concession”. The Shulchan Aruch prohibits a person to bypass the Jewish Beis Din in favor of a secular court, unless authorized by the Beis Din. Rav Pam zt”l  quotes Rabbi Akiva Eiger zt”l who rules that it is considered stolen property if a person is awarded money by a secular court which would not have been awarded him by the Beis Din. In fact, if one uses that money to betroth a woman, the marriage would be considered invalid!

The Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred. Anything that we can do to minimize ill-feelings can make us feel happier and can also be the catalyst for the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdash. When we have disagreements with others, be it friends, spouses, or business associates, we should try to compromise. By not “winning” the argument, we will be the true winners!

Parshas Ha’azinu

All Of Us Belong to This Club

[And Hashem said to Moshe…] “You shall die in the mountain that you are about to ascend…” (Devarim 32:50)

Shmuel & Chana owned a small food store. The store was filling with customers and Chana could not handle them all. Shmuel had gone to shul a few hours before and was not back yet. Some of the customers were already waiting in line for half an hour. Chana explained to one customer that Shmuel used to be in the store from early in the morning until late at night. He never used to take off time to daven in shul. However, last week he had told her, ‘Chana, I am an older man now. It’s time that I started preparing for the long trip ahead”. Since that time, he had been going to daven in shul and was away from the store every morning. When another customer said that davening had finished long ago, Chana got very concerned and rushed to the shul to see if her husband was okay. When she arrived, she saw that Shmuel was calmly sitting down and learning Torah. ‘Have you gone mad?! The store is filled with customers and you are sitting and studying?’ Shmuel calmly responded, ‘Just imagine that your greatest fears would have been correct and that the Angel of Death had come to take me away. Could you have told him that there is no time now because there is a store full of customers? Pretend that I am really dead. In a few hours I will miraculously return to life and come to help you in the store.’ (adapted from Give Us Life, Mesholim and Masterwords of the Chofetz Chaim by Mendel Weinbach)

Once a person dies, it is too late to do any more mitzvos. That realization is very painful to a person’s soul. The Chofetz Chaim zt”l says that many people sin because they don’t feel strongly enough that they will die. They feel that they don’t belong to the “club” of those people who will die. Therefore, they feel that there is no rush to accumulate as many mitzvos as possible. The Talmud (Shabbos 30A) relates that King David asked Hashem when he was going to die. He wanted to know which year, which month, and which day. Hashem refused to tell him. Then King David asked in which season he would die. Hashem refused that request as well. When King David asked to know at least on which day of the week he would die, Hashem told him that he would die on a Shabbos. Rabbi Shmuel Eidels, known as the Maharsha, explains why Hashem refused King David’s first two requests. Hashem has a decree not to divulge this information. One must do teshuva every second of his life because of the fear of impending death. If one knows the exact time of his death, he may sin his entire life and wait until close to his death before doing teshuva. King David’s last request was acceptable. Knowing on which day of the week he would die would not go against Hashem’s decree of not divulging the day of death. This way, at least every week King David would be involved in doing teshuva.

Rabbi Henach Leibowitz zt”l, highlights two points from this. How is Hashem’s decree about not revealing the specific time of death relevant to King David? Certainly, someone as great as King David would be constantly involved in teshuva every day of his life. Apparently, if he knew the exact time of death there could be the ever-slightest lack of intensity in his teshuva. By not having that information, his intensity would be total. Therefore, it was better for him not to know the exact time.

Furthermore, we would have thought that it would be beneficial to know the exact time of death. This would help people realize that they WILL die, that they DO belong to the “club” of those who die. We see from the Maharsha that this is not the case. We see that one can only use the knowledge and awareness of impending death effectively if it is uppermost in his mind, at all times. He must constantly be aware that death can come at any second. That will serve as in impetus to do teshuva. If he knows the exact time, he may be tempted to sin until right before that time

The world we live in is temporary. It is a preparation for the eternal world. Focusing on the unnerving fact that we WILL die, will motivate us to maximize the time that we do have. We will do more mitzvos and constantly do teshuva.

Parshas Vayelech

Don’t Ever Count Me Out! I May Be Down, But I am Not Out!

“And Hashem said to Moshe, ‘behold, your days are drawing near to die’.” Devarim (31:14)

On the last day of Moshe Rabeinu’s life, Hashem told him, “Behold your days are drawing near to die.”

The Midrash (9:6) says that Moshe was disturbed.  He wasn’t necessarily disturbed by the news that he was about to die. Rather, he was disturbed by the manner that Hashem told this to him. He was bothered that Hashem proclaimed his death with the specific word hen, behold. Moshe said to Hashem, “I praised you with the word hen, behold. How can You use that same word to decree my death?” The Midrash says that Moshe praised Hashem, “Behold! To Hashem your G-d, are the heaven and highest heaven, the earth and everything in it”. The Midrash compares this to a person who honored the king by giving him a gift of a sharp sword. The king then turned to his guards and said to cut off this man’s head with the very sword that he gave him as a gift. The man exclaimed in wonderment to the king, “You are cutting off my head with the object that I gave you to honor you?!”  This is how Moshe felt. Hashem answered Moshe’s question. “Don’t you remember that when I sent you to redeem the Jews from Egypt [you refused and] you said, ‘Behold they will not believe me, and they will not listen to my voice’?” Therefore, I am decreeing your death with the word hen, behold.

 By using the same word, to decree Moshe’s death, that Moshe had used many years earlier, Hashem was sending Moshe a subtle message. His words about the Jewish People were inappropriate. The Chofetz Chaim (Chofetz Chaim al HaTorah, Shmos 4:1) explains why it was improper. Hashem enlisted Moshe to tell Pharaoh and the Jewish People that it was time to redeem the Jews and take them out of Egypt. Moshe responded that the Jews will not believe him. (There are various explanations to explain why Moshe did not accept Hashem’s assurances that the Jews would listen to him.) The Jews had lived in Egypt, the most immoral country in the world, for over two hundred years.  The Jews who had been influenced by the Egyptians amongst whom they lived, had fallen to the 49th level of spiritual impurity (out of 50 levels). Moshe couldn’t fathom that the Jews would be receptive to him and that his mission would be successful. Moshe erred and exclaimed, “Behold” indicating that he was totally certain that the Jews would not believe him. He should have said that perhaps the Jews will not listen. Therefore, Hashem proclaimed his death with the word “behold” indicating that his death was also a certainty. This was a final “no” from Hashem to Moshe’s request that he be permitted to enter the Land of Israel.

Moshe had falsely suspected that the Jews would not listen to him. Hashem said that the Jews, despite their spiritual decline, were believers, the children of believers. (Talmud Shabbos 97b)

Moshe had underestimated the greatness and holiness inherent in the Jewish People. Even though it may not have been noticeable on the outside, their innate holiness was embedded deep in their hearts. No matter how low a Jew has fallen, one can NEVER give up on him! All it takes is something to ignite the spark of holiness that is found in every single Jew!

Never give up on a Jewish child. Even if he is a weak student or seems to be disinterested, he can succeed. Rav Pam says that often, it is the child who shows the least promise who is the one that succeeds the most since nothing stands in the way of one’s desire to succeed in spiritual matter.

Parshas Shoftim

A Lesson in Life Courtesy of “Professor” Ant

Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers. 2:4) Hillel says, “… do not say when I am free, I will learn for perhaps you will not become free”.
Mishlei (Proverbs 6:6) King Shlomo says, “Go to the ant, O lazy person, regard her ways and be wise.”

We tend to procrastinate, pushing off tasks for later. Sometimes we procrastinate so much that the task NEVER gets done.

“When we first got married, my wife brought home a whiteboard on which we could list the jobs that needed to be done. About a year later it disappeared. Just before our silver wedding anniversary, I found the whiteboard in our garage. There were about 20 jobs on it. None of them had been done – and most of them still needed to be done.”  Steve Swift, Alton, Hampshire as quoted in BBC News Magazine Aug 30, 2012

A prime reason for procrastination is laziness.

The Midrash Yalkut Shimoni quotes Rav Yehoshua the son of Prachiya as saying, “In the future the reshaim who had already passed away will ask Hashem for an opportunity to repent. Hashem will respond to them, ‘Fools! The world that you had been in is compared to a Friday afternoon, while this [eternal] world is compared to Shabbos. If a person doesn’t prepare food before Shabbos, he will have nothing to eat on Shabbos. Similarly, if a person is going on a sea voyage and doesn’t prepare food while still on dry land, what will he eat?  Furthermore, you should have learned from the ant. You didn’t learn from the ant because of your laziness and foolishness, and therefore you didn’t repent while you were still able to’.”

It says in Orchos Tzaddikim (The Ways of the Righteous) that a person should learn from the ant the quality of zeal so that he may save his soul by preparing for Olam Haba (the next, eternal world).

The Talmud tells us that we can learn many good traits by viewing the world around us. Even the miniscule ant can teach diligence to a human being. It busily accumulates thousands of seeds, far beyond its own needs, as a lesson to man to apply himself to a similar diligent accumulation of wisdom and good deeds.

Midrash Rabba (Devorim 4:2) says that an ant only lives for 6 months.

It only eats 1 and ½ grains in its entire lifetime. Yet It spends the entire summer collecting food.  The winter is too cold for it to do so. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said that 300 kur of grain, approximately three hundred million grains of wheat were once found in a single ant’s hole!  Therefore, King Shlomo said that a lazy person should view the actions of an ant and prepare mitzvos in this world for the next world.  He should do them while he can just as the ant collects grain when it is able to, during the summer.

Why does the ant accumulate so much more food than it needs? The Midrash continues, that the ant thinks that perhaps Hashem will grant it a longer life. Therefore, it continues gathering in order that it would have the food that it needs.

The likelihood of an ant living longer is doubtful, yet it puts all its efforts into accumulating more food-just in case. Our eternal life in olam haba is a certainty. Surely, we should use all our time in this world to accumulate “food for our soul”.  That spiritual “food” is our Torah learning and our mitzvos.

Rav Dovid Leibowitz zt”l explains in the name of the Vilna Gaon why one feels pain upon dying. It is the pain of realizing that it is too late to do any more mitzvos! It is the pain of realizing that we could have and should have done more while we were able to.

We, like the ant, should be diligent to use our time in this world to the utmost. We should learn as much Torah and do as many mitzvos as we can.

Parshas Re’eh

Blow Away the Fog!

“See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse.” (Devorim 11:26)

Shimon was Reuvein’s best friend. When they were younger, they used to play toy soldiers together.  Shimon’s toys were so cool. He had all kinds of soldiers, trucks, and tanks.  He had everything. Reuvein wished he could have such cool stuff. Shimon told Reuvein that he was going to give him some of his stuff, at some point. Once, while they were in the middle of playing, Shimon had to leave the room for a few minutes. Reuvein started thinking how he really wanted Shimon’s cool toys.  Furthermore, Shimon had promised to give some to Reuevein. Reuvein thought that Shimon won’t miss a few small things. With those thoughts in mind, Reuvein rationalized and took some of Shimon’s toys for himself. He was right. Shimon didn’t notice that a few, small toys were missing.

Robert was a teacher for many years. Whenever his son, Ralph, needed school supplies, Robert was able to get them from his school. Robert figured that it was okay. The school had so many supplies a they wouldn’t mind if he would use some of them for his personal needs.

Tom was angry at the government. Congress just passed a new tax that would cost Tom thousands of dollars. Tom was furious that this tax only applied to the citizens while all Congressmen were exempt from it. When Tom was filling out his yearly tax forms, he felt that this was his chance. Since the government didn’t treat him fairly, he felt that he had the right to get back at them by cheating on his taxes.

Reuven, Robert, and Tom all had one thing in common. Although they did the wrong thing, they all rationalized that their actions were appropriate.

Moshe told the Jewish People about the blessing and curse that would be said on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eval. If the Jewish People follow Hashem’s commandments then they would receive blessings in abundance. If they would stray from the proper path, then they would receive numerous curses.

We would think that the purpose of hearing the blessings and curses was to motivate the Jews to do mitzvos and avoid sinning. What better motivation could there be than to say if you do the mitzvos you will receive unbelievable reward? What better motivation could there be than to say if you sin you will receive terrible punishments?

The Midrash Rabbah (4:1) gives a different explanation of the purpose of the blessings and curses. The intention was not to motivate us to do mitzvos or to withhold ourselves from sinning. Rather the purpose was to teach us right from wrong.

The explanation of the Midrash is puzzling. Don’t we learn right from wrong from the Torah itself? The laws in the Torah teach us what we can and can not do. Aren’t the blessings and curses just a motivation for us to act properly?

HaRav Henach Leibowitz zt”l posed and then answered this question. He explained that without the motivation of the blessings and curses, we would not do the appropriate actions. We would often rationalize our actions and sin, all the while thinking that we were acting properly and even doing a mitzvah. The yetzer hara has that power to confuse us. If we desire something, we can think of numerous reasons why we would be justified in fulfilling the desire even if the Torah clearly says it would be forbidden. We can even convince ourselves that we are doing nothing wrong. However, deep inside ourselves, we know the truth, that the action we want to do is forbidden. When we visualize reward and punishment, our rationalizations disappear. If we visualize the gates of Gehinnom open, in front of us, with our lives possibly in the balance we won’t be so quick to rationalize our actions. We will be honest with ourselves and only do what is truly permitted. The yiras ha’onesh, the fear of punishment, will remove the “fog of rationalization” and help us think clearly, without rationalizations. Visualizing the magnificent reward awaiting us, will help us do the mitzvos correctly.

Visualizing the glorious reward or serious punishment for our actions will enable us to be honest with ourselves. That will motivate us to act appropriately.