Bamidbar 5771

Together or Apart:

My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi David in his sefer Derosh Dorash Yosef quotes the Rav saying that there is two types of counting that someone can do. One way is to count a group of objects, for example, a box of a thousand rubber bands. Another way that one can count is to consider each individual item in it's importance, for example, examining a diamond.

He goes on to say that the first time bnei yisrael was counted was they were counted as large groups, but in this count they were counted by "rosh libeit avotam" (by the heads of their household), meaning each as individuals.

There is two ways one can look at himself. One way is for a person to see himself in a group, he must do what is necessary for the whole at large and not just himself. The other way a person can see himself is as an individual with his own importance. He, alone, is precious without anyone else.

A certain great rabbi used to have a piece of paper in each pocket, one which read "bishvili nivra haolam" (the world was created for me), the other paper said "ani afar viaifer" (I am dist and ash).

The main thing in life is to balance these two points. One cannot live completely for the klal or he will lose his individuality. At the same time one cannot be completely for himself because "If I am only for me, what am I?"

May we all be zoche to learn how to balance between being part of a klal and being an individual.

Have a great Shabbat!

Bechukoti 5771

Lose it all:

In this week's parsha Hashem gives us an option of two paths. One path where we follow the Torah and everything we need He gives us. The other, we don't follow the Torah and lots of unpleasant things happen to us.

We have quoted the Ramban from the end of Bo where he says that one must believe that the world is run completely based on our actions, if we do mitzvot then Hashem rewards us, if we sin Hashem punishes us. This idea can be seen clearly in this week's parsha.

We know from many sources that the amount of money one has is decided by Hashem, and that at any moment it can all be taken away.

There is a story with a very rich Jew who comes to a chassidish rebbe. He asked the rebbe "How can it be that God can take away all of my money? I have my money spread out over many investments, so even if oil crashes I have gold. If that fails I have stocks, if those go bad I got real estate. There is nothing that could make me lose it all. How can the statement be true?" The chassidish rebbe just told him he had to believe it was true.

The man could not accept this answer, because of this he decided to leave Judaism and join the church. He walked in to meet the duke and after showing the duke that he really wanted to convert he was let into the church to learn to become a good christian. After several weeks, the duke said that he was almost ready to completely conv but before he did he just needed to do one thing to truly show his belief in the religion, to give up his worldly possessions to the church. The man pulled out a pen and signed all of his wealth away, now he was an official christian.

Several minutes later, as he is walking down the street he realizes that he has in fact lost all of his wealth in an instant. He ran to the chassidish rebbe crying to him that it was true that Hashem controls all of the money and that he now has nothing. The rebbe said "just as Hashem could take all of the money from you, so too He can get it all back."

That night there was a fire in the city, burning down the church, with this rich man's document giving away all of his wealth. Now, the church could not prove that he had given it over.

If you have been following the news this week, then you would have heard about Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Let's go back to last week. This Jewish man was head of the IMF, the International Monetary Fund, a corporation which leads billions of dollars to companies all over the world. He was a strong candidate to win the presidential elections in France coming up very soon. Basically, he was one of the most influential people in the world.

Now fast forward to today. He now sits in a jail cell in Rikers Island prison, with no bail. He was basically forced to resign from his job and lost the support of the people of France in the election. This huge change took basically one day to happen.

In one moment Hashem could take away everything you have, or He can give you more than you could dreamed of. But this choice is up to you, will you follow the mitzvot or not?

In honor of my birthday tomorrow the 16th of Iyar may we all be zoche to choose what is right and may Hashem always be giving to us and not taking.

Have a great Shabbat!

Behar 5771

Just Believe:

The pasukim (25:20-21) in this week's parsha say "And when you say 'what will we eat in the seventh year? We will not sow or gather our crops.' I command my blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will make the crops for three years."

Many people say that they have belief that Hashem controls the world, but how many people truly believe it. While it is true that man must do his hishtadlut he must also learn to balance that with his emunah. If someone truly believed 100% that Hashem controlled everything then they would realize that the effort they put in at work has nothing to do with the amount of money they make.

Imagine that someone came into your office and told you to leave you job for a year and if you did you would still have all the money you needed, would you do it? Most people would laugh at this person in the face and continue working. Hashem is asking so much more.

The average farmer not only got his livelihood from the produce but he also fed his family with the crops that grew there. If you leave the ground for a full years it is very likely that much of the crops with die and not grow back the following year. Not only would they be giving up a year of salary, they would be giving up the food they eat for the year and they would probably have a chance of losing everything they have worked for.

Yet, Hashem promises, if you leave the land alone you will not only not lose out on the crops but you will gain in the long run. Someone who can commit to this has true emunah, willing to give everything up knowing that Hashem always does what is good for him. This is true bitachon!

May we all be zoche to have bitachon that Hashem runs the world!

Emor 5771

True Law:

At the end of this week's parsha the pasuk says (24:22) "There will be one law for you, for the convert and the native it will be, because I am Hashem your God." Rashi comments the He is the God for everyone, just like He made His name special for us He also made it special for the converts.

It seems according to this pasuk that the reason one the native Jews and the converts share the same law is due to the fact that Hashem made His name special for all of us. But what does Hashem's name have to do with law?

A person may think that they can judge things based on their own morals. This pasuk teaches us that the law cannot be based solely on one's own morals, but it needs to involve God. A person can only judge based on his own biased opinion, but only Hashem knows what the true judgement should be and He judges based on truth.

If we remember that the only thing that makes us different from the rest of the world is that we were separated as Hashem's chosen people then that can guide us through life, to help us make the right choices. If this idea remains in your thoughts all day then the true law will be clear to you.

Another important point in this pasuk is that it shows us that there are two ways to be a Jew. The first way is to be born a Jew, the second is to choose to be a Jew. While those born Jewish may consider themselves better, being that they were always from the chosen people, this is not true. This pasuk clearly shows that a convert is considered equal in the eyes of Hashem to a native Jew. There is even a midrash that says that not only the souls of all of the generations of bnei yisrael were at Har Sinai, but even the souls of the converts. A convert is just a special as the rest of us.

Have a good Shabbat!