Short & Sweet

Shelach: Your Tears Define You

After they received the negative report of the Meraglim, Bnei Yisroel cried. The Gemora famously tells us Hashem’s response: הן בכו בכיה של חינם, ואני אקבע להם בכיה לדורות – they cried for no reason, now they will cry for generations to come.

But why do Chazal stress the crying? Wasn’t the issue that Bnei Yisroel believed the Meraglim and doubted that Hashem could conquer Eretz Yisroel?

R’ Aron Lopiansky explains that one only cries about things that are core to their very selves. You can have many things, and you can lose many things. But you will cry if you lose something that is integral to who you are.

The fact that Bnei Yisroel cried over something meaningless (חינם) was a big problem. It showed that they thought of things that were meaningless as being integral to who they were. They missed the “free food” that they got in Mitzrayim, when they were חינם מן המצות. This was what mattered to them.

This problem had no easy fix. To redefine oneself takes time, for an individual and even more so for an entire nation. It will take generations for us to lose the nonsense that we too often identify ourselves with. That difficult separation from things that we used to see as integral will be the resultant בכיה לדורות.

לע”נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Chukas: Wellspring of Torah

In the middle of the Shira that Bnei Yisroel sung about the miraculous באר מרים, Chazal find a surprising series of allusions. From the words ממדבר מתנה, we darshan: if one makes themselves הפקר כמדבר, then Hashem will give them Torah as gift. But what does this have to do with the well of Miriam?

R’ Aaron Lopiansky explains that the Torah is actually very similar to a well. One needs to work hard to dig a well. But once they have the well, they still do not think they have created the water. Rather, they have worked to uncover what was always there beneath the surface.

This needs to be our attitude towards Torah. We cannot just wait for Hashem to give us understanding; we need to work for it. But after we do understand, we still must think of the Torah as a gift from Hashem. The truths we see in the Torah are ideas we have uncovered, not created.

A well serves as a portal. From within a very small hole, one can extract a nearly endless amount of liquid. So too with Torah. Torah is not a finite pool of wisdom, it is a portal from which we can draw endless amount of Divine wisdom and inspiration.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Devarim: Old Mistakes Die Hard

Devarim begins with Moshe hinting to all the mistakes the Jewish nation had made during their stay in the desert, including the עגל and the מרגלים.

But the Sfas Emes points out that the people Moshe was talking to hadn’t participated in those events. Those who were responsible had already died over the past forty years. Why was Moshe rehashing the mistakes of the parents to their children?

The Sfas Emes explains that each generation inherits both good and bad traits from the previous generations. Our job is not only to build on the good, but to identify and to fix the errors of the past. If we do not, we will simply repeat the same mistakes over and over throughout history.

This is is why Chazal tell us כל דור שלא נבנה בימיו, כאילו נחרב בימיו any generation in which the Beis HaMikdosh is not built, it is as if the Beis HaMikdosh was destroyed. It is up to us to identify and fix the mistakes of the past, both those that are בין אדם לחברו and בין אדם למקום.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Vaeschanan/Tisha B’Av: How Much Do You Want It?

The Parsha tells us just how much Moshe yearned to enter Eretz Yisroel, and how many hundreds of times he begged Hashem to let him in.

We all know that the Rambam list thirteen עיקרים. Twelve of the ikarim are things that we need to believe. Once we are certain of them, we have fulfilled our obligation.

But when it comes to the coming of Moshiach, it is not enough to just believe. The Rambam writes that part of the 12th ikar is to be מחכה, to yearn for the coming of Moshiach. The source for this may be the Gemora that says after a person passing, they are asked: צפית לישעיה, did you yearn for the redemption?

The good news is, we already mention the Geulah in six of the brachos of a weekday שמונה עשרה – in the brachos beginning ראה בענינו, תקע בשופר, השיבה שופטינו, ולירושלים, את צמח דוד, רצה. If we would think about the Geulah even one time per each שמונה עשרה, we would be Davening for the Geulah over 1,200 each year.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Re’ah: See For Yourself

The opening passuk of this weeks Parsha seems to contain a discrepancy. ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם, see what I have placed before you. But while ראה is lashon yachid, seemingly addressing an individual person, לפניכם is lashon rabbim, addressing everyone at once. Why is that?

The Kotzker explains that the Torah is given to every Jew, and every one of us has an equal claim to it. However, each person sees the Torah differently. The more time, effort, and energy a person puts into to pursuing the Torah, the greater the depths of wisdom that they will see in it.

The Ramchal makes a similar point. Based on a passuk in Mishlei, he says that Torah is like a coal. The more you stoke and blow on a coal, the more light and warmth you will get from it. So too with Torah; the more effort you put into it, the brighter you will see it shine.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Ki Seitzi: Undying Gratitude

Mitzrayim was the first enemy we faced as a nation. We were enslaved by them for hundreds of years, forced to endure backbreaking labor and torture.

And yet, the Torah clearly instructs us: לא תתעב מצרי, do not hate an Egyptian. Why not? כי גר היית בארצו, because when Yaakov and his sons needed a place to live, Mitzrayim let them in.

The Gemora points out that Mitzrayim did not take in Yaakov and his sons with any noble intentions. Rather, they did it for purely selfish reasons: they thought that Yosef’s brothers would be likely to make great governmental officers.

Human nature is that when someone has wronged us, that is all that we tend to remember about them. But we see from here how different the attitude is that the Torah wants us to take. We must forever remember the one favor Mitzrayim did for us, even if they did it for selfish reasons, and despite their making our lives hell for hundreds of years afterwards.

Never forget the good that others have done for you.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Ki Savo: When the Going gets Tough

When we would bring Bikkurim to the Beis HaMikdosh, we list all that we are thankful for. We are thankful not only for a successful crop, but for all Hashem has done for us: from when He rescued Yaakov from Lavan, to when He he took us out of Mitzrayim, and everything else He’s done for us until today.

And yet, we also discuss some less pleasant things in the Parsha of Bikkurim. We talk about the bitterness of Galus in Mitzrayim, and how Lavan tried to destroy us. If we’re meant to be giving thanks for the good, why do we also focus on the bad?

R’ Chaim Mintz explains that the hardship that we had to endure was no accident. The Gemora says that there are three gifts that Hashem gives that only come through יסורים: Torah, Eretz Yisroel, and Olam Haba.

Tough times are not fun, but they are necessary. They push us to work harder, and show us just how much we can accomplish if we have our backs to the wall. Without difficulties, we could never become the best version of ourselves, and never be deserving of all the good that Hashem wants to give us.

We must thank Hashem not only for the good, but also for the tough times that make us who we are.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Nitzavim: Talk to Yourself

When exhorting us to do Teshuva and keep the entirety of the Torah, Moshe says the following stirring statement: כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאוד, בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו – for this matter is very close to you, in your mouths and in your hearts to do it.

R’ Aaron Lopiansky points out that it is interesting that the mouth is listed before the heart. Doesn’t everything that comes out of the mouth first originate in the heart?

R’ Aaron Lopiansky sees in this Passuk a source for one of the primary teachings of R’ Yisroel Salanter: that the path to the heart is through the mouth.

The point of Mussar is to make the heart feel what the mind already knows. R’ Yisroel Salanter taught that the way to bridge that gap was for one to repeat to themselves passages from Chazal that deal with Yiras Hashem. But it is not enough to merely mouth it. It must be with שפתים דולקות, with a burning fervor. By doing so, one will make what they know intellectually feel real to them on an emotional level.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Haazinu: Unstoppable

Rashi points out that in this Parsha is one of three times that the Torah uses the phrase בעצם היום הזה. Quoting the Sifri, Rashi explains that each time this phrase is used, there were people who had announced their intentions to thwart the plans of Hashem.

In the times of Noach, the people had said that if there was a מבול, they would stop Noach from entering the תיבה. The Mitzriyim had made clear that they would never let the Jews leave their land. And in our Parsha, the Jews had said they wouldn’t let Moshe leave them.

In each case, Hashem made a point of acting בעצם היום, publicly and in the middle of the day. You think you can stop the Divine plan? Go ahead and try.

But there is another time when this phrase is used: וכל מלאכה לא תעשו עד *עצם היום* הזה, כי יום כפורים הוא לכפר עליכם.

The Ramchal and many others go on at great length to explain the effects of our aveiros. Every mistake we make has ruinous consequences, both in the heavens above and deep within ourselves. We can sometimes feel that since our mistakes are so serious, they can never be undone.

But the Divine plan cannot be stopped. When Hashem says כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם מכל חטאתיכם, He means it. As long as we regret our mistakes and pledge to do better, He will erase the past as if it never was, and absolutely nothing can stop Him.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום