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-D’var Torah-
The Essence of the Jewish People
Belief in this unattainable essence underlies the ruling that even when a Jew is coerced to comply with the halachah, the subsequent act is volitional, since every Jew wants to do the will of Hashem. Until the positive expression of desire to comply with halachah becomes evident, we view his yetzer hara as suppressing his inner will. It is the yetzer hara which is literally beaten away, giving his true inner will freedom to surface and be expressed.
Now, the commentary of Ibn Ezra is easily understood. In order for a curse to take effect, there must be a flaw in the essence of the one cursed. Therefore Hashem prevented Balaam from uttering the curse.
Even essentially pure and holy individuals can at times commit sins, even serious sins, which demand severe corrective measures. But the sins still remain peripheral and do not affect the essence and foundations of Klal Yisrael.
The Bad Eye
For I know what whom you bless will be blessed, and whom you curse will be cursed (Bamidbar 22:6).
Sforno comments that Balak knew very well that Balaam had no ability to bless but only to curse. Had Balaam had such a power, Balak would have requested that he bless him in addition to cursing Bnei Yisrael. But Balak felt that even for a rasha like Balaam it would be insulting to describe him as having only the power to curse. So he falsely attributed to him the power to bless as well.
The answer is that being overly critical, rather than being a sign of having learned too much, is a sign of not having learned enough. Extreme and constant negativism is the product of not being able to evaluate a situation in its totality.
Balaam is described as having but one eye. Using one eye alone robs a person of the perspective necessary to assess a situation properly and to see both the positive and negative sides. That is why excessive negativity is referred to as the evil eye, not the evil eyes.
The followers of Balaam inherit Gehinnom (Pirkei Avos 5:22). Some explain that their way of life makes this world a Gehinnom. People who know only how to criticize and find faulty create Gehinnom for everyone — themselves as well as others. Conversely, one who has a good eye to counterbalance the evil eye, creates a Gan Eden for others and for himself.
ENJOY……..I THINK
Bilama man of great wisdom, a very talented man, a man of the highest intelligence (how repetitive was that???), out of all the “great” goyim that have lived in the course of earths lengthy (not a real word??)history he was the ONE chosen to be the prophet, he was the one chosen to be the “answer” to jewish spiritual supremacy, he was the one who………..etc. etc. etc. so WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS HE THINKING?????
Hashem blessed be he, just went through a lot of “trouble” getting this poor nation of slaves out of the depths of egyptland, the world superpower at the time, splitting the sea for them, he leads them through a giant and dangerous desert, only to…….. kill them all at the instance bilam opens his mouth to curse them!!!! gimmee a break!!
Bilam knew that hashem wouldn’t listen to him, he, out of all ppl, knew how important the jewish nation was to hashem, that without them there is no reason to even have the world keep going bichlal, if there is one second without torah in this world it will immediately go back to toho va’vohu, which would in affect mean that bilam was trying to commit suicide, cuz if his “plan” actually works, he and the rest of the world will go down together with the jews, and so bottom line is- if Bilam KNEW that he would not succeed why did he even try??
As mentioned earlier in this honorable discourse, bilam was far from being stupid! and so this is (what i think) his actual plan was from the get go.
Bilam was planing all along to get the jews to sin with the midyanite women, he knew he had no chance to get them on the “supernatural” cuz their entire existence was supernatural! and so he decided to attack them from the most natural, physical way possible. If so why the whole “trouble” of trying to curse them first? with all the repeated attempts and tries? well its your lucky day, cuz i have an answer for that too!!
The most simple thing is that he wanted the money, but i have a feeling that Balack would have caught on if that was all that was going on, or at leat he would have had some insurance policy which stated he would get his money back in case the cursing thing didn’t quite work out….
But the answer i wanted to give is this- Bilam knew the cursing woudn’t work, but he wanted to “try” anyway, in order to “force” hashem to protect the jews, in order for hashem to not be angry for that split second on those specific days (as the midrash states), to show how much hashem actually loves the jews, and how much he is willing to do in order to protect us, but once again why would bilam want that? very simple, cuz that would intensify the spit in the face which bney yisroel do right after it! hashem just protected us, in a highly supernatural way, and how do we thank him? by sinning! a father just saved his son from an on coming bus, and how does his son repay him? by not listening to anything he has to say for the next week, a wife has a crazy day at work yet she rushes home to clean up a bit and cook her husband a gorgeous meal. how does he repay her? he doesn’t even acknowledge her existence as he walks in, takes his food to the living room and eats it while watching the game, or a mother…i think u get the idea!
Bilam wanted to increase hashems anger at the jews, and what better way by first having hashem show bney yisroel his love for them, to only be spit at later! not that stupid after all Mr. Bilam!!!!
Sadly enough the same goes on nowadays, the entire existence of jews in this world is a miracle, the everyday existence of jews in isarel is even more of a miracle, and how do we repay hashem for his daily supernatural protection…………….better left unsaid 🙁
Mussar HaTorah
[Moshe]
nooseisko, WOW! How powerful! Really nice!
This is a piece from R’ Yaakov Kaminetzky zt”l
???????? ?????? ?’, ????????? ?????? ???????, ????? ??? ??????? ??????. ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ?????:
What type of bracha is this? Is it a Birchas HaNehenin or a Birchas HaShevach?
There are many explanations given as to why we mention the midda of day by night and the midda of night by day (as we are doing with this bracha).
The Beis Yosef says that the reason we do so is remove the claim from the Apikorus who says that the one who created day was not the same entity who created night.
The Mahari Avohav gives a different reason. Were we not to mention the midda of night by day, one might think that darkness/night are bad. This is not the case, all is nice and proper for its time.
Accordingly, says R’ Yaakov, we can say that according to the explanation of the Beis Yosef that the bracha of ????? ??? ??????? ?????? is a Birchas HaShevach, we are praising Hashem for all which he has created, while according to the Mahari Avohav this bracha would be viewed as a Birchas HaNehenin, since we derive benefit from both day and night.
The following is a pshat from the Vilna Gaon
??? ?????? ???? ????, ????? ??????? ??????, ??????? ?? ???? ?? ?????.
Each one of these middos has incorporates two things.
???? has within it ?? , one whose mouth and heart are working together towards evil. and ???? which is when one speaks good but their heart has other ideas.
????? has within it ?????, meaning the body derives enjoyment and ???? when the nefesh desires even without the guf deriving pleasure.
???? (The ???? which is in our Mishna) has within it ??? when one thinks one way about themselves, but the world is in disagreement. And ???? when one wishes to rule over people due to their ????
Therefore, we end our Shmoneh Esrei with the following request:
??-????. ???? ???????? ????? – This is for protection from ???
???????? ????????? ??????? – from ???????
????????????? ???????? ????? – from ???
?????????? ???????? ????? ???????? – Like dust, the opposite of ????
?????? ?????? ??????????? – Against ????, since Torah is the opposite of ?????
?????????????? ???????? ???????? – Against ????, since the more our nefesh is chasing mitzvos, the less room there is going to be for ???? (our nefesh chasing other things).
nice, Jaymatt! I’ll try not to copy you this time around! 😉
I kindly ask 72 to please find out who is signed up and who is not signed up. The chart has not been updated in some time.
Just in case nobody is doing one tonight, here is a freebee (from the Ksav Sofer) on Parshas Pinchas.
????-???, ??-???
There is a very interesting Rashi on this passuk. in short, Rashi says that the children of Korach were originally part of Korach’s group, however, during the machlokes, they did teshuva. Therefore they have a high place in gehenim (i.e. not as bad).
The Kasav Sofer asks what is going on here? If they did teshuva why are they in gehenim, and if the teshuva was ineffective, why do they get better treatment in gehenim?
Chazal (in Yoma) tell us that one who causes the masses to sin, they will not be able to do enough teshuva for their actions (lest they get gan eden and their “talmidim” get gehenim).
Thus, the children of Korach who were part if his initial group, their teshuva would not have been enough to save them, since they caused many people to join and sin. As such they will not be able to do enough teshuva for their actions (lest they get gan eden and their “talmidim” get gehenim).
This is what Rashi is showing us here, They tried to do teshuva, it was in their hearts. They were genuine. However, despite this request they were unable to do a sufficient teshuva. Their teshuva was not enough to save them from gehenim, but it was enough to give them the “best seats in the house”, where they would suffer the least.
72, am I up for tonight? I dont remember signing up and I never thought I was put there as permanent. I’ll try to come up with something later bln.
I ask (again) that a mod remove my name from the permanent list. In the summer especially, I do not expect to be able to post every week and I would prefer that monday go to someone else, rather than my being signed up and just not posting anything. Thank you.
Moshe’s Last Stand
Volume 3 Issue 43
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
This week the most illustrious career in Biblical history begins its final chapters. Moshe is officially informed that he will pass on and is told who his successor would be. But in informing Moshe of the transition, Hashem repeats both here in the Book of Bamidbar (27:12) and again in the Book of Devorim (32:51) the reason that Moshe will not lead the B’nai Yisrael into the Land of Israel. It is because he hit the water producing rock instead of speaking to it.
Why does Hashem seem to stress Moshe’s sin? Rashi, the classic medieval commentator, explains that Moshe asked Hashem to publicly declare his sin in order to declare that this sin was his only flaw. He was afraid lest some would say that he, too, was amongst those who were destroyed for rebellion in the desert. He was afraid that he would be equated with the rebels and sinners. Thus, he asked Hashem to emphasize that the only flaw he committed was that of the rock.
It is very difficult to understand. How could Moshe even suspect that anyone would place him on that level? How could one even imagine that he was excluded from entering Israel for an act of treason that led to the demise of others? Why was it so important to Moshe that the Torah reiterates that the incident at the rock was his only transgression?
Radio commentator Paul Harvey once presented a piece of American history in the following manner:
George Armstrong was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1857. After graduating and commissioned in the cavalry, he quickly established a reputation for daring and brilliance in battle. His reputation was so well acclaimed that at the age of twenty-three, he was made the youngest brigadier general in United States history. George’s energy and cunning paralleled the other great Georges who left their mark on military history — Generals George Washington and George S. Patton. In fact, George Armstrong was so successful, that by the end of the Civil War he became of the one of the most celebrated commanders.
His pursuit of Lee’s army from Richmond in April 1865 destroyed the confederate lines of defense and captured prisoners, wagons, and guns – until, on the morning of April 9 he had totally defeated the enemy. It was to no one other than General George Armstrong that the Confederate flag of defeat was first presented.
After the Civil War, his career continued to flourish. He was assigned to the newly formed seventh Cavalry, Fort Riley, Kansas, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In the fall of 1868 he won a brilliant victory over Black Kettle’s band of Cheyenne Indians in the battle of the Washita and took part in many successful engagements over the next eight years.
But history has almost no recollection of the illustrious career of General George Armstrong. On June 22, 1876, General George Armstrong and his regiment, a force of about 655 men, set out for Little Bighorn. He encountered an overwhelming force of at least 4,000 well-armed Sioux warriors and was killed together with his entire regiment.
No longer were the Civil War successes the hallmark of General George Armstrong’s career. Only remembered is the great defeat at Little Bighorn led by General George Armstrong – did I mention his last name — Custer – General George Armstrong Custer at his last stand.
People often tend to forget the illustrious careers of great people because of a flaw that ended it. Moshe was punished for an infraction that is difficult to comprehend in mortal terms. He hit a rock, and produced water — one of history’s greatest miracles — for a thirsting nation. Yet something was wrong. He was supposed to speak to the rock and instead he hit it. And between him and his Creator, there was a price to pay. We however must realize that a mistake, as great as its consequences were, cannot mar the illustrious career of the man who led us out of Egypt and developed us into the nation that we are today. In no way can that punishment diminish any regard that we have for Moshe. At Moshe’s departure, that point was to be reiterated repeatedly. It is only because of the rock that he did not enter.
How often does a man who works tirelessly for years and who errs in his last stand, go down in disgrace for the act that terminated his career? How many people’s last stand becomes their most notorious if not their only stand? Perhaps Hashem’s reiteration vis-a-vis Moshe are a lesson to all of us. There are no first stands and there are no last stands. If we stand for something worthy, then we stand forever!
taken from torah.org
kapusta, nice DT! Very relevant lesson!
Great DT! Thanks 72 for posting!
*************** Mepal’s Wednesday DT-Parshas Pinchus ***************
Parshas Pinchas
The Right Thing
By Rabbi Label Lam
Enjoy!
Poverty’s Insights on The Weekly Parsha
What is the essential ingredient of greatness?
In the ascent to greatness, the most precious quality that a person can have is the desire to seek, to pursue truth with a ceaseless and tireless longing.
The closest those artisans had come to the extremely skilled work needed to construct the Mishkan was shlepping cement to build Egyptian treasure-cities. How were they able, with no previous experience, to fabricate something as beautiful, delicate and spiritually precise as the Mishkan?
When the Torah lists the heads of the Jewish People who were sent to spy out the Land of Israel, it lists them according to their importance. Yehoshua appears fifth in that list. G-d chose him to be the leader of the Jewish People precisely because of the quality that he was a seeker and wanted more.
When Moshe ascended to the supernal realms, Yehoshua waited for him at the foot of Mount Sinai for forty days. Yehoshua took no tea breaks, no days off. Even though he could have rushed out to meet Moshe and resumed his learning as soon as Moshe returned, Yehoshua was not prepared to waste those few precious extra moments between the camp and the foot of the mount.
Such is the nature of a seeker.
Source: Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz in Sichot Mussar; with thanks to Rabbi Mordechai Perlman and Rabbi Eli Merl and Rabbi Reuven Lauffer
k, it’s a bit long and windy….. but i think i get to some sort of conclusion at the end so just make yourself a big coffee….and enjoy the ride
Today we will speak about TZUR. (one of the) Princes of Midayn.
Do u honestly think he cared?????????????????????
When the name of the Woman killed by pinchas is mentioned, her fathers name is brought in for the ride as well, and as rashi explains to us the reasoning behind this is to show us just how important this girl was, she was a midyanite princess! and yet pinchas the knight feared her not (just to clarify something [as rav brevda always does regarding yehudah hamacabi], pinchas’s beard was probably down to his belly, and his fighting experience went no further than battling animals b4 shechting them. No bodybuilding, robocop type images allowed!),
Rashi also points out that even though Tzur was actually THE prince of the time, when the torah mentions him amongst the other princes he is relegated to 3rd place as a punishment to him cuz of what his daughter did………DISS!!!!!
Do u honestly think he cared???????????
Let’s try making things a bit more “nowadays”, let’s say Machmud Achmadianjadanowitzenstien (was scared if i actually wrote the name, i would get arrested) is considered the number 1 Iranian , celebrity nowadays according to all the recent polls (all competitors, and their voters were killed prior to the publishing of the results) and all of a sudden Israeli papers rate him as the 3RD most popular iraninan figure!!! SHOCKING!!! Machmud would be devastated!!!! he would not know how he could ever allow himself to be seen in public again!!!!! that’s exactly what the torah just did right? well………sortta
Do u honestly think he cared??????????
This is where reverse evolution comes in……………huh? as apposed to many (even though nowadays most scientists dont actually believe in it either) scientists which believe that with every generation the human race is getting more and more developed, and further away from our ancestors the cute little monkeys, WE (as in the torah………) believe (i.e know) that there is actually a decline with every generation, and we r getting weaker and weaker, as we stray further from our ancestors Avraham Yitzchak and Yaakov. And just as jews r declining so is the rest of the velt, cuz whenever the central, ikar point of anything declines, the entrie thing gets dragged down with it. And so just as todays jews are not like the jews of yesteryear (does that actually just mean last year??), so to the goyim of today are not the same.
And so, and we will start from our own shortcomings, we actually, really couldn’t care less what the torah wrote about us, as long as we r rated highly in ppl’s eyes, the torah can say whatever it wants! as long as holywood will respect us, it doesn’t really matter what g-d and his followers think of us. And since we think that way we project it unto our goyisha “friends”. In truth they also couldn’t care less now, but that is just cuz we have sunken to the level where we don’t care and so we dragged them down with us.
We don’t believe we r anything special, we r just Americans/british/aussies/israelis with sideburns/beards and funny yarmulkas/hats/shaitells/bandanas/tichels (don’t wanna get in trouble). But do not treat ourselves as the chosen nation, and so the world stopped regrading us as such.
One thing which has not changed over the years, is the hatred the goyim have towards us, as far as that is concerned the world is a very consistent, well patterned place to be. But as apposed to years ago when goyim hated us cuz we were something special, and cuz we represented ruchniyus in this world (something which flew in the face of everything they “believed” in), (where was that comma supposed to go? before the brackets of after em???) and cuz we were g-ds favorite son, now they hate us……………..CUZ. We are still all of the above, but we ourselves have for the most part forgotten about it. Yes we still live our lives by the torah (huh?), yes we still look different then the rest, yes we still have to wait 6 hours after we have a burger to be able to have ice cream, but are we really hashems representation in this world with every step we take????
And so, back in the day, the goyim respected the torah, they knew the torah was treu (french for “true”, they knew hashem was true, they knew the jews were true, they still hated us…but for exaclty those reasons. And so (i’m starting to get tired of that phrase), if the torah dissed them.,……….they were dissed, if the torah disrespected them they cared, if the torah “made fun of them”: they got hurt. And so (last time i promise….bli neder), when Tzurs descendants ( i think he was already dead at the time) saw that their great father was relegated into 3rd place, they were hurt till the depths of their stony hearts, they felt like a dagger was stuck into their solar plexus (get it???? pinchas……), Yes they DID care!
Mussar HaTorah
19 Tamuz, 5769 Vol. 10, No. 37 Parashas Pinchas
When someone is jealous, he can convince himself of the validity of the most absurd ideas. Machlokes is such a dangerously powerful force that it can take even these frivolous claims and use them to stoke the flames of dispute and discord into a full-blown conflagration. The Ralbag is telling us that we must be aware of this lethal potential and take steps, well in advance, to avoid even the smallest possibility of the beginnings of a machlokes. This extends even to preempting the most irrational claims, the most far-fetched ideas that would be immediately discarded by an impartial, clear-headed person.
Parshas Pinchas
The following is a kli yakar
??? ?????, ???? ????? ?????, ?????, ????? ?????
Why do we do this by all the families. Why do we take a name and basically put a “?” in the front and a “?” at the end?
Until this incident, there was never any suspicion of znus on klal yisroel. Now there was (perhaps) a basis for the other nations to claim znus has previously occurred in Mitzrayim as well. Therefore the Yud and Hey was added here to the family name to show that they were all from unions where the shchina dwells.
(The classic dvar torah that you have the Yud of Ish and the Hey of Isha, to show that if there is Shalom Bayis, Hashem dwells amongst them).
We are now left with the question, however, why does the letter Hey preceed the letter Yud? We know that in Hashem’s name the yud preceeds the hey!
This is done to show that the women (who are represented in the Hey) were more devoted to tzinus then their male counterparts. Therefore when discussing the purity of these families, we start with the Hey, which represents the woman, who were more strict on tznius.
Seen in R’ Schwab’s sefer Mayan Beis haShoeva
?? ???? ???-??? ???-?, ????? ????? ????, ???? ???????, ?????? ?????: ??, ?????? ???
?????–?????? ?????
???? ??? ???-?, ??-???, ?? ???, ???? ?????. ??????? ???? ????, ????? ????? ????–???? ?????: ???? ?????, ?????
These pessukim at the end of Parshas Masei need clarification.
The Gemarra in Bava Basra says that the daughters of Tzlafchad were allowed to marry anyone (from any shevet) they wanted. So, what is the meaning of the next passuk, that they should only marry within their shevet? That is an eitza tova (good advice).
So why do we have a few pessukim later the statement that they did as Moshe commanded and married within their shevet? They were never commanded such a thing?!?
R’ Schwab answers that to people who have ???? ? an eitza tova will be viewed as Hashem’s commandment. There is a portion of the Torah which was given over to Klal Yisroel not in the form of commandment, but rather in the form of eitza tova. The Torah here is showing us that we should not seek ways as to how to circumvent the Torah and/or mitzvos. But rather we should be like the daughters of Tzlafchad who knew that an eitza tova is also the will of Hashem, just like the other mitzvos in the Torah.
Very nice DT’s, JayMatt!
Thanks mepal.
I saw the following in the Tallelai Oros on Tfilla (4th chelek) quoting a perush I had never heard of (also one I cannot pronounce)
Why in Nusach Ashkanaz, do we say ????? ????? after ?????, but in nusach sfard we say ?????? ??????, like we do in our silent Shmoneh Esrei?
In Nusach Ashkenaz we say
????????? ??? ??????? ????????. ??????? ????????????????? ???? ????????? ?????, we compare our prayer to the prayer of the malachim. We claim that we are mekadesh Hashem the same way the angels do.
But man’s time on this earth is limited while the angels last for all eternity, how can we make such a claim?
Therefore we immediately follow kedusha with ????? ????? ??????? ????????? ????????? ???????? ???????????? ??????????, generation after generation, for all eternity we praise Hashem. Now we can truly claim to praise Hashem in the same way the Malachim do.
In Nusach Sfard, However, we say ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ?????, we do not compare our praise of Hashem to the praise offered by the malachim, therefore we can say ?????? ?????? in Chazaras HaShatz just like we say it in our silent shmoneh esrei since we do not have the reason to switch to ????? ????? like those who daven Ashkanaz
kapustas DT for monday
Parshas Matos
How Far it Might Travel
By Rabbi Label Lam
Moshe said to the children of Gad and the children of Reuven; “Shall your brothers go out to battle while you settle here? Why do you dissuade the heart of the Children of Israel from crossing to the land that HASHEM has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.” (Bamidbar 32:6-8)
The Malbim points out that from here we find out something that was not clearly stated earlier. We had the impression that the main problem of the spies was that they had spoken badly about the land. Now, forty years later, we learn that the more serious crime was that they had spoken words that were discouraging to the Children of Israel. A whole generation later and Moshe is still extremely guarded on this issue. How vulnerable then is the average person to being discouraged. See how important it is to lend encouragement to others and not to do or say anything that might soften their resolve.
On our way out of town one Erev Simchas Torah we stopped by to visit Rabbi Hershel Mashinsky ztl. He was sitting in his Sukkah. He greeted each of us individually with his usual warmth. As we were speaking one of the young children reached uninvited into a bowl with sugar cubes and grabbed one. I quickly tried to stop him. Rabbi Mashinsky with his sweet softness said to the child, “Nu?! A brocho!?” The child said the appropriate blessing to which we all answered, “Amen!” Then Rabbi Mashinsky chimed in, “That was a smart brocho!” We carry that phrase till today and employ it daily- “A smart brocho!”
On the flip side, my wife told me that she had taken the time and expense to buy something new for one of our young daughters. The little girl had selected an outfit she liked very much and the first day she was proudly wearing it, another child said to her, “Where did you get that shmata???” She refuses to wear it again!
A teacher of thousands over the past 29 years told me this week the disheartening words spoken to him by a teacher of his more than three decades ago and how it hurt him so. “You’ll never achieve anything.” Still, he attends the dinner each year, remembers clearly, but never says a word.
A woman keeps a framed note on her table from an educator that met her son once, years ago, and took the time to write that he’s a fine boy! How simple it is to add zest to another’s day or entire life! A husband, with glowing praise, eulogizes his young wife by recalling that he had purchased a van that his wife had advised him strongly not to buy and after it turned out to be a lemon she said nothing at all.
Rabbi Zelig Plskin writes in Gateways to Happiness, “Be aware of the positive traits and behaviors of the people with whom you come into contact and help them build upon their strengths. Encouragement is a much more powerful tool for change and growth than blaming and condemning. You can bring about miracles in a person’s life if you believe in their potential.(P. 388) With the casual power of remote control, and in a given moment, one can easily turn someone on or turn them off, and never know how far it might travel.
taken from torah.org
Thank you kapusta! Very nice DT! very good lesson there!
Thanks Jax! Beautiful point!
Thank you 72 for posting! I hope this is the last one Jax emailed you. Ie, I’m hoping he’ll be back soon…
***********mepal’s Wednesday D’var Torah–Parshas Matos-Masei*********
Travel Experience
The second of this week’s two portions is named Masei, Travels. It begins by enumerating the various stops along the Jewish nation’s forty year trek through the desert. The first verse opens the narrative. “These are the journeys of the Children of Israel, who went forth from the land of Egypt according to their legions, under the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Numbers 33:1). The second verse seems to have a redundant and unclear clause. “Moshe wrote their goings on according to their journeys at the bidding of Hashem, and these were their journeys according to their goings on (ibid v.2). But the phrase seems to be juxtaposed differently at the beginning and at the end of the very same sentence. At first the Torah says “Moshe wrote their goings on (experiences) according to their journeys,” and when the Torah begins listing each stop it precedes the listings by stating “these were their journeys according to their goings on (experiences).”
What does the Torah mean ” journeys according to their goings on”? The word translated as “goings on” is motzoaihem, which means experiences. The Torah is relating not only the geographical destinations of the Jews as they wandered, but also the historically eternal implications of each rest-stop. Thus the Torah tells us more than the journeys. It tells us the journeys according to their experiences. Were the journeys listed according to the experiences or were the experiences listed according to the journeys?
The story is told about the Toldos Ahron Rebbe. He was sitting at his table with one of his Chasidim. After a very long while, the sexton brought a bowl of beautiful fruit to the table. It was quite appealing and the Rebbe noticed the sparkle in the eye of the hungry patron. The Rebbe invited his disciple to make a blessing over the shiny crimson apple.
The guest declared that such a beautiful fruit was worthy of a beautiful blessing and he resolved to make a blessing with all his heart one truly befitting this marvelous creation. The student stood up, held the apple in both his hands, and spent a few minutes contemplating the delicious fruit that Hashem had created. His eyes sparkled in anticipation, which enthused him even more. Carefully he annunciated every word of the blessing. Swaying back and forth he began, “Boruch Atah, Blessed art Thou . . . ”
After what must have been the most eloquent blessing the man ever recited, he bit excitedly into the delicious fruit, and after swallowing, he once again praied the beautiful taste and appearance.
The man seemed to revel in his act of spirituality, and the Rebbe knew he had to explain something to him.
“You made a beautiful bracha my dear disciple,” he began. “Now I will teach you the difference between your blessing and the blessing of a complete tzadik.”
“You saw the fruit. You wanted to eat it. But alas, one is not allowed to eat a fruit without a blessing over it. And so you made a most beautiful blessing. It is truly commendable.
“A complete tzadik, however, does not have his mind set on fruit. He wants to bless Hashem for his beautiful handiwork. But alas, one is not allowed to make that blessing without partaking in the pleasure of His handiwork. And so he looks for a fruit. When he finds the fruit, he is now ready to make the blessing he had long waited to make.”
Every meaningful experience is comprised of temporal circumstances and spiritual, philosophical or ethical ramifications. In the larger picture, in view of the greater picture one may ask: Was it the circumstance that is the foremost character of the experience, or was it the experience that makes the circumstances pale in retrospect.
The Torah tells us that Moshe wrote their goings on according to their journeys. That seems to say he wrote the occurrences, the various events, traumatic and otherwise, that occurred as a result of the journeys. After all, as a result of their journeys certain events occurred. Fate brought them to certain places and thus certain events occurred. To our human eye that is what happens in life. We go places. We do things. Events occur. But the Torah itself announces these journeys with a twist. It declares the journeys in a different light. It does not precede the events saying this is what happened as a result of the journeys. Just the opposite! It tells us “These are the journeys according to the experiences.” The journeys were secondary to the experiences, the journeys were listed according to the experiences! Maybe in life’s journeys and the ensuing experiences, perhaps in all our actions it is worth reflecting. Do we bless to eat or do we eat to bless? Do we mark our experiences according to where we travel, or do we mark our travels according to where we have had our experiences? It is critically important to understand what has occurred and its ramifications, perhaps more than the mere geographic vehicle that brought us to our life’s true destination.
A bit long, but nice lesson! Enjoy!
mepal, very nice!
theres something (probably from the amen book) where a Gadol once told someone “you make a bracha in order to eat, I eat in order to make a bracha.”
True! We’ve got a long way to go…
how do they get those ships into the bottles?
print this one up so u can read it in shul, cuz matos masey is the longest reading we have all year by far!!! (50 percent bigger than naso!!!!)
This one is based on a rav shach that i saw (i didn’t actually see rav shach…..i saw a book and it said what he said). our entire existence on this lowly earth is for one purpose only to……… MAKE MONEY!!!……….[hmmm i wonder why rav shach didn’t say that???] but another important thing is [which REALLY is the purpose of our being down here] is to elevate ourseleves and to reach higher and higher and closer to the one above. I’ll get back to that later……much much later 🙂 (told u it’s a long parsha)
Rashi tells us that when a woman makes a neder and her husband nullifies (is that the right word?) it, and then she goes and breaks her vow, not knowing that there actually was no vow around anymore, and so she technically did nothing wrong cuz the vow was already “unvowed” yet she still needs hashem to forgive her for what she did. why???? if the torah gives the hubbie the power to “overule” his wife when it comes to nedarim….then what did this poor woman do wrong? when a person intends to eat pig ( a.k.a “davar acher” ….i prob. should have done that the opposite way) yet he ends up eating lamb (a.k.a. SHWARMA!!!) instead – by mistake- then he did nothing wrong, right? and so too should be true in the case of the woman (i didn’t make up the connection rabbi akiva did….i think, whilst we r on the subject of thinking, i think that “thought” should be taken out of the dictionary, and be replaced by “thonk”, just btw)and so what is rashi (and the torah) talking about when they say that the woman needs to be forgiven by hashem????
Back to our entire existence- when u have the intention to do bad (and in most cases even if u merely don’t have the intention of doing good) then regardles of which act u actually end up doing, u will in no way bring u closer to hashem by doing it. Meaning even if u ended up doing “not bad” [trying to be positive here] u still can’t be credited with getting yourself closer to hashem. when u intend to eat pig, then even if u end up eating lamb (news flash: eating really was intented solely for us to be able to get strength to serve hashem. hence eating is a way of getting closer to hashem a.k.a the purpose of our existence) u still ca’t claim in any way that u fulfilled your purpose in this world by doing that action.
And so when the woman broke her vow, since she thought that she was doing something bad, so even though it turned out that her husband saved her (as we do many times…..o.k as we INTEND to do many times) from doing an actuall sin, she still missed the entire purpose of her creation.
Rav shach is saying that when u intend to do something bad even if u ended up not doing anything wrong u still missed your whole purpose on this earth, and served as an absolute WASTE OF SPACE TIME AND ALL THE OTHER DIMENSIONS.
26 Tamuz, 5769 Vol. 10, No. 38 Parshios Matos-Masei
[the spies]
How can the Nesivos say that the generation of the desert cried because of they lacked a drive for holiness? We know that they cried because they were afraid of the giants living in Canaan! They were surrounded by purity and holiness in the desert. They had just built the Mishkan and no one was afraid or fleeing from its holiness. Their only fear was of bloody wartime defeat at the hands of the Canaanite nations. What connection does that fear have with running away from kedusha?
Adapted from Sefer Ohr HaTzafun by Rabbi Eliezer Grunberg of RSA
PARSHAS Mattos-masei 5769 ??? ??? ????
“??? ?? ??? ??? ??’ ?? ???? ????…” (????? ?’:?’)
Chazal tell us that Tzidkiyahu was a tremendous tzaddik. The Gemara in Sanhedrin relates that though Hashem wanted to destroy the world because of the wicked generation of
Hashem judges every person and every action, and the greater the person, the greater the scrutiny. A slight misdeed could go a long way and we have to constantly focus on rectifying ourselves and our actions. At the same time, we must be aware of our own self worth and the enormous value of every good deed that we perform.
The following is an addition to the dvar torah submitted this past Sunday Link
R’ Moshe Shternbuch in his sefer Ta’am V’daas quotes the Rabeynu Bachya. In sefer shoftim it says the following about the navi Yiftach “????? ??????, ??? ???? ???, ????, ??-??? ????”. Normally the term ??? ???? refers to a harlot. Here, however, it does not. It refers to a woman who inherited her father’s estate who went and married a man from another shevet.
R’ Shternbuch asks why the navi chooses such a title for this woman. He says this is done since she two ran after “???? ???”, choosing to forsake what the Torah instructed (albeit as an eitza tova) and chase after her heart’s desires. So even though there was no issur of erva (as there generally is with an ??? ????, nevertheless the navi chooses this title for Yiftach’s mother as well, since she too shares the common denominator of running after “???? ???”.
The following is a pshat from the Siach Yitzchak on a passuk in Ashrei
??????????? ???????? ???? ????????. ???????????????? ?????? ???? ????
What is the difference between ??????????? and ??????????????? Additionally, why is ?????????????? eternal (???? ????????) while ?????????????? is referred to as ?????? ???? ?????
The Gra says that ??????????? refers to “with ratzon” and ?????????????? is without ratzon.
We say in davening ???? ??’ ???????????. ???????? ?????????, in reference to Klal Yisroel, Hashem is Melech. And we see the connection to Melech and Ratzon in our ma’ariv tfillos (??????????? ???????? ???????? ????????).
By the other nations, Hashem is a Moshel, but after Moshiach comes, we refer to Hashem as ” ????????? ??’ ???????????:
??????? ?’ ???????? ??? ???? ???????. ??????? ?????? ??????? ?’ ????? ??????? ?????”
This is why we say ??????????? ???????? ???? ????????, when it is with ratzon, from Yisroel, it is everlasting. But ?????????????? how Hashem currently rules over the other nations ?????? ???? ???? it is only from every generation until Moshiach comes.
Very nice point, Jaymatt!
kapustas DT for monday
Speaking Louder
Volume 2 Issue 41
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Moshe is saying his last good-byes to his beloved nation. He stands at Israel’s border and reviews forty years of trials and tribulations, the good times and the bad, and how his nation Israel matured to become the inheritor of the Promised Land. The first verse in this week’s portion alludes to the ensuing topics of discussion. The Golden Calf, the incident with the spies, and the time when Israel faltered at the idol Ba’al Pe’or are amongst the many issues that are re-examined.
But the Torah defines Moshe’s rebuke by confining it to a specific time frame. The Torah tells us that only “after smiting Sichon, king of the Amorites, and (the giant) Og, king of Bashan, did Moshe begin explaining this Torah (rebuke) to them.” (Deuteronomy 1:4)
The fact that the Torah makes a point of stating that the reproofs occurred only after Moshe smote two powerful enemies has obvious connotations. Rashi explains: “if the Jews were to say, ‘what has Moshe done for us? Has he brought us into the Land? How does he have the right to rebuke us?’ Moshe thus waited until the defeat of the last two major enemies before rebuking the nation.”
Perhaps Moshe wanted to tell us a bit more.
Reb Mendel Kaplan (1913-1985) was a Rebbe at the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia from 1965 until he passed away. In the later years, he would conduct an early morning class with a select group of students. He would study with them Daas Chachma U’Mussar, the magnum opus of his Rebbe, Rabbi Yeruchum Levovitz, the Mashgiach of the Mirrer Yeshiva of Europe and later Shanghai. Each day the group would meet before Shacharis (morning prayers) and listen to their elderly Rebbe discuss deep philosophical issues concerning the nature of man and the profound eternal struggle he faces.
One night a heavy snow covered the streets of Philadelphia. As the boys trudged into the classroom they were dazzled by the view of the dawn breaking over the white blanket that softly covered the frozen ground. But an even more amazing sight beheld then inside the classroom. Rav Mendel was at sitting at his desk wearing his boots, gloves, and an overcoat that was as warm as his expression. “Today we will learn the real Mussar (ethics),” he smiled. “Don’t take off your boots and coats.” He closed the large tome on his desk and pointed to six shovels neatly stacked in the corner of the classroom.
With that, he took a shovel, walked outside, and began to lead the boys in shoveling a path from the dormitories to the Bais Medrash where the entire school would soon conduct their morning prayers.
Moshe knew that for forty years he had admonished his nation on issues of faith, trust in Hashem, and belief in the prophets. He had put his honor on the line, as he constantly defended their misdeeds. He prayed for them as they battled with Amalek and prayed for them when G-d’s wrath was upon them. But he had yet to do physical battle.
The call came. Moshe had to fight the most notorious and powerful rulers of the region, Sichon and Og. They were stronger and bigger and surely more aggressive than he was. His faith was on the line. He had to teach real Mussar. Only after conquering those two foes, showing his people that he too can get down in the trenches, did he begin to admonish the nation for forty years of various improprieties.
Sometimes, if you’d like your friend to become as pure as snow, you can’t just talk about it. You have to shovel it.
Very nice point, kapusta! Thanks for posting early enough so I can read it!
this stuff has been grate
jax you rock!!! sending in all those posts before leaving
mepal has submitted for this week and next week – so Wednesday night is still covered! YW Moderator-72
kapusta: that was truly a wonderful DT!
72: i’ll be posting my Tuesday DT later for this week! thank you for posting the ones i emailed you while i was away!
goldielox: thank you!
*************Jax’s Tuesday D’Var Torah – Parshas Devarim*************
When the Yiddin were facing their enemies in the wilderness, Hashem told Moshe, “Do not be afraid of Og.” Og was a powerful adversary but why did he necessitate a special assurance from Hashem? Sichon was also a powerful enemy but no such assurances were given regarding Sichon. What was special about Og? Rashi explains that Moshe was aware that Og had a special merit due to a good deed that he had once done. Hashem does not allow a good deed to go unrewarded. What was Og’s good deed? Years earlier, when Avraham was searching for his nephew Lot, who had been captured during a dangerous time of war, Og came and informed Avraham where Lot could be found. Avraham was then able to rescue Lot. Why did Og perform this chesed? Our sages tell us that he was hoping that Avraham would be killed in his quest to save Lot. This way, Og could take Avraham’s wife Sarah for himself. Why then was Og rewarded? Because despite Og’s evil intentions, his action was still an act of kindness-maaseh chesed.
Let us analyze. Og’s actions were motivated purely by selfish evil and lust. Yet he was rewarded with exceptionally long life; in fact, his reward was so great, that even Moshe Rabbenu was afraid that Og’s merit would protect him from the Jewish army. Imagine then, how much more is our reward when we, the Jewish people, do chesed that is motivated purely by love.
Have a good one!
Jax, excellent! as usual! great lesson! thanx for sharing!
kapusta: thank you! the pleasure’s mine!
mepal: that was a wonderful DT! thanks for sharing it with the CR! hope your back soon!
What’s in a name?
This weeks parsha starts off with a series of names of places (don’t think that sentence was structured very well grammatically, but……who cares), and if we look back to last weeks parsha, where ALL the places which bney yisroel traveled to were mentioned we will realize that some of the places mentioned this week weren’t even mentioned last week! what’s going on?
Rashi indeed asks my question (or is it the other way around……whatever), and he answers that these places indeed had other names (as were mentioned in mas’ey), but the names in this weeks parsha were given to them too cuz they remind us of a certain occurrence which took place in that place.
What’s in a name?
Let’s take “di zahav” for example, the place was known as Sinay and now cuz of the sin which bney yisroel did there it was called something else, which means that the action which took place there changed the entire nature of the place, that is the power actions have.
Every point on the map, as well as every point in time has the potential to go either way, everything begins “nameless” and is named based on the actions of the ppl which lived thru those times and places, Dor hamabul, Dor hamidbar, the occurrences of those times had such a strong effect on the dor that the entire generation was named after what went on.
In every situation we face we can always go 2 ways, many times we think that even if we mess up it’s not a big deal cuz we messed up for that second but once the next second comes up, nobody remembers that we messed up and we can go on with life like nothing ever happened, but that is a very wrong way of looking at things, our actions do indeed leave a trail, the action which we did now labled that entire place, time or situation, and now every time someone looks back at it, it still has that name.
Bney yisroel had long left sinay, 40 years had passed, the whole generation already died out, moshe was on his way out, so many things changed yet hashem is pointing out to us that it is still called “di zahav” the strong effect that the actions had still remained and they continue to till today, the place which originally carried the good and innocent name “Sinay”, had been changed to the tainted “Di zahav”, and it remained so, cuz the actions which bney yisroel did there had changed the entire nature of the place, it gave the place a negative ting, a sin “feeling”, a dark shade (k, k i’ll stop now, i know i’m not very good at painting pictures with words, it’s not my fault that all the words needed for this our 10 levels above mine vocabulary wise!).
THAT’S what’s in a name. and WE r the ones that have the power to name everything………. so take responsibility for your actions, cuz they don’t really go away that easily.
nooseisko: beautiful D’var torah! really enjoyed it! thank you for sharing it with the CR community! a gitten shobbos!
Mussar HaTorah
4 Av, 5769 Vol. 10, No. 39 Parashas Devarim
??? ??????, ??? ??? ??? ??-??-?????, ????, ?????: ????? ????? ??? ??? ???-???? ????-???, ???? ?????–??? ???
Each one of these places are mentioned by Moshe Rabbeinu as a mussar to Klal Yisroel.
????? – Korach
??? ??? – Eygel HaZahav
So why would Moshe give Mussar over the Korach incident prior to mentioning the event of the eygel? It is out of order.
The best way to give mussar is to get the person to recognize it on their own. Using the defendant’s own actions against them. The complaint by Korach was that everyone is holy, thereby a leader is not needed. The events of the eygel, however, occurred due to Klal Yisroel feeling lost without Moshe.
Therefore, Moshe leaves Klal Yisroel, now, with a parting message, if you come now, or in the future with the same claim you made during Korach (i.e. We do not need a leader) Look at the eygel, how quickly you ran to do avoda zara as soon as you had the slightest thought of being leaderless.
JayMatt19- very nice!
thank you
The Following is from the Gevuras Yitzchak on Bein HaMitzarim:
The Shulchan Aruch tells us that we refrain from making the bracha of Shehecheyanu during the 3 weeks. The Magen Avraham asks why this is so, we do not see that an avel can’t make a shehecheyanu. Therefore, we must say that it is the time period which is not conducive for the making of this bracha. However, on Shabbos one can make the bracha. Since the applied reason is the nature of this time period, why is it permitted on Shabbos?
The Gemarra in Gitten explains that the satan has no power in causing machlokes on Shabbos. The Maharal says that Shabbos is Sheleymus (may’ein olam haba), and machlokes is the opposite of sheleymus. We also see the Torah was given on Shabbos due to the Shleymus and achdus involved. Shabbos enabled Klal Yisroel to reach a level of Sheleymus and Achdus.
The Gemarra in Yuma explains that the 1st Beis HaMikdash was destroyed due to the “big three” (murder, idolatry and adultery) and the 2nd Mikdash was destroyed due to sinas chinam. From here we can see that sinas chinam is at least equal to the “big three”. Rabbeinu Yona says that sinas chinam leads to loshon hara and the Chofetz Chaim says, that despite the gemarra mentioning sinas chinam, the gemarra is really referring to loshon hara.
The Yerushalmi Yuma explains the events of Bais Sheini. Since the people at that time they loved money, they developed a jealousy towards one another, which gave birth to sinas chinam and machlokes in Klal Yisroel.
Now we can see why we have the aforementioned din in regards to Shehecheyanu. It has nothing to do with mourning. Since the jealousy of a new item can possibly lead to the sinas chinam and lashon hara which destroyed the beis hamikdash, we will refrain from acting in a way which could spark this jealousy. However, on Shabbos, which is itself Shelaymus and which enables Klal Yisroel to reach great levels of achdus, one need not be worried.
(I hope I said this clearly, I can restate things if unclear)
CC: wonderful peice!
JayMatt: beautiful vort!
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