Haazinu / Sukkos

Moshe, in his final words to בני ישראל , recites the song of האזינו where he forecasts the future of the Jews throughout the generations. One of the stanzas: וישמן ישרון ויבעט ,” Jeshurun became fat and kicked” alludes to days of prosperity when the Jews will desert 'ה.
The אוצר התורה compares wealth to a double edged sword. On one hand, wealth provides one with the peace of mind not having to worry about the next meal & therefore being able to serve 'ה without any hardships or concerns. On the other hand, however, wealth enables one to indulge in temptations as well as arrogance causing him to believe that it was he & not 'ה who was responsible for his success, leading to the eventual disregard of 'ה altogether.

There's a story told of a disciple of ר' מיכל מזלוטשוב  who was very poor. One day he started a business venture which was very successful. The wealthier he became, the farther away from his friends & rebbe he stayed, until he had distanced himself from all his former friends. One day, the rebbe came to visit his former disciple in his mansion who hardly even acknowledges the rebbe’s presence. The rebbe takes him to the window & says " what do you see?" He answers, “people”. The rebbe then takes him to the mirror & asks, “what do you see now”? He responds, “myself, of course”. The rebbe tells him, “the difference between a piece of glass & a mirror is that the glass doesn't have the silver back; so when there's no silver you are able to see others; but put a little silver on the same glass & then you only see yourself.

Now how can we avoid  this? How does one attain material wealth yet attribute all of one’s success to 'ה?  
When the Torah talks about the חג of סוכות the Posuk says, באספכם את תבואת הארץ תחגו את חג ה' שבעת ימים when you gather in the grain you shall celebrate for seven days, which places the holiday of סוכות during the harvest season.

Rashi tells us that this requires us to have leap years; to ensure that סוכות will fall out in the harvest season.  
What is so important that we would add a whole month just to ensure that סוכות falls out during harvest season?

The ספר החינוך answers, that everyone is happy during the harvest season because of the abundance of crops.  'ה is giving us an opportunity to take that happiness, the joy of material wealth, & transform it into the joy of a Mitzva.
The רשב"ם  says that it’s specifically for this reason that, at this time of year when our houses are full and we have everything we need, now is the time to leave our homes & go into the Sukka to demonstrate it’s all from ה .

Additionally, says the ישמח ישראל, Sukkos is called  זמן שמחתנו the time of happiness to display, if one is not a בעל גאווה , that everything  he has is from 'ה and it's not due to his business acumen or strengths. In reality, since 'ה gives us so much more than we deserve, then we will always be happy with what we have.

Perhaps if we internalize the message of סוכות that specifically when we have abundance, we will be able to look past the silver, outside the mirror & see that it’s not our doing, rather its 'ה who brought us here and then no matter how wealthy we become we will always remain loyal to 'ה!

vayeilech

In one of the most famous Haftoras we read, the navi states שובה ישראל עד ה' אלקיך , “Return Israel to Hashem, כי כשלת בעונך for you have stumbled through your iniquity.” The gemara in Yuma (86a) says: א"ר לוי גדולה תשובה שמגעת עד כסא הכבוד שנאמר: שובה ישראל עד ה' אלקיך. R' Levi says, “great is repentance for it reaches the heavenly throne, as it states, ‘return Israel to 'ה.

The לקח טוב brings our attention to the following question. Why does the gemara expound the greatness of repentance from navi, a posuk in הושע, when last week's parsha explicitly states, ושבת עד ה' אלקיך ושמעת בקולו, And you will return to 'ה and listen to His voice. This posuk also contains the same words עד ה' אלקיך which are the words from which we learn that repentance reaches the heavenly throne.
Wouldn't it be better to learn from a posuk in the Torah that one in navi?

The לקח טוב brings an answer based on an event that happened to ר' סעדיה גאון. Once ר' סעדיה was being hosted by someone who didn't know who he was & nonetheless treated him graciously & with the utmost respect. When the host found out that his guest was ר' סעדיה, he ran to him to beg forgiveness for not treating him properly. ר' סעדיה said to him, “What are you talking about? You treated me like royalty. The host said yes, but had I known who you were, I would have treated you even better.

When ר' סעדיה heard that, he said that if this person is asking me forgiveness for not treating me yesterday in accordance with the knowledge he has today, I have to learn from him & ask forgiveness to 'ה, for today I recognize His greatness more than yesterday, while yesterday I only honored Him according to its recognition & not today's.

From that day on ר' סעדיה did teshuva every day for not honoring 'ה enough the day before.

So answers ר' שלום ברנד to our previous question. From the posuk in the Torah, I might only know that a lofty type of teshuva like ר' סעדיה's, which is not a sin to the average person, reaches the heavenly throne However, perhaps teshuva on real sins doesn't.

Therefore, the gemara uses the posuk in navi since it ends כי כשלת בעונך, for you have stumbled through sin, which shows it's talking about actual sin. That, too, reaches the heavenly throne.

Most of us cannot comprehend that kind of recognition of 'ה. What, then, can we learn from ר' סעדיה ? Maybe that his recognition of 'ה wasn't an instant revelation but a constant growth, a little bit more each day.
The חפץ חיים explains that's how we have to go about doing teshuva, too, which he demonstrates with a mashal.

There was a merchant from a small town who came to the big city to buy goods. He came to the wholesaler from whom he usually bought & placed a large order for all kinds of goods. After the wholesaler put the order together, he gave the merchant the bill which was quite large. The merchant asked that it all be put on account, for he didn't have enough money; he promised to come pay it shortly.

The answer was NO! “This is not the first time you tried this. We have given you credit before & you didn't pay. You are no longer trustworthy.”

The merchant pleaded with him, “please I need to put food on the table. Those were extenuating circumstances & it won't happen again.” They argued back & forth until a man came in, listened to both sides & said, “I have a way that could work for both of you.” He turned to the merchant & said, “why are you buying so much at once? It's much more than you can afford. Why don't you just take a small order that you could pay for now & when you sell that, you'll come back & get more?” The merchant heeded his advice and bought a small amount that he could pay for. He sold that & then came back & bought more; each time being able to buy a little more than he did before until he was very successful.

So, too, by teshuva. We tend to take upon ourselves way more than we can handle. We promise 'ה that we're going to do a complete about face & change our ways and then we change nothing. We should just take on one small thing that we could handle & after that, take on another small thing. By following this pattern we will be able to succeed one step at a time, so that by doing so we will ultimately change ourselves for the better, enabling us to do a complete teshuva bringing us closer to 'ה!

nitzavim

On the first words of our parsha: אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה , you are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, Rashi states, “this teaches us that Moshe gathered all the people on the day of his death to enter them into a covenant with ה'.”

Rashi then quotes a Midrash that says the reason the parsha of אתם נצבים follows the parsha of the curses  is after the Jews heard all the curses that would befall them if they didn't listen to 'ה, they were traumatized into thinking, “who can bear these curses?” Moshe began to console them saying, אתם נצבים היום כלכם  you are all still standing, no matter how much anger you caused 'ה in the past, you see he still didn't destroy you; you are still standing today.

Was Moshe implying that the curses were meaningless, asks ר' אליהו לופיאן, that they were said for nothing?

In explanation, he says we have to understand why 'ה brings hardships on a person. It’s not out of revenge or anger, but rather only for the good of a person. Hardships soften a person’s heart & prepares one for teshuva. Like the גר"א explains, when one wants to plant a field, first one has to plow it & turn over the soil. Otherwise, the seeds won't grow. So too, a person’s heart must be overturned and softened to allow the seeds of teshuva to grow. Therefore, 'ה gives hardships to soften the heart in order that one could do a complete teshuva.  

However, if a person could get the message without the hardships, 'ה would rather do it that way. At the Tochacha, when the בני ישראל heard the curses & were practically paralyzed with fear, that was enough to keep them in line so that the curses would never have to come about.

The דובנא מגיד presents a mashal that הגר"י ניימן uses to emphasize this point. When a very pampered, wealthy child had a stomach illness, the doctor said that the boy had to drink a certain potion to make him vomit & then he would be cured. However, this boy had never drunk anything so vile before & could not bring himself to drink this vile potion even though his life depended on it.

Because of this, the doctor took the potion, mixed it with some other medicines & boiled it up next to the boy. When the foul smell reached his nostrils, he threw up & then was able to be healed.

This is what 'ה does with us. He warned us with all these curses so that the people would  hear them & be frightened enough to keep in line so that He wouldn't have to actually carry them out. However, this only works for the people that took the curses to heart & repented. The ones who hear the curses, and as the posuk continues, say to themselves שלום יהיה לי כי בשרירות לבי אלך I will have peace even though I go as my heart sees fit. A person like that 'ה will not forgive & the curses will take effect.    

The בן איש חי asks when do find that the whole כלל ישראל is standing before 'ה? On Rosh Hashana. When we all come to be judged by 'ה is when we are all נצבים before 'ה. Therefore this parsha of אתם נצבים היום is hinting to Rosh Hashana.

Perhaps the Torah is telling us here that the way to a good judgment on Rosh Hashana is to take it to heart; to really feel it. Don't say, “I can do what I want & 'ה will forgive me” for those are the ones upon whom the curses occur. The ones who take the warning to heart & resolve to be better, don't need any hardships & will merit to have a peaceful happy year!

Ki Savo

When the Torah tells us the rewards for listening to 'ה & keeping the mitzvos, it lists a variety of blessings, from our homes, to our business, children, crops, flocks etc. One of these brochos states ברוך אתה בבאך וברוך אתה בצאתך, blessed are you in your coming and blessed shall you be in your going.  

The gemara in ב"מ interprets this verse to mean when one leaves the world his children should be like him.

The חיד"א asks, if it's referring to leaving the world & coming in to it, how can the posuk say ברוך אתה בצאתך you're blessed when you leave the world, if you can no longer do mitzvos, as compared to ברוך אתה בבאך when you came into the world & are able to constantly gain mitzvos ?

He explains based on the נודע ביהודה's interpretation of another gemara in ב"מ  that states מי שמניך בן כמותו לא נאמרה בו מיתה, that one who leaves a son like him, death isn't said about him.

Man on this world is considered a הולך, one who is constantly moving upward, for one is constantly gaining mitzvos & learning Torah. Once one leaves this world, he's called an עומד, for he's standing still, unable to add more mitzvos.

However, one who toiled with his children to teach them to study Torah & do mitzvos, maintains his status as a הולך even after his death for he has a share in all the Torah & mitzvos that his children do.  

That is why the posuk can say ברוך אתה בצאתך, you're blessed when you leave the world, for if you leave children that are like you & you worked hard to train them, then even when you're gone, you will still be gaining Torah & mitzvos through your children.

It is this concept the אוצרת התורה, states that teaches us how much effort & מסירת נפש  we must put into educating our children in the way of Torah & mitzvos.

This concept is exemplified by the following story told over by ר' שלום שבדרון. In his later years, the רידב"ז lived in Tzfas. One day, when he had yahrtzeit for his father, he came to shul for mincha, and prior to davening, he stood deep in thought, & started to cry.

One of the people that saw this, went over to him & said,” it's understandable that you're crying on your father's yahrtzeit, but he died over fifty years ago & you don't usually cry. What was different today?”

The רידב"ז said, “you're right. I will explain why I cried today. When I was a small child, my father sent me to learn with an exceptional rebbi who charged a high price - one ruble per month.

My father was a poor man who built ovens for a living. Despite that, when it came to my learning he was going to find a way to get me the best. So I went to this rebbi & was learning very well. Three months passed & my father still hadn't paid. The rebbi had been patient, but after so long he sent me home with a note saying, I waited three months & cannot wait any longer. Send me what you owe or I can no longer learn with the boy.

When I brought that note home my father was beside himself. What are we going to do? There was no money. How was he going to send me to learn?

The next morning he heard that there was a rich man building a house for his son & needed to build an oven in it. However, the factory that made the bricks had stopped operating & he couldn't get the bricks for the oven. Still, the rich man wanted the oven & said whoever brings him the bricks will also get the job of installing it & would be paid a total of six rubles.  

What did my father do? He took apart our oven, transported the bricks to the rich man's house & rebuilt the oven in his son's home. He came home with six rubles in his hand. His excitement knew no bounds as he came to me with the six rubles & said, ‘give this to your rebbi; three for the past three months & three for the next three months’.

As for us the rest of the family, we struggled through that winter with great difficulty, barely managing to sleep through the bitter cold nights; but to my father it was all worth it so I could go learn.

Now, ended the רידב"ז, let me tell you why I was crying. When I  was about to come to shul tonight, as I opened the door &  felt the cold & thought to myself, it's too cold to go out; I'll just daven at home. Then I remembered how my father & my family suffered through the bitter cold winter so I could go learn. How could it have even entered my mind to stay home because of a little cold? That's why I cried.”