vayikra

The posuk says אל פתח אהל מועד יקריב אתו  לרצנו לפני ה, He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, voluntarily, before Hashem.   Rashi says that it appears that the beginning of the posuk is saying  יקריב אתו, he shall bring it, that we force him to bring it even if he's unwilling. Where the end of the posuk says 'לרצנו לפני ה, voluntarily before Hashem. Which implies that he's bringing it willingly. To reconcile these two contradictory statements, Rashi says it means that if initially he doesn't want to bring it we force him until he says he wants to. How does that work? The חתם סופר explains with a mashal. There's a Jew who lives far from ירושלים and spends all his time working, & is constantly busy with material pursuits. It becomes second nature to him, & even the thought of stopping to learn or do mitzvos is abhorred by him in his current situation. However, were we to bring this same man into ירושלים, the most beautiful city in the world, he'll see how the people are happy & content whilst doing the mitzvos & learning Torah. He will also see the majesty of the בית המקדש & be swept away by the sanctity that's in the air. Slowly his perspective will change & he will want to be a part of the splendor that's around him. Initially we'll have to force him to come to the temple, however once he's there he'll be caught up in the holiness around him & want to bring the offering. Where do we get this willingness to change? The posuk says החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, this month is to you the first of the months. The mitzva of the sanctification of the new moon was the first mitzva given to the Jews while they were still in Egypt. Asks the דרש דוד, why was this mitzva so important that it's the first mitzva? He brings the שפת אמת that says the reason this one is first is because it has in it one of the fundamental essences of our religion which is the power of renewal. That 'ה is constantly renewing creation. In a similar vein, I once heard from Rabbi Eli Mansour that the Jewish people could be inspired by the moon, same way the moon is full & then gets smaller & smaller, & once it reaches its smallest point it starts to grow again, so too the Jewish people. No matter how low one gets or how far one sinks we have the power of the moon to regenerate and start over again & grow. Perhaps this is where our willingness to change comes from. To let ourselves be influenced by our surroundings, it's our connection to the moon that teaches us not to concern ourselves with the past for it could always be erased & only to look toward the future where the potential is endless!

vayakhel / pekuday

The Posuk says ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש six days work may be done and the seventh shall be holy to you. Why did the Torah have to tell us to work on the other six days of the week? Shouldn't it have been enough to just say rest on the seventh day? The אור החיים הקדוש says that it teaches us that the six days of the week will only be successful if you keep the seventh one holy. However, if one doesn't keep the seventh day holy, he will not have success the other six days. Why is שבת the ticket to success? There is another anomaly in this posuk. The word תעשה (tay-use) is passive: work will be done. It seems that the more appropriate term תעשה (taase), you shall do, should be used. Does the work get done by itself? The sefer אפריון explains that a person who doesn't believe that his sustenance comes from 'ה, but rather thinks that it's his own efforts that produce, will have a very hard time restraining from work on the seventh day, thinking that he's losing out. In order to dispel this notion, the Torah says tay-use: it will be done, so that you should know that even in the six days it's not your doing and all the Beracha comes from 'ה. If we internalize that, it will be much easier not to work on the seventh day. There's a story brought from the chafetz chaim who came into the town of Tzirnikuv, and was told that one of the biggest employers in the town made his workers come in on shabbos. The חפץ חיים approached him to try to get him to close on shabbos. He told the חפץ חיים, I make 4000 rubel a day & you're telling me to close one day !? I can't lose that kind of money! The חפץ חיים said to him, is it better to lose 4000 rubels or to lose everything? As the posuk says, work six days & make the seventh holy. If you make the seventh holy you'll have the six days, otherwise you'll have nothing. The man answered him incredulously, are you telling me one posuk in the chumash is going to dictate my fortune?? He refused to close. A short time later the bolshevics came into town leaving death & destruction in their wake, destroying everything this man owned & he himself just barely escaping with his life. Looking back at what happened to him, & remembering the חפץ חיים's words, the man wrote a letter to the חפץ חיים saying now I see that your words are true & one posuk can determine one's fortune. Maybe this is why our successes are based on shabbos. Shabbos is our way of showing 'ה that we believe that we're not in control, & realize that it's all His doing whereas He in turn then gives us success for the other six days of the week showing us that if we trust Him we will not be lacking!

ki Sisa / Purim

The Megilla says when Esther was hesitant to go to the king to ask him to annul Haman's decree the posuk states: כי אם תחרש תחרישי בעת הזאת if you persist in keeping silent at this time רוח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים ממקום אחר the salvation for the Jews will come from someplace else ואת ובית אביך תאבדו you and your father’s house will be destroyed ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות and who knows if it’s for this moment that you became queen. The אוצרות התורה asks why is it that if מרדכי felt she was sinning by not wanting to risk her life to go uninvited to the king, why is he including her father’s household in the destruction?  What did her refusal have to do with them that they should all be destroyed? Answers מהר"ם אלשיך that the only reason Haman was even around was because of the sin of שאול המלך who, when he was supposed to destroy Amalek, had pity on the king & let him live. In that one night, he fathered a child from whom Haman descended. That is why it was Esther who became queen; she was a direct descendant of שאול המלך   so that she may risk her life to save the Jewish people.  In that way she can atone for the sin of her ancestor שאול המלך . That's what מרדכי was telling her: if the salvation of the Jews comes from someplace else then the household of שאול המלך won’t get their atonement & will be destroyed. ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות and who knows if it’s for this moment that you became queen. Who knows? What should she have done? The posuk says ויעמוד משה בשער המחנה ויאמר מי לה' אלי , Moshe stood at the edge of the camp and said whoever is for 'ה  to me. רב שמעון שואב recounts that when he was very young he went to visit the חפץ חיים . When he was standing in front of him, the חפץ חיים asked him if he was a kohen or yisrael & he answered a yisroel, whereupon the חפץ חיים said I'm a kohen. Then the חפץ חיים asked him, “do you know why it matters?”He immediately answered his own question, “for when Moshiach comes and we all come to Yerushalaim to the Bais Hamikdash, each and every Jew is going to want to enter the עזרה to do the service in the Bais Hamikdash. However, when we get to the gates, the guards will check each person to see if he's allowed to enter. I will be allowed to enter and you won't. The jealousy of the ones that are not let in will be unparalleled. Continued the חפץ חיים ,do you know what caused this? Close to three thousand years ago, Moshe stood in the midbar and called out מי לה' אלי and my forefather ran to the call & stood before Moshe while yours didn't. As a reward for my forefathers answering the call of Moshe, we were chosen as the ones to serve in the Bais Hamikdash. The חפץ חיים ended by saying, “why am I telling you this? There are times in a person’s life that when he will hear the call of מי לה' אלי he must run immediately and answer the call.  Don't just stand by and do nothing like your forefathers who lost out for eternity for their hesitation.” Esther shouldn't have hesitated – the moment she got the call she should have jumped into action. Had she waited any longer, who knows what could have happened? We have to learn from this that if we have the opportunity to do something good, we can’t wait and let it pass; we must run to answer the call without hesitation!

tetzaveh

The posuk says ועשו את האפד, they shall make the eiphod, whereas by all the other garments it says ועשית - you shall make. Why the different lashon? The Midrash points out the same inconsistency by the כלים. By the ארון it says ועשו, & by all the other implements of the beis hamikdash it says ועשית. Over there they answer that 'ה said, let everybody come & take part in building the ארון so that everyone will have a portion in Torah. רב משה שטרנבוך answers that here too, the names of all the shevatim were written on the eiphod to show that all the jewish people are equal to 'ה, therefore everyone was to take part in the eiphod too. Once all the names were on the eiphod showing that all the people are like one to 'ה, why did they have to all participate in the making of the eiphod? Isn't just being on it enough? The posuk says, ואתה תצוה את בני ישראל ויקחו אליך שמן זית כתית למאור להעלת נר תמיד , take for you clear olive oil, crushed for illumination to light a lamp continually. It's brought in the Midrash that 'ה says, not that I need your light, only I want you to give me light like I gave you light. It's analogous to one who is walking with a blind man, leading him. However, when they get to the house the man asks the blind man to turn the lights on for him so that the blind man shouldn't feel indebted to him for the blind man is helping him too. The Man is 'ה, & the blind man is the jewish people. Throughout the desert 'ה was leading them, and now that they built the mishkan, 'ה said turn on the light for me. From here, says רב ירוחם ליבוביץ we see a powerful lesson in middos. The nature of a person is that when he does a favor for someone, he doesn't want to take any reciprocation for the favor. Not necessarily because he only wants to do good, but because he wants the other person to be indebted to him. He wants the other person to owe him forever. Here 'ה is teaching us the opposite. When someone does a favor for his friend, he should find a way to have his friend reciprocate with a favor right away so that there is no indebtedness. If one wants to do complete good, he will find a way for his friend not to feel indebted to him. Maybe that's why everyone had to help with the eiphod, for 'ה didn't want any of the shevatim to feel left out or indebted to the ones who did the work. This way they all shared the work equally, teaching us to feel for one another & not to make anyone feel like they owe us. In that way, just like we were all together on the eiphod, we will all be unified once again!