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Parashas Bereishis

October 18, 2011
In parashas Bereishis, the Torah relates (Bereishis 2:19-20):
Now, Hashem, God, had formed from the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the sky, and He brought them to the man, to see what he would call each one – and whatever the man was going to call each living creature, that is its name. And the man gave names to all the domesticated animals, to the birds of the sky, and to all the wild animals of the field.
The order of presentation here is odd. The Torah first says that whatever the man was going to call each living creature, that is its name,” and then relates that Adam gave names to all the creatures. It would have been more natural for the Torah first to relate that Adam gave names to all the creatures, and then to say “whatever the man called each one, that is its name.” Why does the Torah present the facts in reverse?
The Maggid explains as follows. The animal kingdom encompasses a wide variety of traits, both good and bad. Hashem, in His wisdom, systematically apportioned these traits among the various animal species. Since animals have no free will, each one acts wholly in accordance with its own innate traits; no animal ever adopts the behavior pattern of a different animal. Thus, as our Sages teach, the cat specializes in modesty, the ant in aversion to theft, and the dove in loyalty to its mate. Man, on the other hand, possesses the entire gamut of powers and traits. Hashem granted man the free will to choose which to exercise in each situation, and man is ultimately judged according to his choices.
Now, our also Sages teach that each animal’s most prominent trait is reflected in its name. They tell us, for example, that the stork is named chasidah because a stork shows kindness (chesed) to other storks by sharing its food with them. Similarly, they say, the heron is named anafah because a heron quarrels (m’anefes) with other herons. Since man encompasses all the traits of the all the animals, he is familiar with all these traits and understands how each should be named. We can now see why the Torah says that “whatever the man was going to call each living creature, that is its name” – whatever name Adam would put forward was sure to be the right one.
The Midrash teaches (Bereishis Rabbah 17:4):
When the Holy One Blessed Be He came to create man, He consulted with the angels, saying: “Let us make man.” They replied: “This man, what is his nature?” Hashem told them: “His wisdom is greater than yours.” He brought before them the domesticated animals, the wild animals, and the birds, and asked: “What is the name of each of these?” And they did not know. He then brought these creatures before Adam and asked: “What is the name of each of these?” Adam replied: “That one is an ox, that one is a donkey, that one is a horse, that one is a camel ….”
At first glance it seems puzzling that Adam knew the names while the angels did not. But, given the idea we just explained, we can see why this was so. Indeed, same differentiation that prevails in the animal kingdom also prevails in the celestial realm. Each angel has a specific role: Some specialize in dispensing compassion, others in dispensing retribution, and so on. Hashem apportioned powers and traits among the angels according to these roles. Each angel possesses its own distinct set of powers and traits, different from that of any other angel. Thus, our Sages teach that an angel can carry out only one mission –for it only has the tools for one role. Accordingly, none of the angels could name the animals, for each angel was familiar only with its own specific traits, and had no grasp of any others. Only Adam, who possessed all the traits, knew how to give each animal its proper name.
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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Megillas Koheles

October 12, 2011
On Shabbos Chol HaMoed Sukkos, we read Megillas Koheles, Shlomo HaMelech’s guide to a proper outlook on life. In Koheles 1:18 he writes: “For with great wisdom comes great torment, and one who increases his knowledge increases his grief.” This statement indicates that a wise person suffers more than a fool does over certain mishaps of life, particularly over misdeeds. The Maggid explains Shlomo’s statement as reflecting the fact that Hashem holds a wise person to a high standard, as the Gemara in Bava Kamma 50a teaches. It is written (Tehillim 50:3): “His [Hashem’s] environs are very stormy (nisarah meod).” The Gemara derives from this verse the principle that Hashem is exacting with the righteous to a hairsbreadth (k’chut hasaarah). In Sefer HaMiddos, Shaar HaYirah, chapter 12, the Maggid elaborates on this principle.
The Maggid begins by presenting a classic illustration of the principle: the death penalty that Hashem meted out to Nadav and Avihu for offering in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) a “foreign fire” that Hashem had not commanded. Their father Aharon was astonished at the swift and severe punishment they received for this misstep. Moshe explained to him (Vayikra 10:3): “It was of this that Hashem spoke, saying, ‘Through My close ones I shall be sanctified, and I shall be honored before the entire people.’” Hashem expects a commoner to guard His honor by not rebelling against His commands. He expects more, however, of His close ones; He invests them with the duty to sanctify Him by acting with the utmost scrupulousness. Nadav and Avihu’s great loftiness made them liable to the strictest punishment.
The Maggid then expands on discuss why Hashem is so exacting with the righteous. He presents three reasons for this mode of operation.
First, a person who is endowed with wisdom and has drawn close to Hashem is expected to have a solid grasp of the rules of proper conduct. As the Midrash puts it (Tanchuma, Vayikra 6), a king gets much angrier when a member of the palace household commits an infraction than when a visitor from the city commits the same infraction, for the palace household member should know better. Since a member of the palace household constantly beholds the glory of the king within the palace, he is expected to know how to act, whereas such knowledge is not expected of a visitor. The same idea applies to the way Hashem relates to a righteous person, who dwells in His environs.
Second, a small flaw in a righteous person causes much more damage to the Jewish People as a whole than a similar small flaw in an average person. The Maggid draws an analogy to the human body. The body comprises a variety of organs, including some of minor importance and some of major importance. Some organs can be injured or even lost without significant effect on a person’s functioning. But other organs, such as the eyes, are so central that an injury to them causes a grave impairment. Similarly, the Jewish People comprises a variety of people, including commoners and great saints. If a commoner sins, the sin does not cause such a great desecration of Hashem’s Name, and thus does not cause significant damage to the Jewish People as a whole. But if a great saint sins, major damage to the entire Jewish People results, for the people all regard the great saint as setting an example of how to act. If a great saint commits a misdeed, the rest of the people will copy it, and a major desecration to Hashem’s Name ensues. Thus, in Yoma 86a, R. Yochanan says it would be a desecration to Hashem’s Name for him to walk four cubits without speaking words of Torah and wearing tefillin, while Rav says it would be a desecration of Hashem’s Name for him to buy meat from the butcher and not pay immediately. The Mishnah in Avos 4:13 states that an inadvertent misinterpretation of Torah law is considered like a deliberate sin. In a similar vein, we can say that an inadvertent sin committed by a righteous person is as severe as a deliberate sin, for when a righteous person inadvertently does an improper deed, he gives others the impression that it is alright to engage in such behavior, and thus leads them to do so deliberately.
Third, a small flaw in a righteous person damages the person himself much more than a similar small flaw in an average person. On a physical level, a tough person suffers significant harm only when he is dealt a heavy blow, but a delicate person suffers serious harm even from a minor blow. Similarly, on a spiritual level, a coarse person’s soul suffers significant damage only when he commits a major sin, but a lofty person’s soul suffers serious damage even from a minor sin. As another analogy, consider bright white garments as compared with garments of a duller color. A few black spots would hardly be noticed on a duller garment, but seriously damage the appearance of a bright white garment. Thus, a person wearing a bright white garment must be much more careful to avoid stains than a person wearing a duller garment. In the same way, a righteous person must be very careful to avoid a even minor sin.
An additional perspective on Hashem’s exacting treatment of the righteous is reflected in another verse in Koheles (verse 7:3): “Anger is better than geniality.” The Gemara comments (Shabbos 30b): “The anger that the Holy One Blessed Be He shows the righteous in this world is better than the geniality that the Holy One Blessed Be He shows the wicked in this world.” The Maggid, in his commentary on Shir HaShirim 1:5, explains this teaching as follows. If Hashem shows a person favor for avoiding gross indecencies, it is because He regards him as a lowly person for whom avoiding such indecencies is a major achievement. And if He subjects a person to an outpour of wrath for a slight infraction, it is because He regards him as a righteous person who is capable of spiritual greatness.
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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Yom Kippur

October 6, 2011
The Gemara in Berachos 37b says: “In the place where the repentant stand, the completely righteous cannot stand.” In Sefer HaMiddos, Shaar Ha-Ahavah, chapter 13, the Maggid expounds on this teaching. He links it to a charge from Yeshayah (verse 31:6): “Turn back regarding the way you have deeply strayed, O Children of Israel.” The Hebrew word that I have rendered cautiously as “regarding the way” is la’asher, and the Maggid notes that it is an odd choice. We would have expected to see the word mei’asher, meaning “from the way,” but instead we find the world la’asher, literally meaning “to the way.” Rashi renders la’asher as “to the one from whom,” and reads it as referring to Hashem. The Maggid, however, takes a completely different approach. It almost seems, he says, that Yeshayah is suggesting that a person should turn back, far be it, to his sinful ways. In resolving this apparent conundrum, the Maggid brings out a profound message.
He develops the point with an analogy. A rich nobleman had a faithful servant who served him conscientiously for several years. In the same city, one of the wealthiest and most prominent merchants lost his business and all his assets, and subsequently put himself up for hire as a servant. The nobleman, upon hearing about the matter, hired this former merchant, and even paid him double what he paid his other servant. He explained his decision as follows: “My other servant is a loyal worker, and he desires with his whole heart to fulfill his duties properly. Still, there is a big difference between the work of a servant, even one who carries out his duties perfectly, and that of a man who works for himself. A servant, who is obligated to work for his master, finds his work a heavy undertaking and does not exert himself to do more than is expected of him. A man who works for himself, on the other hand, plunges into his work with relish; his desire for gain spurs him on, and he exerts himself to extremes, skimping on food and sleep to press on toward his goal. A man who has worked his entire life as a servant has no concept of this type of exertion. But a man who has worked for himself knows it well, and, if he later takes a position as a servant, he understands what he has to do to truly fulfill his master’s wishes. Moreover, a servant who has always worked for someone else simply does what he is told, without any strategizing, but a servant who once worked for himself knows what it means to mull over turn a situation day and night to develop a strategy that will yield maximum gain, and he puts this experience to use for his master’s benefit.
Similarly, someone who has served Hashem all his life, although his soul is pure and his intent is sincere, has no concept of the effort exerted by a wicked man who seeks to gratify his own desires. The wicked man who is wedded to pleasure or honor is in constant turmoil in his quest for further gratification. As is written in the Yom Kippur haftarah (Yeshayah 57:20-21): “The wicked are like the raging sea that cannot rest, and whose waters churn up mire and mud. ‘There is no peace, said my God, ‘for the wicked.’” And so, when a wicked man reverses course and decides from now on to serve Hashem with all his heart, he puts forth a wondrous effort. For he understands how far he must go; he realizes that he has not fulfilled his obligation to Hashem until he serves Him with the same zeal with which he previously served his selfish wishes. If he is told he must learn Torah a whole night long, he recalls the many nights he spent awake engaged in card games and other frivolous pursuits, without proper meals and sleep, and he sets himself to the task. This level of devotion is what Yeshayah is calling for in the charge we quoted at the outset: “Turn back to serve Hashem with the same depth with which you previously strayed.” If a wayward man heeds this charge, he can reach spiritual heights that a person who has served Hashem his whole life cannot imagine. This is what the Gemara means when it says that “in the place where the repentant stand, the completely righteous cannot stand.”
Yet, even someone who has served Hashem his whole life can gain a sense of the repentant man’s zeal – by looking out into the world and observing the extremes people go to for the sake of worldly gains. As the Rambam says (in his introduction to Mishnayos Zeraim), the physical world is kept running by the efforts of crazy people. If we take note of the tremendous exertion and zeal of these crazy people – how they literally put their entire guts into their work – we all can see how far we must go in serving Hashem. Let us all strive to serve Hashem with full devotion, each to the very best of his ability. If we do, we will be worthy of being called “people who love Hashem.”
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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The Days of Repentance

September 27, 2011
It is written (Yeshayah 32:9-10): “O complacent women, arise and hear my voice! O self-assured daughters, pay heed to what I say. Days upon years will the secure women tremble.” In Ohel Yaakov, parashas Nitzavim, the Maggid interprets this passage homiletically as conveying a message about the rigors of the days of repentance.
The Maggid speaks of three methods by which we can be purged of our sins. The first method is by going through Gehinnom after death. This method is unfathomably harsh. The second method is by being punished by a Beis Din. The third method is by a purging process that the sinner effectuates himself, by bitterly lamenting his evil deeds and taking steps on his own to atone for them through fasting and similar afflictions, prayer, charity, and Torah study. When a person acts on his own to avenge the affront to Hashem’s honor that his sins caused, Hashem is pleased. As the Gemara in Berachos 7a says: “One self-reproach in a person’s heart is better than many lashes.” The days of repentance are thus very precious, for they have the special power to purge a person of all types of sins, for which he would otherwise have to suffer harsh punishment in Gehinnom. By observing these days, a person can rectify his sins quickly and much more easily. We should be filled with joy to have this opportunity. Indeed, the faithful and strong-hearted, who serve Hashem with love and accept affliction gladly, rejoice over these days as if they had found a great treasure – they immerse themselves in the prayers and forget about their skipped meals and lost sleep. Many people, however, take the opposite attitude, viewing the days of repentance as a burden. Going to shul for selichos seems a chore; the long services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur seem tiresome. The Maggid interprets the verse we quoted at the outset as advice to those who take this attitude – to those who yearn to sit in complacent comfort and who balk at any strain.
He brings out the idea with a parable. In a certain city, there lived a great genius who constantly came out with new inventions, the likes of which no one had ever seen. He made a living selling these inventions, and he did well, for people were eager to grab his marvelous wares. But one man never bought any of his inventions; while he was rich enough to afford them easily, he was very miserly, and regarded the inventions a waste of money. After a time, the inventor came out with something especially wondrous: a small cake made of ingredients so filling that a single serving would meet a person’s food needs or ten days or more. He went to the marketplace with a basket of these cakes to offer for sale. The miser passed by, and the inventor called out to him and said: “Come, my friend, buy some of these cakes.” The miser replied: “You know I’m not interested in frittering away my money on your foolish inventions.” The inventor responded: “On the contrary, this product is meant for people like you. Someone who spends freely feels no need to economize by buying a food like this; he’ll figure that if he feels hungry tomorrow morning, he’ll buy some fresh bread. But with you, your great tightfistedness demands that you buy my new super-filling cakes.”
Similarly, with people who crave ease and are loath to submit to any strain, this very aversion demands that they submit to the rigors of the days of repentance. They should cherish these days dearly and embrace them eagerly, for through the strain they undergo during these few days, they can gain peace and comfort for the entire rest of the year (and avoid much greater suffering that they would otherwise have to endure, including a possibly lengthy period of suffering in Gehinnom after death). As our opening verse states: “Days upon years will the secure women tremble.” The period from the end of Elul to Yom Kippur has a special power through which a few days of trembling can meet our quota of trembling for an entire year. Let us take advantage of this opportunity.
K’sivah V’Chasimah Tovah!
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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Parashas Nitzavim – Vayeilech

September 21, 2011
In this week’s parashah, Hashem tells us that if we repent and return to Him, He will bless us. The Maggid expounds at length on this theme. For presentation here, I have selected from his discussion two related ideas.
The ten days of repentance include two special haftaros of repentance: the haftarah read on the afternoon of Tzom Gedaliah (as well as on other fast days) and the haftarah of Shabbos Shuvah. The first of these, from sefer Yeshayah, opens as follows (Yeshayah 55:6-7):
Seek Hashem when He can be found; call upon Him when He is near. Let the wicked man abandon his way and the crooked man his thoughts. Let him return to Hashem and He will show him mercy – to our God, for He is abundantly forgiving.
Elsewhere, Yeshayah declares in Hashem’s Name (Yeshayah 50:2): “Why is it that I have come and there is no one present? That I have called out and there is no one who answers? Is My hand too limited to bring redemption? Do I lack the power to save? Behold, through My admonishment I dry the sea; I make the rivers into a desert.” Thus, Hashem laments that He is ready to extend aid, but no one comes to ask Him for it. On the other hand, we often feel that when we pray to Hashem, He does not answer. As Dovid HaMelech puts it (Tehillim 22:3): “O My God! I call out by day, but You do not answer – and by night, but there is no respite for me.” How can we explain this apparent paradox?
The Maggid offers an answer based on the following passage (Yirmiyah 15:5-6): “For who will show pity on you, O Yerushalayim? … You abandoned Me, says Hashem – you have gone behind.” He explains this passage as follows. When a person wants to make a request of another person, the first thing he must do is present himself before the other person. If he places himself behind the other person, turns his back to him, and starts speaking into empty space, he obviously cannot expect the other person to answer, even if he goes on speaking day and night. Similarly, if we want Hashem to answer us, we must direct ourselves toward Him. But, instead, we often detach ourselves from Him and go our own way – we cast Hashem behind our backs (Melachim Aleph 14:9). Even when we recite our prayers, our minds are on our own agenda. The first step in prayer is, in Amos’s words (Amos 4:13): “Prepare to meet your God, O Yisrael.” Hashem is nearby, waiting for us to approach Him. If we truly direct ourselves toward Him, He is ready to fulfill our requests. If we return to Him, He is ready to bless us.
The Maggid presents a similar idea regarding the atonement process of Yom Kippur. Hashem gave us Yom Kippur as a means for purifying our souls from the corroding effects of sin. Yet we find that we go through Yom Kippur year after year, and remain corroded. Why? The Midrash speaks of this phenomenon, saying (Eichah Rabbah Pesichasa 11):
Had you merited, you would have encountered the verse (Vayikra 15:30): “For on this day He shall atone for you to purify you.” Now that you have not merited, you encounter the verse (Eichah 1:9): “Her filth was on her hems. She did not pay regard to her end.”
The Maggid explains this Midrash as follows. A doctor may have effective medicine for a patient’s illness, but if the patient continues eating unhealthy foods and engaging in other unhealthy habits, the medicine will not work. Similarly, in order for the spiritual cure of Yom Kippur to take effect, we must first prepare by shaking off bad behavior patterns. If we do not do so – if we do not pay regard to the sorry shape we were in when the past year came to its end – then Yom Kippur will not help, and the filth will remain. But if we prepare properly, Yom Kippur will do its work, and we will be purified.
Taking the Maggid’s discussion a step further, I will suggest an added link between the above two ideas. The verse about Yom Kippur that the Midrash quotes concludes by saying: “Before Hashem, you shall be purified.” We can read the verse as saying that if we shake off our negative thought and behavior patterns, let go of the agendas we have set for ourselves, and place ourselves before Hashem – directing ourselves toward Him – then we will be purified.
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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Parashas Ki Savo

September 15, 2011
The Torah contains two passages called tochachah (admonition), with a litany of curses that will befall us if we do not obey Hashem’s will. One of these passages appears in parashas Bechukosai, while the second, a much longer one, appears in this week’s parashah. The Midrash teaches (Devarim Rabbah 4:1):
A question in halachah: Is it permitted to split the reading of the tochachah into multiple segments? Thus the Sages taught: “We do not interrupt the reading of the curses.” … Said R. Chiya bar Gamda: “For it is written (Mishlei 3:11), ‘The chastisement of Hashem, my child, do not disdain, and do not abhor (al takutz) His rebuke.’ Do not break up the litany of admonitions into separate ‘thorns’ (kotzim). Rather, one person should read them all.”
The final accepted halachah is that (1) it is forbidden to split up the tochachah in parashas Bechukosai (where Moshe was speaking in Hashem’s Name), and (2) it is technically permitted to split up the tochachah in this week’s parashah (where Moshe was speaking in his own name) but customary not to do so (Megillah 31b; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 428:6). The Maggid elaborates on why we refrain from splitting up the tochachah.
He brings out the idea with a striking parable. A young boy fell ill to the point of being bedridden, and his father called in a doctor to treat him. The doctor examined the boy, and stated that he would have to prescribe medications to make the boy vomit. The father told the doctor to be cautious, because the boy had a very delicate constitution and could not withstand powerful medicines. The doctor replied: “Yes, I saw that he is a delicate boy the moment I set eyes on him. But still, we have to do what we have to do in order to cure him, and he must be made to vomit at least ten times.” The father said: “Even so, try to minimize the medicine as much as you can.” The doctor responded: “As I just told you, I realize that your son has a delicate nature. I will take care not to overload him. Now, bring me a pen and paper, and I’ll write down a list of the medications I wish to prescribe.” The doctor proceeded to fill the page, top to bottom and side to side, with a long and varied list of medications. The father, seeing the list, pleaded with the doctor: “Please hold back – my son can’t take all this!” The doctor replied: “Just wait, you’ll see that I’m making it easy for him with this fearsome-looking prescription. He won’t be overloaded at all.”
The father, having no choice, sent his errand boy to the drug store to get the medicine. The errand boy returned with several large bundles of medications. The father was extremely distressed. The doctor took the bundles of medications and asked to have a table for preparing them set up next to the boy’s bed. He began chopping up various herbs and grinding various other materials. Fumes began to waft through the room, and the foul smell nauseated the boy: He vomited twice. The doctor continued chopping and grinding on and on, the smell grew fouler and fouler, and the boy vomited more and more. Eventually he vomited for the tenth time. The doctor then announced: “All right, we can pack up the medicine now, we’re finished.” And then he said to the father: “See, my dear friend, it is just as I told you. Had I planned to actually administer medication, I wouldn’t have needed to write out such a long list. One or two spoonfuls would have been enough. But I saw that your son was too delicate to withstand any medicine at all. So I had to write out a long list of medications, and make a big deal out of chopping and grinding them, so that the process of preparing the medications by itself would effect the cure.”
So it is with us. If Hashem intended, far be it, to put us through calamities of the type listed in the tochachah in order to cure us of our spiritual ills, surely just a few of these calamities would have been enough to achieve the goal. Why, then, does the Torah present such a long list (98 curses in the tochachah of this week’s parashah)? The reason is that Hashem, in His love and compassion for us, sized up our constitution and concluded that we could not bear the dose of affliction needed to cure us, and He therefore sought to present us with a list of curses so fearsome that merely reading it would do the job. We can now understand very well why we do not split the reading of the tochachah into multiple segments. When the long list of curses is read in a series of short segments, it makes little impression on us. Reading the list of curses all in one shot heightens the impact it has on us, and makes it a more effective means of purifying our hearts.

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Haftaras Ki Seitzei

September 8, 2011
In this week’s haftarah, it is written (Yeshayah 54:4): “Do not be afraid, for you shall not be shamed. Do not feel humiliated, for you shall not be disgraced. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and the disgrace of your widowhood you shall remember no longer.” The Maggid discusses this verse in connection with a Gemara in Berachos 32b.
The Gemara expounds on Yeshayah 49:14-15 (in haftaras Eikev), interpreting these two verses as a dialogue between Hashem and the Jewish People. Hashem tells the Jewish People: “Can I possibly forget the offerings that you brought before Me in the wilderness?” The Jewish People reply that His having not forgotten these offerings leads them to conclude that He has also not forgotten the sin of the golden calf. Hashem replies that He has forgotten this sin (i.e., He directs His attention away from it). The Jewish People then say His having forgotten this sin leads them to conclude that He has forgotten their acceptance of the Torah at Sinai. Hashem replies that this merit He has not forgotten.
The Maggid explains this Gemara as follows. Sometimes a person’s conduct is not virtuous enough to be rated highly on an absolute scale, but can still be rated favorably in comparison with his past conduct. For example, when Achav delayed his first meal of the day as an act of repentance, and ate three hours later than usual, he was viewed as having fasted (Melachim Aleph 21:27-29, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:36). Based on this principle, on occasion Hashem purposely recalls our past misdeeds, in order to justify a favorable judgment. In this vein, it is written (Hoshea 7:1-2, homiletically): “When I set out to heal Yisrael, the iniquity of Ephraim was revealed, along with the evils of Samaria …. Let them not say in their hearts that I raised the memory of all their evil deeds; rather, their misconduct brought them [into view].” (The word savavum in the verse, which in context means “surrounded them” [i.e., surrounded the Jewish People] can be read as meaning “brought them” [i.e., brought their evil deeds into view].) Hashem was saying that the Jewish People’s misconduct at that time created a need for Him to recall more serious evils that they committed in the past, in order to show them mercy.
In the dialogue recorded in the Gemara, the Jewish People were worried when they heard Hashem speak of their righteousness in the days of the wilderness. They feared that they might (again) reach a state where they could be rated favorably only in comparison with their past conduct, and they reasoned that if Hashem would recall only their past merits they would have no hope. They would be indicted for neglecting the Torah they had previously accepted. In order for them to be rated favorably in comparison with the past, Hashem would have to recall not only the Jewish People’s acceptance of the Torah and their good deeds in the wilderness, but also the sin of the golden calf. Hashem replied that He had forgotten the sin of the calf but still recalled the acceptance of the Torah; He was telling them that He knew they were approaching the level where they could be rated highly on an absolute scale, without reference to the misdeeds they committed in the past.
In the same vein, Yeshayah declares elsewhere (verses 29:22-23): “Therefore, thus said Hashem, who redeemed Avraham, to the House of Yaakov: ‘Yaakov will now not be ashamed, and his face now will not pale, when he sees his children, My handiwork [evident] within them, sanctifying My name – indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Yaakov and show awe for the God of Yisrael.’” When Yeshayah speaks of Hashem’s handiwork being “[evident] within them,” he is saying that the Jewish People will be imbued with such Godliness that they can be judged as eminent in an absolute sense, just observing them as they are. There will be no need to recall their previous lowliness – and they therefore will suffer no shame. Yeshayah’s prophecy in this week’s haftarah is along the same lines: “Do not be afraid, for you shall not be shamed. Do not feel humiliated, for you shall not be disgraced. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and the disgrace of your widowhood you shall remember no longer.” The time will come when we will no longer suffer the humiliation of having our past disgrace called to memory, for we will reach the level where we can judged as eminent based solely on our current state.
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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Parashas Shoftim

September 1, 2011
The Torah exhorts (Devarim 16:20): “Justice, justice, shall you pursue, so that you shall live and possess the land that Hashem, your God, is giving you.” The Maggid, expounding on this verse, links it to a verse about unjust gains (Yirmiyah 17:11): “Like a partridge chirping to summon chicks it did not bear, so is one who amasses wealth unjustly; in the middle of his life it will leave him, and at his end he will turn into a spoiled man.” The Maggid asks why Yirmiyahu chose to speak about the unsoundness and fragility of unjust gains using the analogy about the partridge, as opposed to other possible analogies, such as to a stillborn or a spider web. He asks further why Yirmiyahu notes only the partridge’s chirping to summon the chicks, without mentioning its other efforts in caring for them: sitting on them to warm and protect them, feeding them, and so on. He answers as follows. Chirping is the partridge’s most prominent activity; indeed, the Hebrew word for partridge is korei – a “caller.” A typical bird, such as a hen, which raises chicks that are its own, need not chirp so much to summon its brood. The chicks are naturally drawn toward their mother. The partridge, however, which raises chicks it did not bear, must chirp persistently to get them to come. The chicks regard the partridge as a stranger, to which they have no ties, and they therefore tend to stray from it. Similarly, if a person gains assets unjustly, so that they are not truly his, he has to struggle constantly to keep hold of them – and ultimately they will leave him. But if a person gains assets justly, he need not put forth exaggerated effort to keep hold of them; since they are truly his, they will naturally remain with him.
In general, misfortunes that cause a loss of money or other assets affect only those assets that a person gained by unjust means. Justly gained assets are immune. Thus, Shlomo HaMelech writes (Mishlei 10:22): “Hashem’s blessing is what brings riches; it adds no grief with it.” Assets that are gained justly, so that they may be called “Hashem’s blessing,” bring only satisfaction, without a trace of grief. The Gemara in Berachos 20a brings out the same idea, describing Yosef as demonstrating the principle that “one whose eye does not generate a desire to feed on what is not his, the evil eye has no power over him.”
Speaking of the end of days, Yeshayah states that people “will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (verse 65:21). He then continues (verses 65:22-23): “They will not build and have another inhabit; they will not plant and have another eat. For the lifetime of My people will be as the lifetime of the tree, and My chosen ones will wear out their handiwork. They will not toil in vain or produce to reap confoundedness. For they are progeny that are blessed by Hashem, and their descendants will be with them.” The Maggid explains that there two reasons that a house which a person builds may be inhabited by someone else: either the house outlives its builder, or it is stolen from him. Yeshayah is ruling out both of these possibilities, saying that the builder’s lifetime will match his house’s, and that the builder will not be confounded by having his house wrested from him. Yeshayah then explains why: The people will be “blessed by Hashem” – with hands clean of theft – and therefore their assets will be immune to loss.
In this vein, the Torah tells us that if we pursue justice, we will live and possess the land that Hashem, our God, gave us. As the Torah puts it elsewhere (Shemos 34:24), no one will covet our land – our hold on it will be firm.
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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Parashas Re’eh

August 24, 2011
This week’s parashah begins (Devarim 11:26-27): “See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing – that you hearken to the commandments of Hashem your God, that I command you today. And the curse – if you do not hearken to the commandments of Hashem your God ….” The Midrash expounds (Devarim Rabbah 4:1):
Said the Holy One Blessed Be He: “It is not to do you evil that I gave you blessings and curses. Rather, it is to inform you what is the proper path for you to choose and thereby receive reward. From where do we know this? From that which is written: “See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse.”
The Midrash is teaching us, the Maggid says, that we can tell that Hashem is acting for our good from the very fact that He presents before us the curses we will face if we disobey His instructions. The Maggid quotes another Midrash that brings out the idea explicitly. When Hashem assailed Egypt with the ten plagues, He gave Pharaoh advance warning before most of them. He issued an especially elaborate warning before the plague of hail. The Midrash remarks (Shemos Rabbah 12:1):
Thus it is written (Iyov 36:23): “Verily, in His power, God will boost. Who is like Him as a guide?”  He boosts the power of the righteous to do His will, and He shows the way to repentance. … Hashem did not wish to send the plague until He warned Pharaoh, so that he would repent.
If Hashem wished to cause suffering, He would conceal the calamities He has ready to deploy. Instead, He discloses them openly, so that people will repent and thereby avoid being struck. A verse in Tehillim reflects this idea. The psalmist Asaf declares (Tehillim 76:9): “From heaven You made judgment heard; the earth feared, and quieted.” Our Sages expound (Shabbos 88a): “First fear, and afterward quiet.” That is, Hashem’s giving notice that He is going to impose judgment is the very cause of the judgment’s eventual cancellation – if the notice is heeded, and the sinners mend their ways.
The Maggid links this idea to a message from Hashem to Yirmiyahu (23:34-36): “Any prophet or priest or member of the people who says ‘burden of Hashem,’ I shall deal with that person and his household. … Although a burden comes to a man of His word, you have inverted the word of the living God.” A prophecy of calamity, the Maggid says, has two effects. First, it prompts people to repent. Second, it “locks in” the calamity, so that if people fail to repent, the calamity will strike. Thus, the way a person relates to such a prophecy depends on his attitude toward Hashem’s directives. If a person is interested in listening to Hashem, he welcomes an ominous prophecy as an enlightening message informing him that he needs to improve his ways. Through the prophecy, Hashem boosts his power to do His will, and he appreciates this boost. If, on the other hand, a person is not interested in listening to Hashem, he regards an ominous prophecy as a burden that is going to cause him suffering. Hashem’s intent is for the ominous prophecy to lead to repentance and thereby serve as a source of blessing; a person who considers the prophecy bad is thus inverting His word.
In our day, we no longer receive prophecy, but Hashem has other means of awakening us. Misfortune is one of the key methods. Thus, earlier in the passage from Iyov quoted in the Midrash above, it is written (Iyov 36:8-12):
If they are fettered in shackles, trapped in ropes of affliction, He [thereby] informs them of their [evil] doings and their egregious sins, for these have waxed great. He opens their ears to discipline, and tells them to turn back from wrongdoing. If they listen and serve, they will finish their days in goodness and their years in pleasantness. But if they do not listen, they will pass away by the sword, and expire for lack of knowledge.
When misfortune begins to strike, we should repent before it strikes with full force. Even better, we should pay careful attention to the curses that the Torah presents, and mend our ways without having to undergo actual suffering. We should not be numb to the Torah’s words, “like a horse or a mule, devoid of understanding” (Tehillim 32:9). If we take the Torah’s blessings and curses to heart, we will reap the blessings.

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Parashas Eikev

August 17, 2011
In this week’s parashah, Moshe reviews the sin of the golden calf. The Midrash relates (Devarim Rabbah 3:15):
Moshe restored Hashem’s favor toward the Jewish People. What did he do? He ascended to Hashem in an angry manner. … When Hashem beheld Moshe’s angry demeanor, He said to him: “We have here two faces showing anger toward them, Mine and yours.” And right afterward (Shemos 33:11): “And Hashem spoke to Moshe face to face, as a man speaks with his fellow.”
The Maggid notes how baffling this Midrash is, and sheds light on it with a parable. A king gave one of his servants a silver goblet as a present. The servant discovered that it was imitation silver. He did not have the nerve to tell the king outright that the silver was fake, so he concocted a clever scheme to convey the message. He told the king: “I don’t want to take this goblet from you for free. Rather, let me buy it from you for full price.” The king named a price, and the servant brought him a number of gold coins corresponding to the named sum. Among these coins, the servant included one counterfeit. The king spotted it and said: “This coin is fake.” The servant replied: “By my life, Your Majesty, this coin is just like the goblet.”
The parallel is as follows. Hashem occasionally shows us anger, but He is never really angry at us. Thus, in regard to the statement in Eichah 2:5 that “Hashem was like an enemy,” the Midrash in Eichah Rabbah 1:3 remarks that it is not written that Hashem was an enemy, but only that he was “like” an enemy – He acted like He an enemy, but He was not really an enemy. The episode of the golden calf was one of the occasions that led Hashem to show an angry face toward us. Moshe saw the angry face and realized that it was just an outward show of anger, but he did not have the nerve to tell Hashem so directly. Instead, he approached Hashem with an angry face of his own. If Hashem would point out that Moshe’s anger was feigned, he could respond that his face was like Hashem’s face. And, indeed, Hashem ultimately acknowledged what was taking place, saying: “We have here two faces showing anger against them, Mine and yours.”
The Midrash then goes on to say that immediately afterward Hashem spoke to Moshe face to face, as a man speaks with his fellow. The intent here, according to the Maggid, is that Hashem and Moshe dropped the act and spoke the way they actually felt. In connection with the Torah’s statement about Hashem speaking with Moshe face to face, the Gemara relates (Berachos 63b):
Said the Holy One Blessed Be He to Moshe: “In the same way as I showed you a face, so, too, you show the Jewish People a face, and return the Tent of Meeting to its place [Moshe having moved it after the sin of the calf].”
The Maggid, in line with his explanation above, presents an interpretation of this Gemara differing from the usual one. In the Maggid’s reading, Hashem is telling Moshe the following: “In the same way as I just showed you a face of anger, but was not actually angry, so, you, too, make sure that you do not actually get angry at the people, but just show them a face of anger in order to strike fear in their hearts and lead them to repent. And when they do, return the Tent of Meeting to its place.”
David Zucker, Site Administrator

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