Live And Learn…… and then live better!!

At long last, we are all united in sharing the same parsha this week, parshas Masai (outside Israel it is a double parsha, also Mattos).

Rashi at the very beginning of the parsha brings a medrash which likens the Torah’s retelling of all the journeys that the nation experienced over a 40 year period since leaving Egypt, to that of a king fondly recalling the different stops and occurrences that took place during a journey which father and son embarked on in search of a remedy for the ailing son.

However the commentators point out that here the nostalgic step retracing seems inappropriate since some of the journeys referenced actually allude to regretful incidents like the “golden calf” debacle. How can these sorry-full episodes be compared to the steps taken towards regaining the health of the king’s sick son.

The answer is that the Jewish attitude to mistake making is to indeed regret the wrong but more importantly to right the wrong and move on as a better/ changed person.

The 40 years in the wilderness was a crucial period of national betterment. We reinforced our relationship with Hashem until the training period was over and we were ready to enter the Promised Land.

R’ Ezer Pine
(Based on a question found in the “Shemen Hatov)

More on The Three Weeks – Trustworthiness

And Rava said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because there were no more trustworthy people there, (Shabbos 119b)

The sefer Kol HaTor, by Rabbi Hillel Rivlin Miskelov (a talmid of the Gr”a) quotes the Gr”a that in order to merit the final redemption we have to be trustworthy people (אנשי אמנה) and that without being so there is no hope ח”ו. He writes that there are several stages that define a trustworthy person. Generally, a trustworthy person is someone who is part of the community, the “klal”. He is not a loner, rather he takes other people into account. Furthermore, he feels equal to them both materially and spiritually. The opposite of trustworthiness spawns from a sense of negative self-worth. A untrustworthy person feels that he is entitled to cheat and lie in order to (even if it is only subtle lies) in order to fulfill his own desires.

Society cannot exist without basic trust among people. The stamp of Hashem is “truth”. Since Jerusalem had no more trustworthy people, it was destroyed.

Another one of the causes of the destruction we have to work on is that – being trustworthy – in all aspects.

R’ Adam Philip

Gentle Toveling

We learn from parshas Mattos that various types of food related vessels purchased from a gentile require tvila (immersion) in a mikveh before they may be used. A vessel that fell into a mikveh without any intentions of a person does not require another tvila. The tvila is valid. Therefore if a gentile or child did the tvila the vessel may be used. (However, they are not believed to say that they did the tvila so it would only be deemed valid if a Jew saw that tvila was done.)

Even though the tvila of a gentile is valid, should it be avoided (it is valid only bedieved)? Or is it perfectly acceptable (lechatchila)? The Taz (based on the Rashba) says that it does not need to be avoided. But he does not understand why not? Before we do tvila we say a beracha and since the Jew did not do anything he cannot make a beracha so if he allows a gentile to do it, he would be losing out on the berachah! The Taz therefore says that a Jew should tovel one vessel so that he can make the beracha before that tvila and

then a gentile can tovel the rest.

Others say that the Jew can indeed make the beracha on the tvila of the gentile even without doing any tvila himself.

One reason suggested is that even though we hold that a gentile cannot be a halachik shaliach (agent) on behalf of a Jew, for example to perform a mitzvah on his behalf, this is only relevant when we care about an act that needs to be done. However, if we are not interested in the act itself, but rather in the outcome, then we do not need to utilize the halachik principle of shlichus (agency). Regarding tvila we are not interested in the act of tvila but rather that the vessel was immersed. The Jew fulfills the mitzvah by ensuring that the vessel was immersed in a mikveh and therefore may make a beracha. (Machaneh Eprayim)

G-d’s Answer to a Perplexing Question

The question of why the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed and the Land left desolate was posed to the Sages and the prophets (Nedarim 81a). None could explain until Hashem Himself revealed that it was a result of having forsaken the Torah. Who is the wise man that may understand this and who is he to whom the mouth of the L-rd has spoken that he may declare it? Why has the land perished, burnt up like a wilderness that none pass through? And the L-rd said, “Because they have forsaken my Torah, which I set before them, and have not obeyed My Voice, nor walked therein” (Yirmiyahu 9:11-12).

Hashem’s answer to Yirmiyahu revealed how people who studied and observed Torah could fall to the depths of immorality, murder and idolatry. “They forsook My Torah” — not the Torah, but My Torah. They failed to hear G-d’s will expressed in the Torah; — they failed to hear into My voice. And therefore they failed to walk in the ways of the Torah — they failed to make the Torah an all-encompassing guide. That was the deficiency of the generation of destruction. They kept the mitzvos and learned Torah, but did so perfunctorily. “…With their mouths and lips do they honor Me, but their hearts are far from Me, and their fear of Me is as a commandment of men learned by rote” (Yeshayahu 29:13). Failure to see the mitzvos as an expression of the totality of G-d’s will, and not as just disjointed commands, leads to the distortion of mitzvos themselves.

For this reason we refer to an observant Jew as a shomer Torah u’mitzvos. At first glance, the reference to both Torah and mitzvos seems redundant. The intention is to emphasize that in addition to mitzvos, this person observes the Torah, the complete expression of G-d’s will.

The purpose of Eretz Yisrael is to provide the most conducive, holy environment in which to observe the mitzvos so that we can create a total Torah life for the Jewish people as a whole. But when the Jewish people observe mitzvos perfunctorily, without the intention to live a complete Torah life, then the need for the land is negated, and its physical destruction follows. That is the lesson Hashem revealed to Yirmiyahu.
(Rabbi Zev Leff)

Parshas Pinchas (for those outside Israel)

The great leader of the Jewish people, Moshe Rabbeinu was nearing the end of his life. He requested Hashem to appoint a new suitable leader. His request ended with, “and let the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep that do not have for them a shepherd” (27:17). Why was there a need for an analogy? And why the need for the words “for them,” just say “like sheep who do not have a shepherd.”

A shepherd looking after sheep may be looking after them but his interests are not intrinsically in the welfare of the sheep. Rather he cares about his assets, if they are his sheep, or about his reputation and getting paid, if they are not his sheep. He will protect the sheep but not at all costs. If he stands to lose more he will not be so interested in the sheep. If his life is at risk he will leave the sheep and run away to protect his own life. The shepherd does what is best for himself not what is best for the sheep. The sheep do not have a shepherd for them, who intrinsically cares about them, rather there is a shepherd for himself who looks after the sheep to help himself.

Moshe Rabbeinu was making the point that the position as the leader of the Jewish people was not for someone who was striving to reach the pinnacle in his political career, rather the candidate should be someone who would do what is best for the Jewish people even if this came at his own personal expense. (Ksav Sofer)

In a similar way we too have people under our charge or those who rely on us – children and spouses are the obvious examples that come to mind. They are not there to be our waiters and servants, but rather we are responsible to do what is best for them even though it may seem to infringe on our personal lives.

Wrongful Right

This

week’s parsha, Pinchas (for our brethren in the diaspora) contains the dramatic and difficult to comprehend episode in which the leader of the tribe of Shimshon was caught “red handed” committing a seeming act of profanity, the likes of which which we would consider to be below even the most base of individuals, let alone “ a prince amongst the nation”!!

[Before

attempting to shed some light on this incident a short note of
guidance is appropriate. Many of the personalities in the
Torah (when the oral tradition says so) were people of supreme
spiritual stature, that’s not to say that they didn’t
sometimes err, but we can absolutely not judge or view these
stories in the context of our own society and experiences. The
message for us to learn is pointed out to us through the oral
tradition but to extrapolate beyond that is erroneous.]

The

commentators explain that there was a fundamental difference of opinion between the Shimonite prince, Zimri, and the hero of our story Pinchos.

The

Moabite women had a cunning plan, they intended to seduce the Jewish men and required that they serve their idols and only then would they be willing to have relations with their “prey”. When prince Zimri saw what was about to happen, that not only were the Jewish men about to commit the severe crime of forbidden intimacy, but even more than that they were on the verge of transgressing the biggest crime of all, “infidelity” to Hashem – idol worship! In an attempt at saving his nation Zimri did the unthinkable, he performed an act of intimacy with a Midianite princess in the public eye whilst refusing to do the act of idol worship, hoping that others would follow suit and albeit commit the unstoppable crime of intimacy with a non Jewish woman but at least they would be spared from the felony of idol worship.

He was wrong.

In Judaism the end doesn’t justify the means. We’re on this planet to do the right thing, the rest is Hashem’s “problem”. We aren’t here to make clever calculations, explaining why doing what’s wrong is for the better good.

It’s very simple, just do what It (the Torah) says!

R’ Ezer Pine
(Based on the writings of Rabbi Y C Zonnenfeld)

More on the three weeks and teshuva – beyond the letter of the law

Dancing and Musical Instruments

We have now started the period known as The Three Weeks, the period of the year when the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash is more on our minds. We conduct ourselves to some extent like mourners. Dancing and playing musical instruments are prohibited. A person who is employed to play music for a gentile may do so in the house of the gentile until Rosh Chodesh Av. (Playing on the fast of Shiva Asar b’Tammuz is prohibited.) It is permitted to practice until Rosh Chodesh Av.

Most authorities hold that it is permitted to sing without the accompaniment of music even during the Nine Days. (Halachos Of The Three Weeks)

One should also not listen to music during the Three Weeks. (Shloshim Yom Kodem HaChag – quoted)

Shivah Asar B’Tammuz

Today (Sunday) is the fast of Shivah Asar B’Tammuz (it was really yesterday but was pushed off).

There are four ramifications of the exile.
1) The Jewish people are not in control of themselves, subjugated to G-d alone, but rather they are subjugated to the nations of the world.
2) The Jewish people lose the constant vigil and protection of G-d’s presence and are vulnerable to the physical designs, attacks, and negative spiritual influences of the nations of the world.
3) The Jewish people lack the Beis HaMikdash, the dwelling of G-d’s Shechina (presence), and the resulting spiritual benefits.
4) The Jewish people are banished from the Land of Israel, the holy land that is guided by G-d’s direct divine providence. They are forced to live in foreign, defiled lands that are directed through the intermediary angels.

Each of the four yearly fast days, on which we mourn the events that precipitated the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and its aftermath, reflect these four aspects of exile.

Shiva Asur B’Tammuz commemorates the day the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem before the second destruction. This corresponds to the second aspect of exile – the entrance of the nations into Jerusalem. Our defenses were compromised, and the Jewish people were vulnerable to physical and spiritual harm.
(Rabbi Zev Leff)

Parshas Balak (for those outside Israel)

Bilaam was riding his donkey on his way to curse the Jewish people (so he hoped). Hashem, in His infinite compassion, even for someone so evil, sent an angel to impede him. Bilaam did not see the angel but the donkey did. The donkey tried three times to stay away from trouble, each time the “thanks” it received from Bilaam was to be hit! Bilaam’s donkey was then miraculously granted the power of speech and asked Bilaam why he had struck him three times. Bilaam responded, “Because you mocked me. If only there was a sword in my hand, now I would have killed you.” (22:22-30)

We see an amazing thing. Bilaam was an arrogant, honor pursuing creature. Look how far such bad traits can take a person. A lowly donkey was making fun of him and because of this dent to his ego, he wanted to kill it, even though he would lose out – he would not have any transportation and would have to make the journey by foot! This is the nature of such people. Any infringement to their honor, immediately they get angry and lose their mind and are prepared to to do totally irrational things! (הגרי”ד סאלוויצ’יק – quoted)