Parshas Korach (for those outside Israel)

The episode of Korach is very difficult to understand. Korach was a great person. What exactly was it that caused him to make accusations against the leadership of Moshe and Aharon?

Korach’s downfall was the result of good intentions. Korach wanted to get closer to Hashem. He was merely a Levi. He wanted to have more of a role to play in the Tabernacle. He wanted to be a kohen and even the Kohen Gadol.

This was his mistake. Hashem decides who is born a kohen and who is born a levi. Hashem also decides who is not a kohen and not a levi but rather a yisrael. Hashem is perfectly aware of who is most appropriate for each position and who should serve in which capacity. (R’ Shneur Kotler – quoted)

Hashem gives each one of us a package – some are cleverer than others, some are richer than others. Each package is perfect for that person. There is no reason to envy another person since Hashem knows that this is exactly what this person needs; if it was not, Hashem Who is infinite and wants the best for everyone, would give him a different, better package. He did not. It must be that this package is absolutely the best package for this person. And we should not worry that it is not fair, the clever fellow will get more reward; obviously he will not be rewarded for being clever – what did he do to be clever, he was born that way! Reward is only received for the effort exerted, his IQ won’t get him any browny points.

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Winner Takes It All

Following the tragic events involving the Divinely orchestrated deaths of Korach and his 250 associates , deserved due to their having contested Moshes leadership and Aharon’s appointment as high priest, the Torah relates that Hashem instructed Moshe to tell the nation that the leader of each tribe should put forward their staff and that the owner of the one which miraculously blossoms is the Divinely chosen person to fulfil the role of kohen gadol. Out of all the staffs only Aharon’s brought forth flowers, thus bringing to an end any questions regarding the appointment of Aharon and his tribe as the rightful priests of the Jewish nation. After the conclusion of the “priest contest” the verse tells us that the head of each tribe took their staff back with them. The question is asked, why would they want to take home a memento of their having lost the contest?

To answer the above question it needs to be understood what exactly was the great attraction to being part of the priestly tribe- Kohanim weren’t given their own land, their livelihood was dependent on the priestly gifts that the rest of the nation were obliged to give them. It is a fact that there were times in history when people weren’t so meticulous in fulfilling their obligations and consequently the kohanim went hungry!! So what was the attraction? The answer is that to the generation of the wilderness who had recently witnessed all the wondrous miracles that Hashem had performed in Egypt, there was no greater privilege than to be the ones who served Him through the temple service, whatever degree of self-sacrifice was necessary was worth it!!

Having understood what the contest was about we can understand why the losers would want to take their sticks home- these staffs were badges of honour, they announced loud and clear- “we might have lost, but see our goals!!”, they were willing to give it all up for the sake of spiritual growth.

In truth these staffs were nothing less then winners medals.

R’ Ezer Pine

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Look in the Mirror

Who Keeps The Challah?

We find in last week’s parsha (Shelach) the mitzvah of separating challah. We are required to separate part of the dough and give it to a kohen (if at least 1.2kg of flour was used, although there are different customs. A berachah is only recited on a bigger amount). The kohen could then eat it. Nowadays, however, we burn the challah (or double wrap it and throw it away). Why do we not give it to a kohen? And why do we burn it, especially since we are not allowed to burn challah!

Challah may only be eaten by a kohen if he is ritually pure and the challah is also ritually pure. Nowadays, everyone is assumed to be impure as we have either directly or indirectly come into contact with a corpse. Therefore the kohen cannot eat it. But still how can we burn it? We are only not allowed to burn pure challah. Impure challah may be burned. Since the person needing the dough is assumed to be impure, his impurity would have been transferred to the challah rendering it impure and so it can be burned.

It should be noted that food can only become impure if it has come into contact with a Torah defined liquid (water, olive oil, dew, milk, wine, honey, blood). Therefore in order for the challah to be rendered impure one of these liquids should be added to the dough. (Halichos Bas Yisrael)

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Tastes and Reasons

The Mishnah (Berachos 33b) rules that one who says, “As Your mercies, G-d, devolve on the mother bird and its nest, so too, have mercy on us,” must be silenced. The Gemara explains that the requirement of sending away the mother bird prior to taking her eggs is solely a Divine decree, not based on the desire to be merciful to the mother bird, as the forbidden prayer would seem to imply. Yet the Sages themselves say (Devarim Rabbah 6:1): “…So, too, G-d’s mercy extends to the birds, as it says, ‘When you discover a bird’s nest…send away the mother…’”

To resolve this contradiction, we must distinguish between a taste and a reason. If we were asked why we eat, we would answer that we must eat in order to live. If questioned further why we eat bread and not stones, we might refer to the necessary nutrients available in bread but not in stones. But if asked why human beings need these nutrients, or why we are capable to extracting needed minerals from bread and not rocks, we could say nothing more than that is how G-d created the world and the answer lies exclusively in His mind.

Even though we eat to stay alive, Hashem created the world in such a way that our food also has a pleasing taste and aroma. But that taste should never be confused with our reason for eating. Even if our taste buds were destroyed and we could not taste our food, we would still have to eat. And if we let our taste buds guide our choice of foods, we might soon die of malnutrition.

The mitzvos are the spiritual nourishment of our neshamah (souls). Why or how a particular mitzvah nourishes our soul we cannot know any more than why G-d created bodies which require certain nutrients. But Hashem wanted the mitzvos to be palatable to us, so he infused them with taste — ideas and lessons — that we can understand. We must never confuse, however, the lessons of the mitzvos, with their underlying reasons.

If one entreats G-d, Who has mercy on the birds, to similarly have mercy on us, that entreaty reflects his own determination that he understands the reason for the mitzvah from G-d’s perspective. That is a mistake. We can never know why G-d decreed a particular mitzvah. But to learn from the mitzvah a lesson of mercy, as an enhancement to our performance of the mitzvah, is perfectly acceptable. That is the intent of the Sages in the Midrash mentioned above.

All mitzvos are intrinsically chukim, unfathomable Divine decrees. With respect to some, even the “taste” is obscure, and they are categorized as chukim, and in some the “taste” is more easily discerned, and they are called mishpatim.

Parah adumah is called Chukas HaTorah, a law of the Torah, and not Chukas HaParah, the law of the red heifer, because it demonstrates in the clearest fashion that the entire Torah is based on a Divine understanding beyond our ability to fathom – it purifies the impure yet impures the pure. Only when we base our performance of mitzvos on submission to the decree of the Creator, will they be performed with perfection.
(Rabbi Zev Leff)

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Miller’s Musings – Parshas Shelach

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Miller’s Musings

פרשת שלך-לך

The Thought that Counts?

Even those incidences in the Torah that appear at first glance easily understandable and even relatable, upon multiple readings generate any number of questions and complications. The entire episode with the one who gathered wood on Shabbos is one that may seem simplistic in terms of the narrative, yet in truth requires no small amount of work to comprehend. The most basic of all must be how and why would someone do something that was so clearly wrong and would so obviously lead, as it did, to the death penalty?

To believe that the one who broke Shabbos in this way did so as an act of willful rebellion or disregard for the Torah, is incongruous with how we understand the generation that stood at Sinai. Moreover, the mere fact that his name, Tzlofchod, is not mentioned in relation to this episode, is taken by the Sages to indicate the good intent in what he did. Rav Moshe Shternbuch explains that his motivation was to teach the Jewish people a very valuable lesson. He was concerned that the people would make an error in assuming that since they were all already punishable by death for the sin of the spies, they no longer had to keep the commandments. In order to show them that this was not the case, he committed an act that was patently against the Torah and would clearly bring about his death, showing them that the mitzvos applied as much today as it did before sending the spies and the repercussions of contravening them equally severe. His intentions were for the sake of Heaven, hence his name was left out in respect for his good intent. Nevertheless, despite this, he did receive a punishment, as he had expected. His motivations were good but the action was still that of a desecrator of Shabbos.

To have the right intention behind an action is certainly something valued and rewarded by Hashem. A mere intention can sometimes be enough to elicit a reward as if it had been performed and an act with the correct motivation is deemed far greater than one without it. But to live a Torah life only in one’s mind, or to claim that being a spiritual person is sufficient without actual practice of the Torah’s teachings, is never enough. We are punished to some degree for wrongdoing even if we truly believe it is for the best. Those who claim that being Jewish is something that resides solely, or mainly, in the heart are making a fundamental error. In truth these thoughts and beliefs are often rooted solely in selfish desires and a wish to do whatever they please. If someone can reject the mitzvos that are too challenging and still claim to be on a high spiritual level, they are getting the best of both worlds. But this is simply not true. Trying to convince oneself of something that plays into the hands of the Yetzer Horah is easily done. Yet nothing in life truly worthwhile is achieved without effort and a Torah life dictates that we must work, overcome and raise ourselves through challenges and striving. We must not only think, but also act according to Hashem’s will. The right beliefs are core to connecting with Hashem, but only through action can we ultimately forge the deepest relationship with Him.

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Shimmy Miller
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Parshas Shelach (for those outside Israel)

The spies returned from their investigations of the Land of Israel with negative reports and the Jewish people no longer wanted to go to the Promised Land. This resulted in Tisha B’Av. We are still suffering from the consequences. Many explanations are suggested to understand exactly how they erred and what message we can glean from that incidence.

The spies said that they saw giants there and “We were like grasshoppers in our eyes and so we were in their eyes” (13:33).

This was the claim against them. Why were they so concerned how they seemed in the eyes of the locals? (Kotzker Rebbe). Why should it make a difference to them how they were perceived?

When a person knows his strengths and his talents, he knows what he can achieve. Why should other people’s perception of him enter into the equation? (We are not discussing things that may be a chillul Hashem). Their assessment of him should not influence his decisions. Sometimes we get a bit too carried away with what others have to say.

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No Wise Guy

At the end of this week’s parsha, Shlach lecha, we find the curious episode of the “mekoshesh aitzim”- the woodchopper. The Torah relates the story of a nameless personality who was caught braking Shabbos and subsequently prosecuted and sentenced to death. The Sages say that this man had exalted intentions, he felt that the nations adherence of Shabbos was not good enough, so he decided to sacrifice his life by braking Shabbos and being publicly punished, thereby impressing on all the importance of Shabbos adherence and the severity of the consequences for anybody who fails to keep the Shabbos. This was a truly great, selfless act for the sake of heaven…. Surely a praiseworthy thing to do…..or not.

The commentators explain, based on the Talmud, that this Shabbos was the second one that the Jews had ever observed and the Talmud relates that had the entire nation fully observed two Shabbosos then no nation would ever have been able to rule over them- they came very close to realizing this achievement but for one exception- our very well meaning wood chopper- in his holy desire to help the nation by “bending the rules” he brought about calamity!

The message is clear- our job down here is just to do what we are told to.

No need to try to outsmart G-d.

R’ Ezer Pine

(Based on the “Daas Zekainim”)

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21 June, 2022 07:18

The last Beracha (blessing)of the Shemona Esrei prayer is that of “Shalom" (Peace). True Shalom is the achievement of perfection, the harmonious functioning of the world. As long as evil and evildoers destroy this harmony there can be no Shalom.

Hashem is the ultimate Oneness and He created a multitude of creations on many and varying levels of spirituality and physicality. The idea that all aspects of this world are comprised of many individual things uniting harmoniously toward unity and perfection is a function of that Oneness. The goal is for all these creations to unite under Hashem. This is the concept of Malchus Shamayim – the Heavenly Kingdom.

By working on oneself to do Hashem’s will and fulfill one’s unique role (and not someone else’s) one is contributing to world peace.

Korach (this week’s parsha in Israel, next week outside Israel) separated himself from the community. He saw himself as a detatched isolated individual. It caused him to be jealous of Elitzafan ben Uziel when the latter was appointed family head. His attitude was the very antithesis of Shalom which depends on each Jew fulfilling his unique role without jealousy or selfish motivations.

Reb Zusha was asked if he would accept the opportunity to switch places with Avraham Avinu. What would Hakadosh Baruh Hu (HaShem) gain? He replied. There would still be one Avraham Avinu and one Reb Zusha.

(from Rabbi Leff’s sefer “Shemoneh Esrei” on the daily prayers.)

Blue or White?

On our talleisim (for most of us) there are 8 white threads on each corner. Some talleisim have some blue threads. Seemingly, we should all have these blue threads as the Torah tells us to place blue (techeiles) thread (15:38). Why then do we not do this?

This blue colour was derived from a worm call the chilazon. We have lost the tradition for this worm. However, some claim (with proofs) that they have identified the chilazon and produce the techeiles. If so, we should all be stringent and have techeiles. Even if it is incorrect, seemingly, it does not harm. So why do we not all wear talleisim with techeiles?

Many different answers are suggested. There are some opinions (Rashi, Rambam) that the colour of the threads should be the same colour as the corner of the garment of clothing, the only exception being real techeiles. If the garment is blue the threads should be blue. If green, the threads should be green. Our talleism are white and so to fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzis, white threads are required (and real techeiles if there is). Therefore if the new found chilazon is not the real deal, the mitzvah is not being performed and there is in fact harm. (R’ Chaim Solovetzik – quoted)

Anther answer that is suggested is that when it comes to questions and clarification regarding laws, then we consult the sages and their proofs, but when it comes to questions and uncertainties regarding the existence and identification of something, we do not rely on proofs, rather we rely on the tradition given to us by our fathers and their fathers. Since we have lost the tradition regarding the identification of the chilazon and the techeiles, proofs do not help. (Beis HaLevi – quoted)