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by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
TO LIFE!!
Many difficult choices face us daily. Some are seemingly insignificant, and some are critical. Those choices require deep and careful analysis and we hope against hope that we make the correct decision. There is one choice, however, that any fool can make. It is the choice of life. Yet the Torah commands us this week that when faced with the choice of life or death it is incumbent upon us to choose life. “See — I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil… and you shall choose life, so that you will live — you and your offspring.” Deuteronomy 30:15-19
The Torah is filled with 613 Mitzvos. Each and every one of them is imparted to us with a sense of urgency. We are commanded to observe the minor laws with the same fervor as the major ones. Yet the Torah is not content with its charge to keep individual commandments. It culls all the laws under the title of “life” and then commissions us with an additional Mitzvah — “choose life.” Isn’t the objective of this command another angle in which we are again prodded to observe all that has already been commanded? Why does the Torah repeat its original charges as one sumary command? Why aren’t the original 613 sufficient?
The entire Oral Law, Mishnoh, Talmud, etc., is replete with the concept of the world to come. The Sages in Pirkei Avos, explain that, “this world is just a corridor for the world to come. One must prepare himself in the hallway before entering the palace.” If this great world was offered orally, why is it not openly discussed in the text of the Torah? I once heard that the Torah, unlike other religious documents, is telling us, “I am not only promising to deliver a reward in a place you can’t understand. If you fulfill my commandments, I promise reward in this very world!” Hashem guarantees reward in this world. The world to come will be beyond our comprehension but this world will hold more than enough gratification when we act in accordance with his will.
Reb Ahron Kotler of blessed memory, epitomized a life steeped in Torah study. After escaping the ravages of World War II, he established the Kollel (fellowship program) of Beth Medrash Govoah, at Lakewood, New Jersey. It is there that married scholars studied Torah day and night and received a small stipend. After two years of Kollel study one aspiring prodigy had a lucrative business opportunity in which he was guaranteed a very substantial living. He approached Reb Ahron. “Rebbe, is it true that if a businessman supports a Torah scholar in a contractual arrangement, then he shares the reward of the world to come with his partner? Reb Ahron answered in the affirmative, explaining the concept of Yissachar-Zevulun partnership. (Zevulun was a merchant and his brother, Yissachar, was a sage. They entered a business arrangement to share equally both financial and spiritual rewards.) “If that is the case,” the student continued “I’d like to enter into an arrangement with a Kollel member. You see, Rebbe, I have a wonderful opportunity to make quite a bit of money and this way I’ll still be guaranteed the world to come.” Reb Ahron was stunned. “How can you leave learning?” The student responded meekly. “But won’t I still enjoy the world to come?”
“Of course!” exclaimed the Rosh Yeshiva, “but if you leave learning, how will you enjoy this world?”
Reb Ahron understood this week’s Torah’s message to its fullest extent. Observance of Mitzvos is not just a life of extended ritual observance. It is life itself. The Torah has laid a path that if followed precisely will guarantee years of happiness. It will guarantee the ability to overcome perceived suffering. It will guarantee a certain sense of fulfillment way beyond any material gain. The Torah declares, “if you choose a life of Torah, you are not only selecting a set of rituals. You are choosing much more than Tefillin, Mezuzah and Shofar. You are choosing a sum total greater than all of its parts. You are choosing life!”
taken from Torah.org
Wow! Beautiful, kapusta!
Wow, Jax! Amazing story! Looking forward to your full fledge come back!!
mepal: thank you! i back!
YAY!YAY!YAY!
************Mepal’s Wednesday DT**Parshas Netzavim************
Up from the Ashes
As his final days draw near, Moshe in his capacity as compassionate leader qua reproving prophet warns his nation to adhere to the mitzvos even after they leave his watch. He warns of those who may be smug in their complacency, and overtly defy G-d’s will. “Perhaps there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from being with Hashem, our G-d, to go and serve the gods of those nations; perhaps there is among you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood. And it will be that when he hears the words of this forewarning, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, “Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit” — thereby adding the watered upon the thirsty” (Deuteronomy 29:17-18).
Moshe warns the Jews of the wrath of Hashem at such overt rebellion and apathy. “Sulfur and salt, a conflagration of the entire Land, it cannot be sown and it cannot sprout, and no grass shall rise up on it; like the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Hashem overturned in His anger and wrath.” (ibid v. 20). Moshe continues his predictions of obliteration and doom, presciently foretelling of tragedies strikingly similar to those that befell Jewish communities beginning with the Babylonian Exile to the apocalyptic destruction of European Jewry to perhaps the daily acts of devastations that seem to permeate our sense of normalcy on a daily basis.
But in a verse that seems paradoxically both cryptic and revealing, Moshe comforts his flock with the words, “The hidden is for Hashem, our G-d, but the revealed are for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah” (ibid v. 28). What does that mean? Do we not know that only G-d can see hidden actions. Is that a message of hope or a warning to vision-limited mortals?Rabbi Berel Wein relates the story of Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog’s visit to Chicago, Illinois following World War II. The entire Torah-revering community gathered at the airport. All the day schools and Yeshivos sent their students to greet the Rabbi, and many prominent lay leaders left their businesses to join as well.
Rabbi Herzog, his distinguished frame, unbent from the enduring pain of the plight of his brothers and sisters, in Europe and Palestine, walked upstanding and tall down the silver airplane steps, his silver tipped cane in one hand, his head majestically adorned with his signature top hat.
He was led to a podium from which he delivered a lecture on a complicated portion of the Talmud.
When he finished, his face immediately lost its radiance, and became somber and staid.
“I come not from Jerusalem,” he told the assembled, “I come from Rome. I have just met with Pope Pious.
During the terrible war, many children were sheltered in monasteries across Europe. The kind Christians saved them from the Nazis. I asked him to release those children, back to their heritage. Let them be raised as Jews.” Suddenly, to the shock of the children and the awe of the adults, the Rabbi began to cry.
“The Pope did not acquiesce. He said that once a child is baptized, he can never be returned.”
Rabbi Herzog trembled as he continued to sob uncontrollably. He looked at the assembled children
“My dear children,” he wailed, “We lost them! Then his demeanor changed, as a ray of hope sparkled from his eyes. “We lost them,” he repeated, “but, ” he continued, as he locked his eyes at the young faces, who stared directly at his teary eyes, “WE HAVE YOU! WE HAVE YOU!”
Moshe warns his kinsman that Jews will one day go astray; they will be exiled, with calamitous results. Perhaps his next prescient words imply rhetorical answers to the questions of faith we will have about the innocent victims of those calamitous conquests, crusades, and crematoriums, and contrived calamities.
Moshe tells us that there are no all-encompassing answers for mortal minds. The answers are hidden. Similar to the souls in question, the answers are with G-d. And so, after warning of doom and disaster, Moshe explains, “The hidden is for Hashem, our G-d.”
We, those remaining, however, must deal with what we do know. We must comfort and place our hopes with the remnants of the charred edifices and face the future. We must build from the ashes of our despair, whether it be the ashes of Auschwitz or the embers of eateries in Jerusalem, or the scarred skeletons of a skyline. For those we lose are now “hidden, with Hashem,” but as Moshe taught us, “the revealed are for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah.”
By: Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
************mepal’s DT for Wednesday**Parshas Netzavim************
Up from the Ashes
As his final days draw near, Moshe in his capacity as compassionate leader qua reproving prophet warns his nation to adhere to the mitzvos even after they leave his watch. He warns of those who may be smug in their complacency, and overtly defy G-d’s will. “Perhaps there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from being with Hashem, our G-d, to go and serve the gods of those nations; perhaps there is among you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood. And it will be that when he hears the words of this forewarning, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, “Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit” — thereby adding the watered upon the thirsty” (Deuteronomy 29:17-18).
Moshe warns the Jews of the wrath of Hashem at such overt rebellion and apathy. “Sulfur and salt, a conflagration of the entire Land, it cannot be sown and it cannot sprout, and no grass shall rise up on it; like the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Hashem overturned in His anger and wrath.” (ibid v. 20). Moshe continues his predictions of obliteration and doom, presciently foretelling of tragedies strikingly similar to those that befell Jewish communities beginning with the Babylonian Exile to the apocalyptic destruction of European Jewry to perhaps the daily acts of devastations that seem to permeate our sense of normalcy on a daily basis.
But in a verse that seems paradoxically both cryptic and revealing, Moshe comforts his flock with the words, “The hidden is for Hashem, our G-d, but the revealed are for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah” (ibid v. 28). What does that mean? Do we not know that only G-d can see hidden actions. Is that a message of hope or a warning to vision-limited mortals?Rabbi Berel Wein relates the story of Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog’s visit to Chicago, Illinois following World War II. The entire Torah-revering community gathered at the airport. All the day schools and Yeshivos sent their students to greet the Rabbi, and many prominent lay leaders left their businesses to join as well.
Rabbi Herzog, his distinguished frame, unbent from the enduring pain of the plight of his brothers and sisters, in Europe and Palestine, walked upstanding and tall down the silver airplane steps, his silver tipped cane in one hand, his head majestically adorned with his signature top hat.
He was led to a podium from which he delivered a lecture on a complicated portion of the Talmud.
When he finished, his face immediately lost its radiance, and became somber and staid.
“I come not from Jerusalem,” he told the assembled, “I come from Rome. I have just met with Pope Pious.
During the terrible war, many children were sheltered in monasteries across Europe. The kind Christians saved them from the Nazis. I asked him to release those children, back to their heritage. Let them be raised as Jews.” Suddenly, to the shock of the children and the awe of the adults, the Rabbi began to cry.
“The Pope did not acquiesce. He said that once a child is baptized, he can never be returned.”
Rabbi Herzog trembled as he continued to sob uncontrollably. He looked at the assembled children
“My dear children,” he wailed, “We lost them! Then his demeanor changed, as a ray of hope sparkled from his eyes. “We lost them,” he repeated, “but, ” he continued, as he locked his eyes at the young faces, who stared directly at his teary eyes, “WE HAVE YOU! WE HAVE YOU!”
Moshe warns his kinsman that Jews will one day go astray; they will be exiled, with calamitous results. Perhaps his next prescient words imply rhetorical answers to the questions of faith we will have about the innocent victims of those calamitous conquests, crusades, and crematoriums, and contrived calamities.
Moshe tells us that there are no all-encompassing answers for mortal minds. The answers are hidden. Similar to the souls in question, the answers are with G-d. And so, after warning of doom and disaster, Moshe explains, “The hidden is for Hashem, our G-d.”
We, those remaining, however, must deal with what we do know. We must comfort and place our hopes with the remnants of the charred edifices and face the future. We must build from the ashes of our despair, whether it be the ashes of Auschwitz or the embers of eateries in Jerusalem, or the scarred skeletons of a skyline. For those we lose are now “hidden, with Hashem,” but as Moshe taught us, “the revealed are for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah.”
By: Rabbi M. Kamenetzky
mepal: that was a great DT! thank you for sharing it!
We r instructed in this weeks parsha to choose life over death………let’s repeat that sentence, we r INSTRUCTED…..to choose life over death! how lowly does g-d think of us (r”l), doesn’t he trust us to chose life over death based on the simple fact that we are the highest form of intelligence on the face of this earth (well most of us are……… and even the others still rank pretty high) so why do we have to be commanded to do such a thing????????????
Let’s see if I can get outta this one.
Naturally speaking, we should be absolutely petrified of the retribution we will suffer [and we WILL suffer]
And so, hashem did a chessed with us and he took this natural fright away from us, in order to LET US LIVE! however we can now come and complain to him, that we never have a chance of doing what’s right, cuz he deprived us from our natural, defense from bad. right? wrong, cuz all he did was take away the exaggerated fear we would have had, and he left us with the ability to work on ourselves and reach a balanced fear, which will on the one hand stop us from sinning, yet on the other still allow us to roam this earth freely.
Same goes for death.
Naturally speaking we should be so scared of death that we would not be able to live! (so witty!!!!!!) we would be so scared of the idea that our life could end at any given moment, that even while being alive, for all intents a purposes we would be dead, “dead man walking” would become the norm. And so hashem did a chessed with us and removed that natural fright from us. Once again giving us the ability to work on ourselves and get to the level where we have a healthy balance between fearing death and living life. Why should we wanna fear death? once again as a tool to help us do right, if we realize that at any given moment we might be on the next train (or plane) to the next world, we will be more careful with how we spend our time down here.
We must choose death, but more importantly we must choose life, we must realize that hahsem never intended us to be so scared of death that we will not be able to live our lives, he just intended us to fear death so that we should not sin, sounds simple but not so easy to implement, SO not simple that hashem had to make a seemingly ridiculous (r”l) demand of us. CHOOSE LIFE!!!!
Mussar HaTorah
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????? ????, ??-??? ?????? ??? ???? ????–??-???? ???, ???? ?????; ????-? ??? ???, ?? ???? ??-????? ???.
R’ Moshe Feinstein asks, Why the double Lashon? Why does it say both ??-???? ???, ???? ????? (I cannot go or come) and ????-? ??? ???, ?? ???? ??-????? ??? (And Hashem told me I cannot cross the Jordan).
R’ Moshe says that Moshe Rabbeinu is giving Klal Yisroel an important mussar. A person has bechira, free choice. Moshe too could have chosen to go against Hashem’s will and tried to enter Eretz Yisroel.
When something is forbidden to us, we must view it as “we are incapable of doing it”. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu is teaching us here. Our game plan for battle against our yetzer hara should not be “I’m going to chose the other way” but rather we should view that which is assur as something which is impossible for us to do, just like Moshe did here.
nooseisko, 72, CC, & Jaymatt: all wonderful DT”s!
kisiva v’chasima tova!
Please excuse me, this one will be done off the cuff and by memory (and it might look like nooseisko wrote it). I saw this in the Lekach Tov on ROsh Hashana.
The shofar is one of our greatest weapons against our prosecutor. Yet when Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos, as it does this year, we don’t blow on Shabbos.
Why don’t we blow when it falls on Shabbos. The Gemarra tells us that we are afraid that there will be an unskilled ba’al tokeah, who might end up carrying his Shofar accidentally, when he needs to find out how to blow. Lets look at this, the ENTIRE KLAL YISROEL needs to put down the shofar and face the full wrath of the Yetzer Hara prosecuting us without our main weapon BECAUSE ONE OR TWO YOKELS MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY CARRY A SHOFAR IN PUBLIC?!?
In the words of a hotheaded American Tennis Player: YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!
The answer is extremely simple and equally as terrifying. We only think this is a question because we do not know how bad aveiros are. We put down the Shofar because it will be better for ganz Klal Yisroel to be without the Shofar than to have 1 or 2 averos b’shogeg added against us.
As we approach Rosh Hashana, Aseres Y’Mei Teshuva and Yom Kippor. We must heed this mussar as to how bad averos are and how far we go to avoid them. If this is how far we extend ourselves to prevent an aveira b’shogeg, imagine how horrible an aveira b’meizid is.
kapustas DT for monday
Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi Label Lam
First in the Mind!
Who can stand confidently on Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashana, before the bright and precise light of truth? How can we sing and eat when so much hangs in the balance?
On Rosh Hashana, the Head of the Year, there is no mention in the liturgy of misdeeds of the past. Neither are we being asked to make resolutions about the future. Our sages tell us that at the moment when the Shofar is sounding, a grand review of the troops is sweeping by and the heart of hearts is open for inspection.
Who are we in the existential nausea of the “now”, stripped of the resume of the past and without plans for the future? What is the focus of this inspection that so means so much? Rav Dessler writes, “The essence of the man is his “will!” The quality of a person’s being is measurable by what he or she really wants!
The Ohr Gedaliahu helps enormously with his profound explanation of the sagely statement, “Nothing stands before the will!” What can it mean? Many things block the will and stand as an impasse to our desires. When we think we can always get what we want, we get frustrated.
He explains that in the arena of action, because our bank accounts and reach are finite, our ability to give and do is by definition limited. In the world of speech, though, I can pledge and thank in the millions and still be considered reasonable. In the context of pure thought, however, we are potentially boundless.
If for a few inspired moments one could be liberated from the limitation of expectation, and concentrate, even briefly, upon an ideal self in a perfected world, then yesterday would cease to be the dictator of tomorrow and last year over this. Change and growth would suddenly become possible and the grant of a contract for a new, more productive year, more justifiable.
If nothing stands before the will/wanting, then we can stand before the keenest eye. In that arena there may be little difference between anyone of us and the greatest people that strode across the planet. We can be included with the Chofetz Chaim, the Vilna Gaon, Avraham or Yitzchak, wanting the best for Hashem’s world and its citizens and willing, even if not able, to give it all to make it happen.
In prison, a little more than ten years ago, as a visitor of course, I brought a colleague of mine who travels widely as a guest speaker. Not so surprisingly, the prisoners crave to know what’s going on “out there”, as they live somewhat vicariously through the adventures of others.
They nudged the Rabbi with desperation to tell them where he had been recently. He answered glibly, “I was just in the world’s largest prison and there I confronted the most fierce warden of them all!” Some started to guess which place and person he was referring to.
After they got quiet again, he told them, “The largest prison in the world is the whole world!” I felt an awkward silence in the room and I glanced up sideways as if to signal that he ought not to continue peddling these soft parables. “All of us would love to go to that prison! Let us go out there!” They chorused.
The second answer shed light on the first and his words became poignantly clear. “Who’s the most fierce warden? Myself!” He said. “This guard keeps you from going a few feet to your left and right! This one stops you from getting beyond that point! Who keeps us from going up, from climbing vertically, transcending the confines of place and reaching the fullness of our real potential, even here? Nobody but ourselves.”
I know it was ten years ago, plus, because my youngest son was born then a few weeks later. Thirty seconds into the world, I held him for the first time. Maybe it was the foot printing that reminded me and signaled this initial response but the first words that escaped from my mouth at that time was, “Welcome to the prison!”
Here, this lofty soul, bigger than the entire universe, aware of the whole Torah on some sublime level has just been crushed into this tiny body, sans teeth and sans vocabulary. Oy! Oy! Oy! I pray the warden will have mercy.
How’s a holy soul to gain wholesome expression in this world? Who’s gonna heed the Shofar-like cry when his deepest desires are thwarted and hope is almost expired? In one humble and lucid moment, though, a world of possibility is born, and what may have appeared at first to be a giant prison of sorts can be transformed into an ideal — but first in the mind.
jaymatt & kapusta: thank you both for helping to set the tone!
Thanks jaymatt! Really puts things into perspective!
kapusta, WOW! Beautiful point! Thanks for sharing it with us!
I have to give a speech in my ENGLISH class in school. It has to be on a D’var Torah. It has to be about 3 minutes in length. It has to have a moral. I am not in the mood of reading every d’var Torah, so if anyone knows of a good d’var Torah posted that fits these requirements i would appreciate if you let me know. Also if you know of a dvar Torah that is not posted here that fits these requirements i would appreciate if you took the time to post it. I NEED a good grade!!!
Thanks,
Mi Keamcha Yisroel
MKY, simple. Read thru this thread.
************Jax’s Tuesday DVAR TORAH: Rosh Hashana***************
On Rosh Hashana we are reminded that Hashem created and runs the world with a loving plan whether we understand it or not, as the following tale, illustrates:
There was a couple that used to go to England to shop in a beautiful antique store. Spotting an exceptional teacup, they asked, “May we see that? We’ve never seen a cup quite so beautiful.”
The lady handed it to them and suddenly the teacup spoke, “You don’t understand” It said, “I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out…Don’t do that! I don’t like it! Let me alone.”
But, he only smiled and gently said; “Not yet!!”
Then…WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. ‘Stop it! I’m getting so dizzy! I’m going to be sick!’ I screamed.
But the master only nodded and said, quietly; ‘Not yet.’
He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then…
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. ” Help! Get me out of here!” I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, ‘Not yet’.
“When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! “Ah, this is much better,” I thought.
But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Oh, please; Stop it, Stop it!!’ I cried.
He only shook his head and said. ‘Not yet!’.
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited — and waited, wondering “What’s he going to do to me next?”
An hour later he handed me a mirror and said ‘Look at yourself.’ And I did. I said, “That’s not me; that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful!” Quietly he spoke: “I want you to remember, then,” he said, “I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you’d have dried up.
I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.
I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked.
I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life.
If I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long because the hardness would not have held.
Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”
Hashem is the loving Potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Have a kisiva v’chasima Tova! and a gut ge’benched yar!
Wow! Beautiful, Jax!
So far i will either pick mepal’s suggestion which is beautiful or Jax’s d’var Torah which is also beautiful. Thank you Jax and Mepal.
If anyone one has one that fits the requirements i gave i would appreciate if he posted it.
Thanks,
MKY
Jax, you’re a tzaddik!
************Mepals DT for Wednesday-ROSH HASHANA************
Those are the Questions?
By Rabbi Label Lam
These are six questions, the Talmud tells us we are all to face after 120 years. The Maharal explains that these six questions are an initial entrance exam to discover whether we were dominated by the material or the spiritual aspect of our personalities. Were we in fact physical creatures having an occasional spiritual experience or were we spiritual beings in physical forms? He gives a thumbnail description of what is actually being determined by each of the questions as they climb in order of importance. For Example:
1-Honesty in Business: Was the person a giver or a taker. Was the animal part of us which is selfish and feels separate the mover and shaker of our lives? Or was the transcendent and caring part under control? Were we panicked and greedy in our relationships or were we capable of being calm and generous.
2-Fixing times for Torah: Was the person materially-oriented or guided by principle? Fixing times for Torah implies mastery over the clock and the calendar. Being haphazard in learning is to drift and risk living reactively to the matter and mood of the moment.
3-Being fruitful and multiplying: Was the person an isolate-individualist or fundamentally communal? Did we live just for ourselves, indulgent our needs and wants or did we understand our mission here to be for the sake of making a difference for others?
4-Anticipating the redemption: Was the person unrealized or actualized potential? When some native good is unused over time one feels trapped and grows cynical about him-self and subsequently the rest of the world, perceiving it to be a forever stuck and unfixable place. The moment, however, we make even the slightest real step of improvement then there is the opposite tendency to project a sense of hope and possibility upon the universe. The world is not fat! It has not yet learned the secret of proper diet and exercise! So we grow in hope and expect ever more the redemption as we know through our own experience positive change is possible.
5-Developing intellect in pursuance of wisdom: Was the person striving to perfect their perception of reality or not? The human intellect is the most uniquely profound piece of matter in the universe. It is the prize of all prizes to possess. When it is dedicated to and saturated with The Divine Mind called Torah Wisdom then the person is lifted beyond the daily dust of existence and is tinged with a deeply tuned-in quality akin to perfection.
6-Fear of Heaven: Was the person living with a daily awareness that he is a piece of creation absolutely dependant upon A Creator? Does he realize that he has no existence or stance in reality without that Creator? Perhaps, the person, G-d forbid, lived with a fanciful illusion that he created himself, designed his talents, and molded his circumstances and he therefore has no need to express a molecule gratitude for a lifetime of blessings. (#6 is the key to the first 5)
It is certainly worthwhile to have in advance some insight into the screening process that measures our real level of success when we reach that ultimate Day of Judgment. It may also help us to prioritize as we gear up for a Judgment Day that the will impact the whole world for an entire year. How will it be? How will we be? Those are the questions!
Ksiva Vhachasima Tova and A Gut Gebenched Yar to all! May all your tefillos be answered l’tova!
To whomever is doing the sign up board.
Not sure I’ll be able to do the Sunday Night (Motzei Yom Tov) DT this week.
I am also unsure if I’ll be able to do both my day’s next week as well.
Sorry in advance, and a ksiva v’chasima tova to all
Mussar HaTorah
1 Tishrei, 5770 Vol. 10, No. 47 Rosh HaShana
mepal: great Rosh Hashana peice!
CC: shkoyack was great!
i’ll fill in for Jaymatt with DT’s in his absence!
Jax’s DT for Thursday-subbing for nooseisko!
*******D’Var Torah Rosh Hashana******
Rosh Hashana is known as Yom HaDin. The Heavenly Court judges our actions of the previous year and determines our fate for the coming year. It is imperative that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds. Not only are the deeds themselves counted, but the ramifications of these deeds count. Not only do the number of deeds count but the quality counts, as the following tale, originally told by the venerable Rabbi Elias Schwartz illustrates:
A miser once died and was called before the heavenly court. In the courtroom there stood a scale. His good deeds were placed on one side. His bad deeds were placed on the other. Prosecuting Angels came and placed numerous deeds on the sinful side of the scale, while the mitzvah side remained empty. This scale would determine his fate in the next world and things were not looking good.
The man cried out, “Surely I must have some merit.”
At that point a scrawny little angel limped in and placed two small coins on the scale. Not much happened. The angel left and returned, limping back in with a loaf of bread which he threw on the scale. Still not much.
Again the angel returned dragging in a sack of flour which he heaved onto the scale. It still wasn’t enough to tip the scale in the old man’s favor.
Now the angel came back to the courtroom hauling in a huge farm plow. The weight of the plow was enough to offset the other side. The good now outweighed the bad. The man now received a favorable judgment.
The man was totally grateful and asked the angel where he came from and where he got these items from. The angel explained that with every mitzvah a person does, an angel is created. This angel defends you in the Heavenly Court. I am such an angel.
The angel related, “Once, a poor man came to you begging for alms. You gave the man two coins. With that, he had amassed just enough money to buy a loaf of bread that he needed to feed his family.”
“The baker, after selling that last loaf of bread was able to buy another sack of flour that he needed to continue his business. The farmer after selling that one more sack of flour, was finally able to afford the new plow which he desperately needed to continue his farming operation.”
“You got credit for all these good things that you set into motion with your one deed,” explained the angel to the man.
“I am so thankful to you for saving me; but, tell me: Why did it=2 0take you so long to show up? Why are you limping?”
“I guess you truly don’t remember,” replied the angel, “The truth is that when that poor man first asked you for help, you refused. He pleaded with you a second time and you still refused. Finally he begged you for assistance with his sustenance. At that point you threw the two coins at him, stomping your feet and screaming. At the moment you threw the coins at him, I was created.”
“But why do you limp?” asked the man.
Not only are the deeds themselves counted, but the ramifications of these deeds count. Not only do the number of deeds count but the quality counts!
– – – – –
May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life. May we all merit a good, sweet, new year,
Jax
Jax’s DT- Subbing for JayMatt, for Motzei Rosh Hashana (Sunday night’s DT)
DVAR TORAH: Teshuva
Two men were in the royal prison. One day, one of the walls collapsed, allowing the prisoners to escape. One of the men immediately seized the opportunity to escape. He asked his friend if he was coming. The friend declined, not wanting to break the law again.
Later, the King’s Guard arrived and found that one man escaped while the other, who could have easily have escaped as well, was still sitting there in his cell.
The guard began to furiously beat that man with his club. The man asked the guard, “Why are you beating me? It was my cellmate who transgressed by fleeing!”
“Yes, but you had an opportunity and didn’t take it. For that I beat you!”
The prisoner by not escaping showed that in his mind, the prison was not such a terrible place to be!
??? traps us in a prison. We become so set in our bad ways and so full of shame that it is difficult to repent. We have a golden opportunity to break out of that prison and do Teshuva. Hashem gives this opportunity every day – and even more so with Rosh Hashana just ending, and Yom Kippor approaching near. Were we not to seize this opportunity to escape, we would be showing that in our minds, the prison of ??? is not such a terrible place to be. That would be the saddest shame of all.
Have an easy fast today!
G’mar Chasima Tova,
Jax
(this DT is was already posted by me, yet is being re-posted to set the tone for Yom Kippor)
kapusta’s DT for monday
Unstoppable Force
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
The final song of Moshe’s life is read this week. Appropriate as a prelude to Yom Kippur, it talks about the great potential that the Jewish nation has within its very essence. Moshe tells us to “Remember the days of yore, understand the years of generation after generation. Ask your father, and he will relate it to you, and your elders, and they will tell you” (Deuteronomy 32:7-8). He reminds us of the glory days, when Hashem asked us to be His chosen people, accepting the yoke of Torah observance. But Moshe does not stop there. Using our tremendous capacity as a role of responsibility, he warns us of the calamitous effect if we waste or misuse our talents.
Despite the harrowing foreshadowing of disaster, however, the verses of misfortune contain a message of hope as well. Moshe once again warns us of Hashem’s potential wrath; yet a blessing lies within his curse, defining the very essence of the physiological indestructibility of the Jewish nation.
In predicting calamitous repercussions of sin, Moshe speaks for Hashem and declares, “I shall accumulate evils against them. My arrows I shall use up against them.” What does that mean?
Rashi explains the verse according to a Talmudic explanation in Tractate Sotah. “My arrows will come to an end, but they themselves will not come to an end.”
The question is obvious. Is G-d’s quiver limited? Can the L-rd ever be bereft of ammunition? How is it possible that the Heavenly arsenal, equipped with more power than an atomic armory, will spend its ammunition without achieving total annihilation?
Reb Yosef Friedenson, editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort, tells the story of how he and a group of friends were in a smithy shop in the iniquitous labor camp in the town of Starachowice. The camp was notorious, and though the overseer of the factory in which they worked, a man named Pape, treated them kindly, one mistake meant that a German guard would treat them as saboteurs and shoot them dead.
Assigned to the Herman Goering works one Shmini Atzeres, they were not told what their job was for that day. And so, to fulfill their holiday spirit, they broke out in a traditional song, Ain Adir kaHashem, Ain Baruch k’ben Amram (There is none as powerful as Hashem nor blessed as Moshe, the son of Amram).
Pape was shocked. Despite the torture the humiliation, and the endless poison-tipped arrows of the Holocaust, these people were singing!
Noted scientist Isaac Asimov compiled a book of 3,000 interesting facts about the universe, history, and science. In it he deals with a longstanding question: “What would happen if an irresistible force met an immovable body?” Asimov explains that the question is ludicrous. He simply explains a physical fact. “In a universe where one of the above conditions exists, by definition the other cannot exist.”
And so the Torah tells us something about the promise that Hashem made to His people. They are an immovable object. Hashem’s unremitting commitment for his children has declared Judaism impregnable. And so the physical arrows He may send to chastise them cannot forever continue. They must eventually expire. As long as we understand the immovable body of the Rock of our faith, we are assured that there no longer exists an irresistible force to budge our eternity.
taken from torah.org
Wow. Beautiful point, kapusta.
kapusta: real nice DT!
Jax’s Tuesday DVAR TORAH: Yom Kippur
[Liturgy]
A little girl and her fath er were crossing a flimsy bridge. The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter: “Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don’t fall into the river.”
The little girl said, “No, Dad. You hold my hand.”
“What’s the difference?” asked the puzzled father.
“There is a big difference,” replied the little girl. “Dad, if I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But, if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go.”
On Yom Kippur we must remember that Hashem loves us with an infinite love and is waiting to hear our Tefillos and give us what we need. Even if our ????? are black as night, Hashem is waiting with open arms to lovingly receive us, just as a parent will always yearn for a child to return.
May we pour our hearts out to Hashem on Yom Kippur with purity and deep sincerity. May Hashem grant us a happy, healthy and sweet new year!
G’mar chasima Tova!
Jax
amen, very nice! thank you for sharing, Jax.
Jax- thanks for the inspiration and these timely reminders
**************mepal’s DT for Wednesday Parshas Haazinu*************
Echoes from Heaven
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetsky
This week’s portion begins with Moshe’s poetic plea, ” Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and may the earth hear the words of my mouth.” (Deuteronomy 32:1)
The verb tense differs dramatically from the beginning of the sentence to the end. Normally a plea is said in the active tense. It is uttered as a command. “Give ear O heavens.” “Listen my people.” “Lend me your ear.” When it comes to the heavens, Moshe expresses his appeal in an active manner. When it comes to the earth however, the expression becomes passive: “May the earth hear.” It is almost as if he is not commanding but submissively acquiescing. “I cannot command the earth to pay attention, rather, may it overhear my pleas.”
The Ohr HaChaim points out this anomaly and wonders why Moshe tells the heavens to listen, but he does not include the earth in that directive. Instead Moshe says that the earth shall hear, almost as if the proverbial earth is listening in the background to the prophecy he directed toward their heavenly counterparts.
Rabbi Yissachar Frand, Magid Shiur in Yeshiva Ner Israel, Baltimore, and noted author and lecturer, tells a story that he heard from a Rabbi in Dallas, Texas.
One day a man walked into the office of his orthodox shul in Dallas. The man was obviously not an observant Jew. In fact, the Rabbi never saw him in the synagogue before.
“Rabbi,” he said, “I’d like to make a contribution.” . He proceeded to hand over a check for ten thousand dollars.
The rabbi was flabbergasted. He did not know this man, nor had the man ever seen the Rabbi. Yet, he just handed over a tremendous gift to the synagogue. “Please, ” said the rabbi. “There must be a reason. After all, you are giving this donation to a rabbi whom you do not know and to a shul in which you do not participate. Please tell me the reason.”
“The man answered very simply. “Not long ago I was in Israel. I went to the Wall. There I saw a man. He was obviously a very observant Jew. He was praying with such fervor, with unparalleled enthusiasm and feeling. I just stood there and listened. I heard his pleas and supplications, I saw him sway with all his might, I saw his outpouring of faith, love, and devotion all harmoniously blending as an offering to G-d. From the day I saw that man pray, I could not get him out of my mind. If this is Judaism, I want to be part of it. I want to help perpetuate it.” Perhaps Moshe is teaching us the significance of an active, forceful, message and its passive ramifications. Effective influence may not only come when talking to a particular individual, rather it may also come when others hear.
My grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky of blessed memory, explains that the word for influence in the Hebrew language, hashpa’ah, comes from the same root as the word slant or incline, shipuah. There are two ways to water a garden; one is to douse the vegetation directly. That takes effort and constant wetting. A better way that is more practical is to build a slated roof from which the steady flow of rain will irrigate the vegetation. Moshe teaches us that to the heavens we may have to shout. But we don’t have to shout at the earth. Because when we speak to the heavens with fervor and enthusiasm, the earth listens as well.
Gmar Chasima Tova!
Very nice, mepal. Thanx for sharing.
Thanks for reading 😉
Bit not my style……but i’ll give it a try anyway. and sorry bout last week!!!
This really is more connected to the high holidays than the parsha, but at the end of the day it ties into the parsha AS well…. so i guess it qualifies (for what??)
I saw in the Sfas Emes that the the rosh [i.e the rishon] (and someone else..can;t remember who) says that the main part of the mitzva of shofar is not the blowing but the hearing.
This was quite surprising to me, cuz i thought that it was a regular mitzva, like kiddush for instance, 1 guy can make kiddush for everyone, but technically speaking everyone is obligated to make their own, it;s just that thru “shomeah ke’oneh” and “oneh kemedaber” everyone can be yotze. and so to me, that was the way that all mitzvas work. technically a person should preform the mitzva on his own, but there are ways in which 1 person can do the action and others can be included,
So what is so “special” or “different” bout shofar, that the actual mitzva ends up being different than other mitzvas?
The answer you are about to read, is in NO WAY a pshat/halachik answer, it is drush/cute at best, and more likely incorrect/weird, and yet…… i plan on giving you every detail of it!!!
HAZEEENU, that’s what it’s all about, listen. listen and listen again.
Rosh hashana is all bout pronouncing “hashem is the king”, we pronounce hashem as being our sole (and soul) owner, he rules us, and………………. and that is exactly the question, where do we take it from that?
If all we do on rosh hashana is pronounce hashem is the king, but we don’t kow where we are supposed to take that, we don’t understand the ramifications, then to a degree, the pronouncement is useless.
Fine we pronounced hashem is the king, but now what?
This is where the mitzva comes in. As we mentioned b4 the mitzva is simply to listen, all we have to do after we pronounce hashem is king, is to shut up, sit down and listen to what he has to say to us. Hashem gave us a torah, a life manual, a 100% guarantee that if we do as it says we will accomplish what it is we were sent down here for! and so…………listen
In my opinion that is what the shofar (in part) is coming so teach us, and that is why (once again NOT pshat) as apposed to many other mitzvas, HERE the mitzva is to just listen.
Thank you, nooseisko. Very nice.
mepal: very nice, thanks for posting! & thank you!
nooseisko: very nice, thanks for posting!
areivim: thank you for taking the time out to read it! nice to see when others are reading the DT’s that get posted!
???? ???, ????? ??-??-???? ?????-????–????? ???: ???, ????? ??-???
Why does Moshe refer to Yehoshua here without the yud?
The Kli Yakar says that this is because Yehoshua didn’t need it anymore. Yehoshua got the yud in a tfilla from Moshe, asking for assistance against the meraglim. Now that all from the dor hameraglim have passed on, there is no place left for this tfilla.
I’d like to wish all of you a gmar chasima tova. Please take me off the sign up sheet. It looks like I will only be attending the CR sporadically, if at all.
kapusta’s DT for monday
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
The Talmud in Tractate Avodah Zarah talks about the future. It details for us a scenario that will occur after the final redemption, when the G-d of the Jews and His Torah are known and accepted by all of mankind. The entire world will see the great reward meted to the small nation that endured an incessant exile while following the Torah scrupulously. Then the idol-worshippers from other nations will line up before G-d and complain, “what about us?” Had we been given the Torah we, too, would surely have kept it! Why are you only rewarding the Jewish people?” The Talmud tells us that G-d makes a deal. “All right,” He tells them. “I’ll give you one easy mitzvah. If you observe it correctly, fine. However, if you do not, then your complaints are meaningless.
The Talmud tells us He will give them the mitzvah of Sukkah. G-d will then take out the sun in all its glory and the protection of the Sukkah will be no match for its rays. These idol-worshippers, predicts the Talmud, will kick the walls of the Sukkah and flee in disgust.
There are many mitzvos in the Torah. 613 to be exact. And there are quite a number of difficult ones. Some are conducive to despair and disheartenment without a broiling sun. Why, then, was the mitzvah of Sukkah chosen to be the cause celebre that differentiates our commitment to that of an idolator?
Rabbi Paysach Krohn, in his first book of the Magid Series tells the story of a Reb Avraham who was about to enter a restaurant one late spring afternoon. Upon entering, he noticed a familiar vagrant Jew, known to all as Berel the beggar, meandering outside.
Reb Berel, rumor had it, was a formidable Torah scholar back in the old country, but had his life shattered physically and emotionally by Nazi atrocities. He was a recluse, no one knew exactly where or how he lived: but he bothered no one, and not too many people bothered with him.
Reb Avraham asked the loner to join him for a meal. He was about to make a business trip up to Binghamton and figured that he might as well prepare for the trip with more than a hot meal – he would begin it with a good deed.
Reb Berel gladly accepted the offer; however, when it came time to order, he asked for nothing more than two baked apples and a hot tea. Reb Avraham’s prodding could do nothing to increase the poor man’s order. “All I need are two baked apples and a steaming tea,” he insisted.
Reb Avraham’s trip to Binghamton was uneventful until the rain and the darkness began to fall almost simultaneously. As if dancing in step, the darker it got, the heavier the deluge fell. All Reb Avraham remembered was the skidding that took him over the divider and into oncoming traffic on Route 17 in Harriman, New York. He came to shortly after two tow trucks had pulled his wrecked car from a ditch and lifted him to safety. Refusing hospitalization, he was driven to a nearby motel that was owned by the Friedmans, a Jewish couple who were readying the place for the summer migrations.
Mr. Friedman saw the battered Reb Avraham and quickly prepared a comfortable room for him. His wife quickly prepared a little something for him to eat. She brought it out to a shocked and bewildered Reb Avraham. On her serving tray were two baked apples and a glass of steaming tea.
When the Jews left Egypt, they had nothing to look at in the vast desert but faith. They built simple huts, almost in declaration: “Hashem we will do ours, we are sure You will do yours.” And those simple huts, those Sukkos, protected them from the heat, the cold, the wind, and the unknown. Hashem tells the prophet Jeremiah to tell his folk, “I remember the kindness of your youth as you followed Me in an unsowed desert.” (Jeremiah 2:2)
Perhaps when the final redemption arrives, it will again be the simple Sukkah that will stand as the protectorate and advocate of the People who stood for 2,000 years in the face of idolators, who invited the Jews to join them… or die. So, when we enter the Sukkah this year, let us remember that it is only a small Sukkah stop on a long journey home. And when we arrive there, the Sukkah will be there once again to greet us as it was more than 3,300 years ago in the Sinai Desert. After all, it’s nice to be served at the end of a 2,000-year-long journey with just desserts.
taken from Torah.org
Sukkos – Certainty From Uncertainty
“In order that your generations know that I caused the Children of Israel to live in Succos when I brought them out from the land of Egypt.” (Vayikra 23:43)
It will soon be the holiday of Succos. The commandment is to live in a room with a roof made from “sechach.” Sechach is any unprocessed plant growth which has been cut from the ground, and arranged as the roof of the Succah. Generally we build a small hut in the back yard, and cover it with sechach, and decorate it, and it becomes our living quarters for seven days. Why? The reason is given in the passage quoted above. It gives us the knowledge that the Children of Israel lived in Succos when G-d brought them out from Egypt.
What exactly does it mean that our generations should “know” that the Children of Israel dwelled in Succos when they left Egypt, and what knowledge do we gain from living in the Succah that we don’t get from reading about it?
The Holiday of Succos occurs in the fall, at the time that the crops which were harvested (in Israel) at the beginning of the summer and were drying are gathered in to the storehouses. The cycle of the hard work of farming has (hopefully) borne fruit, and we are set for the year to come. At this point there is a very great concern that we not attribute our success and security to the “edifices” of our own efforts alone.
“Be carefully that you not forget G-d…You may eat and be satisfied, building fine houses and living in them…Your herds and flocks may increase…But your heart may then grow haughty and you may forget G-d…and you may say ‘it was my own strength and personal power that brought me all of this prosperity’. ” (Devarim 8:11-17)
“You shall make the Festival of Succos for yourself when you gather in (the products) of your threshing floor and wine vat, for seven days” (Devarim “16:15). Our sages comment on this passage “from the leftovers of your threshing floor and your wine vat, you shall make the Festival of Succos.” This refers to the roof of the Succah which is made from plant growth.
The message of the roof being made from the byproduct of crops is important. It is easy to come to believe that our security (our roof over our heads) is the result of our material wealth, and the product of our personal efforts. In order to internalize the fact that our security is from G-d alone we live in a Succah, with a roof made not from the edible part of our crops, but from the refuse. It is G-d and our relationship to Him represented by our following His commandments (in this case living in the Succah with its flimsy roof)) which brings us true security.
Just as G-d miraculously provided for our forefather’s needs when they traversed the wilderness for forty years after they left Egypt, the same is true now. We are _exactly_ the same as they were. Civilization has the ability of creating an illusion that we are safe and secure, but that in itself is a kindness from G-d. We are all more keenly aware of this point now. Our safety and security or G-d forbid vice-versa completely depends on G-d.
The Commandment of living in the Succah for seven days is meant to foster this realization in our psyches so we will live with this attitude for the whole year in all of our endeavors. This point is so much more poignant at this juncture in time when there is so much uncertainty in the current events of the world, when the “edifices” of materialism we have relied upon have been toppled. Even more so do we need to instill in ourselves that G-d is still alive and well, and fully capable of providing for us even when the world economy has received such a blow as it has recently.
We are not just commemorating a great juncture of Jewish History when we enter our Succah for seven days. We are reminding ourselves that in a real way we are there in that same great juncture in our point in history with G-d providing for our every need as well. We are coming to know – to connect – to the inner reality – the soul and essence of our existence.
Chag Somayach!
by Rabbi Chaim Dovid Green
thanks
all 3 great DT’s! thank you for sharing them! i read them when the CR was on a stand still earlier!
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