Parashas Emor - Kiddush/Chillul Hashem is easy to do

A couple weeks ago, I was waiting on line outside the Tachana Hamerkazit (Central Bus Station) in Yerushalayim. The line was huge! People were literally standing down the block to get in. The reason for this time-consuming event is because the Security personnel were checking people thoroughly. The guy next to me was shouting at Security asking, “Why are you checking that guy?! Can't you see he's a religious bachur? You're wasting our time and there are loads of people waiting to get in!” Surprisingly enough, that bachur replied back, “Listen, they are doing their job. So what, it will take a couple more minutes – at least we are safe.”

In this week's parasha, Hashem commanded: “You shall not desecrate My Holy Name; And I shall be sanctified in the midst of Bnei Yisroel.” [22:32]

There are different levels of desecrating Hashem's name and different levels of sanctifying it. In the above story, both commandments mentioned in the posuk took place. The guy who yelled at Security made a chillul Hashem while the bachur sanctified it.

Sanctifying Hashem's name is not hard to do. We don't have to go out of our way to do it. For example: Before getting off a bus, it's a kiddush Hashem to say, 'Thank you and have a wonderful day'. It doesn't take much effort. If I am standing at the back of the bus, I make an effort to get off the front just so that I can thank the bus driver. (Of course, there are times where I can't; for example if the bus is packed.) Sometimes we tell ourselves that it won't really make a difference; however, it does!

Unfortunately, the same goes for making a Chillul Hashem. It's very easy to desecrate Hashem's Name, which is why we must be extra careful not to do anything which might lead to that. For example: Sometimes we don't notice that speaking on the phone after a certain time (at night) can disturb other people's sleep.

I give us a bracha to continuously sanctify Hashem's Name and to always make Him proud of us.

Have a wonderful shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Acharei Mos & Kedoshim - Taking Revenge

I know someone who was having problems with his friend. Yehudah* felt it was time to end the friendship; however, David* on the other hand did not feel the same way.

David felt there had been some type of miscommunication and the reason for the friendship to end was not valid. Yehudah begged to differ and ended it anyway. From that day on, David decided that he was going to make Yehudah's life miserable. He started to spread loshon hara about him, cursed him whenever he was around, and even vandalized his property.

Yehudah raged with anger and wanted to take revenge, but he was advised not to by his Rebbe. “This is ridiculously unfair! David is getting away with doing all this stuff while I sit here passively. If only taking revenge wasn't an issur in the Torah!” Yehudah thought.

After a few weeks of David's childish games the 'war' ended. David decided it wasn't worth going through all this trouble because it wasn't bothering Yehudah anymore.

The best part about this story is that Yehudah never even retaliated one time.

Put yourself in that situation. What happened that Yehudah took his Rebbe's advice so seriously?

Perhaps the answer can be found in this week's parasha: It says in Parashas Kedoshim, “Don't take revenge or bear a grudge on another Jew; and love your friend like you love yourself, for I am Hashem.” [1]

“For I am Hashem,” is said many times in the Torah and Rashi explains what it means a couple of times. Rashi doesn't explain it here, however, he does mention it in Parashas Acharei Mos (which also happens to be this week's parasha.)

“You should keep My laws and live by them, For I am Hashem.” Rashi explains: I am trustworthy to pay back merits. [2]

Yehudah reasoned that there's no way he can lose out by doing the will of Hashem. Sure, someone is trying to ruin his life and his property, never-the-less, Hashem commanded us not to take revenge and so he didn't. It wasn't Yehudah's decision to punish his friend, rather it was Hashem's. The same way Hashem is trustworthy to 'pay back merit' (to reward), He is also trustworthy to pay back with punishment.

May we be zocheh to have no enemies and have self-control over our actions.

Have a wonderful shabbos,
Nisso


[1] 19:18
[2] 18:5
* Names changed to protect real identity

Parashas Tazria - Metzora - Humility

I had a chavrousa who used to always get himself out of a jam. His 'thing' was to talk his way out of a problematic situation. He was once asked to study a topic and when the Rabbi came to orally pop-quiz him, he always knew what to say and when to say it.

I asked him after the surprise quiz how on earth he was able to answer the Rabbi when he had no idea of what he was talking about. He told me he had a gift of getting around the actual answers. He told me he didn't need to study. Honestly, I am still not sure what he is talking about, but hey, it worked for him.

Sometimes when people don't know what to say, they either make it up (like my friend does) or they have the humility to say, “I don't know.”

This week's parasha talks about Tzaraas. Most people who know me would guess I'd be writing about guarding your tongue - one cause for leprosy (sorry guys, maybe next year.) This year, however, I want to talk about something else.

The Torah puts the kohanim in charge of declaring who stays pure and who doesn't based on the coloration they have on their skins. “If it is a snow-white spot in the skin of the flesh and it does not appear deeper than the skin and the hair did not turn white, the Kohen shall confine the plague for seven days.”

Rashi, the most popular commentary on Chumash, admitted that he did not know the interpretation of the posuk when talking about “And it does not appear deeper than the skin.”

I was interested in this Rashi, because he doesn't comment on every single word in the Torah. There are many psukim he skips. In this posuk, however, he didn't have to say “I don't know the interpretation,” he could have just skipped it.

It shows that Rashi didn't care of what other people thought about him. He wasn't afraid to tell people he was unsure of something instead of making up the closest definition he could think of.

When I read this Rashi, in addition to asking myself the above questions, it also reminded me of that story that happened with my friend.

May we come to do the avodas Hashem with honesty and humility.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Shemini & Sfiras Ha'omer - Working on our middos

Someone quoted me a line from a movie they saw: “If today was your last day on earth and you asked yourself whether you would be happy with what you have accomplished in your life – If the answer is 'no', then you better start doing something.”

I thought the quote was powerful because sometimes a person “plays” around so much in his/her lifetime, it's scary to think about what they will tell Hashem in the Heavenly court.

At first, it says in this week's parasha, “And Aharon lifted up his hands to the nation and blessed them.” However, the very next posuk then says, “Moshe and Aharon went to the Ohel Moed and then they came out and blessed the nation...”[1]

If Aharon had just blessed Bnei Yisroel, then why did the next posuk say that Moshe and Aharon then blessed them again? What was wrong with Aharon's first bracha?

Rashi explains that since Aharon saw the korbonos were brought and serviced but Hashem's Sh'china didn't rest upon Bnei Yisroel, he must have done something wrong to anger Him. Aharon felt troubled and thought to himself, “I am sure that Hashem is upset with me and this is the reason why His Sh'china didn't come down!” He quickly asked Moshe to daven with him for mercy and then the Sh'china came down.

Aharon saw there was something wrong and quickly did chesbon ha'nefesh. He asked himself, “Hashem didn't bring down His Sh'china; what did I do wrong?” He quickly repented.

We have just entered the days of Sfiras Haomer. Have you ever wondered what the words under each number were, ie: chesed sh'bichesed, gvura sh'bichesed, tiferet sh'bichesed, netzach sh'bichesed, etc..?

There's a machlokes whether counting sfiras haomer (while there isn't a Beis Hamikdash) is d'orai'sa or d'rabanan. However, everyone agrees that a person is obligated to work on his characteristics during these days.

The days of Sfiras Ha'omer are preparation for our acceptance of the Torah on Shavuos. Under each number, there's another thing to work on for that day. For example, over shabbos (tonight will be the fourth night) one should be working on netzach sh'b'chesed. I have a book called “u'sifartem lachem,” which goes through each avoda for that day. It's broken up into two sections: working on the relationships between you and Hashem, and between you and friends.

One thing the sefer says in today's portion is: Between you and Hashem: “Have in mind that Hashem is forever and does tremendous amounts of chesed for us all the time. By doing this, we will come to love Hashem with all our hearts.” Between you and friends: “Any chesed you do for someone else, try doing it again some other time in order for you to get used to doing it, and it will lead you to doing it forever. Or, if you seem to be lending a friend money more than once, maybe try finding him a job by you or something similar, because this is a chesed which is long term (hopefully forever.)

May we quickly mend our bad characteristics and have our good characteristics continue throughout our long lives.

Good Shabbos and Chag Kasher vSameach,
Nisso

[1] 9:22-23