Chukas

Miriam has already passed away and now Aaron’s time has come. Hashem tells Moshe to bring both Aaron & his son, Elazar, up the mountain where Moshe proceeded to take the priestly garments off Aaron & put them on his son, thereby transferring the mantle of leadership. Then, Aaron passes on & Moshe & Elazar go back down the mountain. The posuk then tells us: ויראו כל העדה כי גוע אהרן ויבכו את אהרן שלשים יום כל בית ישראל , The entire assembly saw that Aaron had perished, and they wept for Aaron thirty days, the entire house of Israel.  

Rashi says the reason for the words  כל בית ישראל is to tell you that everyone, men women & children mourned for Aaron because he was אוהב שלום ורדף שלום, a lover of peace & a chaser of peace.

The בן איש חי questions this terminology. It would seem that אוהב  שלום ורדף שלום are two opposites; אוהב שלום is one who runs after peace whereas a רדף is one who chases away so a רדף שלום  would be one who chases away peace. How could Aaron possess these two seemingly contradictory traits & that's the reason he's missed?

The Chofetz Chaim relates a mashal of a charlatan who went to the town square dressed in elegant clothing looking for an unsuspecting victim. Then he saw a tourist looking around admiring the sights. The charlatan approaches the tourist saying, “I see you’re new around here; would you like me to take you around & show you the town?” The tourist gratefully accepts & they spend the day touring the city.

As night approaches, the charlatan invites the tourist to the fanciest restaurant in town telling him that since you are my guest for the day, I will treat you to an exquisite dinner. Elated, the tourist agrees and they order every imaginable delicacy. They're having a great time. As time goes on, the charlatan excuses himself, sneaks out the back door & runs away, leaving the tourist with a huge bill. Only then does it dawn on him that this man wasn't his friend at all, but a bitter enemy.

Sometimes, what seems like a great thing really isn't. Sometimes, in order to make peace, you have to push people away. Explains the בן איש חי, often, Aaron would go to make peace, telling one party how the other feels so bad, trying to make peace between them. However, this person’s "friends" go over to him trying to fan the flames of hatred by telling him, look what he did to you. How can you forgive him? He doesn't deserve your forgiveness.

In these times, even a lover of peace has to take the opposite approach & chase away those that are trying to prevent peace. These so called friends might make you feel good now, but will run when the bill comes. We have to take this to heart & learn to stay away from people that instigate fights. We must latch on to the other trait of Aaron, to be a אוהב שלום, a lover of peace staying far away from strife & running after peace!  

Korach

After the incident with Korach where he and all his followers were swallowed up by the ground, Hashem tells Moshe to take a stick from every shevet, bring it into the Ohel & whoever's stick blossoms is the one that I choose for the Kehuna.

All the commentators ask, what was the point of this sign if the people didn't believe the first sign where the earth opened up & swallowed Korach & his followers. They wouldn't believe this one either. what was the point of the second sign?

Then the posuk continues with the results of the sticks, והנה פרח מטה אהרן לבית לוי ויצא פרח ויצץ ציץ ויגמל שקדים, and, behold! The staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had blossomed; it brought forth a blossom, sprouted a bud & developed almonds.
Another question asked by רבי צבי הירש ארליאנסקי if this new miracle was to wow the people into believing that what Moshe said were the words of Hashem wouldn't it have been even more incredible had the almonds just grew straight out of the stick without blossoming & budding?

He answers that it was a specific message for the likes of Korach, who tried to get a leadership role that he didn't deserve. the message was that in order to be a leader you have to first be there for the people help them out & take care of them & then slowly you move into a leadership role, Korach did nothing for the people then wanted to lead over Moshe & Aaron who had been caring for the people over the year. the message was, first you need to blossom, then bud & only after will the fruit come.

Maybe we could use this concept to answer the first question too; Rav Zilbershtein said once when he was young he went to Tel Aviv & was at the station & saw a group of non religious kids then he saw a religious man walk up to one of the kids & ask him if he wants a candy. when the kid said yes he gave him the candy & said on one condition that you make a Beracha. the child agreed & the man helped him make the Beracha & gave him the candy and walked away.
Suddenly the man was surrounded by the child's friends. incredibly they weren't asking for candy but were saying "we want to make a blessing too like our friend". their teacher looked on incredulously as the man made a Beracha with each one of the kids & gave them a candy.

Rav Zilberstaein. Tried to explain this phenomena with a. - once a judge was in court & found the defendant guilty & was trying to seal the verdict but for some inexplicable reason he just couldn't do it. In order to figure out why he brought the defendant back to his chambers & after a long conversation they figured out that the defendant was the judges long lost father & that's why inexplicably he couldn't convict him because the connection was there, so too with these boys even though they don't know anything about religion the connection is still there & they felt it.

After the incident with Korach the people felt far from Hashem, there was a rebellion & then a plague the people were downtrodden so Hashem made the second sign & took all the sticks & had one blossom & sprout then bore fruit to show the people don't be down were still connected let's start over slowly first let the relationship blossom & grow & then it will bear fruit again!

Sh'lach

Rashi explains the seeming command to send spies to the land of Israel שלך לך אנשים , send for yourself men, as send for yourself, according to your understanding, I'm not commanding you to send them; if you want to, then send. Why did Moshe send them? Rashi tells us that the Jews all came to Moshe & demanded that he send spies; whereas Hashem had said, “I told them that the land is good; if they don't trust me & you send spies, they will be able to make a mistake & cause the people not to enter.

The sin of the spies is very difficult to understand says הגר"י לוינשטיין . What were they thinking?  Why would they slander the land? Chazal state that, in the desert they were leaders; they were afraid that if the Jews went into Israel they would lose their leadership roles. However that makes no sense. How long could the nation have stayed in the desert? If the nation turned around and went back to Egypt, they would surely lose their leadership roles. What were they thinking by sabotaging the entering of the land?

Even more puzzling is the behavior of the people. What frightened them? Was it the report that the people of the land are stronger & bigger than us? They had just witnessed Hashem perform all kinds of miracles for them, taking them out of the stronghold of Egypt where they had been enslaved for hundreds of years. Did they really think now that Hashem couldn't fight for them? Did He lose his strength that caused them to say, "It would have been better to die in Egypt than be brought here? Did they forget all that had happened? What happened to the people that they suddenly forgot all that Hashem did for them?

The רמח"ל says that even if a person will try to control himself not to sin, he will only be successful if Hashem helps him, for the power of the Yetzer Hara is so strong that, without the help of Hashem, a person couldn't withstand the challenge. How does one merit Hashem’s assistance in conquering the Yetzer Hara? If one tries on his own but puts  his reliance in Hashem, then Hashem will help him & he will conquer.

The generation of the desert did not rely on Hashem who said that the land was good. Instead, they wanted to check it out themselves & as a result they lost Hashem’s help in being able to fight off the Yetzer Hara. Without Hashem’s help, one could believe anything, even the words of the spies. Without the help of Hashem, one is clueless & can forget everything. That's what happened here; even all the miracles they witnessed in Egypt didn't help them comprehend the situation. Once Hashem takes His help away, the Yetzer Hara has full control to make you lose your common sense.

How can we avoid this pitfall & keep our reliance in Hashem strong?
The posuk had informed us that the spies were all good people, tzadikim when they left; so what went wrong?

The חזון יחזקאל explains: the gemara tells us that whoever walks four amos in Eretz Yisroel is guaranteed that he will merit the world to come. What is so special about walking four Amos in Eretz Yisroel?

We know that the four amos of a person is considered a private domain. Chazal expound on that & say that, even when a person is walking, he should remain in his four Amos. Even when a person is in the public domain, he should keep to himself & not go where the street takes him. By doing so, he will acquire the goodness of Eretz yisroel leading to guaranteed olam haba. If he leaves his private domain & goes after the street, he could lose everything. This is what happened to the spies. Once they left Moshe & the seviva of the Jewish people, they no longer stayed within themselves. They went after the street causing their downfall. This teaches us the importance of keeping focus on our beliefs no matter where we are. We have to stay within our own domain even if we have to be on the street. Remember, that we can’t do it on our own. We have to do our part, place our reliance on Hashem & He will help us to succeed!

Beha'alosicha

Our parsha starts with the command to Aaron to light the Menorah. The posuk states דבר אל אהרן ואמרת אליו, speak to Aaron and say to him.
 
The אור החיים questions the necessity of the double language, “speak to Aaron and say to him”. Why say the same thing twice with different words?
 
The Midrash tells us that the reason the section that deals with the Menorah is next to the section that dealt with the inauguration of the Mishkan was that when Aaron saw how all the leaders of the other tribes inaugurated the Mishkan, and he and his tribe didn't, he felt bad. Hashem said to him, don't worry; what you will do is greater than what they are doing.  You will get to prepare and light the wicks.
 
The אור החיים asks how does this pacify Aaron?  What does the Menorah have to do with the inauguration of the Mishkan? Additionally, he did so much more than any other leader. He was the one who brought all the sacrifices. He brought the ketores and he even brought the sacrifices of the other leaders. Why was it only the menorah that appeased him?
 
The אור החיים answers that the way the Menorah was cleaned and lit every day was that the lamp holder where the wick and oil went was taken off the menorah and brought into the Ohel to be cleaned and refilled. It was then reconnected to the Menorah. In essence, Aaron was inaugurating the Menorah every time he cleaned and relit it. For this reason the Menorah pacified him because he was inaugurating the Menorah every day whereas the leaders only inaugerated the mizbaiach once. That's why the double lashon דבר אל אהרןspeak to Aaron and tell him what he needs to know to perform the mitzvah, ואמרת אליו, and say to him how his service is greater in order to revive his spirit.
 
What is so important about the lighting of the Menorah that it needed an inauguration every day?
Once רב ישראל סלנטר walked out of his beis medrishin the middle of the night. As he walked he passed by the home of the shoemaker. He noticed that there was a light shining through the shoemakers window. Reb Yisroel walked in and found the shoemaker hunched over his table working on a shoe by the light of the candle. Reb Yisroel asked him, why are you working so late at night? The shoemaker answered, Rebbi, as long as the candle is still burning I have to take advantage and continue to work and fix the shoes.
 
Reb Yisroel told this story over to his students and added, I learned a great thing from the shoemaker. We know that the soul of a person is compared to a flame. As long as the candle of a person is still burning, i.e. as long as one is alive, one must continue to work and fix oneself.   
 
Perhaps this is why the Menorah needed this special inauguration every day. It was to remind the people that we must work on ourselves every day, and as long as the flame is still burning inside of us we have another chance each day to rebuild ourselves and reconnect to the flame of the Torah!