Vaira 5771

The End of Each Maka:

After the maka of Dam (blood) had begun the chartumim of Mitzriam were able to duplicate it, so too with the maka of tzfardai'a. Yet, by the third maka, Kinim, the chartumim could not do it so they told Paro that it must be "yad Elokim" (God's hand) (see Rashi (8:15)).

There is a big problem, why was it not until the third maka that they said this? They should have said this the moment the moment that the blood turned back into water. The chartumim could not turn the blood back into water, otherwise they would have had water to drink. So why didn't they go to Paro and tell him that it must have been God who turned the blood back into water or Who got the frogs to leave?

To answer this question let me tell you a story. So as you all know, it snowed this past week in New York. Me being me, I managed to get my car stuck, not once but two times. After about a half hour each time my car was finally freed from the grasps of the horrid snow I was finally able to go home. My friend who was in the car with me, and my friend who helped me get the car out (the first time) both pointed out how clear the yad Hashem was that after thirty minutes of my car moving back and forth in the same place, it miraculously got out.

The second time I had spent several minutes on my hands and knees shoveling snow with my hand to try to get my car out. Two guys from yeshiva saw me and tried to help but it was not until two random strangers came that my car was able to get out of the spot.

So each time that my car gets out of the snow it is clear that it is a Hashem, but how about every other time I easily pull my car out of spot on a sunny nice not-snowy day? Why isn't that also clearly yad Hashem? The answer is that that too is in fact also yad Hashem but we just assume it is nature that each time it happens we do not even think about it.

This is exactly what happened in Mitzriam. When the maka started the chartumim had an idea to say that it might be Hashem so they needed to do magic to show that it could have not been Hashem, but once the maka ended and they could see nature running it's course again they did not need magic to get around the possibility of it all being Hashem.

If the chartumim would have recognized from the beginning that it was yad Hashem then they would never have let Paro keep the Jews through all of the plauges. (According to the Ramban, Hashem only hardened Paro's heart after the fifth maka. Before then it was all Paro's free will. Therefore, if the chartumim would have been convinced from the getgo that it was Hashem, Paro would never have gotten through five makot.) It was their free will that allowed them to constantly look for an excuse to say it was not Hashem. But if they would have open their eyes to the truth they would have seen how clear it was. It was only by the third maka when they had no other explanation that they finally could admit to the idea that it was Hashem.

If a person were to just recognize that every event is orchestrated by Hashem then not only will every amazing event that occurs be yad Hashem, but even every small thing in their day turn into a great kindess straight from Hashem.

Have a great Shabbat!

Shemot 5771

Seeing is believing:

The pasukim say (4:3-5) "And He said 'send it to the ground' and he sent it to the ground, and it was a snake and Moshe ran from it. And Hashem said to Moshe 'send your hand and grab it's tail.' He sent out his hand and he held it, and it was a stick in his hand. 'So that they will believe that Hashem, the God of your fathers, the God Avraham God of Yitzchak and God of Yaakov appeared to you.'

From seeing the stick turn into a snake and then switch back the Jews will believe. But there is a problem, the Mitzrim also have the ability to change sticks into snakes. So how can this act possibly prove that Moshe was sent by Hashem? The Jews can see the acts of Moshe and say that just as the Mitzrim can do magic, so can Moshe. This should not help prove Hashem's hand at all.

We learn from here a very valuable lesson. Two people can see the same thing while for one it could be so obvious that it was the hand of Hashem and for the other it could just be nature. When someone believes that there is a God in the world everything they see is different then a person who does not.

Every morning the sun rises. If one where to look at the sky at sunrise they would see a spectacular light show. A person can look at this and see the marvels of Hashem or just light reflecting at an angle to produce a horizon of orange and red. The only difference is that one person believes, while the other is oblivious to it all.

Rav Shach came back from a visit to the hospital with a large smile on his face. His talmidim ask him why he was so happy. He explained that for years he never understood the first mitzvah according to the Rambam. The Rambam holds that it is a mitzvah to believe that Hashem exists. Rav Shach could not understand why that would need to be a mitzvah, isn't it so clear? So his talmidim ask him what he had learned at the hospital. Rav Shach told them that he had been speaking to one of the best doctors in the country. Rav Shach admitted to the doctor that he was jealous that the doctor could look into the insides of a person and see the wonders of Hashem. Rav Shach told the doctor how much he would love to see the heart, lungs and other internal organs working perfectly in order to keep the person alive, and how much it would strengthen his emunah. The doctor stared at Rav Shach with a puzzled look. The doctor said to Rav Shach that he had no clue what he was talking about. "How does this prove Hashem's existence?! The perfection of the internal organs is not a work of God, it is a work of nature." Rav Shach told his talmidim that until he had met this doctor he could not believed that an intelligent person could possibly think that there is no God, now that Rav Shach knows that there exists a smart person who does not believe, he can now finally understand the Rambam.

When DNA was first discovered by man it was the work of two scientists, one a religious christian, the other an atheist. When the christian was interviewed he was asked if the discovery of DNA disproves God. The christian answered that not only does it not disprove God, rather it is so much more clear now of God's existence, how could nature perfectly construct something so detailed and so exact? When the atheist was asked the same question, he answered that it proves to him, without any reasonable doubt, that there is no god in the world.

After the ten makot were all over, and the Jews had left, there were still Mitzrim in the thousands that came to the Reed Sea to kill the Jews. How could this be? Had they not witnessed the miracles? Had they not seen everything that had transpired over the last year? How could it not be so clear to them that Hashem is protecting the Jews? The answer is quite simple, when you don't believe in a creator nothing can possibly convince you. Even if God Himself were to come for a visit to your house you would not believe He exists.

But someone who does believe does not have to go anywhere to prove His existence. Every breathe a person takes is from Hashem. Every piece of food a person eats is from Hashem. Everything single thing that happens to a person is from Hashem, all you need to do is look around.

Hashem was telling Moshe that the Jews would believe him after seeing the stick turn into a snake because they are believers the sons of believers. Therefore, any act performed by Moshe would have been enough of a proof for them.

Have a good shabbat!

Vayichi 5771

Living Happy:

The Or HaChiam on the first pasuk in our parsha (47:28) says that we know that Yaakov went through many challenges in his lifetime (for example in no particular order: Esav, Lavan, Dinah, Yosef, Rachel dying...) but when it came to Mitzriam the pasuk says "And Yaakov lived in Mitzriam 17 years." The Or HaChaim says "these were his years and not the ones before now, and right after the pasuk says "and the days of Yaakov's life..." to hint that these were the years that Yaakov had chiut and when it says "and the days of Yaakov" are talking about the 17 years, in those years is when he had life... We can also explain by what is said 'whoever's life is good at the end is as if his entire life was good... since Yaakov had these 17 years that were good, the rest of his life became years 'of life'."

Throughout our lives we will be tested. Some tests will be harder to pass than others, but if we remember that every single thing that happens to us is from Hashem we can be sure that it will all end well. Even though Yaakov's life was filled with tests and hardships at the end the whole thing was worth it. If not for all of the pain that he went through he would not have been truly able to appreciate the good he had. It would not have been the same experience had Yaakov just had a good life if he had not lost many things in the process.

In fact, after 22 years of mourning for his son Yosef he now finds out that Shimon is in prison and that some ruler in Mitzriam is trying to take away Binyamin too. Everything is falling around him and just as everything seems like it is about to get worse, everything gets better and he lives a happy life for the rest of his days.

It is just when things start to look the worse that is when we get the most out of the good. If life was easy we would not appreciate it as much, it is only through the hard times that we can truly be thankful for what we have.

Have an easy fast and a good Shabbat!

Vayigash 5771

Kriat Shema:

After 22 years Yaakov finally is reunited with his son, Yosef. At that moment the first thing that Yaakov does is say Kriat Shema, as quoted by Rashi (46:29) from the Midrash Aggadah.

It is a mitzvah deorita that every Jew must recite Kriat Shema twice a day, once at night and once during the day. In fact, the first mesechta in Shas, Brachot spends its first perek just discussing Kriat Shema (as well as parts of the second and third perek). What about Kriat Shema makes it so important?

Kriat Shema starts off our commitment to accepting the yoke of heaven. By stating "Shema Yisrael: Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad" we are saying that Hashem controls the world and everything that happens is from Him. This is the same thing we discussed last week with the brothers when they were trying to figure out why all of those bad things where happening to them. Well, from this week's parsha it is clear where the brothers learned their emunah from.

Yaakov, after 22 years of mourning for the death of his son, sees his long "dead" son standing before him. Yaakov now looks back at the the events that have led up to this moment and he can now see how every event was perfectly orchestrated to allow the Jews an honorable descent to galut. The midrash tells us that Yaakov was really supposed to be brought into galut in chains. It was only after Yaakov saw that the last 22 years were a set up to bring him and his children to mitzriam with honor. What seems bad at the time was all done to help Yaakov. By having Yosef go down first it made it possible to allow the Jews to live in Goshen, separate from all of the influences of the people of mitzriam. On top of that, Yehuda was able to go down first and set up Yeshivot to make sure that Judaism could last through the galut ahead.

It was only after seeing the big picture that allowed Yaakov to see how Hashem had planned it all out perfectly, and at the moment Yaakov had no other thought but to announce his emunah in Hashem.

Have a good shabbat!

Miketz/ Chanukah 5771

Middah Keneged Middah:

The pasuk says (42:28) "... and they were afraid man to his brother saying 'why is Hashem doing to us?'" Targum Yonatan ben Uziel translates "... what is Hashem doing to us, it is not something that we are chiav for." The Rashbam says the brothers were asking "what is the middah keneged middah here?..."

Every day, twice a day we all say "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokainu Hashem Echad." What are we saying when we say these words? In our saying of Shema we are testifying that Hashem controls the world. Every single event that happens in the world is perfectly orchestrated by Hashem, believing this is emunah peshuto (basic belief).

The brothers knew this very well, so the first thing that came to their minds when something bad happened to them was that Hashem had decreed this to happen. Therefore, they had to figure out which sin they did that caused them to have this event happen to them. This is what a person should do every time something happens to him. When a person has this basic belief he has everything. Once you have emunah everything else just happens.

We are told that in the time of Purim Haman wanted to destroy all of the Jews, but in the time of Chanukah the Greeks did not want to destroy us they wanted to get us to stop learning Torah and doing mitzvot. But knowing the information does not mean very much if we do not know the background story. By Purim the gemara is clear about the reason(s) why the story happened. Since the Jews went to the party of Achashvairosh and enjoyed the pleasures there, Hashem punished them that there physical bodies should be tested. In the story of Chanukah the Jews began to accept Greek Culture and leave Judaism. Since they did that Hashem tested the Jews with a test of the faith in Him. The ones who fought in the war against the Greeks were only the ones who were willing to give their lives up for Hashem.

Rav Brevda quoted the following story from the Siddur Harokaiach (I apologize for using the same story from last year but it is worth the chazara.) The Greeks came to attack the Jews with about 80,000 soldiers. Their opponents, twelve Kohanim with no weapons. All twelve kohanim stood side to side ready to die for Hashem. The Greek soldiers took out their bows and arrows and shot at the Kohanim. As the arrows fly through the air angels came and turned all of the arrows back at the shooters. The Kohanim did not do anything at all, yet all of the soldiers died in the battle.

The entire story with the Greeks was above nature. Every single action that happened was based on the merit of the Jews. Rav Brevda explains in Al Hanisim "Timai'im B'Yad Tahorim, V'Rishaim B'Yad Tzadikim, V'Zaidim B'Yad Oskai Toratecha" (The ritually impure by the hands of the pure, the evil ones by the hands of the righteous, and the wicked by the Ones Who Learn Torah) to mean that each Jew killed a Greek according to his level of faith. A normal Jew killed a normal Greek, a Jew who went against the Greeks and tried to keep the mitzvot killed the Greeks who tried to prevent the Jews from doing mitzvot, and the most religious of the Jews killed the Greeks who established the decrees.

This just shows us how much the event had to do with out faith. This is why everything was dependent on the emunah of the Jewish fighters.

From these events it is clear how Hashem plans every event to the smallest details. When we live on the level that we truly believe this whenever something happens to us the first thing we will think is "why is Hashem doing to us?"

Good Shabbat and Happy Chanukah!

Veyaishev 5771

Books of Memory:
After Yosef had his dreams his brothers decided for several reasons that he deserved death. (Two of the possibilities were: 1) He was trying to take the kingdom from Yehuda who was destined to be king. 2) He told Yaakov that his brothers were eating Aiver Min HaChia [limbs from a live animal] when it was not true. For these reasons, and several others, the brothers decided he deserved death.) Yaakov sent Yosef to his brothers to make sure everything was going well. When he got there his brother were ready to kill him. At that moment Reuven convinced them that they should not kill him, rather they should leave him in a pit to die on his own. The pasuk tells us that really Reuven had other plans. (37:22) "... So that he (Reuven) could save him (Yosef) from their hands and return him to his father."

There is a famous Midrash Rabba (Vayikra 34:8/9 [depending on the version]) "Rav Yitzchak says 'The Torah teaches us derech eretz, that when a person does a mitzvah he should do it with a full heart. If only Reuven would known that Hashem would write down "And Reuven heard and he saved him (Yosef) from their hands" he would have picked him up and brought him to his father. If Boaz would have known that Hashem would have written about him (Rut 2:14) "...and he fed her parched grain..." he would have fed her stuffed cows.' Rav Kohen and Rebbe Yehoshua B'Rebbe Simon in the name of Rav Levi say 'In the past a person did a mitzvah and the navi would write it down. Now a person does a mitzvah who writes it? Eliyahu and the king Mashiach, then Hashem signs it on their hands as it says (Malachi 3:16) "When the ones who fear Hashem speak to each other Hashem listens and writes..."

We all know the mishna in Avot (2:1) that says "... Look at three things and you will not come to sin; know what is above you: a seeing eye, a listening ear, and every act is written a book."

If we look at the midrash and mishna we can learn a very valuable lesson. A person must remember at every moment that Hashem is watching him. If one always remembers this he will be carefully about every action he he does. Rabbeinu Yonah asks on the mishna, why do you need three examples to teach the same thing, all three examples just mean that Hashem remembers what you do? He answers that each example reminds us of a different action we must be cautious about. The seeing eye is to make us careful of our actions, the hearing ear is to make us cautious of our speech, and the written book is to teach us that every action will be remembered.

If we are constantly aware of Hashem then every action we do will be thought through first. How could one put non-kosher food in his mouth if Hashem is watching? How can one speak badly of another person if Hashem is listening? Would a person think for a second that it is okay to "bend the rules" of Judaism if his action will be written down forever?

There is another side to this coin. If we look closely at the words of midrash in comparison to the mishna we can see that while the mishna is discussing how to avoid sin the midrash is teaching us how to do do mitzvot. It is not enough to just follow the same routine everyday that is not enough. We must do our mitzvot with a full heart. If a person wakes up every morning and puts his tefillin without thinking, opens up his siddur and moves his lips for a few minutes without thinking about what he is saying he is missing the point.

If we look at the pasuk with Reuven we see that the pasuk is not even talking about his actions, rather it speaks about his kavanah, it says (37:22) "... So that he (Reuven) could save him (Yosef) from their hands and return him to his father." We can learn out from here that Reuven never thought that his kavanah would be recorded in the Torah and this is what the midrash is trying to teach us. A person can understand that all of actions are recorded by Hashem but it is a lot harder to realize that even ones thoughts are recorded by Hashem. If we can realize that every single act and thought we have is important than that we would run to do mitzvot with the best kavanah we can.

Vayishlach 5771

Relying on Miracles:

A few weeks ago, parshat Vayaira, we spoke about Avraham followed Hashem's command against his own personal morals, because in the end Hashem who is the ultimate decider of what will be successful. This week will focus on other aspects of hishtadlut.

The Ramban gives a short introduction to this week's parsha where he says that we learn from here that Hashem saves His people (lit. slaves) but they do not rely on Hashem rather they do everything in their power to make their endeavor successful.

The pasuk (32:9) says "And he (Yaakov) said "If Esav comes this group and attacks it the other group will remain to survive." Rashi here tells us that Yaakov "prepared himself in three ways: 1) to give Esav presents (32:22) 2) to daven (32:10) 3) and to fight in war (32:9).

We learn from Yaakov's actions that we should not come to rely on miracles. The gemara in Shabbat (53b) brings a case were a man needed a miracle to save his child and a miracle happened (see there for the exact case) Rav Yosef said "Come and see how great this person is that such a miracle happened to him" Abayai responded "how bad is this person that the order of creation was changed for him." Not only that but in Taanit (24) the gemara paskins that one cannot even derive pleasure from a miracle. There is also a gemara in Bava Kamma (85a) that allows a person to go the doctor. Rashi on the spot says that a person should not assume that Hashem will make in better.

Rabbi Avishai David, my Rosh Yeshiva in his new sefer "Darosh Darash Yosef" (I highly recommend it, not that he needs my haskama) says as follows (pg. 90-91) "However, Jacob used both approaches. He offered up prayers but also rolled up his sleeves. True, a single angel could have defeated Esau's army without effort, just as an angel destroyed the Assyrian army of Sanherib, which consisted of 185,000 men, in one night. But it is not guaranteed. These are the principle of bitachon and hishtadlut. Our challenge is to have emunah, to offer prayer, but alos to be prepared to confront our adversary."

This idea does not just come up in a case of war, rather this is how a person should respond in every situation. A person must prepare for what is coming but at the same time must know that every outcome is from Hashem. We cannot rely on a miracle happening so we cannot just sit back and hope for the best.

What is very interesting is that only several pasukim later (32:11) Yaakov says "I am belittled from all of the good and the truth that You did for your slave (ie me)..." The Vilna Goan says that this is the pasuk that we learn that even though a person should not assume that he deserves good because of his merits, should assume that any good that he does have is because of his merits, and therefore he does not deserve any more. This is what the gemara in Sotah means that a humble person should have an eighth of an eighth of gaivah. Meaning the eight pasuk of the eighth parsha. Meaning that this pasuk should be the mentality of a humble person. A humble person must work as hard as he can for his goal. While he working for it he should know that he does not truly deserve the reward, but if he gets the reward he should remember that it all comes from Hashem and now that he got his reward he deserves no more. This is the mentality of a true anav!

We know Yaakov is known as Esh Ha'Emet (the man of truth), so if he truly believed that this is the right way to think then it must be the proper way to live. May we all be zoche to live on the level of Yaakov, with the ability to do our hishtadlut yet still realize that in the end it is all up to Hashem.

Have a good Shabbat!

Vayaitzei 5771

Hakarat Hatov:

The mishna avot (5:10) says "There are four Middot in a person:.. the one who says what is mine is yours and what is yours is yours- Chassid. What is mine is mine what is yours is mine- Rasha." When a person believes he deserves nothing, anything he gets is more than he deserves; but when a person thinks he deserves everything no matter how much he has, it is not enough.

In last week's parsha we learned how Esav was supposed to get the brachot from Yitzchak but Yitzchak gave the bracha to Yaakov instead. If one where to ask Esav if his selling of the firstborn was also a selling of the rights to the bracha Esav would have agreed, but since Esav believed he deserved everything there was no reason why he should not get the bracha from Yitzchak.

In this week's parsha Lavan hires Yaakov to work for him. Over the course of the twenty years while Yaakov was working for Lavan the livestock increased greatly. In fact Lavan says (30:27) "...and Hashem blesses me because of you." Yet, even though all of the wealth was because of Yaakov, when Yaakov left with all of the livestock he had gotten from Lavan's deal Lavan had the nerve to say (31:43) "... The daughters are my daughters and the sons are my sons and the sheep are my sheep and everything you see is mine..." This pasuk is very puzzling. Did Yaakov not work fourteen years to get the right to marry Rachel and Leah? Did he not work 20 years for Lavan to deserve the sheep? In fact, Lavan never did any of his own work. Even though Yaakov had done all of the work Lavan still believed that it all truly belongs to him.

The Sforno says "Even if I (Lavan) switched your wages or sent you with nothing I would not be taking anything from you because everything is mine, and with trickery it got to your hands, not in judgement."

Imagine the following scenario: Someone comes to you with $10,000,000, he tells you that you can hold on to the money but in a week you need to give me $3,000,000. Now the week is over and man comes to collect is $3,000,000, would you for even one moment call him a robber? As crazy as this seems, it is exactly what Lavan did. The only way someone can believe that is if they actually think that they deserve everything, and this is exactly was the mishna in avot is talking about. When someone can live with this mentality it is called being a Rasha. It is only someone who knows that he deserves nothing that is able to have hakarat hatov for what he gets.

Rav Brevda says that the concept of Hakarat Hatov comes completely from the neshama. The guf cannot comprehend the idea of thanking someone for an object, why should you thank someone for giving you something that you deserve? It is only someone who knows that he deserves nothing who can be appreciative of what someone does for him.

This is the difference between Yaakov and Lavan. We already saw Lavan's side but now let us see the hakarat hatov of Yaakov. After the dream in the beginning of this week's parsha Yaakov says (28:22) "... and this stone that I placed here as a pillar will be a house of God and everything You give me I will give a tenth to You." Notice the wording of the pasuk "everything You give me" Yaakov does not say 'everything I get' because he knows that anything he gets is really from Hashem. Once you have that mentality then it is clear that you must be thankful for what you get. I heard from Rav Brevda a few times that even though all of the Gedolim he knew were different in everything they did there was one trait that they all did exactly the same, hakarat hatov. If you did even the smallest favor for them they would thank you for all of the things you did for them.

It is only possible to be thankful for what you have if you really believe that you do not deserve it. Once a person thinks that he deserves something he is unable to truly be thankful for someone giving it to him. Not only that but even when a person like this shows appreciation he is only doing it so that the other person would be willing to give to him again. Therefore, when someone who has this mentality is giving this giving is really taking. But, someone who knows he deserves nothing will be giving enough when he is receiving.

Rav Dessler explains in Michtav Ma'Eliyahu that the only true way to love is through giving. The reason for this is because the act of giving is an idea that only exists by the neshama. When a person is giving to another it is forming a connection true love between the two people. But someone who 'loves' on a guf level does not really love the other thing, for example saying you love fish. If you really loved fish you probably would not be eating it, you would bring it back to the ocean and let it live. This form of love is not based on giving it is based on taking. A love based on taking is only skin deep (no pun intended). Once the person has nothing left to give, the love is gone. In this formula all the giving that you do is only so that you can receive more later.

Let us all be zoche to be on the level where all of our taking is giving and with that we can truly know all of the good that Hashem gives us.

Have a great Shabbat!

Toldot 5771

Darkness:

Rav Brevda in his sefer Lehodot UliHalel (on Chanukkah) quotes a Berieshit Rabba (2:4) on the pasuk is (1:2) "... And the darkness is on the Tehom" The midrash explains "'and the darkess'" means the galut of the Greeks that darkened the eyes of the Jews with their Gevairot..." In the footnotes Rav Brevda quotes an amazing Mesillat Yesharim (3rd perek) "In the darkness of night there are two types of mistakes a person's eyes can make. 1) That it is so dark that the person cannot see anything at all. 2) That the person mistakes a pillar for a man and a man for a pillar. This is the pleasures in this world, the darkness of the night for the person's mind, which causes these two mistakes. The first one causes the person not to be able to see the stumbling blocks in front of him and he will trip up a lot. The second one is much more difficult than the first. He is so convinced that he is seeing clearly that he is confident that the bad is really good and that the good is really bad and he will work very hard to convince himself that what he is doing is correct."

Nowadays, we live in this galut. We are so used to the way we live that we have convinced ourselves that it is how it is supposed to be. Meanwhile, the true good is still hidden from us.

In this week's parsha we know that Yitzchak is blind. It is possible to say that this blindness is not just a physical blindess but also a blindness of the truth. The pasukim say (25:27-28) "... Esav was a man who knew hunting, a man of the field... and Yitzchak loved Esav because of the meat in his mouth." Rashi explains in (25:27) that Esav knew how to trick his father, Esav would ask him 'Father, how do I give Ma'aser for salt and animal feed?' So his father thought that he was very strick in mitzvot."

Yitzchak was so blind he could not tell that his own son was lying to him. We know that the Ramban throughout these parshiot say that every thing the Avot did was a sign that we would do it in the future. So the Ramban shows how every act that Avraham did was a sign for either a war or a sin that the Jews were involved in. So Yitzchak is a hint for the time of the Galut were we are living in the darkness. We must know how to know between was is good and what is not. If we allow our emotions to get in the way then we may end up going after the bad.

So we can learn from Yitzchak from the way he lived to know how we can survive this darkness. Throughout the parsha Yitzchak does almost the exact same actions that his father, Avraham did. First during the famine he tried to go to Mitzriam but Hashem told him he could not go. Then when he went to Grar he told the people that Rivkah was his wife, just like Avraham had done for Sara. Then he dug wells and the pasuk (26:18) even says "... and he dug the wells that were dug in the time of Avraham his father.

We see from here the trick on how to survive the galut. Since we live in a time when the Torah learning is not as great as earlier generations and our mitzvot are not as good as earlier generations we do not really have any idea what we are doing. The only thing we can do is look back at what the earlier generations did and hope that by following in their ways we will be able to get out of the galut.

This shows us the importance of Mesorah and that is exactly what Yitzchak was showing us by following the path of his father. But now we can ask a question, if we are supposed to follow everything the last generation did then why was Yiztchak told not to go down to Mitzriam? The reason is because mesorah is not just simply following the exact movements of the previous generations, it is much broader than that. Mesorah requires us to understand how the people of the earlier generations lived. Once we can understand why they did things than based on how they reacted we must know how to asset the situation and get a result that makes sense for our times. But how does one know what to do and what not to do, how do we know what the earlier generations would do? The answer is to find yourself a rebbe we has a mesorah back to Har Sinai. Once, you have that then you know that everything he tells you is straight from Mesorah.

These are the lessons we learn from our Av, Yitzchak, in times of darkness one must be careful about what he believes and one must know that what he is doing fits into the realm of Judaism. If we convince ourselves that the bad is good then we will only notice after it is too late.

This explains why, it was only after Esav tells his father that Yaakov had stolen both the Bechor and the bracha that Yitzchak realized how wrong he was. He realized that Yaakov was the better son and that Esav was not really as good as he seemed. But then why did he give him a bracha? If you look at what the bracha is it is quite revealing. The bracha is that Yaakov should rule over Esav, but if Yaakov sins then Esav will be able to control him. This is showing us yet another lesson. As long as the Jews follow the Torah the evils of the galut will not be able to touch them, but once they begin to allow the darkness in they will begin to mess up what is good with what is bad.

As long as we keep the Torah and the mitzvot nothing will be able to hurt us.

Have a great Shabbat!

Chiyai Sarah 5771

On Tuesday I heard a fantastic shiur from Rav Brevda who informed us that he will be having a major surgery on Monday (11/1/10) so if everyone can daven for him, Shlomo Leib ben Miriam for about the next week or so it would be great.

Shidduchim:

The Gemara in Sotah 2a tells us "Rav Shmuel Ben Rav Yitzchak said that when Raish Lakish would start learning Sotah he would say 'A man is only paired with a woman based on his actions because the pasuk says (Tehillim 125:3) 'The shevet of a Rasha will not be placed with the lot of the tzadik.'' Rabba Bar Bar Chana said in the name of Rav Yochanan 'Setting up pairs is as hard as Splitting the Yam Suf'... but don't we also know that rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav 'forty days before the fetus comes out a bat kol comes out and says 'the daughter of Ploni to Ploni, house Ploni to Ploni, field Ploni to Ploni.' This is not a contradiction this one [the second barita] by the first pair this one [the first barita] by the second pair."

Rashi explains this gemara as follows: A modest woman will be set up with a tzaddik and an immodest woman with a Rasha... Setting up pairs is as hard for Hashem as splitting the sea in that He must change the Seder Berieshit (the way of creation). If an angel announces who someone will marry 40 days before the fetus comes out then we know from Niddah 16b that a person can become a Tzaddik or a Rasha by his own free will, so how can we say that a Rasha will marry an immodest woman while a tzaddik marries a modest woman? The answer is that when we are talking about the bat kol that is when a person marries the person who is according to their mazal, but the time that is difficult for Hashem is when the person is chosen according to the person's actions it is hard because this is not a person's pair.

Tosfot explain that the Gemara in Moed Katan on 18b that says "Shmuel says that a person can get engaged to a woman on Chol Hamoed because maybe someone else will come and marry her first. This seems to be a contradiction with our second barita. Tosfot answer that this gemara must be talking about a second pair.

Also, Tosfot explains that the bat kol comes out 40 days before the birth of the boy whether or not the girl has been born yet.

We see from here that it is possible for a person not to marry their bashert. The Steipler says that a person can actually lose their bashert by saying no to a shidduch for no reason. Also, we learn from here that a person's perfect match can change constantly. If a person begins to act differently then it is possible that they will not marry the person they are meant to marry. This is what makes shidduchim so hard for Hashem, at any moment He must literally change the world because one person changed his middot. This also means that a person will marry someone who is perfect for him/her when they meet.

This teaches us a very important lesson. If we want to make sure that we marry a good spouse the work does not start when we start dating, it started way before that, how else will we be ready to meet our spouse if we have not fixed our middot yet?

In this week's parsha Eliezer makes a shidduch between Rivkah and Yitzchak. Eliezer's one requirement for a spouse for Yitzchak was that she be filled with Chessed (kindness). The reason explained by the Meshech Chachama is a kabbalistic reason. Since Yitzchak was Gevurah (strength)/Din (judgement) he needed someone who was Chessed so that he could have Yaakov who was Emet (truth)/ Tiferet (beauty). This shows Eliezer knew that the perfect match for Yitzchak was a woman who was able to balance his Din. Now Eliezer's test makes perfect sense. He was looking for a girl who was so full of chessed that she would give water to several camels and not even think of asking for a reward.

The Vilna Goan asks, why did Eliezer wait to give Rivkah the gifts until after she gave water to all of the camels? He answers because Eliezer waited until after she gave them all water to see if she would expect anything in return. It was only once she started to walk home that Eliezer knew she was the right one.

This also is another explanation for the pasuk by Adam and Chavah (2:20) "A helper against him." It means that Hashem makes each husband and wife to match exactly what the other one needs to help them grow closer to each other and Hashem, whether this growth is achieved through reinforcement or through being their spouse's biggest critic.

May all those who are looking for their zivug be successful and may those who have already found theirs continue to grow closer to each other and to Hashem.

Have a good shabbat!

Vayaira 5771

Hishtadlut:

The parsha starts off (18:1) "And Hashem appeared to him in Elonei Mamrei..." Rashi says that since Mamrei was the one who gave him the advice to get the brit milah he got mentioned here. The Gra says something interesting. Avraham's mission in life was to spread Torah throughout the world. He was trying to get everyone to follow the mitzvot bnei Noach. He thought that the only way to get people to follow him was for them to relate to him. He was afraid that if he got the brit milah people would not be as willing to listen to him anymore because he would stand out. So he asked his friends Mamrei, Eshkol, and Aner for advice. One told him he was to old to give himself a brit. one told him that if he did it the people would not be able to relate to him anymore, and Mamrei told him that if Hashem told him to do it that it would all work out in the end.

From this Gra we learn that even if we put in effort in the end result is all from Hashem. The gemara in Megillah has a machloket as to whether Esther was one of the most beautiful women ever or if she was actually green. The Gra explains that she started off as the most beautiful woman but as she spent time in the house waiting to meet with Achashvairosh she got so sick from all of the Gashmiut until the point where she actually turned green. So then the question is why would Achashvairosh want to marry a green woman? So the Gemara answers that an angel would come and pass a string of Chesed in front of her and everyone would think she was beautiful. This teaches us that as long as you follow the will of Hashem everything will always work out.

In the sefer Madreigas Ha'Adam the Alter of Nevardik quotes a story of the Alshich Ha'Kadosh. The Alshich gave a shiur and said that if a person where to truly believe that Hashem will support him then he will not need to work. At that shiur there was a very poor wagon pusher. He thought to himself that his job is not worth the effort if he will get the money anyways, so he quite. The next morning he woke up and began to say tehillim. Soon his family noticed he was not working and asked him how he will make money. He said that the Alshich told him that Hashem will get him the money he needs. After a few days of no work the man decides to sell his donkey and wagon to a non-Jew. The non-Jew takes the donkey and wagon and goes and digs a hole. In the hole he finds a buried treasure. Quickly, he gathers the treasure and puts it into the wagon. He decides that he will go back for more and as he is digging the make the hole bigger a big rock comes down and kills him. After a few minute the donkey walks away and finds his way back to his old owners house. Once it gets there this poor man's family find the wagon filled with treasure and they all live happily ever after (except the non-Jew...). We see from this story that as long as you follow Hashem's will everything will work out.

The Mesilat Yesharim says that not only is working not a mitzvah, it is a punishment. The only reason why we need to work is because of the curse that Hashem gave to Adam. The Beis Haleivi says that the whole point of Histadlut is so that people should not be nervous. If you are afraid that Hashem will not be able to support you so He gives you the opportunity work but it is not a mitzvah.

So we learn from the pasuk that once Avraham heard Mamrei say that he should listen to Hashem Avraham realized that in the end all of his success comes from Hashem so he should not be worried that the people of the world will not be able to relate to him. This is why Mamrei was zoche to be mentioned here. This is also the same line of thought that Avraham used when it came to shechting his son. Even though it was against all of the morals he had been trying to teach people for all these years (to stop them from sacrificing their children to Avodah Zara). Now Avraham was going to do the thing he had been trying to stop from all those years. The reason why is was so hard for him to do it. But since he learned this yesod from before he realized that as long as he does Hashem's will it will all work out for the best!

Have a great Shabbat!

Lech Lecha 5771

Korbanot:

The pasuk says (12:7) "And Hashem appeared to Avram and He said "to your offsprings I will give this land" and he (Avraham) built there a mizbai'ach to Hashem Who appeared to him." The Ramban says on this pasuk "The reason why "to Hashem Who appeared to him" is because he (Avraham) is thankful to the Honorable Name and he sacrificed a sacrifice of thanks because He appeared to him, because until now Hashem did not appear to him in a vision... but when He said Lech Lecha... it was in a dream or with Ruach Hakodesh. The words "Who appeared to him" is hinting to the secret of the korbon. And a Maskil understands." I in no way claim to be a maskil of any kind, but with some help of a few other sources we may understand the secret to korbanot!

The Meshech Chachama on this pasuk is quite eye opening. "This matter is spoken about (Iyov 19:26) "And my flesh will see God." To my knowledge the Nefesh is a spiritual being who fears and honors Hashem. But since it is placed into a disgusting body it is separated from its father in Heaven, so Hashem gave us the Torah to use as a microscope to remove our dirty clothes and be like before we were born. [As Chazal explain (Brachot 32b) "From when the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed a wall of iron was placed between the Jews and their Father in heaven." This is the wall that stops us from the pure lens of sight.] It is possible to use the Torah to remove this wall between us and Hashem and be able to see Hashem. This is what the pasuk in Iyov means "With my flesh"- the disgusting flesh, "I will see"- with a unnatural sight. That is why the pasuk says "Echaze" (I will see a vision) and not "Ereh" (I will see). We see that the word of Hashem comes even to animals (the snake and the fish) but we do not see anywhere that the animals saw Hashem. Adam before the sin was a pure body who had no issue seeing the honor of Hashem, this is why he walked naked. For the spirit all parts of the body are equal because he had no desires and no bad parts. But when he ate from Eitz Hadat the body switched to a disgusting body with bad Kochot desiring pleasures and anger... and now they knew they were naked and they were embarrassed, because now they had a flesh of ervah. Then it says "And they heard the voice of God" they only heard the voice but they did not see the honor of Hashem... because their bodies separated them from their Father in heaven. From that point until now we have only seen "And Hashem said" but not "And Hashem appeared." Only when Avraham came to the Eretz Yisrael did his body become like Adam's before the sin. This is what the pasuk means when it says "And Hashem appeared to Avraham saying"- now he was able to see Him. This is what our pasuk means "And he built a mizbai'ach to Hashem Who appeared to him" that Avraham was able to see Him before he heard Him, because his body was not a separation. And this is what the pasuk means "And I appeared to Avraham Yitzchak and Yaakov" (Shemot 6:2) And we see it by all of the Avot that "Hashem appeared to him."

The gemara on Shabbat 146a explains that from Avraham to Yaakov the zuhama that was placed in man after the sin was removed.

The gemara in Brachot in the fourth perek has a machloket if the tefillot we have today come from the Avot or the Korbanot. There is a perush that explains that once the avot davened at those times it made it possible for us to daven at those times. By Avraham davening in the morning it gave us the ability to do the same.

The gemara in Megillah (31b) has a conversation between Hashem and Avraham. Avraham says "Master of the World, maybe Chas V'Shalom the Jews will sin before You will You do to them like what you did to the Generation of the mabul or the flaga?" He answered Avraham "No" Avraham asked "Master of the World, with what will I know this?" He said "Give me a calf..." Avraham said "Master of the World, that is fine in the time of the Beit Hamikdash, but what will happen in the time when there is no Beit Hamikdash?" Hashem answered "I have already esablished for them an order of Korbanot for all time that they can read and I will make it as if they brought a korban and I will forgive them for all of their sins." This shows us that by the time of Avraham Hashem already had an order set up for how we will bring korbanot when there is no longer a Beit Hamikdash. It is possible to say that just like Tefillat Shacharit that Avraham gave us the ability to daven so too he gave us the ability to bring korbanot.

The Vilna Goan in his sefer Aderet/s Eliyahu writes that this very mizbai'ach is the "destroyed Mizbai'ach of Eliyahu." If we look in Melachim 1 perek 18 we see the story of Eliyahu beating the prophets of peor in challenge where Eliyahu fixes the mizbai'ach of Hashem and is able to bring a korban on it.

In the times of Mashiach, may they come soon, this very challenge will happen again. Except this time the results will be different and the Jews will have the hardest test of Emuna that they have ever experienced. At the end of the trial Hashem will reveal Himself. Through this mizbai'ach Hashem will reveal Himself just as He had done with Avraham.

Now we can begin to understand the depths of Avraham's korban! Avraham built the very mizbai'ach that would later prove to the Jews that Hashem is the only true God. Avraham built it because Hashem revealed Himself, and Avraham was preparing for the time when after many years Hashem will finally reveal Himself to the world in the times of Mashiach, when everyone will have removed the dirt off of their bodies and return to a time before the sin of Adam.

Have a Great Shabbat!

Noach 5771

Cutting the Small Plants:

In perek 14 of this week's parsha the Torah tells the story of the Tower of Bavel. The Ramban has a very deep explanation of these events. He writes (14:2) "... And look because in the entire story of the Mabul it uses Elokim and in the entire story of the flaga it uses the special name, because the Mabul was because they corrupted the land, and the flaga was because they cut the small plants, and they were punished with the big name and this was the reason for their destruction and also the midat Sodom." Let us try to break down this Ramban and hopefully it will be very enlightening. The pasuk says (6:11) "And the land was corrupt before Elokim and the land was filled with Chamas." Rashi explains that the reason why the world was destoryed was because the people did Ervah and Avodah Zara as it says in the pasuk (Devorim 4:16) "So that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves carved images..." So when it says in the Ramban that the people of the mabul corrupted the world it means that they did avodah zara. It says in last week's parsha (6:6) "And Hashem was Nachem because of what man did in the land, and He was sad in His heart." The Ramban quotes a Midrash Rabbah on this pasuk (27:6/7) There is an argument about what the word Nachem means. According to one view Hashem was upset that He created man in the lower world were He is hidden because had they been in the upper world were He was revealed they would not have sinned. Another view was that Hashem was happy that He created man in the lower world because had man been created in higher world and he had sinned then Hashem would have to have destroyed the whole world... Then the midrash brings a Mashal. If a king hires an architect to design a building and the king does not like the building he does not blame the architect[, because the king was the one who designed it, the architect just made it a reality]. If a king makes a deal with a lowlife and the deal doesn't work out the king can only blame himself. This is what happened when man sinned, Hashem blamed Himself for their failure. Why? There is a midrash that says that when Hashem wanted to create man He first created a group of angels and asked them if it was a good idea. They said not to create man because his desires would get the best of him and he would sin, so Hashem destroyed them. He then created a second group of angels and the same thing happened. The He created a third group and they said that it was a bad idea to create man but Hashem could do whatever He wants. So Hashem created man and said that any time a person does a mitzvah this group of angels must come and have testimony in front of Hashem that the world was worth being created just for this man. That is the end of the midrash, but what happens every time man does something bad? Hashem would have to admit to the angels that they were right. This is why Hashem blames Himself for man's failure. The Ramban also notes that this one of the very few times in the story of the mabul that Hashem is used and not Elokim. Why change the name here? There is a midrash that says that Adam named all of the animals and then Hashem asked him to name himself and Hashem asked Adam to name him and Adam called God "Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei." Rav Chaim Volozhin explains that Hashem gave the power to man to affect the upper worlds. This is what it means to be a tzelem Elokim. The very fact the man could name Hashem showed how much power Hashem gave man in the upper worlds. This might be why the Torah uses this name here to show that even though they could have used their power for good it just led them to Avodah Zara. The name Hashem comes up again the story of the Mabul in 7:1. The Ramban there says that the reason for this is because "Hashem was using His midah of mercy to save Noach and his family... and it was a hint to him that in the future Hashem would have mercy on the korbon that Noach would bring and because of that korbon the world would be established. (Taanit 27b)" Hashem's name is used here to show that for Noach the whole world was worth being created, that Noach fought against his nature and the nature of everyone else in the world and he did not sin and for this the world was worth being created. "And Noach found favor in Hashem's eyes... Noach was a pure tzaddik in his generation" (6:8-9) He was a tzaddik even his generation filled with evil people, for this the world was worth being created. We also see why the name of Hashem is used in the flaga, because people their took their ability to affect the upper worlds and used it to rebel. The Ramban said that their sin was different from the earlier generation because they cut the small plants. In Chagigah 14b it says that four people entered the Pardes... Acher came in and cut the small plants." Later in the gemara it says that a Bat Kol came out and said "Everyone has the power to do teshuva except Acher." What is the meaning of this gemara and the ramban? Chazal explain that when one does a sin that is liable for Karet a person is cut off from Hashem. But the person should know that even though part of their soul (their ruach) is separated from Hashem their neshama is still connect to the Kisei Hakavod. As long as your neshama is still connected you can still survive. But as we said there is something worse, to use the power that Hashem gave us, to influence the upper worlds, to try to fight against Hashem. This is exactly what the dor Haflaga did and what Acher did. He used the great Torah knowledge he had to enter the Pardes and then once he got there he cut the small plants meaning he cut even his neshama from the Upper Worlds. The midrash says about the Dor Haflaga that they built the tower in order that they can place an idol there so that it can fight Hashem. They wanted to use their powers to influence the upper worlds to rebel against Hashem and this was the exact reason why the angels told Hashem not to create man, and this is the thing that gets Hashem the most angry. So now it would not be enough to destroy them with Elokim like He did to the Dor Hamabul He would need to use His "Big Name" (Ramban). Also the midrash explains that the people of Sodom would punish any person who would try to do nice things. They would take what Hashem gave them and use it for the opposite of what He wanted them to use them for.

Now when it came to Noach Hashem wanted him to have protection from the Mabul so He told Noach to build a tevah. The Zohar compares the Tevah to the Aron. Just like the Aron protected the Jews from the mountains and valleys, the tevah protected Noach, It was worth saving the world just for him. In fact rashi says several times that his children were only saved because of him. Now once Noach had gotten off the tevah he saw a whole new world. He was hoping that it would be possible to return to the time before the original sin. So Noach planted vines, the exact opposite of cutting down plants.

There are still one part that I do not understand. 1) What is going on after Noach plants the vineyard? (fitting into the Ramban) Any suggestions?

Good Chodesh and Good Shabbat!

Bereishit 5771

According to the Vilna Goan every single thing that has happened and anything that ever will happen can be found in the Torah. Everything that is in the Torah is hinted to in the book of Bereishit, everything in the book of Bereishit is hinted to in the six days of creation, everything there is hinted to in the first pasuk of this week's parsha, everything there is hinted to in the first word of this parsha (and everything there is hinted the first letter of the parsha [some do not have this addition]). I in no way claim to understand this but it just shows the depths of this parsha. Also, anyone who has been keeping up with the emails knows this is my favorite parsha to talk about (anyone who wants me to resend any of the emails just email me and I will be glad to send them your way). That being said I have probably spoke about the story of Adam and Chava about 30 times in the last year. So let us discuss a different topic.

Kian and Hevel:

The Vilna Gaon (quoted by Rav Brevda in Perush HaGra on Yonah) says that man has three parts to him: 1) Nefesh 2) Ruach 3) Neshama. These three make up everything that is man and use the guf as their vehicle to get what they want. The Nefesh constantly wants food, drinks and other bodily pleasures. The Ruach constantly wants honor and money. On the other hand, the Neshama constantly wants to get closer to Hashem. These three forces fight between each other throughout a person's life. These three forces are what the three sons of Adam repesent. Kian is the Nefesh, Hevel is the Ruach, and Sheit is the Neshama. Kian is a farmer, who works for his food (the attributes of the Nefesh). This is why when Kian gives Hashem a korbon he only gives up flax, something that he cannot eat anyway, because the Nefesh will not get any pleasure from it. Hevel works as a shepherd a job that represents wealth. He did not raise the flock to eat them, only to get their wool to make clothing. Hevel is willing to give up the meat of his animals for honor. The only reason why someone controlled by either the nefesh or the ruach is to get more pleasure. So the nefesh would give up flax to get more food, and the Ruach would give up food to get honor. This is why Kian and Hevel gave their korbanot. But since Hevel was willing to give up something that could have been used, even though the mitzvah was not lishma Hashem rewarded him for it. So throughout a person's life his Nefesh and Ruach fight over which is more important, but this is only when other people are watching. When a person is alone the desire of the Nefesh will always win jealousy or honor of the Ruach. This is what it means that Kian killed Hevel. Then Sheit came along and he was the one that the rest of the world came from. He replaced Hevel (4:25) meaning that now man searched for Hashem instead of searching for honor. But still Kian lived while Sheit was alive because as long as a person lives he will need to eat and drink. (There is a chazal that talk about what happen when they tried to destroy the desire for this world, it would have led to the end of humanity because no one would have had children.)

Yet we see that in the end Kian is killed by one of his own offspring, a blind one, while he was looking for food. When one blindly looks for pleasure in this world and forgets about everything else in the world he just leads to destruction. A person must realize that his eating is for a higher purpose, to help him better serve Hashem. But if a person just looks for pleasure for its own sake that will just lead to his own destruction.

Good Shabbat!

Vzot Habracha 1

If Not Now, When:

The first pasuk in V'zot Habracha says "This is the bracha that Moshe... before his death..." Rashi writes "close to his death, because if not now, when? Why does Rashi add in this last part? What is he telling us here? It would have been enough for him just to say "close to his death" why add more? The reason is because Rashi is trying to teach us a bigger message. This quote is from a mishna in avot (1:14) Rashi there says "If not now when I am alive when? Because anyone who prepares before shabbat will have what to eat on shabbat, but one who does not prepare, what will he eat?" But what does this have to do with a bracha?

We know that during the shabbatot around the Three weeks there are haftorot of tochacha (rebuke) for the Jews. Then those are followed by two weeks of Haftorot about bracha then the haftorot around Elul and Rosh Hashana are about teshuva. Rav Brevda says that it would make more sense for the teshuva to follow directly after the tochacha. So he asks, (Yibane Hamikdash), in the name of the Vilna Gaon (I think), why are there two weeks of bracha in between? He answers that the reason is because Hashem is acting to us like a father would act to his child. If a child does something wrong the father will punish him. But if the father constantly is punishing and is not doing anything nice for the child the child will begin to think that the father does not like him and is just punishing him for the fun of it. So the father must show his love at some point to show his child that really he loves him and the only reason why the father is punishing his son is to teach him how to act. So the two weeks of haftorot of bracha is to remind us the all of the punishment that Hashem is giving to us is completely out of love. We know there is a mitzvah to act like Hashem so Moshe was doing the exact same thing. Even though throughout the last few weeks (throughout the book of devorim) Moshe has been rebuking Bnei Yisrael he wanted to remind them that all of his rebuke was out of love, not out of hate. But if Moshe would have died without having given Bnei Yisrael a bracha they would have believed all of his rebuke was just to be mean to them and not out of love.

We know that after the death of Aharon Hakohen all of the Jews (including the women) wept for 30 days but after Moshe's death only the men wept, why? Mefarshim explain that the reason is because Aharon was constantly going around making people happy especially in the area of shalom bayit. But Moshe was constantly rebuking the people he was not mourned by as many people as his brother. When Moshe was dying the one thing he wanted the most (besides going into Eretz Yisrael) was to die the same way that his brother died. Rashi explains in (32:50) that Moshe wanted to die with honor like his brother did. Elsewhere Moshe's and Aharon's deaths are compared to getting a kiss by Hashem which the gemara in brachot compares to pulling a hair out of milk. Chazal compare death to a man taking off his coat (ie the Neshama removing the body). This is exactly what Rashi writes in 32:50. For some it is easy to remove the outer layer of the body but for others it is much more difficult. All Moshe wanted was to die like that. The only way for him to properly prepare for a death like that was to do teshuva and do gemilut chasadim (Rashi on Avot 4:16) "He is fixing his hair, beard, and clothes before the entrance to the house..." So Moshe, right before his death needed to end his life on a high note of blessing Bnei Yisrael in order to be ready to die by getting kissed by Hashem. "Because if not now, when?"

Chazak Chazak Vinitchazaik!

Sukkot

Sukkot, Hashem's Dwelling Place:

The Gra has a very unique explanation of the sukkah in his parush on Yonah in 4:5. The pasuk says"... and he built himself there a sukkah and he sat underneath its shade..." The Gra explains that everything that happens in olam hazeh and all of its richness and goodness come from the sun. This is what it means when it says in Moed Katan (28a) that things in this world depend on mazalot... When the torah tells us to "gather from your threshing floors..." it means to not chase after olam hazeh and to build a sukkah from "the remainder of the threshing floor..." that normally every meal has bread and wine (see Kohelet perek 10) but the torah tells us that we should not get pleasure from them rather just the remainder and we should separate from olam hazeh. We should sit in the shade which is not under the sun, you should make your torah set and your work temporary and this is what it means to have the shade more than the sun shine."

Rav Brevda has an amazing explanation on this piece of Gra that will change the way you see the sukkah. (Not a literal translation) "Schach is the main part of the sukkah, this hints to two things: 1) the type of material, this hints to separation from the pleasures of this world, and 2) the amount of kosher schach which hints to the fact that man must sit and be busy in torah in this world and that it is not enough to simply separate from the pleasures of the world... the talmidim of the Gra explain in Imrei Noam on Brachot (35b) If someone's olam hazeh is temporary then he will have both an olam hazeh and an olam habah but if his olam hazeh is set then he will not have an olam hazeh or an olam habah... It seems to me (Rav Brevda) the the nations of the world wish to sit under the shade of pleasure and enjoy this world, and they do not want the torah, because they do not want to bend their way of life to the way of the torah. But the Jews who are willing to leave the pleasures of this world to get close to Hashem are willing ot go to the desert of place lacking any protection from the sun because we want to be in the shade of Hashem and this is the Torah, to sit in the ananei hakavod (Clouds of Honor) which protects us from the problems of this world and puts us above nature."

Rav Brevda is explaining what the Gra is trying to hint to us through Yonah. The sukkah is our escape from this world, it is our protection from nature. Once we walk in to the sukkah we are no longer controlled by the mazalot rather we are under the shade of Hashem. The sukkah is Hashem's domain and it is where the mazalot have no control. The reason why a sukkah must be 10 tefachim is because just as the gemara explains Hashem does not come within 10 tefachim of the ground. Also it may not be above 20 amot because that is no longer a protection from the mazalot. The zohar seems to says that once we reach that high we are not in this world anymore. This also explains why the Tur requires a kavannah for this mitzvah. His kavannah is that we must remember that Hashem took us out of Mitzriam and protected us with the ananei hakavod. Some poskim say that if we lack this kavannah we have not fulfilled the mitzvah of sukkah. The reason could be because the whole reason why we sit in the sukkah is to remember how we are not like the other nations, pleasures of this life are not our main goals rather we focus mainly of Torah. If we lack this idea we are missing the whole point. The gemara says that on sukkot your house because your temporary dwelling while your sukkah because your set dwelling. This is teaching us to refocus our lives. Normally during the year our main focus is olam hazeh and torah is only a temporary thing. But on sukkot Hashem is telling us that we need to switch it around, the torah must become our set dwelling while we leave olam hazeh behind. This could be the reason why sukkot follows Yom Kippur. Now that we have shown ourselves that it is possible to completely remove the gasmiut from our lives we have time to put it into our daily schedule. We must take the aspects of Yom Kippur and put them into our normal lives.

The Other Nations:

There is a famous gemara in Avodah Zara (3) that in the end of days the other nations will ask for a chance to repent so Hashem will give them the mitzvah of sukkah. After a few minutes Hashem will make the sun make it hot to the point where the people will leave and on their way out kick the sukkah. With the Gra we can get some sort of peshat in this gemara. Hashem is giving the nations a chance to accept Him and His torah and follow the mitzvot. After some time the problems of olam hazeh will become to great for them and they will be so upset that even though they are fully aware of the rewards of the Torah they would give all of that up for the pleasures of this world so they kick the sukkah which basically another way of telling Hashem to keep is torah. There is a famous peshat that says that if it were hot out then Jews would also leave the sukkah. So it is explained that the Jews would not kick the sukkah on the way out. This peshat is telling us the biggest difference between Jews and the other nations. By the other nation they would give up all of the reward of olam haba for a few minutes of pleasure in this world (remember the gemara says it was the end of days, how much more olam hazeh could there be?) to the point were they are disgusted by following the torah. But Jews are different, even though we have gone centuries of pain and destruction in olam hazeh he still keep true to the torah. Even though when it gets hot (there are problems in this world) we will be forced to deal with them all we want to do at the end of the day is go back to our sukkah and be in Hashem's shade.

Have a Good Yom Tov and Shabbat!

Yonah

Yonah, The Story You Never Knew:

I just finished reading Rav Brevda's Sefer on the Peirush of the Gra on Sefer Yonah. The sefer was by far the most informative sefer I have ever read. Usually when the Gra writes a perush on a sefer in Tanach he writes two, one is the peshat (simple understanding) and the other is the remez (hint). But for sefer Yonah the Gra only writes a perush remez (this is not to say that the Gra thought that the story was fake, rather he believed that it did happen and in addition the story is used to hint to a deeper message). I highly recommend that everyone go and find Rav Brevda or go to his apartment either in Yerushaliam or Brooklyn and purchase this sefer (not that he needs my haskama). This sefer literally changed my outlook on Judaism for the better and any dvar torah I would write would not give this amazing work justice. That being said there are certain things that are in this sefer that I hope will really help us all this Yom Kippur and even after that.

The very basic storyline for the remez is as follows. Perek 1: Yonah is a neshama. Hashem places the neshama into a guf, the boat into this world, the sea. Hashem gives the neshama mission to go to Ninveh, either representing the world and to get the people there to do teshuva. The problem is that the moment the neshama gets into the guf the person immediately heads for Tarshish, representing the pleasures in this world. In response to this rebellion Hashem sends pain to the person which is the storm. The people on the ship which are really the kochot (strengths) try to save the person but it does not work. They are forced to throw the neshama out of the body but right before the body dies it wants to do teshuva but it did not have enough time.

Perek 2: The neshama gets eaten by a fish, representing Gehinom where the neshama must experience pain for its sins in this world. After praying to Hashem he is sent back to try again.

Perek 3: Hashem sends the neshama again with the same mission, to get the people of the world, who have been spending their time enjoying the pleasures of this world, to repent for their sins. Due to the fact that Yonah at the end of his last life wanted to be a tzaddik he was born a tzaddik and quickly ran to complete his mission. He told the people that in 40 days (representing the number of days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur) the city would be overturned. Meaning if they repent then now they would go from bad to good but if they did not then they would be punished, much like for us on these days. Quickly all of the repented and Hashem forgave them for their sins.

Perek 4: Yonah has completed his mission but know he is jealous of the fact that while he will enjoy his olam haba for having been a righteous person he is living as a poor person all because his last gilgul was a rasha. He is jealous because he just watched as the people of Ninveh, the Jews enjoyed great pleasures in this world and will also get a portion of olam haba for having repented. Yonah is so sad that he davens that Hashem should make it that he is rich. This desire to enjoy the pleasures of this world came from the fact that he had sinned in his previous gilgul in this area. Hashem wants to show Yonah that really enjoyment in this world is pointless. To do this Hashem takes a portion of Yonah's Olam Haba, the leaves of the Kikayon and gives them to him in this world to get pleasure from it. When Yonah receives this he is overwhelmed with joy. But the whole point of Hashem giving Yonah the riches was to show him that it is all really nothing so Hashem took them away. Immediately, Yonah is so sad from losing his wealth that he prefers death then poverty. Hashem tells him that he missed the whole point. Even though he was born a tzaddik he was put in this world to do only two things. One, to complete the mission he had left incomplete until now and two to fight the desire for pleasure in this world, a matter that he failed in last time. So even though Yonah was a tzaddik his whole life it was all for nothing because he still had not completed his mission in this world.

This is a very basic outline of the story. To get a much better picture get your hands on a copy of the book.

Rav Brevda points out many important lessons from the words of the Gra. The most important is possibly the biggest secret in Judaism that may change your life forever!

The Gra says that many people in this world are simply of gilgul of previous person who has already failed at his mission. The whole purpose of your lives is to be metaken (fix) the faults we made in your past life. The Gra says that there are two signs to know what sins you need to fix. These two signs are: 1) The mitzvah that for some reason you continually transgress. As much as you try to avoid it for some reason you just keep on doing the sin. 2) The sin that you desire with all of your heart to do that if you had the chance at any given moment you would do that sin. For Yonah his rebellion against Hashem by not telling the people to repent was his first sin. While his incredible desire for the pleasure of this world was his second sin. While he had completed one he still desired the pleasures of this world and he failed to be metaken his soul.

This is why we read Yonah on Yom Kippur. Because it is the day that we reflect on your mistakes and make a move to fix everything that needs fixing. It is a new slate, another chance to finally rid ourselves of the all of the sins that we have constantly been transgressing for what could be several gilgulim. Let us make a stand today to be different this time and finally complete our tikun in this world and with that bring the Mashiach!

Bringing It Down to Earth:

With this idea I believe there is a much bigger idea here. In the introduction to his sefer, the Chofetz Chiam writes how the sin of lashon hara has been a major cause of our destruction. From the meraglim to the destruction of the second beit hamikdash almost every single event was caused by this sin. We also know that chazal tell us that every generation that does not rebuilt the beit hamikdash is as if they caused it's destruction. If we understand the idea of gilgulim then we can finally understand this chazal. The ramchal explains that our neshamot are really just "branches" of the earlier Jews who were the "roots". So now we can finally understand what is going on. Ever since the Jews sinned in the area of lashon hara all those years ago their neshamot have come back to be metaken for that sin. The problem is that every time they just went back into the same routine. The chazal that says that we are like the generation that caused the destruction is telling us that as long as we do not fix this sin we are just doing the sin because that is what was routine for our neshama to do. Until we defeat the yetzer hara for loshan hara, a sin that is very common, we cannot bring the tikkun necessary to bring about the building of the beit hamikdash. For this coming Yom Kippur let us all try, bli neder, to work as hard as we can to stop the sin of lashon hara and with this tikkun may we be zoche to be the generation that finally builds the beit hamikdash.

Gamar Chtima Tova and have a great Shabbat!

Hazinu 1 & Rosh Hashana

Mishpat and Tzedek:

The pasuk (32:4) says "... all of his ways are mishpat... a tzaddik and straight is He." The Malbim asks (not here) what is the difference between mishpat and tzedek? He explains that mishpat is complete din (judgement). Even when you should probably be more lenient you still follow the strict judgement. But tzedek is knowing that sometimes it is necessary to merciful so even though you be strict according to the letter of the law you still are lenient. So what does this pasuk mean? Hashem's ways are pure din but He is merciful. What does that mean? Rashi explains it very well. When it comes to Reshaim (wicked people) Hashem is quick to judge them and will judge them strictly. But when it comes to the tzaddikim he is slow to judge them harshly. It seems clear that Hashem does not like to be strict. We see this from the words of the pasuk. His ways are mishpat but He Himself is tzedek. So even though He is tzedek He sometimes must be strict in judgement. This is a very important fact to know before Rosh Hashana. Hashem does not want to be harsh with us but we are the ones that force Him to judge us strictly. If we try are best to change our ways then He will happily be merciful.

Are You Even Alive?:

Rav Brevda in another fantastic sefer that I highly recommend, Yimai Ratzon, in his introduction has an amazing point that we must consider this Rosh Hashana (Pages 9-10). (Paraphrased) "Hashem's purpose for creation was so that the Shechina can rest in this world. And the Nefesh should be joined with the Guf of man. So there is no love like the love between the Nefesh for the Guf. Therefore, there is nothing harder in this world than the separation between the Guf and the Nefesh. The connection between the Nefesh and the Guf is called Chiam (life). This is one of the most precious things in the world. The earlier generations who were not effected by the gashmiut of this time spent a lot of time "living". This is why they feared the judgement of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur because it is the day that Hashem gives man life... But in your times we learned from ways of others and we forgot what it means to live. So when we ask that Hashem should remember us for life we do not even know what we are asking for. This is the reason why we do not have any fear on the day of judgement." May we all be zoche to live this year!

Amazing Story of the Chofetz Chiam:

Growth Through Torah page 465-466: "The Chofetz Chayim once asked someone about how things were going for him. "it wouldn't hurt if things were better," the man replied. "How can you possibly know that it wouldn't hurt?" replied the Chofetz Chayim. "The Almighty knows better than you. He is merciful and compassionate. If He felt it would be good for you for things to be better, He definitely would have made them better. Certainly things are good for you the way they are." (Chofetz Chayim al Hatorah, p.284)"

Again, I ask for mechila from anyone who I may have wronged this year, please forgive me.

Have a Chativa V'Chatima Tova, a good Yom Tov and a good Shabbat!

Netzavim- Vayailech 1

The Torah is Right Here:

Hashem explains in a few pasukim 30:11-14 that the Torah is not something hidden, it is not far away, rather it is right here. Many people after hearing a halacha will say "Oh, that halacha is not for me it is for the fanatics. This cannot be any farther from the truth. Hashem created us with many challenges to face, but each one is made possible that we can pass it, otherwise He would not give it to us. So this Rosh Hashana we need to try to remember that there is nothing to hard in Torah for us to do because it is right here for us to follow.

End of Days or That Day:

There is a lot of repetition throughout the Parsha of Vayailech. First it says in 31:9 " Moshe wrote the Torah and gave it to the Kohanim, the sons of Levi, the bearers of the Ark of the covenant of Hashem, and to all the elders of Israel." Then it says 31:24-26 "So it was when Moshe finished writing the words of the Torah onto the book... commanded the Levites, the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant of Hashem saying, 'Take this book of the Torah..." It said 31:15-16 "Hashem said to Moshe, '... this people will rise up and stray after the gods of strangers of the Land... and it will forsake Me and annul My covenant that I have sealed with it." Then later it says 31:27,29 "For I know your rebelliousness and your stiff neck, behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebels against Hashem, surely after my death... For I know that after my death you will surely actcorruptly, and you will stray from the path that I have commanded you..." But then something very interesting happens. Hashem told Moshe 31:17-18 "... I will conceal my face from them and they will become prey and many evils and distresses will encounter it... But I will surely have concealed My face on that day because of all of the evil that it did, for it has turned to other gods. Now when Moshe tells this over to them he says it very differently. He says 31:29 "For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and you will stray from the path that I have commanded you, and evil will befall you at the end of days..." At the end of days? When did Hashem ever say this? Hashem said 31:18 "But I will surely have concealed My face on that day because of all of the evil that it did" Chazal explain that "that day" means Rosh Hashana. We know that on Rosh Hashana Hashem decides all of the things that will happen for then entire year. Rosh Hashana is the most important day of the year. In just 48 hours (there is a machloket in the gemara if Rosh Hashana is 2 days or 1 long day) every single event that will happen to us for about 385 days (next year is a leap year so the normal 355 plus 30 for the first adar, I am a math major I should know these things...) is being decided. Lets go back to Moshe's statement. He said that the Jews would continue to sin, but they will not be punished until the end of days. This is different than how it was during his lifetime. While Moshe was alive every time someone sinned he was immediately punished. For now on, Hashem would wait out punishment until the end of days. Why did Hashem decide to do this? The reason is because during Moshe's time Hashem was revealed openly to the world. Therefore, if you sinned you knew that you where doing something wrong. But nowadays when Hashem is hidden in the world as the pasuk says " 31:17 " I will conceal my face to them..." So now that He is hidden when we sin we are not sinning purposefully in from of Hashem. So that is why Hashem will wait out his judgement until later. Many people think that Hashem concealed His face out of anger. But the pasuk can be read differently. Hashem will hide His face because of our sins. Since He knew we would sin He first hid his face. Now that His face is hidden, if we sin we are not as bad as when He was revealed. Now that Hashem did that He has the ability to let us do teshuva. Now pasuk 18 says that Hashem will conceal His face on Rosh Hashana. But that is the day of teshuva, why is He picking that day to conceal Himself? The reason is just that because it is only through His concealing that we even have the right to do teshuva. There is only one problem. If Hashem is constantly hidden then how can He change things in the world? Well there are two ways, 1) do any changes in a hidden way or 2) wait until the day that we have all done teshuva and reveal Himself, then He will be able to do open miracles. So on Rosh Hashana when we all do teshuva Hashem decides everything that will happen to us. But some of the punishments cannot be done to the person in this world, they must wait until when the person is dead. So even though the person's fate is decided on Rosh Hashana Hashem will wait until the person dies (giving him more time to do teshuva) to give him his final punishment. So that is what these pasukim mean. Hashem will conceal Himself because of the evil on Rosh Hashana but He will not cause evil until the end of days (for the person).

I would like to ask all of you to please accept my deepest apologies for anything I may have do to you this year, I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. May you have a Chativa V'Chatima Tova! Have a great Shabbat!

Ki Tavo 1

Thank You:

This week's parsha starts off with the halacha of bekurim (first fruits). The halacha is that each person must bring the first fruit of his crop the the beit hamikdash and give it to the kohen. While doing this the person has to recite a few pasukim (26:5-10). These pasukim have basically nothing at all to do with fruit. These pasukim mention Lavan trying to trick Yaakov, the exile to Mitzriam, our geulah from Mitzriam, our entering of the land, and then finally about fruit from the land that Hashem gave us. Why do we need to mention all of this back story to bringing bekurim? What is even more weird is the fact that these are the pasukim quoted by the Haggadah. What is going on here?

I have previously explained (back on pesach) that Rav Brevda in his sefer Leil Shimurim breaks down the night of Pesach into two categories: 1) the fact that we went from being slaves to Paro to being Hashem's slaves and 2) that we must show hakarat hatov (recognizing the good) to Hashem for all the good He has done for us.

Imagine for a moment that you are a doctor. You have a patient who needs a quadruple bi-pass heart surgery and if it is not performed immediately the patient will die. You begin surgery and something goes wrong you think you are about to lose him but then you do some quick thinking and you fix the problem. After several hours of surgery and a few weeks recuperating the person is back on his feet. All you can think about is the fact that you saved this person's life. If not for you this person would be dead, look how great you are. Let us look at another example. You are a farmer. In the summer you come out and plow your field. After a few days of plowing your field is ready for planting. Now you take a few days and plant all of the seeds. Now there are many months of watering the fields as you wait for it to grow. Finally after almost a year of waiting your field begins to grow. Now who would say is the one who caused the fruit to grow. Most people would you did all the work so therefore you get the credit.

However this is not true. The mitzvah of bikurim is teaching us that as much work as we put in we are not the ones that cause anything to happen. As much effort as we put in all of the results come from Hashem. For this reason we must be thankful to Hashem for giving us everything we have, even if we think we deserve it because of all of the work we did. This is the reason why a person recites all of these pasukim about what Hashem did for us. We are showing Hashem that we realize that everything is from Him and we must thank Him for everything He did for us. This is also the reason why this parsha is read on the night of the seder. Because it shows all of the things that Hashem did for us and it is gives us more to thank Him for on the night of the seder. This may also be the reason why we read this parsha every year so close to the end of the year. It is to remind us that we must think about all of the good that we have had in the last year and we must thank Hashem for all of it.

Nature is Against Us:

When Hashem promised Avraham a son (through Sara) at the Brit Ben HaBitarim Avraham responded that he saw in the stars that he would not have a child with Sara. Hashem told him that Avraham was not like the rest of the nations, Avraham was above the stars. There is a chazal that says that from this moment on the angels were forever constantly against the Jews. The reason was because they were nature and the Jews were against nature. As I have explained earlier (again in the pesach email), when the Jews were in Mitzriam Bilam put a curse on them that they could never leave Mitzriam. Therefore, it was not possible by any natural means for the Jews to leave Mitzriam. This is why Hashem had to remove them with His own hand, because only He could fight against nature. So even though we have survived for thousands of years the angels still hate us for changing nature. Therefore, if there is ever a moment when we fall the angels will try to push nature upon us. The problem is that nature means our total destruction because we do not exist naturally. This is the meaning of the blessings and the curses in this week's parsha. When we follow the Torah Hashem will give us everything we need. He will feed us and protect us. But once we stop following Hashem we are letting the angels get power over us. Once they have that they will try anything they can to destroy us and this is the curses. Many people think that the blessings in this week's parsha are what is supposed to be nature and the curses are the extraordinary. Really it is the exact opposite, our everyday lives in this world is extraordinary and our complete destruction is natural. Therefore, our only way to protect ourselves is through following Hashem's ways.

The Guf's Rebellion:

If we remember back to last week (and the week before) we will remember that the Gra explains that man in the torah represents the neshama and the woman represents the guf. So in this week's parsha (28:56) the pasuk says "The tender and delicate woman among you, who had never tried to set the sole of her foot on the ground, because of delicacy and tenderness, will turn selfish against the husband of her bosom..." This pasuk is talking about one of the many curses in this week's parsha. But I think there may be a deeper meaning to it. I think it is talking about the fact that do to the fact that everyone is evil many bad things will happen to everyone. Even the righteous will stumble. This pasuk means that even the guf that has not touched the ground (gotten any pleasure from this world) will rebel against its neshama and look for pleasure. That the power of tumah will be so strong that the neshama will not be able to control the guf any longer.

Chativa V'Chatima Tova, Have a great Shabbat!

Ki Taitzai 1

Divorce:

This week's parsha (24:1-4) discusses the concept of divorce. The pasuk says (24:1) "If a man marries a woman and lives with her, and it will be that she will not find favor in his eyes, for he found in her a matter of immorality, and he wrote her a bill of divorce..." There are a few points I would like to focus on here.

The first point is "for he found in her a matter of immorality" this part of the pasuk is a little confusing. The first part said she did not find favor in his eyes now it says because she did something immoral. Well what if he just did not like her? Can a man just give his wife Get because he does not like the way she brushes her teeth or something like that?

A second point I want to talk about is a sefer kritut "bill of divorce." What exactly does the term mean. The torah never uses the word Get instead it uses the phrase "a book of separation." This word comes from the same root as the word karet. This is a punishment where your neshama is actually removed from Hashem's presence. When this happens you just stop existing. It is the worst possible thing that can happen to a person. While dying is not permanent your neshama being destroyed is not something that can be fixed. What does this word karet have to do with divorce?

There is a very interesting chazal on the subject. A rabbi comes to a few of his friends and tells them that he wants to get a divorce with his wife because he cannot even find one positive quality about her. So they ask if she is pretty, he says no. They ask if she is smart, he says no. They ask if she comes from a good family or if she is a good mother or if she can cook or... and at each question he answers that she cannot and is not any of those things. So they ask him what her name is he answers that her name is the Aramaic equivalent to the word 'dirt'. They say that is the perfect name for someone like her and for this reason he should not divorce her. This is quite a puzzling chazal. With all of those negative traits more men nowadays would not stay married to her for more than a week. The torah has a very different understanding about what marriage means that many people nowadays just do not get (no pun intended).

According to the torah marriage is more than just a physical and emotional connection between two people. Marriage is the connection of two parts into one whole. "It is not good that man be alone." (Bereishit 2:18) When a man marries a woman she becomes part of him. Now if someone's leg started hurting him he would never think to remove it he would go to the doctor to get it better so too if someone did not get along with his wife he should try to disconnect rather he should fix their relationship. Chazal say that a woman does not really have free will for the way she acts towards her husband and that everything that she does to him is from Hashem. Therefore if someone is in a fight with his wife he should not get angry at her instead he should figure out which sin he has committed and fix his relationship with Hashem. This is what this pasuk is trying to tell us. It is not enough for someone to not like his wife to give her a divorce, because any problem he sees in her is a problem with him. The only reason to get a divorce is because she did something immoral. Also this explains the second point, the sefer kritut. A Get is not just a separation between the two people it is literally a separation of an organ from the body. When Hashem created Chava from Adam's rib He was showing Adam that his wife is literally part of him. So a divorce is actually removing part of your body from you.

Now for a deeper meaning behind these pasukim. We have discussed earlier the idea that the Gra brings down that the man represents the neshama and the woman represents the guf. So now let us go through these four pasukim again with this in mind. Hashem places the neshama into the guf and the neshama is so disgusted by all of the bad things that the guf is doing that he wants out. So just like the story in Yonah the neshama leaves the guf (the boat). Now the guf leaves the neshama meaning that they get separated. The neshama goes to be judged while the guf gets buried in the ground. The Gra explains in Yonah that there is an angel named Dumah that is in charge of all of the bodies in the graveyard so this may be the man spoken about in pasuk two. Now the guf is in the ground being watched by Dumah and it is time for techiyat hamaitim "rising of the dead." So Dumah leaves all of the bodies. Now in pasuk four the guf wants to be connected to the neshama again but they can no longer be connected. The Gra explains that in the time of techiyat hamaitim not all of the bodies come back, only that guf which perfected itself will be able to come back but all other bodies are disconnected from their neshama forever. (Of course there are many who disagree with the Gra...) I do not know for sure how well this works but I think it fits pretty well.