Parashas Chukas - Keep the bulletproof vest on!

This week's Dvar Torah has been sponsored for:
Refua Shelema: Leah Ayala bas Yehudis
May you have health, happiness, and success!
(If you would like to sponsor a Dvar Torah, feel free to email me: SharingTorah@gmail.com)
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In last week's parasha, Korach and his (two hundred and fifty) men rebelled against Moshe and Aharon. Hashem told Moshe and Aharon, "Separate yourselves from this congregation, and I will annihilate them in an instant..." "Speak to the congregation saying, 'Leave the vicinity of Korach, Dasan and Avirom..." Everyone and everything that belonged to Korach got swallowed up (or down) by the ground, alive. Then fire was sent by Hashem and consumed all two hundred and fifty men who brought incense.

In this week's parasha (Chukas), a couple of other people die. These people weren't followers of Korach. They we dedicated to Hashem and His Torah. They did everything Hashem (and Moshe) asked them to do. Miriam passed away at the age of 125. She was a known prophet who taught and guided the women of Bnei Yisroel. As soon as she died, Hashem caused the Well of Miriam to disappear temporarily. Next, Aharon passed away at the age of 123. He too was a known prophet who taught and guided the men of Bnei Yisroel. After his death, Hashem ceased the Clouds of Glory from traveling with the Jews. [1]

Before Aharon's death (after Miriam's), Hashem said to Moshe, "The people will witness a miracle that will sanctify My Name. Gather the Tzadikim to the rock from which water flowed while Miriam was alive. Command it to provide water for the Jews once again." Moshe gathered all the people hoping to teach them a lesson: "If a hard rock manages to turn into a well at Hashem's command, then for sure we Jews are obligated to obey Hashem!"[2]

Among the congregation were the airev rav who always had something negative to say (sort of like Korach's men.) They proclaimed, "Unless you give us water from the rock we choose, then we don't want anything at all."[3] They suggested, "Perhaps Moshe knows this specific rock carries moisture, and that's why water used to flow out." Moshe was extremely distressed because he was hoping to show everyone how doing Hashem's Will has the power to change nature. Instead, he was faced with people who made fun, and questioned Moshe's ability. Moshe realized that Hashem's Shechina was no longer there because of the people's mockery.[4]

Moshe commanded the rock to produce water, but it did not obey. He then hit the rock; at that point, it started bleeding. The mockers asked, "Now we're suppose to drink blood?" Hashem commanded the rock to convert the blood into water. The rock obeyed, but only drips came out. So Moshe hit it a second time. The water gushed out of the rock, forming a deep stream that flooded the people, and drowned the mockers.[5-6]

This isn't the only two parashas we've seen Hashem's Shechina depart from a crowd because of their disrespect for Him. Another place we've seen it happen was when we sinned with the Golden Calf.

When we don't have Hashem's Divine Presence with us, it's a sign of disappointment. Hashem wiped out all two hundred and fifty men belonging to Korach, and all the people who mocked Moshe (in Parashas Chukas.) A lesson I learned in these two parashas: We must have proper respect for our Sages and Rabbeim. By disrespecting them, we cause the connection we have with Hashem to be weakened. It's like removing our bullet-proof vest. Without it, we are left weak and unprotected.

In conclusion, we are approaching the three weeks; a time where Hashem's Shechina departed from His Temple and from Klal Yisroel because of our misdeeds. Every generation in which the Beis Hamikdash is not rebuilt is as if we personally destroyed it. We have the power to bring it back with our mitzvos and maasim tovim.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

[1] Ta'anis 9a
[2] Rashi
[3] Zohar vol.1: 28b
[4] Rokeach
[5] Shemos Rabba 3:19
[6] Midrash Shocher Tov 105:20

Parashas Korach - Cover ground before the ground covers us!

This week's Dvar Torah has been sponsored for:
Refua Shelema: Leah Ayala bas Yehudis
May you have health, happiness, and success!
(If you would like to sponsor a Dvar Torah, feel free to email me: SharingTorah@gmail.com)
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Parashas Shelach teaches the mitzvah to wear tzitzis (fringes). "Speak to Bnei Yisroel and tell them to make for themselves tzitzis on the corners of their garments... place with the tzitzis of each corner a blue/green thread (techeles)...You will look upon it and remember all of Hashem's mitzvos, and you will perform them..."

The mitzvah of tzitzis is to remind us of all 613 mitzvos commanded by Hashem; since the gematria (numerical value of the letters) of the word tzitzis is 600, then add the 5 knots and 8 strings, which equals 613. The Gemara in Menachos brings in Rabbi Meir who asks, "Why is blue different from all other colors?" The answer given: "Because blue resembles the sea, and the sea resembles sky, and the sky resembles Hashem's Throne of Glory."

I once heard a cute vort about tzitzis and what they represent:

Question: "Why do we have all these fringes? Why all the strings?" The answer lies within a parable: When a person goes to get a button sewed on, or gets pants/skirts altered, the tailer has a thread with a needle, and goes in and out of the material. Upon completion, the last thing the tailer does is grab the scissors and snip off the string. Perhaps we may say that tzitzis is there to remind us that we (Jews) are NEVER finished with our Avoda. Our job is never complete. Look at your fringes and realize you have a lot to do in life; learn Torah, fulfill mitzvos, do chesed, etc...

In Parashas Korach, we have the main character, Korach (hence, the title) who rebelled against Moshe and Aharon. He claimed, "You have taken too much for yourselves. All positions of service has been given to your closest family members. We are all holy; it's time for us to do the service as well!"

Korach conjured up 'logical' ideas against Moshe: "Let's say I have a garment completely made of techeles, do I now need fringes on the corners? How is it possible that a garment made of other material is absolved by a single thread of techeles, yet one made completely of techeles cannot absolve itself? If the techeles is to remind us of all the mitzvos, surely a garment completely of techeles fulfills that. How about a house filled with Sifrei Torah, do I still need to put mazuzos on the door posts?"

Korach recruited two hundred and fifty men to rebel against Moshe and Aharon. He thought he was smarter than them, trying to make them look like fools in front of Bnei Yisroel. Korach wasn't looking for ways to fulfill mitzvos and Torah, rather was just searching for honor. He couldn't understand why he wasn't elected to perform any important services, but Moshe's closer family members were.

Korach received a harsh punishment: Hashem opened up the ground and swallowed Korach, his family, followers, and possessions alive.

We see the importance of tzitzis and the constant reminder of fulfilling all the mitzvos (and of course learning Hashem's Torah.) You can't go wrong doing the will of Hashem.

A lesson I learned from this week's parasha: Let's not be a Korach who rebelled against Moshe and his Torah (Moshe emes v'Toraso emes,) and instead do the will of Hashem.

B'ezras Hashem, we should have the koach to learn and cover ground before the ground covers us -- unlike Korach.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Shelach - Learning from other's mistakes.

This week's Dvar Torah has been sponsored for:
Refua Shelema: Leah Ayala bas Yehudis
May you have health, happiness, and success!
(If you would like to sponsor a Dvar Torah, feel free to email me: SharingTorah@gmail.com)
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Since this week's parasha in Israel is Shelach and in America it is Beha'alosecha, I will try to combine them together. I can't guarantee I will be able to combine two parashas every week, though.

I was speaking to a friend, and he told him that he 'never learns his lesson.' He is always putting himself in the same situations and getting in trouble. What surprised me though, was that he also told me, "...and I'm probably going to do it again." I asked him, "If you know gets you in trouble, then why would you do it again?" Almost as if he was predicting it. He responded, "I don't know, I guess because I can't learn my lesson..."

Last week I wrote about changing current world events simply by the use of our mouths. The mouth is a very powerful vessel Hashem has entrusted us with. Through the mouth we speak divrei Torah, recite brachos before and after eating, daven to Hashem etc... So many wonderful things can be accomplished with our mouths. Unfortunately, there are also things which can be accomplished in a negative way. For example: getting someone fired from a job, ruining a potential shidduch, or even refraining someone from pursuing his/her goal.

In Parashas Beha'alosecha, we saw how Klal Yisroel weren't able to continue traveling, until Miriam fully recovered from leprosy - for speaking bad about her brother, Moshe. It wasn't only Miriam who was effected from her words, but the whole Klal Yisroel too.

In Parashas Shelach, it opens up with Hashem telling Moshe to send men to scout out the land. This is the famous 'parasha of the meraglim (spies)'. In short, Moshe sent men to check out the land of Israel. They came back with negative reports, leading people to rebel against Moshe and be hesitant to enter the land.

Rashi [1] declares that Korach's rebellion (next week's topic,) although recorded in the Torah after the spies, actually took place beforehand in Chatzeros, where Miriam sinned and was punished. (Miriam, Korach, then Spies.) So Rashi asks, "Why was the Parasha of the spies placed right after the incident of Miriam, and not Korach?" Rashi answers [2]: Because Miriam got punished for speaking negatively about Moshe and these 'wicked men' didn't learn from her mistake. Even after they saw what had happened to Miriam, the spies still used their mouths to speak negatively.

Those who don't learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them. "History repeats itself" isn't only speaking about learning from your own mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others. Rashi was showing us that the spies didn't learn from Miriam's mistake. That's why it was so important to hold off Parashas Korach until next week, and put these two parashas back-to-back.

Everyday after shacharis we say "The (Ashkenazim: Six)\(Sefardim: Ten) Remembrances". One of them is: "Remember the act of Miriam and what Hashem did to her - on the way, when we left Egypt."

We should only see good and speak positive,
Nisso

[1] Devorim 1:1
[2] 13:2

Parashas Beha'alosecha - The ultimate power to control current world events

This week's Dvar Torah has been sponsored for:
Refua Shelema: Eliyahu ben Emily
May you have health, happiness, and success!
(If you would like to sponsor a Dvar Torah, feel free to email me: SharingTorah@gmail.com)
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[Note: I did not send the wrong Parasha. Due to Shavuos, Israel and America are on different Parasha Schedules. This week in Israel is Parashas Beha'alosecha while in America they are reading Parashas Naso. I recommend Americans to read this Dvar Torah by Seudat Shelishit.]

In this week's Parasha, we see a phenomenal thing in Judaism. We see how all Jews are connected and that everyone takes responsibility for each other's actions.

Towards the end of the Parasha, Miriam (Moshe's sister) got punished with leprosy. If you remember in Parashas Tazria-Metzora, we mentioned there are different reasons for getting leprosy. One reason is for speaking lashon hara.

Miriam told her brother Aharon that Moshe was not having marital relations with his wife, and was completely separated from her. She reasoned that Moshe should be involved with the mitzva of having kids and didn't know why he was so different than the other prophets (including Miriam and Aharon). "We don't separate from our spouses," she said.

She didn't have intentions of speaking negative about Moshe, yet she still got punished. [The reason for Moshe's separation was because he needed to stay pure at all times so that Hashem, at any given moment, could converse with him.]

Since Miriam was stricken with leprosy, she and Bnei Yisroel weren't able to travel for seven days. Every Jew was refrained from traveling into Eretz Yisroel because of one person. One person's action effected the whole Jewish nation! If we were all effected by Miriam's words, which weren't said maliciously, and were said in front of him, can you imagine what can happen when we speak bad of someone intentionally?

There's a whole sefer dedicated to the laws of refraining from speaking evil. It's called Sefer Chofetz Chaim. Highly recommended! Once you read it, you will be more aware of what you should and shouldn't say.

Every time we hear of something bad happening in the world - the Twin Towers in America, or a suicide bomber in Israel - our first reaction is to daven for those who are hurt. We all get together and say Tehillim for people we don't even know! Why is that? The answer is, because we are all connected and responsible for each other.

We have the power to change current world events depending on what we say. It's in our choice of words, so why not make the right decision?

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso