Bechukoti 5771

Lose it all:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great Shabbat!

Behar 5771

Just Believe:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emor 5771

True Law:

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good Shabbat!

Kedoshim 5771

Balance Act:

The parsha starts off with the pasuk (19:2) "Speak to the entire assembly of Bnei Yisrael, and say to them 'be holy (kadosh) because I, Hashem their God, am holy.'" The Ramban on this pasuk says that the halacha of being kadosh is not just following the letter of the law, but one must go farther and remove himself/herself even from that which is permitted.

There is a basic idea in Judaism that is brought down in Mesilat Yersharim (Perek 13) "The bad separation... that is done by removing not only that which is not necessary but also removes what is required for living, is not a desire of Hashem's. In fact the talmud says, Taanit (22b) 'A man is not allowed to mortify himself.'"

We see from here what seems to be a clash. The Ramban says that the more one removes himself from the physical the better, but the Ramchal says that if one removes too much he has actually gone against Hashem's will.

The Ramchal himself answers the question. He says that "This is the true principle: Anything that a person does not require in this world it is good to separate from. But, anything that one requires, for whatever reason it may be, since it is required for him, if he separates from it- he is a sinner."

The pasuk seems to hint at this answer. The pasuk uses the phrase "to the entire assembly" according to some mefarshim that means that the way that Moshe taught it to the nation was by first teaching it to Aharon and his sons, then the zikainim, then the rest of the people. From here we see that the Mitzvah was given to the people on their level.

This is the same way one must decide how much hishtadlut he must do. If one completely believes that Hashem controls everything then technically speaking he should not have to work. But for someone who is not on that level, then hishtadlut would be required.

May we all be zoche to reach the highest level we can reach and become kadosh.

Pesach 5771

Introduction to Maggid

Many people spend a lot of their time before Pesach preparing for the seder. Most people can tell you a great vort on the four sons or a deep insight into Avadim Hayinu. The problem is that sometimes people tend to miss the whole point of the seder. So let’s ask the most basic question: Why do we have a seder?

If we take a step back and look at the night as a whole, we will see a pattern. Throughout the entire night, our main goal is to show two fundamental ideas. The first idea is that Hashem took us out of Mitzraim and freed us. But what does it mean to be free? According to the Vilna Gaon, we perform sixty four mitzvot on the night of the seder. What kind of cheirut (freedom) is that?! It is the only true type of cheirut, being an eved Hashem. The greatest freedom is being a slave to Hashem and performing His mitzvot. So the obvious question here would be ‘what is the benefit of being slaves to Hashem?’ If we take a look at the Rambam, Hilchot Teshuva Perek 9, we learn that when one does mitzvot, they are beneficial for him in this world and the next. So, when we were slaves to Pharaoh, we had no enjoyment in this world and we had nothing to show for ourselves in the next world. But when one is a slave to Hashem, he gets benefits in both worlds.

The second idea on the night of Pesach is the importance of Hakarat Hatov (being thankful.) We show this many times over the night by reading the Haggadah. We start the night off by telling the story of our galut, not only our physical bondage, but also our spiritual bondage. As the night goes on we talk about how we are no longer in bondage and that Hashem saved us. At every possible point, we thank Him for freeing us. For example, the Malbim explains that the word Dayainu means that if Hashem had done only this much and nothing more, it would have been enough for us to be forced to have Hakarat Hatov forever. There are many examples throughout the night that show how much we go out of our way to be thankful for everything Hashem has done and continues to do. If we miss out on these two essential points, we have basically missed out on the entire purpose of the seder.

Source: Rav Shlomo Brevda, Leil Shimurim

Acharaimot 5771

The Land of Eretz Yisrael:

The pasuk says (18:28) "Don't let the land remove you in your impurity, like it removed the people before you." The idea that the land of Eretz Yisrael can detect impurity clearly shows the difference between it and every other place in the world. Although the land may look the same as everywhere else in the world, Eretz Yisrael is like nowhere else in the world. Chazal tell us that as opposed to every other place in the world is controlled by a mazal, Eretz Yisrael is above mazalot.

The last Ramban in Bo tells us that a person does not have a part of the Torah of Moshe unless one believes that the world is completely run based on how many mitzvot and avairot that one does. This is only completely true if someone is in Eretz Yisrael.

There is a famous Rav Sheinberg story. When he still lived in America Rav Sheinberg would pass by someone dressed inappropriately and think "what am I doing here?" When he moved to Eretz Yisrael and walked down the streets and passed by someone dressed inappropriately we would think "what are they doing here?" Eretz Yisrael is our land, it is meant for the Jews to come to, and do mitzvot in.

If someone thinks that they can disconnect the two, either do mitzvot and be separate from Eretz Yisrael, or live in the land but keep none of the mitzvot then he/she is missing the whole point.

If we become impure the land may just spit us out.

May we all be zoche to be in the land and fulfill all of the mitzvot!

Have a great Shabbat!

Metzora 5771

Gold in the Walls:

The pasuk in this week's parsha (13:34) says "When you come to the land of Canaan that I gave to you as a possesion, and I gave a mark of tzaraat in the house, the land of your possession." Rashi comments on this pasuk "It was a good thing that the tzaraat would come upon them because the Emoraim hid treasures of gold in the walls of their homes during the forty years while the Jews traveled in the midbar." (Vayikra Rabbah 17:6)

Let's get this straight, a person would speak lashon hara, because of his sin the walls of his house would be afflicted with tzaraat, and when they knock down the walls they get rewarded for it? So people are getting rewarded for speaking lashon hara?! Also, this was all planned out way before the Jews even got into Eretz Yisrael, why?!

Well the first thing we must discuss is how Hashem punishes man in this world. Hashem does not really want to punish us for something that we did, for this reason He gives us some trouble so that we will realize on our own that we have sinned and that we must repent. There is a chazal that says that tzaraat on the house was just the first part of the affliction. If the person failed to do teshuva only then would the tzaraat begin to appear on his clothing. If the person continued to sin then finally the person will get tzaraat on his/ her body and that is the true punishment for the sin of lashon hara. So in actually one's house getting tzaraat was not really a punishment but rather a love tap from Hashem to get us to go in the right direction.

Another point to discuss, that section of the house would only be torn down if after a week the tzaraat actually grew, if it did not grow it was deemed tahor. So it seems that the person continued to not learn his lesson, causing the tzaraat to get bigger.

Later, if the tzaraat still remained then and only then would it cause the people in the house to become tamai. Until this point the people are still tahor. So if it so happened that after the breaking of the walls to remove the tzaraat was enough to cause the person to do teshuva the person would be rewarded. Because it is better to do teshuva for a sin then to be punished for the sin.

But wait, that means that at this point the people already have the gold from the walls. So what does it mean for those people who continued to sin and therefore still had tzaraat when the Kohen came back? It meant that they had no plan to do teshuva and the gold will be bad for them. But those who had done the teshuva now had many treasures, a reward for having done teshuva. So the gold was not a reward for speaking lashon hara, rather it was a reward for having done teshuva.

Now on to the last question, this had all been planned before any of the people who lived in their homes were even alive. This is to teach us that Hashem would prefer to never have to punish anyone. He would rather have everyone always do the right thing, and if someone messes up that they do teshuva on their own. He enjoys this so much that he will give people the ability to do teshuva even before he has even performed the sin in the first place. Hashem creates the cure before the disease. This is why Hashem created the Torah before the yetzer hara.

It is important to remember in life that Hashem is always waiting for our teshuva and that it is never too late. Also, we must remember that no matter how much we have fallen Hashem still wants us back.

Have a Good Shabbat!