Shoftim

The Torah delineates the process for Bnei Yisroel to follow before they went to war. When all the soldiers were together, the officers gave some of those assembled a few ways to get out of serving. They announced, “Who just build a new house & didn't live in it? Go back home. Who planted a vineyard & didn't redeem it ? You also go back. Whoever is engaged to be married, go back home. Finally, they asked מי האיש הירא ורך הלבב ילך וישב לביתו , who is the man who is afraid & weak of heart? Return to your home.

Rashi relates the opinion of רב יוסי הגלילי who says that the fear referred to is the fear of the sins that one has. The Torah lists all the other things, too, so that the ones who fear sin won't be embarrassed to return home. By listing all the different reasons together, no one knows why the other person is leaving.
The gemara says that  one who talks between the head tefillin & the arm tefillin while putting on tefillin has a sin on his hands & goes back from the ranks of the warriors.
Why is this mitzva specifically singled out as the cause to send home the warriors? What's the connection between tefillin & the soldiers?

The פסקי הלכות להרא"ש says that the strengthening of the mitzva of tefillin gives strength to the soldiers. The Torah states וטרף זרוע אף קדקוד , he rips the shoulder as well as the head. Rabbeinu bachaya says that the B’nei Gad weren't afraid to live surrounded by the other nations on the other side of the Jordan because they were armed with two weapons: physical strength & the merit of the mitzvos they did. Chazal expound וטרף זרוע as the merit of the arm tefilin;  אף קדקוד as the merit of the head tefillin.  Rashi there says that B’nei Gad were such fierce warriors that they cut off in one blow with their swords, the head & the arm together.
Says הר"י וורמסר , that's why one can't interrupt between the head & the arm tefillin. Since the whole greatness of the warriors was that they could cut of the head & arm together in one blow, which in the posuk is analogous to tefillin, so tefillin, too, have to be done in one shot.

We see this connection between soldiers & tefillin in our days too. We see countless pictures of soldiers on tanks putting on tefillin stories or how soldiers found religion on the battlefield. A story that exemplifies this, that just happened in the war in Gaza

A true and amazing story told by Ohad Shaked:
I received a phone call on Sunday from “A,” one of the Iron Dome commanders who was a student of mine about 6 years ago. I was glad he called. “Where can a person learn Torah in Ramat Gan?” he asked me, leaving me baffled since he had drifted far from Torah and mitzvot. "I'm going to be released in a couple of months, and I want to learn in a Yeshiva - I saw the Almighty with my own eyes!” Nothing more and nothing less. “What happened?” I asked him. “A rocket was fired from Gaza. The Iron Dome can detect where the rocket is going to fall within a 200 meter radius. This particular rocket was heading to the Azrieli Towers, or to the railroad tracks. Either way, hundreds could have paid with their lives!

We sent the first “dome” and it missed. Then the second as well as the third dome missed. This was a very rare occurrence. To date, only two other such cases had occurred. I was in shock! We had four seconds before the rocket would hit. We had already informed and dispatched emergency services, the police and the fire department to the location.”

Then the commander spoke more excitedly as I kept on listening. "Suddenly, without any preliminary data from the Iron Dome system, (which calculates the possible wind currents, etc.) a strong eastern wind blew – a wind for which we had no logical explanation, and cast the rocket right into the sea. We were all in shock!!! I stood up and started screaming, ‘There is a G-d’! ‘There is a G-d!’ ‘There is a G-d’!!! I saw this miracle with my own eyes. No one told me about it; it was not reported to me. I saw the Hand of Hashem fling the missile into the sea!

Of course, this was not reported for security reasons. However, witnessing the miracles with our own eyes shows there is Hashem. I ran to one of the religious soldiers and asked him to put on tefillin. I took it upon myself to keep Shabbat, and that was the very best Shabbat I have ever had.” This is what he told me. I was so excited that it even brought a tear to my eye. "Ashrecha” (praisworthy are you) I said to him, “that you merited to witness this incident and to understand that it’s from Hashem”

The first thing this soldier did when he found Hashem was to put on tefillin. Our tefilin connect us to Hashem. Let's take this lesson to strengthen ourselves in our own battles by strengthening the mitzva of tefillin - our connection to Hashem!

Re'eh

In this parsha, there's an unusual Mitzva that goes against the normal kind nature of the Jewish people. Bnei Yisroel is told to wipe out an עיר הנדחת , a city where some of the inhabitants convinced the entire city to go serve idols. The Mitzva is to wipe out the entire city & burn it to the ground. After that command, the posuk continues with an apparently total contradiction. It states ונתן לך רחמים ורחמך , and Hashem will give you mercy & be merciful to you.

The Gemara in Shabbos learns from this posuk כל המרחם על הבריות מרחמין עליו מן שמים , whoever has pity on living beings, Hashem will have pity on him. The אור החיים elaborates &  says that since the command is to kill out an entire city, the act will infuse a person with an evil heart. As the Arabs tell us, the ones that murder at the word of the king have great enjoyment while they are killing. Any thought of mercy is foreign to them. They become ruthless, pretty much like the terrorists of today. To counter that, Hashem promises that even though naturally you would nowbecome ruthless, Hashem promises to give you mercy. Since Hashem runs the world מידה כנגד מידה, one who doesn't have mercy on others, Hashem won't have mercy on him.

Using this logic Rav Yisroel Salant explained a story in the gemara. During the time when the rains weren't coming, Rebbi Eliezer went up to daven; said twenty four prayers & still wasn't answered. Then Rebbi Akiva got up, said Avinu Malkinu & the rains poured down. The rabbis were busy talking, wondering why Rebbi Akiva was answered & not Rebbi Eliezer when a heavenly voice said, “it’s not because one is greater than the other, but rather because this one is מעביר על מידותיו & this one isn't. A question begs an answer here. If one lets things slide & doesn't get offended, then he is greater than the other. Why did the בת קול say that they were equal?

Rav Yisroel explains that there really was no difference between them in greatness. One, however, was a student of Bais Shamai whose method of serving Hashem was by the strict letter of the law while Rebbi Akiva was a student of Bais Hillel whose method was more easygoing. Neither was greater than the other; they just followed a different philosophy. So why was Rebbi Akiva answered? For Hashem runs the world מידה כנגד מידה & when Rebbi Akiva, who was  מעביר על מידותיו, asked for something, Hashem had to be  מעביר על מידותיו too, & answer him.

We see this concept, as well, by Tzedaka. If someone sees his income shrinking, he should give more tzedaka. That seems absurd! One has less so he should give more? However, it’s this same concept of מידה כנגד מידה: if Hashem sees that you are giving, then He will give you too.

This teaches us a great lesson about how careful we have to be when we interact with other people. We must treat them as we would want to be treated, for, in essence, that is what will happen to us. However we treat other people, Hashem will treat us!

Eikev

Our Parsha opens with the words והיה עקב תשמעון את המשפטים האלה , and it will be because of your listening to these ordinances.

Then, the Posuk goes on to list all the good things that will happen to you for listening: Hashem will safeguard you & bless you, multiply you, bless your produce & wine and all will be good in the land.

Rashi explains that the use of the word עקב instead of the word אם teaches us that this promise of tranquility is for listening to the relatively light commandments that one tends to trample on with the heel.

 The Zekan Aharon explains that Rashi is referring to a time period when Mitzvos are trampled upon. If, in a time period where the masses reject Torah & Mitzvos,  you take it upon yourself to observe them, you will be greatly rewarded.  

This describes the time period we live in. To accurately understand this, the Maggid of Kozhnitz cites a parable. There was once a rebellion in a kingdom which caused the king to sink into a deep depression. He was at the brink of losing everything. Then, a small group of subjects arose & promised to remain loyal to the king no matter what happens. Through thick & thin, they would be there for him. Even though this was a relatively small group; compared to normal times, the king wouldn’t have even paid attention to it. Now, however, when most of the kingdom was in rebellion, it meant the world to the king & helped revive his spirits, invigorate him & strengthen his resolve to save his kingdom.

The Nesivos Shalom continues this thought by saying that in our times we must assume a similar role. Because the vast majority of people have somewhat rebelled against Hashem, we, the faithful, must make a firm commitment to be His loyal soldiers until the very end. Our job is not to fight the rebels or put down the rebellion, rather to strengthen ourselves to insure that the inner circle is strong.

How do we do this? What's the secret to making sure we stay strong & don't join the rebellion?

The בעש"ט has a different explanation of the use of the word “עקב”. He says that it’s telling you that every mitzva that you do should be done as if it’s the last mitzva you will ever do. The עקב is at the end , so treat every mitzva like it’s the last one & then it will be done with the utmost purity, only for the sake of heaven.

If we could follow the advice of the בעש"ט to treat every Mitzva like it’s our last one & also follow Rashi’s advice to be careful of the little mitzvos, the ones that we think are unimportant, then we will assure ourselves that we will remain steadfast in our pivotal role of being a faithful soldier to the ultimate King!

Vaeschnan

Moshe pleads to Hashem to let him into Eretz Yisroel. The posuk says. ואתחנן אל ה' בעת ההוא לאמר , and I pleaded with Hashem at that time saying. The פנים יפות asks why it says  לאמר which normally means to repeat over to others; since he was talking directly to Hashem what does the  לאמר signify?

At the beginning of the sh’mona esray we say 'ה שפתי תפתח ,  Hashem open my lips. The reason for this is based on the gemara that says that ר' חנינה בן דוסא would say that if his tefilos flowed smoothly he knew he was answered. However, if they didn't flow then he knew they weren't accepted.  We say this short prayer before we daven to ask Hashem that our tefilos should go smoothly so that they will be accepted. That, too, is why Moshe said  לאמר that before I even begin to pray, I'm asking that my prayers flow smoothly & then I will merit to be answered.  

Later on the parsha says ואהבת את ה' אלקיך , that we are commanded to love Hashem. Asks רע"א how is it that we are commanded to love? Is it possible to force someone to love someone else? He explains that before we say shema, we end with the beracha of הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה , who chose his nation of Israel with love. If Hashem loves us, then, since love is reciprocal, if Hashem loves us then it follows that we will love him too.

We see, too, that this love of Hashem is unconditional, as the תנא דבי אליהו explains what Hashem said to Moshe, " I can't tell you my all ways but I will tell you some; when I see a person who many not have many good deeds, doesn't learn or do mitzvos, but does stand & daven before me with utter devotion, I am obligated to them to double their livelihood.
How do we tap into this benevolence of Hashem?

The Chafetz Chaim says that all problems that befall us from which we aren't saved, are caused by our lack of sincerity in davening; we don't cry & increase our kavana. Once, one of the people that lived in Radin came to the Chaftez Chaim so that he should daven for them. The Chofetz Chaim asked the fellow if he had already davened for this himself. When the fellow answered yes, the Chofetz Chaim asked him to go home & get the sefer tehillim that he used to daven.

The man went home & returned a short while later with the tehillim & gave it to the Chafetz Chaim who looked at it, flipped through some of the pages & said to the man "this is called davening? I will show you what davening is". The Chofetz Chaim, despite his old age, walked slowly over to the bookshelf, took a chair & took down a sefer tehiilim from the top shelf. He gave it to the man who saw that  the pages were all hard & discolored from the many tear stains throughout the sefer. "This was my Mother’s tehillim; look at the pages covered with her tears; that's called davening!

Perhaps if we could train ourselves to daven with tears, to really feel what we’re saying, then, even if we don't do everything else right, we’re tapping into the love that we feel for Hashem. Then, He will turn that love around to us & answer our prayers!

Devarim

In our sedra, Moshe recounts the events of the past years & the travels that the Jews had taken. When they passed הר שעיר , Moshe relates that Hashem told him רב לכם סב את ההר הזה פנו לכם צפנה - literally translated, you have circled this mountain long enough; turn northward.

The כלי יקר explains that this posuk has a much deeper meaning which was important then as well as for all future generations. The concept of circling implies that one who is circling can’t step into the center. The Jews were circling הר שעיר (Eisav’s territory) but couldn't even step in because the Toarh says  פנו לכם צפנה which chazal expound to mean הצפינו עצמכם , hide yourself.

When Eisav is in power, hide yourselves. As the כלי יקר continues, הצפנה here means that if a Jew finds himself being successful in golus, when we are not in our own land, he should hide it from Eisav (the goyim). Since they feel that we stole the beracha from Eisav, any success that we Jews have causes immediate jealousy that we are stealing that success from them.

Similarly, Yaakov told his sons to go down to Egypt to buy food even when they had. He said, “why should we look better off than Eisav & Yishmael who think our success belongs to them”.

Unfortunately, continues the כלי יקר, that's the opposite of what people do in the exile. Even those who have limited income, manage to make themselves appear as if they have millions thereby causing the gentiles to detest them which is a cause for all the evil that befalls the Jews.
How can we not fall into this trap? How can we overcome the need to be ostentatious?

When רבי חיים מצאנז expounded these words, he said ההר is the yetzer hara, as it says: after the Tzaddik's life he will see his yetzer hara appearing to him as a mountain symbolizing the great climb up & the obstacles that were surmounted. צפונה is the purest form of יראת שמים which is embedded in the innermost recesses of the heart. This is what Moshe was telling the Jews: רב לכם , the abundance of Mitzvos & good deeds is in reality only to ward off the yetzer hara, for the essence of service to Hashem is to reach the level of pure  יראת שמים.

Perhaps, if we could strive to attain these levels of yiras shomaim by learning & doing mitzvos, then our focus would be on how we could sanctify the name of heaven rather than trying to outdo our friends & showing off which not only causes our friends to be jealous but also incites the nations against us. This is especially true nowadays when anti - semitism is at an all-time high & the nations of the world are all watching us. Let's take this lesson to heart & act in a way that doesn't draw attention to ourselves, thereby reducing the hatred until Hashem redeems us from this final exile!