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Friday, January 28, 2011

mishpatim

The Posuk says ועבדתם את ה' אלקיכם וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך you will serve 'ה & He will bless your bread & water.
The Klei Yakar asks why it says 'ועבדתם את ה in plural & וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך in singular.
Rav Tzudok says the reason is because when we're serving 'ה the best way to do it is everyone together as a group. For when there is a כלל doing something together, it infuses each person with a drive to be better, & the momentum is contagious, & more & more people will get involved until everyone is a part of it; good, bad & otherwise, & that's what we want. All people, even the sinners, should be part of it. Just like by the Ketores, one of the spices is Chelbina, & its a foul smelling spice, but mixed together with all the other ones it smells good too. So too when serving 'ה, we want everyone together,so that all will be good.
When it comes to food & drink which are symbols of Parnasa, each person needs a different amount & 'ה gives each person on an individual level as much as he needs to be able to serve Him to his fullest.
The גר"א says that when a Posuk is referring to the whole of כלל ישראל it says it in singular, but when it's referring to individuals it says it in plural.
Based on that, the רידב"ז explains the Posuk as follows. When it says ועבדתם את ה, it means that even if there are only a few people that are serving Hashem wholeheartedly, 'ה will still bless your bread & water. It's worth it to 'ה to feed the whole world just to sustain the few individuals that serve Him wholeheartedly. This is because as Rav Tzudok says, these few people who serve 'הwith their whole being will have a positive influence on the rest, spreading their excitement for serving 'ה to the rest of the people and all will end up joined together to serve 'ה. Thus in the merit of the few who bring the people together, 'ה will give all of us the Beracha of Parnassa!

Friday, January 21, 2011

yisro

The Posuk says, Hashem says to Moshe, Behold I come to you in the thick of the cloud,so the people will hear as I speak to you and they will believe in you also, forever. Moshe told the words of the people to 'ה .
Rashi says את דברי העם, that the people told Moshe that they wanted to hear straight from 'ה & not from a messenger, for how can you compare hearing from the king himself?
After 'ה says the Dibros, the Posuk says, they said to Moshe " You speak to us and we shall hear; let 'ה not speak to us lest we die."
If 'ה had wanted the people to see Him & hear straight from him why wouldn't He have done it in a way that the people would be able to handle it, and be able to hear straight from Him?
Wouldn't it be better to hear directly from 'ה himself?
The Rambam in Hilchos Yisoday Torah says that the Emunah Bnei Yisroel had in Moshe came from Har Sinai. For it was there that they heard 'ה talking directly to Moshe & telling him the rest of the Dibros, that they weren't able to handle hearing directly from 'ה.
The Posuk says that 'ה told Moshe, tell the people to be prepared for the 3rd day because I'm going to give them the Torah.
Rashi says that when Moshe told the people, he said prepare for 3 days, & 'ה will give the Torah on the fourth day. Moshe added one day from what 'ה said on his own.
How could Moshe do that if 'ה said He wanted to give it on the 3rd day? How could Moshe change it to the fourth?
The Tiferes Shlomo says that the reason Moshe added on a day of his own volition was because he was teaching us that the only way to be מקיים the Torah is by listening to the Chachamim. Therefore, immediately at Matan Torah, he showed the power of the Chachamin by delaying Matan Torah by one day.
Maybe that's also the reason that 'ה didn't want the people to hear directly from Him; to show that even though we might think its better to hear directly from 'ה, in reality, we need the Chachamim to teach us what He really wants & not what we think He said!

Friday, January 14, 2011

beshalach

The Posuk says 'ה told Moshe, I'm going to send down bread from heaven that the people should go out & collect everyday in order for me to test them to see if they will go in the ways of my Torah or not.
Rashi says that the test is to see if they will keep all the applicable laws of the מן, like not going to collect it on shabbos, or leaving any over until the next day.
Why couldn't they leave any over? And how is not leaving any over testing them to see if they'll keep the whole Torah?
The יעלת חן says we need to understand what the נסיון of the מן was, & how it's considered going in the way of Torah.
He explains that going in the way of the Torah means toiling & creating one's own insights in Torah. For if a person totally immerses himself in Torah, then it will be his lifeline. Like the Chachamim say, this is the way of Torah; eat bread & salt & minimize the comforts of this world, then you can grow in Torah. Toiling & forgoing comforts is not usually found in the wealthy, as it says, watch the children of the poor for Torah is likely to come from them.
Once the people had the מן, the challenge to keep the Torah was so much greater, for all their needs were taken care of. So the test was one of wealth; would they now be able to devote themselves completely to Torah?
The Mechilta says the Nisayon was a test for 'ה that anyone who serves 'ה with all his heart, 'ה will make sure he has all that he needs, just like he did for the ones who got the מן.
Maybe this is how we could understand what Rashi is telling us. If a person has total trust in 'ה & doesn't leave over any מן,by not worrying about tomorrow he proves that he trusts in 'ה & he will totally immerse himself in Torah. Then 'ה will take care of all his needs. If he still shows his commitment to Torah even after having everything he needs, that's passing the ultimate test of being like the ones who got the מן, who had everything & still committed themselves to 'ה & His Torah!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

bo

The Posuk says that Moshe told Pharaoh that Hashem is going to bring the final plague, the death of the firstborn, כחצת הלילה - at around midnight.
Rashi says the reason Moshe changed what 'ה had told him from "at midnight" to "around midnight", is because he didn't want Pharaoh's astrologers to say that he's lying & the plague didn't start at exactly midnight, since they don't know the exact time, as 'ה does.  
Why did Moshe feel it was so important that the astrologers wouldn't think he's lying, that he actually changed what 'ה had told him & reworded the warning?
The Posuk says that 'ה told Moshe to ask the Jews to go around to the Egyptians & ask them for their gold & silver & he uses the words דבר נא "speak please".
Rashi says the word נא denotes a request, & the reason he's asking is because he didn't want Avraham Avinu to have any grievance against him that he fulfilled his promise of "I'll enslave them", but the promise of "I'll send them out with great wealth", he didn't. So 'ה told Moshe, as a favor to me, please have them ask for gold & silver so they'll go out with great wealth & Avraham won't be upset.
The obvious question is, shouldn't 'ה keep his promise just because he promised & not just so that Avraham won't be upset?Also, when Rashi brings this down he calls Avraham אותו צדיק. Why refer to him as a Tzaddik now?
We could answer like this. Of course 'ה was going to keep his promise no matter what, & send them out with great wealth, but the great wealth that 'ה intended for them to get was the Torah, for there is no greater wealth than the wealth of the Torah.
The reason Avraham is referred to as a Tzaddik here is because he was worried that people wouldn't understand Hashem's intention & say that 'ה didn't keep his word. Therefore, Avraham wanted them to go out with real wealth so no one could have complaints against 'ה and say he didn't keep his word.
So too Moshe, even though he was telling the truth, if it could be interpreted otherwise, he had to change the wording so that no one should think he's not telling the truth. Just like Avraham wanted to make sure no one suspected 'ה of not telling the truth. 
We see from here how careful we have to be even when doing the right thing to make sure are actions or words aren't misconstrued & people only think the best of us!