Parashas Devarim - Hashem's Courtyards

Sefer Devarim starts off with rebuke: “These are the words that Moshe addressed to all of Bnei Yisroel, across the Yarden...” Then it lists a few places where the Jews erred/sinned. When it lists the place of 'Chatzeiros', Rashi comments, “You should have learned from what I did to Miriam in Chatzeiros, because of the slander she spoke...”

In the first posuk in Parashas Devarim, Rashi teaches us an important lesson:

Miriam's punishment for (unintentionally) slandering Moshe was leprosy. Unfortunately, her punishment didn't only effect her, but in fact, effected all of Klal Yisroel. We were not able to travel to Eretz Yisroel until she was cured. The Jews then traveled from Chatzeiros (the place where Miriam spoke lashon hara) to the desert of Paran.

When they reached the desert of Paran, the Spies were sent to scout out the land of Israel. Ironically, they reported back saying, “The fruits were huge, the people were huge, and we're nothing but grasshoppers in their eyes, etc.” Their words were not assuring and were ultimately viewed as derogatory in Hashem's eyes. The message insinuated was, 'The land of Israel was not a safe place for us to live in'.

Bnei Yisroel were just punished for derogatory words spoken, yet they didn't learn their lesson. Why?

Mesilas Yeshayim brings a posuk in Mishlei (22:3) which says, “The clever one sees evil, then hides and the fools go ahead and are punished.”

It teaches us that we should look ahead to see whether our actions are correct. Don't go into a situation blindly. Think about the outcome. Should I say this, should I not? Should I do this, should I not? Should I go there, should I not? Making these types of calculations are all part of being a faithful Jew. Fools walk around doing what they want when they want to. They don't think about the consequences. They live in the moment. That type of thinking is dangerous for us. Mesilas Yesharim also says, “Instead, he should turn his feet to the courtyards of Hashem and His dwelling places.” That way you think about Hashem before taking action.

I'd like to conclude, the word “Courtyards” in Hebrew is “Chatzeiros.” Perhaps the next time we feel like speaking lashon hara about someone (or something,) we should think about the two Chatzeiros. Think about what happened to Miriam in the Land of Chatzeiros and think about the “Chatzeiros” - the courtyards of Hashem.

When we're in the presence of someone important, we think about what we say, how we say it, how we move, our actions, our postures, etc. We should strive to picture ourselves in Hashem's courtyards at all times. Perhaps if we thought that way, we will come to think about our actions and be zocheh to actually sit in His courtyards.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Matos & Masei - Blaming Others

No one gets injured by someone or something accidentally or because of 'bad luck'. All misfortunes are providentially caused by Hashem through specific agents for reasons known to Him alone.

Let's say you were at a baseball game and the ball happens to hit you on the head (whether you were in the game or in the audience.) You might think to yourself something 'negative' about the pitcher, and not, “It was min ha'shemayim.”

Suppose you were the ball's destination and that ball was only acting as an agent to Hashem. It had nothing to do with the pitcher.

What if you were walking by an object and you got hurt by it, whether hitting your toe on the leg of a couch, or scraping your arm against a sharp edge of the table, or simpler, you got a paper cut. You wouldn't blame the object for causing your misfortune.

So what's the difference between objects and people? Sure, you can rationalize: “People have control of their actions, however, objects don't. People should be more careful, yada yada yada.”

It says in Masechta Makkos 10b, “How does Hashem punish two murderers – one who murdered accidentally and one who murdered on purpose? Hashem causes both people to cross paths with each other. He sets up a scene with witnesses where the man - who murdered accidentally - came down a ladder and fell upon the man who murdered on purpose. The deliberate murderer was killed, thus receiving the penalty due to him, where the inadvertent murderer also receives his punishment; Ahrei Miklat.

In Parashas Masei, the Torah speaks about the severity of bloodshed. Someone who kills accidentally is punished by sending him to the Ahrei Miklat (Cities of Refuge) where he must stay until the death of the Kohen Gadol and only then may he return home.

Hashem has many agents on this world. You can also be an agent without even knowing it. In the above gemara, we see an example of Hashem's many plans for punishment.

Maybe the next time we get hurt, either by another person, or by an object – we can do a chesbon hanefesh and ask what it was we did wrong and try to correct it and repent instead of blaming the other party.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Pinchas - The Love for Torah

In Parashas Pinchas, Moshe davened to Hashem asking for someone to take his place as a leader; someone who will be able to guide and advise every type of issue brought by Bnei Yisrael; someone who is also able to muster up an army to fight against their enemies, and - of course - someone who will devote himself to the communal needs of Klal Yisroel and daven on their behalf.

Hashem told Moshe that He already appointed someone. Hashem felt that Yehoshua would be best for this position. Hashem explained the reason He chose Yehoshua, as opposed to Moshe's sons, was because Yehoshua had a special ahava for Torah. He invested every last ounce of strength to learn Torah and gain wisdom.

Besides learning Torah 'all day and night', Yehoshua came to the Bais Midrash early each day and left late every night in order to arrange the benches and mats for the Rebbeim and Talmidim to use. He served his Rebbeim and Hashem with love, disregarding his own needs. [1]

There's a posuk in Mishlei that says, “He who guards the fig tree shall eat its fruit, and he who serves his master, shall be honored.”

Yehoshua was zocheh to be appointed as the next leader because he served his master with love.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Balak - We're just as powerful as Bilam is!

In this week's parasha, Balak went to Bilam and asked for a favor. Balak searched for someone wicked and skillful - skills which no other man possessed. What did Bilam have that others didn't? Speech and timing.

Bilam's curses were always accurate because he knew the precise timing for a curse to have an effect. In Tehillim it says, "Hashem is angered every day."[1] At that moment, if one were to curse someone else, Hashem would allow it to be effective.[2]

Why did Balak search for someone who was skilled with words? Why not use witchcraft against the Jews? Or gather a large army to wage war?

Balak told Bilam, “The reason why I chose you is because it seems that only words can harm the Jews. It seems that the only way to defeat them is by speech, therefore, I need you to curse them for me.” Unfortunately, we aren't aware of the power we Jews possess. Balak realized that our words are lethal.

It's one of the biggest weapons we have against anyone. We use our words to ask for forgiveness, to rebuke, to compliment, to daven, to learn, to express emotion, and (among other things) communicate.

Speech is what we use to get close to Hashem; we daven, learn, and ask for His help.

In reality, we also have the same power Bilam has. I've said this once before, and I feel it is worth mentioning again: The Chofetz Chaim speaks about how powerful one's words are. Speaking loshon hara can cause destruction in the world. [It arouses a demon named Sach'sucha who feeds off our loshon hara and uses our words to cause harm to others.] [3]

To raise the bars a little higher; The Chofetz Chaim mentions in his sefer that a person can learn Torah and daven all day – in which his speech forms white words rising up to the Kiseh HaKavod. However, one can easily transform those words into black hevel (dissipating words), which pull down the pure words, so that they never reach His kiseh - simply by using one's mouth to speak bad about others. [4]

It's time to realize the power Hashem entrusted us with. If Balak can realize the power of speech – it's time for us to take it seriously.

Have a wonderful shabbos,
Nisso

[1] Tehillim 7:12
[2] Brachos 7a (and Tosfos)
[3] Sefer Chofetz Chaim; hakdama
[4] Sefer Shmiras Halashon

Parashas Korach & Chukas - Keeping mitzvos before knowing why

I told my friend, “You should do what I tell you to do. Do me a favor - do you agree to do it?” He asked me, “Do what? You haven't specified yet what should be done. People would prefer knowing what it is you want, before agreeing.” And so, I explained:

While reading Parashas Chukas, I had the following question. The posuk says, “This is the chukas haTorah which Hashem commanded you... You shall take a red cow – which is complete – without any blemishes...” The Torah was very descriptive in explaining what the chok was. The problem is; why did it tell us what the chukas haTorah is now?

“When should it have explained it, if not now?” He asked.

I responded, “The Torah should have specified what the chok was in Parashas Beh'chukosai, where it was first introduced and asked to be kept.”

You see, a couple months ago in Parashas Beh'chukosai, Hashem commanded us to go in His chukim and to keep His mitzvos. The only thing is, we weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to do. The Torah didn't explain what the chok was – until this week's Parasha. So how were we supposed to do as Hashem commanded without us knowing what had to be done?

The answer, I believe, is: That's exactly the point. When Hashem asks from us to do something, there is no need to know a reason behind it. That was part of our bind to Hashem when we said, “Na'aseh v'Nishma!”

Before accepting the Torah, we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. We just told Hashem, “We will do (and only after) will we hear (what Hashem wants us to do.)

When Hashem commanded us to keep His chukim, He didn't need to specify what it was until He felt was a good time to explain it to us. Granted, it would be nice to know why we do the things we do (mitzvos) but if we didn't know, it doesn't have to stop us from doing it.

I was just speaking to a friend this morning; he was telling me that he wanted to learn the first chelek of mishna berura because he performs halachas every morning, but doesn't know why he is actually doing them.

That is where Korach went sour in last week's Parasha (I figured I would bring him in this week, since I wasn't able to last week.) Korach wanted to know exactly why we were doing mitzvos, and tried altering the halachos based on what he felt made sense.

For example, Korach exclaimed to Moshe, “Why should we have to put techeiles tzisis on our four cornered clothing? Suppose the garment was completely techeiles, then we shouldn't have to put any tzisis on the garment!”

It doesn't matter whether something makes sense to us in order to do what Hashem asks from us. That is precisely what a chok is - it's something we can't even comprehend, however, we do it anyways!

I give us a bracha that we should learn the reasons behind the mitzvos Hashem asks from us, and continue doing the ones which we aren't aware of the reasons. Maybe this should be a goal we set for bein hazmanim?

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Naso, Ba'alosecha, & Shelach - Learning from others' actions

[I apologize for compressing three parashas into one. (It's not a triple parasha this week. I wasn't able to write one last week, and I don't know what my schedule will be like next week either.) I hope to be back on schedule shortly.]

In last week's parasha, we spoke about the Sota - straight after a Nazir. Rashi asks, why were these two topics right next to each other? He answers because when a person sees something so powerful, he shouldn't disregard it. There is something he should have taken from it. So when a person sees the miracle of the Sota being performed, he should take upon himself the restraint of drinking wine - to become a nazir.

In the end of this week's parasha, Miriam got punished with leprosy for speaking negatively about Moshe (to Aharon.) She didn't understand why Moshe separated from his wife while the other naviim didn't. [He separated from his wife so that he was able to get a navua from Hashem at any moment.]

In next week's parasha, the meraglim were punished for speaking loshon hara about the land of Israel. Why were they punished for speaking about land? It's not like they spoke about people. The answer Rashi gives above can be applied here as well. They should have seen what Hashem did to Miriam last week, for speaking about her brother Moshe, where she didn't even say it in a degrading manner. The problem was that she said something negative. It doesn't matter what or to whom it was spoken about. We are all Hashem's creations, whether it is people or land.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

Parashas Bamidbar - Reaching Out to Someone Can Save a Life

Bnei Kahas were the sons of Levi'im. They were in charge of carrying the Ark, Table, Menorah, Altar , Partitions, and the Vessels of sacrificial services. They were not, however, allowed to touch these items directly. It was the Kohanim's jobs to cover these items and prepare them for transportation. If Bnei Kahas touched the vessels, they would be liable to the Heavenly death sentence.

In the end of this week's parasha, Hashem told Moshe and Aharon, “Do not cut off the family of Kahas from Shevet Leviim...in order for them to live and not die...” [1]

What did Hashem mean when He instructed Moshe and Aharon to protect Bnei Kahas from death?

Bnei Kahas were very precious to Hashem, therefore, Hashem did not want them dying while performing their duties. [2] They were zocheh to this position (rather than Levy's two other sons) because of their extraordinary devotion to the Torah. [3]

The Kohanim had responsibilities in keeping Bnei Kahas alive.

This responsibility doesn't only have to be for Kohanim to Bnei Kahas. It can also be a responsibility we take upon ourselves towards those around us.

Have you ever been in the same room as someone who seemed troubled by something? Maybe they just needed someone who would sit down and listen to them while they spoke?

Unfortunately, I know a handful of guys who actually considered suicide. They felt all alone and depressed. They felt as if they were incapable of receiving love or compassion. They rationalized, the only way these feelings would go away- was if they were to end their lives (lo aleinu).

Sometimes the signs are easy to read; you can tell whether someone is trying to reach out to you. The case doesn't need to be an extreme case of suicide – it can be a simple outcry for friendship.

May we be zocheh to help those in need. Who knows, it might save someone's life.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

[1] 4:4-18
[2] Tanchuma 26
[3] Tz'ror ha-Mor 4:18