The Nazir – A Holy Sinner

The nazir who vows not to drink wine is elevated to a level of holiness similar to that of the Kohen Gadol (Hight Priest). Like the Kohen Gadol, he is prohibited from defiling himself for the dead, even his closest relatives, and the Torah describes his hair, which he must let grow, as sanctified. Yet this very same nazir must bring a korban chatas – a sin offering – at the termination of his vow. The Gemara explains that this sacrifice is to atone for the sin of denying himself the pleasure of wine. Thus the same vow which elevates him to a level of holiness also causes him to be adjudged a sinner. Why?

Hashem created the world for man to utilize in His service, not to be retreated from. Every aspect of creation can and must be utilized to aid one in understanding and drawing closer to its Creator.

My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Mordechai explains the verse, “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God am holy” (Vayikra 19:2), to mean that just as Hashem is intimately involved in every aspect of the physical world – since only His will at every moment allows anything to exist – so, too, must we have contact with the entire physical world. But our involvement must imitate Hashem’s: we must elevate and sanctify the physical, and not let the physical drag us into materialism devoid of spirituality. In the World to Come, we will be taken to task for everything in this world we could have enjoyed and elevated but did not. Every year we make a beracha over the blooming fruit trees to remind ourselves that Hashem created good and beneficial creations for man’s enjoyment.

The wine forbidden to the nazir can enhance our performance of various mitzvos and occasions of joy by helping us give expression to our innermost sentiments. When detached, however, from mitzvos and utilized as an end in itself, it degrades a person by robbing him of his most precious possession, his mind. Thus one who “sees a sotah in her disgrace,” i.e., brought to shame from an abuse of wine, and who recognizes a similar weakness in himself, should vow to abstain from wine for a period of time to control his weakness.

Recognizing one’s weakness and choosing abstinence over abuse renders one holy. But lest the nazir lose sight of the ideal, the Torah reminds him that he is nevertheless a sinner. He has not yet achieved the goal of life of elevating the entire physical world. Were he on the ideal level, he would not have to abstain from wine, but would instead utilize it for spiritual growth. Thus the same vow that renders him holy is also a compromise of the true ideal.
(Rabbi Zev Leff)

Miller’s Musings for Shavuos: Just Accept It

בס”ד

*Miller’s Musings for שבועות*

*Just Accept It!*

We are all well aware that the Jewish people’s proclamation “we will do and we will listen” is not in fact the whole picture and in truth a mountain was held threateningly above our heads as a means to ensure our acceptance of the Torah. Without even trying to understand how an intimidation of this kind could lead to any legal obligation on our part, the first question must be why it was necessary? From the very start of creation, Adam was given no choice about agreeing to a commandment not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. The other nations of the world had no say in their requirement to abide by the seven Noachide Laws. So why was Hashem so adamant that the Jewish people should accept upon themselves the Torah, even to the point of seemingly forcing them to do so? Why not just command that it be so?

The human mind is incredibly sensitive to even the most subtle of nuances in the manner in which we do things and the decisions that we take. Seemingly with this in mind, the Birchas Avrohom points out, that there is a tremendous difference to something being done simply as a directive of a king, to something done after an acceptance of that command, even when the person was left with little choice but to agree to it. Once a person has taken it upon themselves to do something, there is an added layer of obligation and compulsion to fulfill one’s commitment, despite being forced to consent initially. This degree of devotion to the Torah was what Hashem desired from His people.

Whatever level of religiosity we are currently practicing there will be some requirements of the Torah that we find challenging. This is the nature of our existence in this world and it is the way that it is meant to be. Were there not a struggle for us to overcome, there would in fact be no point in our creation. Shavuos is the time when each year the potential for acceptance of the Torah for each of us individually is there waiting to be actualised. We can just sit passively by and let it wash over us and the Torah will once again be granted to the Jewish people. But instead if we can take time to consider the power, beauty and infinite value of what Hashem chose to confer upon us, then perhaps we can wholeheartedly accept anew the responsibility it contains, giving us greater reserves of energy to fulfill all it requires of us, no matter what the test, to the best of our ability, with everything that we are.

*May our acceptance on Shavuos fortify, invigorate and inspire us*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם

לרפואה שלימה: שרה יעל בת ברכה אסתר

A Strange Eulogy

Have you ever heard a eulogy where they “praised” the deceased for the amount of beer that he drank when he was alive? What about the amount of pizza he stuffed down his face? Maybe they praised him for how fast he could drive or the fancy house that he had!

How come? Why is it that no-one would say such things about people who lived their lives in such a way?

At the time of death, everyone knows that the point of life is not about the physical pleasures of this world. They realize that there is far more to life, there is more purpose to life. (R’ Yechatzkel Levinstein)

If you want to know how best to utilize a machine or toy, you ask the designer. On Shavuos, we commemorate the Giving of the Torah – G-d, Who created the world gave us the instruction manual how to best utilize our lives in this world. If we want to live a productive, meaningful life, all we have to do is listen to Him. Everyone year, in a certain sense, Hashem gives us the Torah again on Shavuos. Will we accept it or throw it back at Him?

Avos 13 – Kinyanim

Erev Shabbos on Yom Tov

(This should be a merit for Avraham Mordechai ben Shevach whose shloshim is today)

When eiruv Shabbos is also Yom Tov (as is this eiruv Shabbos – Shavuos) we cannot cook or bake on Yom Tov for Shabbos. However, if we prepare a cooked food (at least the size of a kezayis) and bread (such as challah, at least the size of a kezayis, and lechatchillah the size of a kebeitzah) on erev Yom Tov that these should be the start of our cooking and baking for Shabbos, then we can continue cooking and baking, relying on these. This is known as eiruv tavshilin. (A berachah and something else is said as printed in the siddur). Only one eiruv tavshilin per family is needed.

The preparations for Shabbos on Yom Tov should be completed well before Shabbos commences. This is because one of the reasons why it is indeed permitted to cook and bake on Yom Tov for Shabbos is that the food may be consumed on Yom Tov itself as maybe unexpected visitors will arrive on Yom Tov. If the food will not be ready until just before Shabbos commences, this reason does not apply. However, if the food will not be ready in time before Shabbos, and there is a pressing need, a person may be lenient especially if erev Shabbos is the second day of Yom Tov.

The cooked food and baked goods should be kept until the last cooking, baking and lighting of candles have been done. If something happened to the eiruv food and there is less than a kezayis of the cooked foodremaining it is prohibited to do more preparations for Shabbos.

The custom is to use the bread from the eiruv for lechem mishneh at shalosh seudos on Shabbos.
(Shulchan Aruch, Rema, Mishne Brurah, Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchasa)

The Observance Of Minhagim Perpetuates The Torah

Unlike Pesach, which has the mitzvah of matzah, and Sukkos, when we take up the four species and sit in the sukkah, Shavuos has no special mitzvos. Rather, five minhagim (customs) have developed to enhance this yom tov: preceding the Torah reading with the reciting of Akdamos, the eating of dairy foods, the reading of Megillas Rus, the decoration of the shul and home with trees or greens, and the all-night Torah study, or tikun leil Shavuos. (These are minhagim of the Ashkenazi community for the most part.) The seriousness with which we approach the practice of these customs illustrates the importance of minhagim to the enhancement of the mitzvos, as Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor demonstrated when a wealthy businessman from Kovno invited the rav to his daughter’s wedding.

The wedding was to take place on the grounds of the man’s lavish home. The Rabbi wished the man mazel tov and informed him that he could not attend. The minhag in Kovno was that all weddings took place in the courtyard of the shul, and he could not attend a wedding that deviated from the custom of the town. The ba’al simchah dismissed the custom, saying that it was not all that important. The Kovno Rav responded by quoting a midrash that says that minhagim are comapared to a pile of nuts that will topple if even one is removed from its place. If the Midrash, explained the Rabbi were merely telling us that all minhagim are jeopardized by trifling with any of them, then any pile of round objects could have been used as an example. Why did the Midrash specifically use nuts? The answer is that a nut at times is but a shell with no nut to be found inside, similar to some minhagim, which do not appear to be important or significant. However, tampering even with these customs endangers the entire system.

Perhaps this is why the word minhag contains the same letters as the word hamagen, “the shield,” because minhagim are a shield and enhancement for Torah and rabbinic laws.
(Rabbi Zev Leff)

Miller’s Musings Parshas Bamidbar: Desert Your Mind

BS’D

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This week’s Miller’s Musings is sponsored לעילוי נשמת יחיאל מיכאל בן שמואל הירש ז”ל

Quote of the Week: “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”

Miller’s Musings

במדברפרשת

Desert Your Mind

A desert. A place of death, desolation and devoid of all growth. Why was this place of all the alternatives the one chosen as the location of the giving of the greatest gift to mankind? And when we think about where the Jewish people were heading, Eretz Yisroel, the holiest place on earth, the question becomes even starker. Would this not have been more appropriate? Surrounded by holiness, imbued with G-dliness, the deepest and closest connection to Hashem. Yet Hashem deemed the desert more worthy of this extraordinary moment in history. Why?

Choosing a place to live is one of the most important decisions you can make. It has to be a place that will not only allow you to grow, but inspire you to do so. A location that is naturally holy is certainly an excellent start, but it is not the only factor, nor necessarily the deciding one. For it may be innately more inclined towards the spiritual, but if it contains negative influences or lacks positive ones, it may in fact be the wrong place, despite its obvious advantages. There is no question that Eretz Yisroel is a place far more powerfully bound to Hashem. A place where our learning, davening and mitzvos are at a greater level. And yet, says Rav Shimshon Dovid Pinkus zt’l, it was not the right place to receive the Torah because it did not exhibit one characteristic that the desert did. It was not a place in which the Jewish people were able to focus exclusively on Hashem. In Eretz Yisroel they would be conquering the land, allotting a plot to each individual, settling within it and then finally working it. In the desert there was nothing to distract their minds from immersing themselves completely in the Torah. The giving of the Torah is compared to a wedding between the Jewish people and Hashem. The desert was the yichud (seclusion) room that every married couple enters immediately upon becoming wed, just the husband and wife. There is nothing to distract them from each other, and so it was in the desert. The perfect place for accepting this most wondrous gift.

When we are doing wrong and feel disconnected, we are in some ways in a better position than if this were the case when we ostensibly seemed to be doing everything right. In the latter situation we may begin to question whether what we are doing is actually any more than rites and rituals. This is of course incredibly damaging, dangerous and most importantly false. Yet it is all too understandable if we do not feel inspired or elevated by what we are doing. One area that we can certainly develop to improve this state of affairs, is to cultivate a feeling of calm focus when performing a Mitzvah. We should pause before we try to fulfill Hashem’s will and consider what it is we are doing, clear all other matters out of our mind and be entirely present whilst doing it. Daven concentrating fully on the words being said and on the fact that we are talking to Hashem. Learn Torah without interruption, whilst being absolutely aware of it being the only and ultimate truth. Listen to another person’s needs, being completely attentive to them and nothing else. Small gradual steps must be taken first, but we should strive to make this how we live our life. We must learn to exist in a desert, free from all but Hashem.

*May we live each moment of this Shabbos in a state of full awareness*

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Parshas Bamidbar

Hashem told Moshe to count the Jewish people. But it was not just a simple count to know how many people there were, rather when each person came to Moshe, he would receive his life’s mission and the tools needed to accomplish that mission. If a person merited, he would rise to greatness. Whereas, if he failed, his lot was not something to desire!

A person’s actions are assessed based on his potential, his true life mission. If he has been given an important mission in life, then his actions can have great ramifications. But if he does not live up to his mission and his deeds are not in line with his mission, the opposite is true, his lifetime mission will come to harass him for his lack of accomplishment. (Ramban explained by R’ Chayim Friedlander)

Avos – 12, Kinyanim

Celebrated Silence

At the beginning of this week’s parsha, Bamidbar, the Torah relates the names of the “leaders” of each of the tribes who accompanied Moshe whist he was conducting a census of the nation. We are told in chapter 1 verse 14 that the name of the leader of the tribe of Gad was Elyasaf ben Deuel, however in chapter 2 verse 14 he is referred to as Elyasaf ben Reuel. Why the name change?

The answer is that he was rewarded for doing “the impossible”- he kept quiet.

The parsha describes the precise encampment formation for the nation and mention is also made as to whom was chosen to be the flag holders. We find that the tribe of Dan was one of those appointed to assume the role of flag carrier-not Gad, even though they both had equal right to be chosen- both were the first born of the “shifchos” (maidservants) – Gad was the first born of Zilpah, and Dan was the first born of Bilhah- so it would have been justified for the leader of the tribe of Gad to object to this seeming injustice….. and yet he didn’t- he stayed silent.

As a reward for his silence the tribe merited something of extreme importance- They merited to house the burial plot of the great Moshe Rabainu, a privilege that they would benefit from for a long time.

The name “Reuel” is the combination of the words “Rei El”- the “friend” of G-d- a reference to Moshe.

One moment of difficult silence was rewarded with immeasurable privilege.

Sometimes even when we are right, silence is more right!

R’ Ezer Pine

(Based on the Chidah)