Zugger613

Shoftim: Full Control 👨‍⚖️👮‍♀️

The very first Rashi in this weeks Parsha explains what the difference is between שופטים & שוטרים; shoftim are the judges who decide what should be done, and shotrim are the police who make sure that the judges decisions are carried out. In order for society to function, there needs to be both an effective system of laws and a way of making sure that the laws are actually followed.

R’ Yerucham Levovitz of Mir points out that this idea is not limited to large societies. Every one of us also needs act as our own judge, setting aside time to think about what we should be doing with our lives. And after those decisions are made we must police them, making sure we live up to our ideals in our day to day lives. Without both a plan of what we hope to accomplish and constantly checking to make sure we’re on the right path to get there, a person is in danger of just wasting away their life.

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

Veschanan: Guided Good

On the Passuk of ואהבת את ה׳ אלוקיך בכל לבבך, Rashi quotes the famous Maamar Chazal that one is supposed to serve Hashem with both the Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer Hara. Much ink has been spilled explaining how one can serve Hashem with their Yetzer Hara, but R’ Moshe Feinstein asks a more basic question: why do we need to be instructed to serve Hashem with our Yetzer Tov, what else would we be doing with it?

R’ Moshe explains that even good intentions, if not properly channeled, can lead to bad actions. As the Chazal taught us, those who are kind to the cruel will eventually be cruel to the kind. It is not enough just to mean well; one’s good intentions must be channeled into actions explicitly endorsed by the Torah, as interpreted by Chazal and Halacha.

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

Massei: Moving On

R’ Asher Areilli expressed a beautiful thought on the passuk
‎וַיִּסְע֖וּ מֵרְפִידִ֑ם וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינָֽי
We know that רפידים is so named because it was there that the Jews were רפו ידיהם מן התורה, weakened their commitment to the Torah. And yet, pointed out R’ Asher, they were still able to move on to Har Sinai.

Everybody has bad days. But you can’t let the inevitable bumps in the road make you forget your goal. Yes, you fell short. But you can still pick yourself up and keep going. Don’t let your failures define you.

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

Shelach: Implicit Bias

One of the biggest mistakes in Jewish history was made by the Meraglim. The Meraglim tried to convince the people not to enter Eretz Yisroel, eventually even denying Hashem’s ability to conquer the land in their efforts. Thanks to this, the entire generation died in the desert and the Churban of Tisha b’Av was decreed. How did they sink so low?

The Shelah explains, based on the Zohar, that the Meraglim were concerned that when the nation would enter Eretz Yisroel, they would lose their position of authority that they currently held. Therefore, they had their own personal interest in trying to convince the people to stay in the desert, despite the disastrous results that this would have.

The Baalei Mussar point out that each of has our own personal נגיעות that may cause us to make illogical decisions. But often we aren’t even aware of this conflict of interest. Only by searching out what is truly driving us to make our choices can we manage to improve them.

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

Naso: It’s Personal

Parshas Naso is the longest single parsha in the Torah, due in no small part to the fact that it spells out the details of the Korban of each Nasi, despite them all being exactly the same. If each letter in the Torah is there to teach us something, approximately 50 extra פסוקים must be really trying to drive home a point. What is this lesson that the Torah considers so important?

It is easy to feel like our actions don’t really matter. What are, the six millionth and some odd person to keep Torah and mitzvos?

This parsha teaches is that that’s not the way Hashem sees it. To Him, each Nasi wasn’t just one of twelve people bringing an identical Korban. It was his beloved son נחשון bringing a special Korban. The next day it was His beloved son נתנאל, bringing a special Korban.

Hashem doesn’t see it as numbers, He sees each individual person; His beloved child coming to develop a relationship with Him. Never think your actions don’t personally matter to Hashem.

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

Bamidbar: Different Parts of the Same Whole

The Shelah writes in the name of the Arizal that just as there were four different groups of Shevatim in the midbar, each under their own flag, so to there are four different groups of Jews each with their own Minhagim. (He lists the groups of his day as Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Catalonians, and Italians.) There have always been different paths in עבודת השם, and this diversity is clearly by design. No one group can do everything perfectly.

R’ Yaakov Kamenetsky points out that the Jews were not given their different flags when they first left Mitzrayim as an independent people. Instead, Hashem waited until after they had received the Torah and built the Mishkan. He explains that only once we had the ultimate unifier, a Torah and a Mishkan at the center of our lives, could we focus on our individual strengths. Once we had this shared sense of mission, we could focus on our individual part of the plan without risking tearing the nation apart.

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

*Metzora: Humility vs Control*

Somebody who has had צרעת must bring a korban containing elements of both a high and mighty cedar tree and a lowly bush. Rashi explains that this is a message to the מצורע that the צרעת came about due to haughtiness, and that this person must work to lower himself.

R’ Zev Leff has a beautiful and succinct explanation of גאוה vs ענוה.
גאוה is to believe that I made myself great, and that that give me rights. ענוה is to realize that Hashem made me great, and that that gives me responsibilities.

Perhaps this is one of the lessons of צרעת itself. צרעת shows a person that he does not truly control his possessions (such as his house & clothes), his social life, or even his own body. Hashem can take any of these away in a heartbeat if they aren’t being used correctly, through צרעת or some other affliction. This is a reminder that our possessions and abilities should not be viewed as being our own, but rather as gifts from Hashem that create responsibilities to do for others.

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

Pertinent to the above discussion, I absolutely must quote what the ב״ח writes in או״ח סי׳ מ״ו אות ט׳:

שהשיב רב נטרונאי וכו’ להורות שיהיו נזהרין לברך אותם ולא יסמכו על עניית אמן כי איכא סכנת מיתת ק’ ישראל בכל יום כמו שהיה קודם שתקן דוד ק’ ברכות אלו דלא מהני עניית אמן אלא לע”ה

Translation: “Rav Natrunai (one of the Geonim) wrote in a Teshuva that one should not rely on answering Amen for the count of 100 brachos, because the same danger of 100 Jews dying each day still exists just like it did when David HaMelech instituted that each person should say 100 brachos and answering Amen only words for people who do not know how to read.”

Vayeitzei: Unseen Beauty

In describing Rachel and Leah, the Torah tells us עיני לאה רכות, ורחל היתה יפת תאר. The Zohar cryptically comments that the Torah tells us only Leah had eyes, and not Rachel. The Zohar goes on to label Rachel “beautiful, but without eyes”.

R’ Akiva Tatz explains that Leah is the mother of the nobility of Klal Yisroel, such as the כהנים and the מלכים. But Rachel is the mother of the common Jew, who may not view him or herself as being anything special.

But in truth, every Jew brings something unique and amazing to the world, whether they know it or not. If anything, the unassuming actions of someone who doesn’t consider themselves to be anything major have an extra special charm. Therefore Rachel (and by extension, her descendants) is referred to as being beautiful, but without eyes to see her own beautiful actions with – she didn’t think of herself as being anything special.

לעילו נשמת ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום

Noach: The Beauty of the Rainbow 🌈

We know that seeing a rainbow is considered a bad sign: it means that Hashem is so angry that he would destroy the world, if not for the fact that He promised not to.

And yet, this can be hard to internalize. Rainbows are just so beautiful and so nice to look at. Why is it that this sign of wrath is so pleasant?

Perhaps the beauty of the rainbow is supposed to remind us of the second half of Hashem’s statement. True, He is angry enough that He would destroy the world. But why doesn’t He? Because He loves us so much that He simply can’t do it, no matter how much we may deserve it.

The rainbow is the sign of Hashem’s promise never to turn His back on us. No matter how low we may sink, Hashem’s love for us is always there. And that’s beautiful indeed.

לעילוי נשמת ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום