tazria metzora

The posuk says ובשר כי יהיה בו בערו שחין ונרפא if there will be an inflammation on the skin & it will have healed. והיה במקום השחין שאת לבנה או בהרת לבנה אדמדמת and in the place of the inflammation there will be a white or reddish white affliction. ונראה אל הכהן it shall be shown to the Kohen. Why does there have to be a regular wound there first that heals & only then can the Tzarras take effect? Answers רבי משה דוד ואלי, one of the students of the רמח"ל, that 'ה, in his infinite mercy would not initially allow the forces of impurity to come onto a person, so He sends a natural wound as a wake up call to the person. If the person ignores it & says it's natural & doesn't fix his ways, then 'ה allows the forces of impurity to take over & sends a Tzarras affliction in the same spot to show that this is why you got hurt in the first place, now that you ignored it you have full blown Tzarras. However there is still hope & that's why the end of the posuk says ונראה אל הכהן. The Kohen is the one who is there to teach us the ways of 'ה, so when we show it to the Kohen he can tell us what we have to fix in order for it to go away. What about nowadays? Do we have a Kohen we could go to to tell us what we need to fix? How do we know what to rectify when something goes wrong? ר אלכסנדר משה לפידות says that what we could do nowadays is go to the greatest Kohen, the purest tzadik the Chafetz Chaim, & learn his sefarim on how to act when it comes to lashon hara. The Chafetz Chaim writes, it's the way of people to go looking for a segula or going to get a beracha in order to be successful either in health or business etc. In reality, it won't help at all if one isn't careful to stay away from the sin of lashon hara, for the Torah explicitly states ארור מכה רעהו בסתר cursed is the one who hits his friend in secret, which Rashi says is talking about lashon hara. That curse was said with the whole nation gathered around & answering Amen, whereas right before that there was a beracha given to one who doesn't speak lashon hara, which the whole nation also answered Amen to, continues the Chafetz Chaim. If one listens to my words & keeps away from this sin then certainly one will be blessed more than any segula could help. Parenthetically the גר"א זצ"ל says that the main thing to merit the next world is watching ones mouth. This is greater than even Torah & good deeds, and if one wants forgiveness for sins rather than fasting & afflicting oneself, just watch what comes out of your mouth & with that you will be forgiven for all your sins. So it comes out, says the אוצרות התורה, that each & every one of us has the opportunity to have all good in this world & in the next, just as long as we watch our mouths from sinful speech. One who doesn't is compared to someone who's standing at the doorway to paradise & just won't enter as is exemplified by this story. One Purim in Radin one of the boys got drunk & went into the Chafetz Chaim & said I want a guarantee that I will be with the Rav in גן עדן. The Chafetz Chaim said who knows if I'll even have גן עדן? How can I promise you? But the boy was undeterred and for over two hours they went back & forth with neither one relenting. The time for the seuda came & the people that were with the Chafetz Chaim asked him to just give in to the boy being that he wouldn't go away, but the Chafetz Chaim kept repeating who knows if I even have.... As it got later the Chafetz Chaim turned to the boy & said "if I will have גן עדן or not I don't know. However, there is one reason I think I might have & that is that since I can remember I have not spoken or heard lashon hara. If you will guarantee me that from now on you will not speak or listen to lashon hara then I will guarantee you a place next to me in גן עדן ..." When the boy wouldn't commit the Chafetz Chaim turned away and said, one who's standing at the doorway to paradise & just won't enter, take him away from here. The Chafetz Chaim felt that had the boy committed to do it then perhaps he could have, but not to even try..... We could all learn from here to realize that when seemingly natural things happen to us that perhaps aren't good, to at least commit to trying to better ourselves, to be more cognizant of our speech & with a lot of effort we could succeed & will be zoche to all the berachos that come straight from 'ה!

shimini

After the inauguration of the Tabernacle , the divine presence still hadn't appeared to the Jewish people. Then the posuk says ויבא משה ואהרן אל אהל מועד ויצאו ויברכו את העם, Moshe and Aaron came into the tent of meeting and they went out and blessed the people, וירא כבוד ה אל כל העם, and the glory of 'ה appeared to the whole nation. Rashi explains why it says that Moshe and Aaron entered, when it was Aaron who was being inaugurated & doing the עבודה. It's because once Aaron saw that he had done all the services & brought all the offerings & still the shechina hadn't come down, he was upset & said, I know that it's because 'ה is angry at me that the shechina didn't come down. Moshe, my brother, look what you did to me. I only agreed to this because you asked me to & now I'm embarrassed that the shechina didn't come down, so immediately Moshe went in with him & they davened, & the shechina came down. How does that help? Wouldn't Aaron still be embarrassed that he needed Moshe to help him bring the shechina & he couldn't do it on his own? The posuk says ויאמר משה אל אהרן קרב אל המזבח Moshe said to Aaron come close to the מזבח. Rashi says that Aaron was embarrassed & scared to come close to the מזבח. Moshe said to him, why are you embarrassed? This is what you were selected for. Explains הגרי"צ מוולוז"ין, what Moshe meant was that the reason you were chosen to be kohen gadol is because you're embarrassed; humility is the reason you were chosen. This humility is what made him take the blame upon himself. ר' ירוחם לוביביץ says when the shechina didn't come down , unlike most people who try to blame others when things go wrong, Aaron blamed himself even though there were others who had much greater sins than he did. The אוצר התורה brings an amusing parable. There was once a very poor shul & the members decided that they wanted to have a festive purim, so they decided that every week someone else would pour his shot of vodka into a barrel, & at the end of the year when purim came along there would be a barrel full of vodka. Once a week the people would come & pour their cups into the barrel. When purim came & the festivities began, the poor men gathered around the barrel, filled their glasses & were ready to drink. The first man took a sip & spit it out crying, hey it's water not vodka!! The people looked at each other speechless, realizing that they could only blame themselves, for each one of them thought to himself everyone else would bring vodka so I could get away with water, but what they ended up with was a barrel of water! That's what happens when people try to shirk their responsibilities figuring other people will do it, & they end up with nothing. Over here Aaron was showing us that we have to take responsibility for our actions, so he blamed himself. More than that, he went back in & prayed with Moshe to show that it's teamwork & togetherness that will make the shechina rest on us. We have to realize that in order to get the divine blessings we can't think let someone else do it but each one of us has to go out & do our part!

Pesach

Hallel relates that when the Jews were running from Pharaoh & they came to the sea, הים ראה וינס "the sea saw and ran". The Midrash says, what did the sea see that it ran & split? It saw ארונו של יוסף going into the sea. Hashem said, let the sea flee before the one who fled, as it says ויעזב בגדו בידה וינס he left his garment in her hand & fled. This seems to imply that the great miracle of קריעת ים סוף occurred because of this great act of Yosef's; that he didn't grab his cloak back but just ran out. However, what is so great about this act when compared to the real sacrifice he made by not succumbing to Potifar's wife's seduction? Answers רבי יהודה ליב חסמן based on the רמב"ן who says the reason Yosef left his garment in her hand was out of respect for his master's wife. He didn't want to forcibly take back his cloak even though he knew that, with it, she could frame him. This was an incredible demonstration of הכרת הטוב to her for taking him into her home. At the splitting of the sea , it is for this great הכרת הטוב that the finalizing of the geulah materializes. This is what the מהר"ל says is the essence of the Haggada. It's expressing our הכרת הטוב to Hashem for redeeming us. Based on this, that the essence of pesach is הכרת הטוב, wouldn't we be more appreciative if it was easier to prepare? Wouldn't our הכרת הטוב be more complete if we didn't have to work so hard & spend so much to celebrate pesach? The mishna says רבי חנניא בן עקשיא אומר רצה הקב"ה לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות , Hashem wanted to do good for the Jewish people so he increased the Torah & Mitzvos. All the commentators ask, if one wants to do good for someone, does he increase liabilities? Does he give him so many obligations? ר' יוסף משאש זצ"ל מתלמסאן presents us with a parable to explain this seeming conundrum. There was once a wealthy merchant who, in his travels, passed by a destitute town. Wanting to do something to help, he went to the first person he came across & gave him a gold coin. He said I need a place to sleep & eat & I am willing to pay five gold coins for each item of the meal to anyone who will host me. Door to door he went to try to find a host to no avail , for to think that someone would even pay one gold coin for the entire meal was outrageous, let alone five per course! Finally at the outskirts of town he found one poor man who thought, "what do I have to lose? I'm sure he'll pay something", so he agreed to take in the stranger. The wealthy man came in while the host was resting. Then the poor man went out, bought fruits & vegetables, and everything else he needed to prepare a nice meal for his guest. In the morning he prepared a lavish meal. When it was time for the rich man to leave, he asked his host to prepare a list of what he had served so that he could be paid for each item. The host gave him a list that read: fruits, vegetables , fish , chicken, etc. When the rich man read the list, he said, "no, that's not how I want the list; enumerate each item. Instead of vegetables, write: carrots, peas, tomatoes etc. Do that for each item & include any pots, pans or utensils you used. For each little part I will pay five gold coins." From that one meal the host turned fabulously wealthy. So too with 'ה. He gives us all these obligations in order for us to earn merits in the world to come where He can shower us with unimaginable rewards. This concept, says the אוצרות התורה is what we need to be cognizant of when we prepare for Pesach. Every little thing we do will be accounted for, and the reward will be immeasurable. If we realize this, then we will understand how much הכרת הטוב we should have for performing all the work coming into pesach. All that work is what's going to get us the ultimate reward!