mr. wrote on 09 Nov 2012 17:01:


Gevaldig! Let's try at least to bring one day. A day at a time.

MT

another nice tora prom my rabbi phriend

והיה זרעך כעפר הארץ ופרצת ימה וקדמה וצפונה ונגבה ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה ובזרעך

Yaakov Avinu received a brocha that his children shall be like the dust of the ground. We find previously that the expressions used were like the stars and like the sand. The common denominator between the three is that HaShem is promising that the children will be too numerous to count. But what is the moshul of dust? Which quality is HaShem referring to?
In shemoneh esrai we ask HaShem that vinafshi k’afar lakol tihiye.-and let my soul be like dust to everyone. The dust of the earth is the epitome of selflessness. Everyone steps on it, yet it takes no offense, even continuing to bring forth produce. We ask HaShem that we should be ne’elovim veainam olvin- that if we shall hear our embarrassment, we should have the strength to refrain from returning the insult. The Ruach Chaim comments that when one spends his time trying to return insults to people, this deters him from advancing in serving HaShem. There are numerous stories of tzaadikim that advised people to get brochos from people that have these qualities. It was this very quality that HaShem was telling Yaakov that Klal Yisroel should strive for.
We find later in the Parsha, that Rachel was finally granted a child. She names him Yosef, proclaiming that asaf elokim es cherpasi- HaShem has gathered in my embarrassment. Rashi explains that Rachel suffered embarrassment for being barren. The Ibn Ezra offers an amazing insight to this possuk. He explains that each time that Rachel would pass someone with a child, she would suffer embarrassment from the other women. Rachel never responded to the smirks and comments. HaShem took note of this and gathered together each and every offence They became zechusim for her, ultimately adding up to enough to merit her to have a child.
How precious is just one moment of not responding, hence our tefillah vinafshi k’afar lakol tihiye. This is the brocha that Yaakov received! Surely, if we accept this, we will merit the next part of the brocha- ufarazta yoma vakedma tzafona vanegba.

Good Shaabos!!!

a nice torah mr Rabbi Phriend sent me,
וישמע יתרו - מה שמועה שמע ובא, קריעת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק

Yisro heard about two events: Krias Yam Suf, and Milchemes Amalek. Why did Yisro need two incidents to impress upon him the greatness of HaShem and His People? Shouldn’t krias yam suf have been enough of a nes to influence his way of thinking? Indeed, Milchemes Amalek could have been misinterpreted as a victory affected by Klal Yisrael's military genius. Krias Yam Suf, however, was a nes of the highest level. No one could question it. Why, then, was it necessary for Yisro to also hear about the war with Amalek before he decided to join Klal Yisrael?

We can suggest the following answer. Yisro already wanted to join Klal Yisroel after Krias Yam Suf. After all, the love that HaShem displayed to His children in those nissim demonstrated clearly that they were the am hanivchar. Even the lowliest maiden saw during krias yam suf what the great navi, Yeckezkel Ben Buzi did not see. This however caused Yisro to rethink if he was even worthy of joining. Perhaps the distance between the lowest Jew at that time and the most exalted gentile was so great that he would not be able to make the leap.

But then came Milchemes Amalek. Of what purpose was his attack? Amalek knew that he could not win. However, he could at least "cool" them off. The seforim tell us that Amalek and safek have the same gematria of 240. Amalek’s campaign against us was to create doubt. Amalek did not care if he was starting up with the highest echelon of Klal Yisroel or the lowest of the low. It was an all out battle with every last member and rank.

After Yisro saw that even on the highest level, there was still a need to battle the advances of Amalek, a.k.a. a person’s yetzer hara, he realized that the great lofty level of a Jewish person is not at all due to the absence of the yetzer hara. On the contrary, it is the ability to constantly fight and conquer it. This then is the realization that on any and all levels, we can connect, as long as there is willingness to fight. Now Yisro was ready to join!

The Gemara in Mesichta Sanhedrin tells us that if Reuvein is told to kill or get killed, Reuvein would not be allowed to save his own life, because of the logic of מאי חזית דדמך סומק טפי. Do we really know whose blood is redder, i.e. who is more valuable in HaShem's eyes? The same logic holds true even if the two parties involved were the gadol hador and a lowly robber or murderer. But why is it so?

Let us examine the tzaadik. He may have been born to an important family. His path may have been carved out for him. Born on rung 91 of the ladder, today he is standing high atop rung 97. It can’t get much better than that. But what of the robber sitting all the way on the bottom of the ladder at 23. He on the other hand was born into a situation where there was never any hope that he would amount to much of anything. He was born on rung 6. Yes the tzaadik is much higher up, but the robber has climbed many more rungs. We can never really know whose blood is redder.

It was after Milchemes Amalek that Yisro came to the realization that it's not how high up one is but the willingness to keep on fighting and keep on rising!!

Good Shaabos!!!!

another torah fom my rabbi phriend,
וצפית אתו זהב טהור מבית ומחוץ תצפנו

From the gemara in Mesichta Yoma we understand that the aron symbolizes kesser Torah because the luchos are the foundation of the Torah, and they were housed in there.

The gemara teaches us further that this arrangement of “gold from within and from without” is teaching us that a talmid chochom must be consistent; his inner character must match his public demeanour, תוכו כברו .

The gemara in Brochos tells us that when Rabban Gamliel was the rosh hayeshiva, he only accepted students that were תוכם כברם . As a result of arguments with R’Yehoshua, he lost his job, and R’Elazar ben Azaria took his place. With the new leader came a new entrance policy. Any student that had an interest in learning Torah was granted entry. On that day alone, between 400 and 700 new benches were added to accommodate the new students. Mesichta Edeyos was one of the by-products as a result of this action. When Rabban Gamliel saw all the talmidim, he felt bad, that perhaps he withheld Torah from Klal Yisroel.

The Chidushei HaRim wonders what was bothering Rabban Gamliel. His goal was to run an institution of the highest calibre. He tested these students and felt that they did not make the grade. Lehavdil, if the dean of Harvard University were to pass by a bustling community college, that is double the size of his own, he would not have remorse thinking that he could have had all those students. So why did Rabban Gamliel suddenly feel bad?

The Chidushei HaRim answers that at first, he did not feel bad. With time though, he noticed that the more and more that the students were exposed to the Torah, the more their bad middos fell away. The Torah was changing their very beings. Gradually, they too became תוכם כברם . Rabban gamliel felt bad that he never gave them the chance.

The Mechaber, Rav Yosef Kairo writes that the children of parents that did not keep taharas hamishpacha should be avoided as a potential match in shidduchim, because it is guaranteed that they have bad midos. The Steipler (Rav Yaakov Yisroel Kanievski)zt”l received a letter from a yeshiva boy that was involved in such a shidduch. The girl, coming from a non-religious family, obviously had this background, but she was a baalas teshuvah and displayed the most exceptional middos. The question was: should the boy go through with the shidduch, or stay away based on the advice of Shulchan Aruch. The Steipler responded that he may go ahead with it. He reasoned that because this girl allowed Torah into her soul, she became a brand new person. The Torah has the ability to change a person completely. Though we definitely do not start out as תוכו כברו allowing the torah into our systems can get us there, as long as we give it the chance!

Good Shaabos!!

This week’s dvar torah is L’iluy nishmas Blima bas R’ Shlomo Dov (1 Adar) and R’ Shmuel ben R’ Yitzchak Menachem (4 Adar).

another nice toira from my rabbi friend,
וירא העם כי בשש משה לרדת מן ההר

Klal Yisroel saw that Moshe had not returned. After miscalculating the forty days and forty nights, they assumed that he would not return. At that moment, Satan showed them a large levayah for Moshe taking place in shomayim convincing them that Moshe was in fact dead and would not be returning. Subsequently, the people turned to Aharon to begin their work on the eigel.

Ramban explains that Klal Yisroel’s intention in making the eigel was never to replace HaShem, but rather to replace Moshe. Without Moshe, how could they communicate with HaShem? They were mistaken in thinking that they needed a middle man.

There is however a fundamental question that presents itself. As a rule, a person is never given a nissayon that he has no chance of overcoming. Accordingly, the Torah Ohr (Baal HaTanya) wonders why Satan was allowed to test us by actually showing an image of a dead Moshe. After seeing such imagery, what chance was left to believe otherwise? He answers that כל הגדול מחבירו יצרו גדול ממנו / (the greater the person, the greater the yetzer hara). As a result of Klal Yisroel’s lofty level, their nissayon was that much greater. Clearly on their great level, they had the tools to deal with it.

Perhaps we can offer another approach to this question. In the encounter between Yaakov and Sar shel Eisav, after giving his own name to the Maalach, Yaakov asks the Malaach in return what his name is. The maalach responds “why do you ask of me my name”. Rav Leib Chassman zt’l explains that Yaakov understood that a name is the essence of a person. He wanted to learn the maalach’s name to understand what makes him tic; to recognize him, to identify the signs of what is and what is not the Yetzer Hara. The maalach responded that there is no point in asking the question because my name depends on YOU. I can be the “reality” of your greatest fear; I can play out your greatest desires. My abilities are based on whatever you allow me to do. If you let me into the door, I can act, otherwise, I am powerless. The Gemara tells us a similar rule for dreams as well. Dreams are based on a person’s daytime thoughts. If you don’t think of it, you won’t dream of it.

When Moshe did not show up, Klal Yisroel feared the worst, assuming he was not returning. It was only after those thoughts that the Satan was suddenly able to conjure up such images of a funeral procession. It was because we opened the gate and allowed him inside. Satan was only allowed to test us with this image because we gave him the express permission to do so.

If we train ourselves to have taharas hamachshova/ purity of thoughts, if we learn to focus on the good things in life and the positive of what HaShem does for us, we can in fact be in control of the Yetzer Hara!

Good Shaabos!!!