Vayechi

The first words of our parsha inform us how long Yaakov lived in Mitzraim, ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים שבע עשרה שנה , Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. Now this Parsha unlike all the others, is סתומה , closed, which means the Torah leaves no space between the end of Vayigash & the beginning of Vayechi, whereas the Torah normally leaves a space between Parshios. 

 

Rashi presents us with two reasons for this uniqueness. First, once Yaakov passed away, the eyes & heart of the Jewish people were closed because of their suffering, for the Egyptians began to enslave them. Second, because Yaakov wanted to reveal the ultimate end of all the exiles to his sons, but it was closed off from him. 

Rav Tzudok Hakohen questions the first reason: how could it be that the Parsha is closed because the enslavement of the Jewish people when we know that the enslavement didn't start until after all of the brothers died, too, over seventy-five years later?

He answers that, after Yaakov died, the Jewish people began getting caught up ‎in the culture of Egypt. 

The eyes refer to the wisdom & the heart to the understanding. They lost their spiritual intellect & started getting caught up in the Egyptian culture. 

Now if the spiritual descent started then & seems to worsen with each generation, how can we ever expect to get out of this exile?

The Malbim, in his explanation on sefer Daniel, ‎expounds on when the end of the exile should be. Based on hints from the pesukim at the end of Daniel, he even pinpoints a specific time when he thought the Moshiach would come. 

When his explanations became public, he received flak from other rabbis of the generation saying how could he try to reveal the end of time when chazal say that anyone who reveals the end, will be the victim of very bad things. Why, then, was he giving dates for the end?

The Malbim answered with a parable. A Jewish merchant took his small son with him and went from Polin to Liftzig on a wagon which, in those days, was a very long trip. It took weeks to get there. They got into the wagon & headed out. After an hour or so, the son asks, “Dad are we almost there yet?” The father doesn't even answer; he just gives him a look & the son knew that he asked a foolish question. So, for the remainder of the journey he didn't ask again. Then, after weeks of traveling from town to town, city to city, from one hotel to another, they are still traveling when the father asks the wagon driver, “Are we far from Liftzig?” The boy, hearing that, looks at his father & asks, “why, when I asked that question, you looked at me like I was crazy. Now, you’re asking the same question? The father explained, “my son, you’re right. We both asked the same question; however, when you asked it, it was at the beginning of the trip, so it was a foolish question. I'm asking it at the end of the journey, so it makes sense to ask.” 

The Malbim explains that the same rationale applies to our question. When we went into exile, Chazal saw that the road was very long, full of trials & tribulations, with many pitfalls on a journey lasting thousands of years. Therefore, had they revealed the end of time, the people, knowing that the end was so far away, would give up hope of ever getting out, so they said terrible things would happen to whoever would reveal the end & cause the people to give up hope. However, now when all the signs say that the end is near & we are coming to the end of the journey, it's ok to figure out how far we are from Moshiach.

‎‏How, then, do we not lose hope because of our spiritual decay; what do we have that shows us the we can still get out? Says the Otzer Hatorah, if one looks at all the spiritual treasures we were granted in exile, the Torah itself in the desert, the gemara in Bavel, Rashi in France, the Rif in North Africa, etc., one sees that the greatest Torah revelations were given in exile. ‎ 

As Reb Simcha Bunim of P'shis'cha said, even though the spiritual dimension of the soul lessens with each generation, the truth in the hearts of the Jewish people become purer & more refined as time goes on. Perhaps, because we have more challenges & manage to keep the Jewish people alive through even greater obstacles, it gives us the strength to carry on, knowing that any day, we will arrive in Luftzik!  

Vayikash

When last week’s parsha  ended with Binyamin getting caught with Yosef's goblet in his bag and the brothers brought before Yosef who admonishes them for stealing the goblet, Yehuda says to him, " what can we say? How can we justify ourselves? Hashem has found our sin, we're ready to be slaves to you.” Then Yosef magnanimously says that I would never do that.  I won't enslave all of you; just the one in whose possession the goblet was found, will be my slave & the rest of you are free to go.    

This week’s parsha, however, begins on a whole different tune. ויגש אליו יהודה,  Yehuda approaches Yosef & starts speaking tough to him, recounts the whole story of why they came down & how Yosef made them bring Binyamin against their father’s wishes.  The midrash tells us about Yehuda's  ‎strength & how the brothers were ready to destroy the whole Mitzraim. 

What changed?  Initially, even Yehuda agreed that they would all remain slaves‎ to Yosef & then when he said they could all go except Binyamin, everything changed. 

I saw two answers to this question in the name of the Bais Yisroel who said that the Shevatim knew that there was supposed to be a four-hundred-year exile, so when they were all going to be enslaved, they thought that the galus was starting & they accepted Hashem’s decree. However, when they realized that it was only Binyamin who was to be enslaved, they understood that this wasn't the start of the galus, so‎ Yehuda got tough. 

The Nachlas Yaakov‎ answers a little differently. He says that the brothers thought that all the bad things that were happening to them with Yosef were the hand of Hashem punishing them for the sale of their brother years before. Therefore, even though they had the power to destroy Mitzraim & get out, they accepted their punishment because they felt it was Hashem's retribution for what they had done. However, once Yosef said they could all go except Binyamin, they knew that this couldn't have been a punishment for what they had done since Binyamin wasn't involved at all in the sale of Yosef.  Once they felt that Yosef was just ‏harassing them, Yehudah got tough. 

The sefer לב אליהו adds that this demonstrates the emuna of the brothers. When they saw something happening to them & knew that they had some sin, they admitted right a‎way אבל אשמים אנחנו we are guilty. על כן באה אלינו הרעה הזאת , this is why this anguish has come upon us. 

The brothers realized that the only reason something bad would befall them was if they had done something wrong.. There had to be a reason that this was happening to them.

There's a story told about רב אליהו לאפיאן that shows that he, too, lived this way. Once, on arrival at the yeshiva, he was walking up the steps, tripped & fell. He didn't get up, but remained sitting on the steps. People came running over to see if he was ok & he said he felt fine but he still didn't get up. The people asked, “if you’re feeling fine why won't you get up?” They thought that he had broken something or was at least in a lot of pain but didn't want to bother them. 

He answered, “I am sitting & trying to figure out what I did wrong that caused me to fall. A person doesn't fall for no reason. If I fell, I need to make an accounting of all my deeds to find what I had done wrong.

The לב אליהו continues that this teaches us that if anything bad happens to a person, he has to know that the world is not a free for all.  There is a cause and effect for everything; one should take an accounting of his deeds to see what could be the cause of his problems. As Chazal say, “one doesn't stub his finger down here unless it was decreed up there first. Nothing happens by itself!”

Miketz

‎‎Exactly two years after the release of the Chamberlain of Cupbearers, Pharaoh had a dream.  ‎ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים ופרעה חלם , it happened at the end of two years to the day: Pharaoh was dreaming.  ‎The end of Yosef's imprisonment & the dream of Pharaoh seem to be two separate entities except that they happened at the same time. So why does the posuk connect them?    

The Bais HaLevi explains that everything that happens has a cause & effect; the effect is the result of the cause . It takes great intellect to discern what is the cause & what is the effect. For example, if a person invests his money in a certain endeavor & makes a huge profit, one would think that the reason he made a lot of money was because he made a good investment. However, that's a great mistake.  It's not the investment that made him wealthy; rather it was decreed in heaven that this person become wealthy.  Since that was decreed on him, heaven will lead him to the correct investment, to make sure the decree comes about. Therefore, the fact is the opposite of what people think; it's not the deal that's the cause & the wealth that is the effect; rather, it's the wealth that was decreed upon him in heaven that's the cause & the deal is the effect to make it happen. 

So, too, by Yosef.  The time for him to get out of jail was decreed on him in heaven, so Pharaoh had to dream. It’s not that Pharaoh had a dream & Yosef was the only one who could help him. Rather, because it was time for Yosef to get out, Pharaoh had to dream. When it's the time for something to occur, Hashem makes sure that whatever needs to happen, will happen. ‎Now the posuk makes sense: ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים ,it was at the end of two years that Yosef had to remain in prison, therefore now was the time, ופרעה חלם‏ , Pharaoh had to dream.

I heard a st‎ory that was told by Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro about a man who lost his entire family in the Holocaust. After the war, he wanted nothing to do with Judaism so he changed his name & moved to Alabama. By chance, he married a Jewish girl & they had two sons. When his oldest son, Jeffrey, turned thirteen,  he wasn't going to make a Bar Mitzva but decided to honor the day by taking his son to the mall & letting him pick out whatever he wanted. They go to the big electronics store in the mall, looking for the perfect gift when Jeffrey spotted something in the antique store across the mall & couldn't take his eyes off of it. He was mesmerized.  He told his father that he didn't want anything from the electronics store but he wanted to go across to the antique store. They went across where the boy pointed to an old wooden menorah. The father couldn't believe it!  He said, “I'm letting you get anything you want in the whole mall & this is what you want?” The boy was insistent so the father asked the owner how much for the menorah? The man replied, “sorry that's not for sale”. The father said, “what do you mean? This is a store I want to buy it. How much?” The owner said, “listen, I just heard the story behind that menorah. It was constructed during the war by a man who took months to build it out of pieces of wood he found & put together.  The menorah survived but the man didn't. This is going to be a collector’s item. I can't sell it.” Now Jeffrey wouldn't let up so his father offered more & more money until the owner agreed to sell. 

Jeffrey was so excited. He took the Menorah up to his room & he played with it every day. One day, they hear a crash from upstairs, run upstairs & see the Menorah on the floor in pieces. The father gets angry at his son saying, “how could you be so careless. I paid a lot of money for that!?” Then, seeing how hurt his son was, he offered to help him put it back together. As they were putting the pieces back, the father saw a piece of paper wedged inside. When he pulled it out & he read it, tears welled up in his eyes.  When he finished, he fainted!  

‎After they revived him, he said, “let me read you this letter. It was written in Yiddish. It said,

‎whoever finds this menorah, should know that I constructed it not knowing if I would ever get to light it. In all probability, I won't. If providence puts this into your hand, you, who are reading this letter, promise me that you will light it for me & my family; all of those that gave their lives for Hashem. 

The man looked up at his family with tears in his eyes & in a choked up voice said, “the letter is signed by my father.” The family was shocked but recognized the Divine Providence & came back to religion. Would one think out that, of all the places in the world, the Menorah ended up in a remote mall in Alabama by chance?  Hashem wanted them back & caused his father's Menorah to turn up in that mall in Alabama. We must recognize that Hashem is controlling everything. All that happens to us is part of the divine plan & when something is meant for us, there is nothing in the world that will stop it from happening. Conversely, if it's not meant for us, nothing we do will make it happen. We must put our trust in Hashem & He will do what's best for us!

Vayeishev

Having concluded the sale of Yosef, the brothers mislead Yaakov into believing that Yosef is dead. As much as they try to comfort him, Yaakov cannot be comforted. Remarkably, the Torah then interrupts the narrative of Yosef to relate the story of Yehuda, stating ויהי בעת ההוא וירד יהודה מאת אחיו, it was at that time that Yeduda descended from his brothers.   

‎Rashi cites a Midrash explaining the juxtaposition of the sale of Yosef to the phrase: Yehuda descended from his brothers, telling us that Yehuda was ‎deposed as the leader of the brothers.  Once they saw Yaakov's pain & suffering, they blamed Yehuda saying, " you told us to sell him; had you told us to send him back to our father, we would have listened!” 

The אוצר התורה asks an interesting question: why were the brothers angry at Yehuda for telling them to sell Yosef? Why didn't they blame Reuvain, instead, who had been the one to initially suggest that they put him in the pit? Why didn't they say to him, “had you told us to return him instead we would have listened?” 

A psychological insight from the Ralbag provides the answer - the Torah is teaching us how to wean people away from the wrong path. When one sees his friend about to commit a sin he has to assess how passionate he is about what he’s about to do. If one is totally set on committing the sin, telling him not to do it, won't work. One has to slowly wean this individual away from ‎his destructive path. 

While it's true that Reuvain wanted to save Yosef, he knew that a head on confrontation would never have worked because the brothers were so bent on killing Yosef that telling them to return him would have fallen on deaf ears. Therefore, he went about it in a way to get them to back down a little. By throwing Yosef in the pit, he could then save him. Reuvain’s plan worked. When Yehuda suggested that they sell him instead, they agreed since they had already “cooled down”. Had Yehuda suggested this plan when they were in the heat of their hatred, they never would have agreed. Therefore, they were not angry at Reuvain. They understood that they never would have listened at that point. However, Yehuda had approached them when they had calmed down. Had he said return Yosef to their father, they would have agreed. Therefore, they were upset with Yehuda for not forcing them to do the right thing. 

In reality, though, how could they be so upset with Yehuda that they deposed him? They had wanted to kill Yosef & Yehuda actually saved him. What right did they have to be so angry at him?

The Chafetz Chaim ‎would often tell over a story of a man who was in the whiskey business, who for years didn't pay the alcohol tax & became very wealthy. When he was finally caught, he was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in Siberia. As the police were escorting him in iron chains, he passed his hometown & asked for permission to speak to the rabbi. When he approached the rabbi, he said, “I'm going to Siberia now for fifteen years & it's all your fault.  You certainly knew what I was doing, yet you didn't say anything. Why didn't you tell me that I was breaking the law?  Why didn't you warn me about the punishments? As the rabbi, that was your job. Now I will have to work slave labor in Siberia because of you!  

The Chafetz Chaim continued: this man knew the severity of his crimes. He knew what the government would do when they caught ‎him, yet he blamed the rabbi for not rebuking him. Certainly, when the heavenly court sentences sinners to punishments much worse than fifteen years in Siberia, a finger will be pointed at those that could have influenced the sinners away from the path of sin but did not.  

It was Yehuda's job to prevent the brothers from selling Yosef, so he was punished for not doing so. We must learn from this ‎to get involved. When we see people that are not doing the right thing, we must intercede & lead them on the right path. The Torah is teaching us that the way to do it is slowly, one small step at a time.  If we can just help someone to take that initial step, we will have success in bringing them all the way back!

Vayishlach

Our Parsha begins with Yaakov heading back home after being away for many years. When he hears that Eisav is heading toward him with four hundred soldiers, he fears for his life & the lives of his family. Yaakov institutes a three step plan to help him win a potential war with Eisav. He sends a large gift to appease him, he prays to Hashem to help him &, as a last resort, he splits his family into two camps so that even if they go to war at least half will survive. 

Then, the Torah tells us that Yakkov went back alone to get his jars, at which time the angel of Eisav came to fight Yaakov who managed to overcome him but was left limping. Afterwards, the Torah tells us וישא יעקב עיניו וירא והנה עשב בא ועמו ארבע מאות איש, that Yaakov looked up & Eisav was coming toward him with the four hundred men. So Yaakov, fearful of what may happen, ויחץ את הילדים split up the children among their mothers.  ‏והוא עבר לפניהם וישתחו ארצה שבע פעמים עד גדשתו עד אחיו,

‎And he went on ahead of them & bowed earthward seven times until he reached his brother.

‎I heard a fascinating question from Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, how was it that all his wives & children were with him when he approached Eisav?  ‎Didn't we say before that Yaakov split the family into two camps? Wasn't he still afraid of war? Why were they all together? 

Also, why would Yaakov bow so many times to Eisav? Is it proper for a Tzaddik to lower himself so much to a Rasha?

Reb Yosef Chaim Sonnnefeld explains with a true story that happened ‎in a small town in Poland.  One of the Jews of the town caused many problems for the Jews of that town. He would inform on them to the government, causing everyone to be afraid of him, so he demanded that he sit up front in the big shul on Shabbos and that he always get called up to the Torah for the most prestigious Alia. One day, the rabbi of the city died and a new rabbi took his place. When the new rabbi heard about this fellow, he vowed to put an end to it. The next Shabbos, when this man got called up to the Torah, the rabbi banged on the bima and said "What’s going to be with the holy Torah? how could a disgusting mouth that gives over the money and lives of the Jewish people to the government bless the Torah? Get out!”  The informer was shocked and went to go and hit the rabbi but the people held him back. He left shaking his fist at the rabbi saying, “I'll get you!”

A while later, the rabbi, with two students accompanying him, had to go to the next town to perform a bris. As they were on the way, they saw the informer coming toward them on his horse. The students were very afraid but the rabbi remained calm. Suddenly, the informant came charging at the rabbi. To the astonishment of the students, the informant stopped right when he got to the rabbi and started asking for forgiveness for all his crimes and how he treated the rabbi.  When he finished what he had to say, he got back on his horse and left. When the rabbi saw the dumbfounded look on his students’ faces, he explained, “when I saw the informant riding toward us, I thought to get saved with a posuk in the Torah. A posuk in Mishley came to mind, כמים הפנים לפנים כן לב האדם לאדם, “As water reflects a face back to a face, so one’s heart is reflected back to him by another.”  Quickly, I started to think of ways to justify his actions. Had he had a proper education he would never do this; how he must feel that he has no choice; maybe he’s under a lot of pressure. I continued to try to find excuses for him until I really felt bad for him and took all hatred for him out of my heart. Once I did that, his heart also had good feelings about me and he started to think good about me until he came to a state of teshuva.

‎Continued Reb yosef Chaim, this is what happened with Yaakov when Eisav was coming toward him. His full hatred was still burning & Yaakov, too, hated Eisav. However, when he saw Eisav coming toward him, he started bowing as he went.  While doing that, he was changing his mindset to find the good in Eisav so that when he finally reached him, all the hatred was gone from his heart. Right after that, the Torah says that Eisav ran to greet him & even kissed & hugged him, because once Yaakov released the hatred from his heart, the hatred left Eisav's heart too. 

Perhaps this is why he didn't feel that he had to split up his family any more. Once he realized that by just taking the hatred out of his heart, ‎he would be able to subdue Aisav, there was no need to split up any more. It worked so well that Eisav asked to travel with them. He wanted to stay together with Yaakov & his family which shows how far the hatred was gone. This teaches us, says the Meiri, that if we want to know how someone feels about us, we have to see how we feel about them for what's in our heart is in theirs. If one feels that someone hates him, instead of hating them back, he should try to put love in his heart for them. That will turn their hate into love, too. If we all do this, then we will once again be כאיש אחד בלב אחד!

Vayeitze

‎Our parsha details how Yaakov made a deal with Lavan that he would work for his daughter, Rachel, for seven years & then he would get to marry her ‎. After Yaakov worked seven years, the posuk tells us regarding those years ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים באהבתו אתה, and they seemed like a few days because of his love for her.

How do we understand that?  We all know that when we want something & have to wait for it,‎ each day seems to take forever; so how did seven years seem like a few days? Just  the opposite would make sense. 

Harav Eliyahu Lopian explained as follows , a person sits down to a meal & the chef asks what do you want to eat? The man answers, “I really love fish”, so the chef goes to the kitchen to prepare the fish for him.

There was a simple fellow sitting nearby who heard this exchange. He thought that this man who loved fish was waiting for someone to bring him a tank of water with fish inside so he could watch them,  feed them & enjoy being with his "loved ones ". How shocked was this simple fellow when he saw that they brought a big fish on a plate & this man who claims to love fish, sticks his knife & fork in it, starts cutting up the fish, puts it into his mouth & chews & eats the fish! The  simple man turns to the other man & says " is this what you do to the ones you love?? It can't be that you really love fish, for if you did you would never treat them this way!” 

In reality, he's correct.  If the man really loved fish, then he would never have them served to him as food. So, what does he love? He loves himself & enjoys the taste of fish. Since he loves himself, he treats himself to the fish.  

Continued Rav Lopian, most people make a mistake in what the word love means. ‏ Most people think ‎that love is a pleasant feeling that fills a person when he finds a person who ‎ defines himself as your friend. However that's not true. True love is wanting to do for a friend; one wants to keep giving & doing all good for him. Rav Dessler explained that when two people have a good connection, it's when they reach the level of giving, when each one just wants to give to the other. If one is just looking out for himself & says, “hey, I did this for you, now you have to do this for me”. That is love that won't last. 

‎The only time that it feels like forever when one is waiting for something, is if it's something one wants for his own enjoyment. Then a person can't wait to get it. However, the love Yaakov had for Rochel was true love that he wanted to give to her. He wasn’t looking to take.  Since this was a pure love, the years seemed to fly by like just a few days . 

‎There are three different forms of love taught in the Torah. This story is the first, teaching us the way a husband & wife should love each other. The second is ואהבת לרעך כמוך,  where it says to love your friend like yourself & the third is teaching us a love for Hashem ‏, ואהבת את ה אלקיך

This, says הרב עמיאל, is like a ‏threefold thread that's not easily broken. If one is missing, the other two won't stand. He says that they go in order; first a person has to have love for his wife & family & only after that he could come to love everybody else. Only after a person has the love for his wife & then for all other people can he begin to come to loving Hashem ‎. We have to learn from here how to treat our spouse, to always be the one to give. After we master that, we can go on to help out other people & then finally come to the ultimate love - the love for Hashem!

Toldos

After the parsha commences with the birth of Yaakov & Eisav, we learn how they grew up & went their separate ways. Then, the Torah informs us which child was each of the parent’s favorite: ויאהב יצחק את עשו כי ציד בפיו & Yitzchok loved Eisav for trapping was in his mouth ורבקה אהבת את יעקב, but Rivka loved Yaakov.  

The Targum translates “Yitzchok loved Eisav because he ate from his trappings”  about which Rashi brings the Midrash that says,  “because of the mouth of Eisav , because he used to fool him with pious questions.”

Both of these reasons for Yitzchok's love of Eisav need explanation. First, according to Targum, how could the fact that Eisav gave Yitzchok food cause him to love Eisav more than Yaakov  who sat & learned all day. Even according to Rashi’s reason that Eisav fooled him with pious questions, how could he love Eisav more when all he did was hunt all day while Yaakov sat & learned. 

‎Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant in his sefer באר יוסף explains based on a Rambam ‎that ‎discusses what's better, a person who was born with an inclination for good, who doesn't even have a desire to do bad and who sits & does good all day or someone who was born with the desire to do bad but works on himself to do good. He determines that one who has the desire for bad & wants the worldly pleasures but works on himself, abstains & does good is better than the Tzaddik who never even had a bad thought. 

 

Yitzchok applied this understanding to his two sons. Yaakov, he thought, was a natural tzaddik who never even entertained the thought of sinning, whereas Eisav was naturally bad. However, Yitzchak thought that Eisav was working on himself & that's why he went hunting all the time, to get out the evil so that he wouldn't murder.  Even more so, he brought his father food & asked questions, so Yitzchok thought he was really better than Yaakov because he had to work on himself whereas Yaakov didn't.  

Why wasn’t Rivka fooled?  Reb Naftali of Ropschitz explains that since Yitzchak grew up in the home of Avraham & Sara, he never saw any trickery or deceit so when Eisav asked questions he had no inkling that they weren't truthful.  However, Rivka who grew up in the same house as Lavan, saw plenty of deceit & was able to see right through Eisav's facade of righteousness. As well, Hashem had already explained to her the cause of the disturbance within her womb.

As the gemara relates, when Reish Lakish would talk to someone in the marketplace, one could feel comfortable trusting him with money. Why didn't they say that about Reb Yochanan or any of the other sages of that time? Since Reish Lakish was a bandit when he was young, when he talked to someone, he could tell immediately if he was honest or not; but the other rabbis, who grew up pious, weren't able to tell. 

This instills in us a powerful lesson.  Most of us weren't created with the desire only to do good; we tend to have to work on ourselves to get rid of the natural inclination for bad & push ourselves to do good. However, we see that that's really the goal, the one who was born with the desire to only do good isn't as great as the one who has to work on himself. As well, just like Reish Lakish & Rivka who had a better sense of what people were all about, we, too, could learn not to be fooled by phonies.

When Reb Shlomo Wolbe & Reb Moshe Shmuel Shapiro started a yeshiva in Be'er Yaakov they asked the Chazon Ish to speak to the Roshei Yeshiva to send them "good" students. “Good bachurim”, the Chazon Ish replied, “don't need a yeshiva. It's your job to help others become good.” 

Instead of letting your desire for bad get you down, know that to overcome it is the ultimate!

Chayei Sara

After the events of the akaida at which Yitzchok was almost sacrificed,  Avraham decided that he would find a wife for his son. He made his servant, Eliezer, swear that he would search for a wife for him back in Charan, the land of Avraham’s family. Eliezer goes to Charan to look for the right girl for Yitzchok. In order to ascertain if the girl would be right for Yitzchok, Eliezer had to know that she possessed the trait of chesed, kindness. ‎

Eliezer prays to Hashem that he find the right one & made a test for the girl he chose to pass to prove that she possessed this trait of chesed. והיה הנער אשר אמר אליה הטי נא כדך ואשתה , let it be that the maiden to whom I shall say, please tip over your jug so I may drink, ואמרה שתה וגם גמליך אשקה , and who replies, drink and I will even water your camels, אתה הכחת לעבדך ליצחק, her, will You have designated for your servant, for Yitzchok. 

The Ben Ish Chai says if you analyze the pesukim you will see that what actually happened was a little different then what Eliezer had asked for. He had asked that when he asked for water, her response should be, “drink & I will even water your camels”.   What she actually said was, drink & then she gave him the jug to drink from & then when he was finished drinking, she said, “I will also give your camels to drink.”      

He explains from the Bais Aaron who says that everything was supposed to happen just as Eliezer had asked. However, there also had to be a reason & intelligence behind her actions. She knew exactly what she was doing; with her actions she was not only showing her chesed, she was also showing that she did things with thought & performed her chesed without any negative feelings. 

What did she do? She gave Eliezer to drink, who drank the water straight out of the jug. She didn’t know him at all and was uncertain if he was clean or if he had any diseases. ‎So what would she do with the rest of the water. She couldn't bring the remainder home to her family. To pour it out on the floor & get new water would be disrespectful so she offered to give the camels to drink so she could use the rest of the water on them & solve her dilemma, showing that not only did she do chesed but she did it the right way. 

Once, when Reb Yisroel Salant was on the train going to Vilna, he traveled alone & dressed like an ordinary person. A man was sitting next to him on the train in the smoking section & Reb Yisroel was smoking. This man obnoxiously said to Reb Yisroel that the smoke was bothering him. Instead of pointing out that he was riding in the smoking section, Reb Yisroel just apologized & put out the cigarette. A little while later, this man calls out again, “I can't sit anywhere near this old man; now he opened the window & it's cold. Again, Reb Yisroel just smiled & said, “I didn't open it but if you’re cold, I will close it for you. 

When the train pulled up to the station ‎there was a large crowd gathered to greet Reb Yisroel. When the man realized whom he had been harassing, he was mortified & went the next day to were Reb Yisroel was staying to ask forgiveness. 

When he came in, Reb Yisroel greeted him warmly. The man broke down, crying bitterly & apologized for what he had done. Reb Yisroel spent a lot of time consoling him & made him feel better. As he was leaving, Reb Yisroel asked him what brought him to Vilna to which he replied, to become a shochet.  Reb Yisroel helped him find a teacher & made sure he knew everything.  Afterwards, he helped him find a job, all to show that he had no hard feelings & the man shouldn’t be embarrassed to see him.

This shows us‎ how far we have to go to avoid harming another individual.  Even when doing someone a favor, one has to make sure not to hurt or embarrass them in the process.  Or if someone is embarrassed already, to do everything in our power to ‎minimize it, thereby accomplishing the ultimate form of chesed!  

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Vayeira

‎When Hashem sent angels to rescue Lot from the impending destruction of Sodom, one of the things they warned him was, המלט על נפשך אל תביט אחריך, Flee for your life! Do not look behind you. Since Lot’s wife didn't listen, she was immediately ‎turned into a pillar of salt. Rashi explains this punishment as midah k’neged midah. She sinned with salt so she was punished with salt. When Lot asked her for some salt for the guests she answered, "do you want to bring this bad trait of feeding guests into this place?"

To her & the rest of the Sodomites, ‎feeding guests was one of the worst things you could do.  There is a custom to wash your hands after you finish eating.  One of the reasons given is that one washes off the מלח סדומית , the salt from Sodom so that it doesn't blind your eyes. Why, however, in a place where there is no ‎מלח סדום, do we still wash our hands after the meal? Answers the ואני תפילתי that so bad was Sodom’s unwillingness to have guests that מלח סדום became a symbol of stinginess for these kind of people; they themselves were wealthy & satisfied, yet blind to the needs of others. 

Our rabbis wanted to teach us not to forget the needs of others particularly when we are content. Therefore, they started the practice of washing the מלח סדומית off our hands when we are satisfied after a meal, symbolizing washing away that stinginess.  

There is a story told about the Chofetz Chaim that emphasizes this point.  A young boy of fourteen named Leib, who was in yeshiva in Russia, was going home to visit his parents. However, the only train that went there left Thursday afternoon bringing him home right before Shabbos. However, the train didn't come until Thursday night & there was no way to make it home for Shabbos, so he asked the conductor where the train stopped along the way to see if there was a Jewish town to stay in for Shabbos. 

He was ecstatic to learn that the train would stop in a town very close to Radin, for his great uncle, the Chofetz Chaim, lived there.  He would go there for Shabbos. When he got to the house of the Chofetz Chaim he was welcomed warmly by the rebbetzin who told him that although the Chofetz Chaim already had gone to shul, he goes early & that he, Leib, must be tired from the journey. The rebbetzin encouraged Leib to lie down for a few minutes before shul. 

‎Leib who hadn't slept the night before was grateful for the offer & lay down on the couch. When he woke up, he saw the Chofetz Chaim, who welcomed his guest, sitting at the table learning.  He told him to wash his hands & daven after which they sat down to the meal. After the meal, they went to sleep, but Leib couldn't fall back asleep. He went into the kitchen to look at the clock but couldn't understand how the time could be correct.  They had just finished the meal, yet the clock said that it was four in the morning!? 

In the morning, Leib asked the rebbitzin if that clock was the right time. When she said it was, he asked how could it be that we finished the meal last night at four in the morning? She explained that when the Chofetz Chaim came home from shul, you were fast asleep. I wanted to wake you for kiddush but the Rav wouldn't allow it. He said to wait until you awoke, for you were exhausted from your trip.  

He would wait to make kiddush when you awakened. However, since you slept so long, he told me & my son to eat but that he would wait for you. He didn't eat with us & said when you got up, he would wake me up, too, so we could all eat together ‎in your honor. Even though you slept for many hours, the rav wouldn't start to eat without his honored guest. 

Imagine coming home from shul Friday night to an unexpected guest & then waiting hours to eat, not even mentioning a word or complaint. Had Leib not seen the clock, he never even would have known what the Chofetz Chaim did for him. This was the total opposite of Lot’s wife & the people of Sodom who wouldn't even give a little salt to guests. We have to remember to look out for the needs of others & especially when we have it good & others don't, to be careful to reach out to them & help in any way that we can!

Lech Lecha

Once Hashem promised Avraham a son, the Torah tells us והאמן בה ויחשבה לו צדקה , and he trusted in Hashem and He reckoned ‎it to him as righteousness ויאמר אליו אני ה ‏, ‎and Hashem said to him, “I am Hashem”. 

The Midrash compares Avraham's discovery of Hashem to a person wandering through a thick, overgrown forest. Suddenly at a distance he sees  a brilliantly lit palace. He wondered, can it be that this palace has no owner? Is there no one controlling it? Suddenly the owner comes out to him & says I am the owner of this palace.
So, too, said Avraham Avinu. When looking around the world,contemplating nature was sure that there had to be a master. Suddenly Hashem said to him "I am the master."

However, does the parable really compare to Avraham & Hashem? When the person saw the palace, he said there must be an owner. When the owner comes out & says I'm the owner, the individual sees him, so something was added to his knowledge. However, although Avraham couldn't see Hashem, he already understood that there was a force behind the world. What was added to his understanding by Hashem saying it's Me? He still couldn't see Him. 

From time to time, every person has a feeling that propels him to want to get closer to his Maker. At first, it's only a small feeling.  If Hashem wouldn't help bring him closer, it would just remain like that, a small feeling.  Nothing would come of it, for the odds are too strong against him. If his friends aren't attempting to get closer to Hashem, chances are he never will either. Therefore, Hashem gives special help to those that really want to get closer to Him. Even though Avraham recognized Hashem, he wouldn't have been able to be the only one going against the world, a world that never heard of Hashem. When Hashem said, I'm Hashem, it wasn't that now Avraham knew more than he knew before; rather that is what helped him to be able to take on the world & be the one to plant faith into the hearts of all who crossed his path. 

It's interesting, says the Ramban, that when Hashem chose Noach for his historical role, the Torah first describes his righteousness.  Now, when He chooses Avraham for his role in the making of the Jewish people, the Torah says nothing of his spiritual greatness. The Maharal sees this question as a perspective on the unique relationship between Hashem & the Jewish people. Were the Torah to 
Infer ‎that Hashem only chose Avraham because of his good deeds, then one could think that any closeness he or his descendants would enjoy is contingent on their righteous behavior. However, that would be detrimental to the relationship, for, as the mishna states: any love that depends on a specific cause is lost when that cause is gone.  So, if the Jewish people would sin, the relationship with Hashem would be over. Therefore, the Torah deliberately doesn't tell us about Avraham’s righteousness to show that our relationship with Hashem is inviolable & can never be nullified even if we stray from Him. 

This lesson is very instructive to us today. Even if we sin or feel that we have sunk too far, Hashem will always be there for us. So, all we need is to feel that little yearning to get closer to Hashem. If we do, He will be right there to help us!

Noach

At the conclusion of the flood which essentially destroyed the world,  Noach is commanded to leave the Ark with all the people & animals that were saved to go out & rebuild the world. 

Noach then built an altar & offered animal sacrifices to Hashem. וירח ה את ריח הניחח ויאמר ה אל לבו לא אסף לקלל עוד את האדמה בעבור האדם כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעריו ,‎and Hashem smelled the pleasing aroma, and Hashem said in his heart, I will not continue to curse the ground because of man, for the design of man's heart is evil from his youth. 

There are a few things in this posuk that make one wonder. First, Hashem had just saved Noach & his family from being destroyed with the rest of the world. When the ordeal was over, Noach brought a sacrifice. What was so special about that that Hashem said he would never destroy the world again? How does the reason that the design of man's heart is evil from his youth relate to that? Was the reason because Hashem liked the korban, which is man doing good things, or is it because man was born evil , so it's not in man's control? Therefore, Hashem won't let it affect the world?

Ramban states that Hashem is speaking in man's defense saying, since people are created with an evil nature, it would not be proper to destroy the world because of them. Ohr Hachaim also interprets the posuk as such. He even compares man to a bull trained to perform in the arena who is not put to death if it gores & kills a person even in a non-sport setting. Since this is what it was trained to do, we don't view the bull as intrinsically bad; rather it killed as a result of its training.  So, too, when man sins, it's not because of a conscious decision to do evil; rather it's because that's what is inherent in the nature of man.  

If that's the case, then what changed after the flood? Why did Hashem just decide now that it's not man's fault & again, what did it have to do with the sacrifice that Noach brought?

Reb Chaim from Brisk was once walking with his students on the street when they saw a wagon driver who looked totally exhausted, weak and slumped over in his wagon, barely able to move.  Yet, when he hit the horses, they went to the left or right as he drove them. Reb Chaim turned to his students & said, “isn't this amazing? The horses are healthy, fit & strong, much more powerful than the driver. With one good pull, they could free themselves of the wagon yet they still stay & are in control of their much weaker master. 

Reb Chaim continued; while the horses have much more power than the driver, that's all they have, power but no brain.  They are horses & can't think; they don't know how to exercise their power for their own benefit. אדם ביקר ולא יבין נמשל כבהמות נדמו ,A person gets from his creator tremendous power to do good; however he doesn't realize or understand the power he has. Therefore, he's compared to these horses who also don't  know the power they have ‎. 

We know that there are two types of teshuva. There's teshuva out of love & teshuva out of fear. Teshuva out of love is much greater, because one is not repenting because of fear of getting punished, but rather because one has a love for Hashem. Another difference between teshuva out of love or fear is that if one repents out of fear of punishment, then one could rationalize in his head what he's doing is OK. That diminishes the fear aspect because one will say that Hashem will understand; it’s not so bad.  In his head he thinks there will be no punishment & he could get away with it. 

However, if one does teshuva out of love then there is no rationalization because when one does something out of love, he will make sure that the one he loves isn't getting hurt; when there is love, one will be so much more careful not to mess up. 

Perhaps this can explain our dilemma. Before the flood, the people were like the horses, not realizing that they had the power to overcome the inherent evil that every person is born with; that's why they led the world into total decay causing Hashem to destroy it.

When Noach was saved, the first thing he did when he came out was sacrifice to Hashem, displaying a love for Hashem. Once Hashem saw that Noach was sacrificing to Him out of love, then Hashem recognized that if man felt a love for Him, then they could break the natural tendencies for evil & use their power that was placed in them to overcome evil & do good.That's why when He smelled the korban that Noach brought, He decided that he wouldn't destroy the world again. 
The key is to focus on our love for Hashem & then, instead of acting like the horse with no clue to what we could accomplish,  ‎we will be able to reach the ultimate heights of getting closer to Hashem!

Beraishis

The Torah tells us that after Adam & Chava are banished from the Garden of Eden, they had two children, Cain & Abel ‎. Abel was a shepherd while Cain was a farmer. In time, both brought offerings to Hashem, Cain from the fruit of the ground & Abel from the choicest of his flock. 
The posuk continues & tells us that Hashem accepted the offering of Abel but not that of Cain causing Cain to be very upset & depressed. ויאמר ה' אל קין למה חרה לך ולמה נפלו פניך , And Hashem said to Cain, “why are you upset & why are you depressed?”

The חידושי הרי"ם ‎questions why Hashem had to ask Cain why he was upset when it's stated explicitly that Hashem turned toward Abel's offering & not his. So, if we know the reason, why was Hashem asking him? The חידושי הרי"ם answers that this is what Hashem was really asking "why are you upset: is it because I didn't accept your sacrifice or is it because I accepted Abel's?”   

Prior to this, we read of a similar incident. After Adam & Chava ate from the prohibited tree, they heard Hashem walking in the garden & hid from Him‎. The posuk then says that Hashem called out to Adam איכה , where are you?
Rashi explains that, of course, Hashem knew where he was, but he asked to start a conversation without startling him.

Once, when רב שניאור זלמן מליאדי was in jail, ‏one of the ministers who was fluent in Tanach came to him & started asking questions, of which, one referred to this posuk. Since Hashem knew where Adam was, why was He asking? The rabbi first gave him Rashi's answer that it was not to startle him. However, the minister was not content with that answer. He said, “I know Rashi's answer; I want to hear what you have to answer.”

The rabbi asked him if he believed that the Torah is eternal?  Answered the minister, yes, I believe”. once the rabbi heard that he believed in Hashem, he gave this answer.     
The call of איכה ,where are you, is an eternal call that is the call of Hashem to every person saying ‎איכה , where are you‎? Where are you standing in the world? What have you accomplished? You’re already 20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90 years old & what have you done? That is the question of איכה.

The last letter of the Torah is a ל & the first letter in the Torah is a ב spelling the word לב , heart. This teaches us that the whole Torah is encompassed in the heart. Reb Yochanan Ben Zakkai asked his students to find the best path that a person should follow. When Reb Eliezer responded, “a good heart”,  Reb Yochanan said that he got the right path, because a good heart encompasses everything. 

So perhaps what the Torah is teaching us is that if we want to be able to answer the call of   איכה , where are you, we have to start with a לב טוב. ‎ Unlike Cain, who wasn't upset because Hashem didn't accept his sacrifice, but rather because Hashem accepted Abel's, we must demonstrate a “good heart”.  Cain’s bad heart brought him to ruin. 

As Abraham Lincoln said;
"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or we could rejoice because thorn bushes have roses". 
Are we upset because we didn't accomplish or because our friend did? We have to learn to have a good heart & look at everything positively & by doing so, everything else will fall into place!

V'zos Habracha

Before his death,  Moshe blesses the nation, defining the unique talents & abilities of each tribe. Before he does so, he recounts the merit that makes the nation as a whole worthy of blessing. Then, in the final posuk before the individual blessings, Moshe qualifies Hashem's kingship over the nation. ויהי בישרון מלך , and He became King over the Jewish people, בהתאסף ראשי עם יחד שבטי ישראל , when the numbers of the nation are gathered - the tribes of Israel in unity. 

Rashi explains that when they are gathered together in a single group & there is peace among them, then He is their King but not when there is discord among them. 
We see how great it is when we're at peace with each other, for Hashem doesn't even want to be our king when we're not at peace. In the gemara, Reb Shimon Ben Chalafta states, "Hashem hasn't found a vessel that holds blessing for the Jewish people, only peace".  

What does it mean that peace is the vessel that holds blessing? Isn't peace itself the blessing? 
‎The Chida answers this question.  When the Kohanim bless us, they conclude with the blessing of peace, for without peace, all the brachos are worthless. He explains that Hashem judges a person by the way he deals with other people. 
This is illustrated by this story in the gemara.  Rav Huna got sick & was about to die. Suddenly he recovered. He said that when his soul got up to the heavens, he heard Hashem say to the heavenly court that since I didn't stand on ceremony to repay those that did bad to me, the heavenly court shouldn't look too carefully at my misdeeds. Therefore, they let me live. 

Continued the Chida, when a person is at peace with everyone, then upstairs they can't prosecute him either. For if they try to prosecute him, that creates challenge & this is a person who stays away from challenge so Hashem doesn't let them prosecute him. Since there is no prosecution on him upstairs, all the brachos will be realized. It turns out that peace is the vessel that makes all the blessings come to fruition.        

The gemara relates a story that, one year, when the Jews came up to Yerushalaim for one of the three festivals, there was no water for them to drink. Nakdeimon Ben Gorion went to ‏one of the princes & asked him to loan him twelve springs of water & if he didn't replenish them by a certain date he would have to pay him an ‎enormous sum of money. The date arrived without any rain. The prince sent a messenger to Nakdeimon to collect the money but was told there  is still time . Every few hours the messenger came to collect but was sent away with the same message. The prince, confident that he would get the money in the end, went to the bathhouse to prepare for his party. At the same time, Nakdimon went to the Beis Hamikdash to daven. Then, as the sun was setting, the rains came & filled the twelve springs with water. 

The אצרות התורה asks if that year was one where the rain was held back because the Jewish people had sinned, what was it that Nakdimon did that would make Hashem change & give rain when he had said He wouldn't? 

The gemara tells us about Rav Preida who had a student who needed to be taught everything four hundred times until he understood it.  One day, while he was teaching this student, Rav Preida was invited to go somewhere. He continued teaching but even after four hundred times, the student still didn't understand. The Rav asked him what's wrong; why aren't you getting it? He answered that since they came to invite you away, I keep thinking that you're going to leave any minute & I can't concentrate. Rav Preida told him, “Ok now pay attention & we'll start over;  he taught him another four hundred times . 

A heavenly voice came out & offered him two possible rewards.  Either you will have four hundred years added to your life, or you & your entire generation will merit the world to come. He answered, let us all merit the world to come. 
Now we can understand why Rav Preida would merit the world to come for his exceptional patience. However, what did his generation do to merit anything?

The רמ"ק,  after he brings the thirteen attributes of mercy that a person should try to emulate his maker with, ends by saying that however a person acts down here he merits to have them act upstairs. For example, if a person shows mercy to his friend, then Hashem will show mercy upstairs & that mercy will prevail in the world. Since Rav Preida had exceptional patience, he caused  Hashem to have exceptional patience with the entire generation. Therefore, they all merited  the world to come. So, too, Nakdimon’s willingness to spend a fortune so that the people would have what to drink, was able to change Hashem's judgment from strict justice to one of mercy. Once mercy was dominant, the rains came. 

This demonstrates how we can be the ones affecting the outcome of the world.  We have the power to control what goes on just by going out of our way for other people. We will have Hashem go out of His way not only for us but  for everyone. Let us be nice & at peace with everyone, then Hashem will be nice to us & bring peace into the world showering all of us wit‎h bracha! 



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Haazinu

Parshas Haazinu, the song of which Moshe spoke in last week's Parsha,  is the song of the history of the nation, for just as musical compositions contain decrescendos ‎& crescendos, so too the history of the Jewish people has its diminished periods, times of calamity, that will be followed by the joyous crescendo of the great finale, the ultimate redemption (Torah Treasury) 

One of the stanzas in this song is הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט, The Rock, perfect in His work, for all His ways are justice. However, it's difficult to accept this, for all too many times, we see the righteous one begging for a piece of bread to calm his hunger & a coat to warm himself, while the wicked one has all that he needs. This is the age old question of why does the tzaddik suffer while the rasha indulges? 

This is exemplified by the Chofetz Chaim’s wife, when their poverty got to her, asked her husband why the neighbor who is an ignorant boor, whose children are rude & ill-mannered  gets taken care of by Hashem. They’re wealthy & have all that they need. We, who you are totally sanctified in Torah with children who are fine & good mannered, yet we live in abject poverty! Where is the justice?   

The Chafetz Chaim then asked his wife, would it be fair that that person whom Hashem didn't give much intelligence, ‎who never experienced the light of Torah & who wasn't successful in bringing up his children the right way should he be punished with poverty too?  You, whose husband is a Ben Torah & you have a love for Torah & your children are good mannered & on the right path, would it be fair to make you wealthy too? Would that be fair? 
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Of course, to most of us that's a very hard level to reach to be able to think like that.  How can we come to some understanding not to question Hashem?

The אבן עזרא was once asked this question and answered with the following true story.  Two men were traveling. When they sat down to eat, one of them had three loaves of bread while the other only had two. As they sat down, a third man came & said to them, my brothers I'm starving. I have no food; please share your bread with me & I will pay you. They sat down to eat together & the three men ate the five loaves of bread. After they finished, the guest paid them five coins. The question arose of how to split the five coins. The one with the three loaves said he deserved three coins because he had three loaves while the one with the two loaves said they should split it because the guest ate from both of them equally. Not able to come to an agreement, they came to the Rav of the town.  The Rav said that the one who had three loaves should get four coins & the one who had two should only get one coin. 

When the people heard that psak, they asked the אבן עזרא what kind of psak is that?  The Rav gave him even more than he asked for? He asked for three & the Rav gave him four? When the אבן עזרא heard their question, he said, "if you people can't even understand the reasoning of a mere mortal, a flesh & blood judge, how can you expect to understand the reasoning of Hashem? I will explain the Rav’s ruling. 

Each of the three men ate a third of the bread for they ate together. If you split each loaf into thirds, you have fifteen thirds. So each of the men ate five thirds. It comes out that the one who had two loaves ate five thirds so he only gave the guest one third. Therefore, he gets one coin.  The one who had three loaves or nine thirds, also ate five thirds leaving four thirds over that the guest ate so he gets four coins. 

We have to realize that we will not be able to understand the reasoning of Hashem. All we need to do is have faith that Hashem knows best.  It was my grandmother's first yahrtzeit this week & I was reading an interview she did years ago on the war. She was asked, "how did you keep your faith in G-d during the Holocaust & afterwards? Her answer I think sums up this concept. 
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"I just kept it. Some people lost their faith, but a lot of people who didn't keep any of the laws before, became frum afterwards. I just felt that the only way that could happen was if Hashem wanted it to happen. Otherwise it would have been impossible. There must have been some reason for Hashem to do this. I simply didn't question anything. Once you start questioning this kind of thing,  you’re in trouble. I guess I just accepted things the way they were. There are some things we simply do not understand. There is an awful lot in the Jewish religion that  we just don't understand, and we cannot. Faith is what you can't see & you don't understand, but you have faith anyway!‎"


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Vayelech

Moshe begins this parsha by speaking to the people, telling them that it has come time for him to leave this world & that he will no longer be leading them. ‎He continues that Hashem will take them into the land & destroy the nations that stand before them.  He concludes with חזקו ואמצו, be strong & courageous , אל תיראו ואל תערצו מפניהם , do not be afraid and do not be broken before them, כי ה אלקיך הוא ההלך עמך, for Hashem your G-d - it is He who goes before you , לא ירפך ולא יעזבך, He will not loosen His hold on you nor will He forsake you. 

The חיד"א asks, “why does the posuk start off in plural:  ‎אל תיראו ואל תערצו מפניהם & then end in singular ‎כי ה אלקיך הוא ההלך עמך‏ ? He answers that it's to teach us that when there is complete ‎‏unity among the Jewish people so they were considered all like one, then Hashem will be with us & we will have nothing to fear.  Hashem will be with us & not forsake us. 
 
‎How do we attain this goal? How can we as a people unite so that we will have Hashem on our side & have nothing to fear?

The parsha begins, וילך משה , Moshe went. There are numerous commentaries on why the Torah uses the word וילך , that Moshe went. Eben Ezra says that it teaches us that Moshe went to every shevet to say good bye, to tell them he was leaving this world & not to fear because Hashem would be with them. The Malbim says that Moshe went to each person to get a bracha from them before he passed on. 

Moshe Rabenu, who took us out of slavery, split the sea for us, led us for forty years in the desert, went up to heaven for forty days & nights to get the Torah, this leader, the greatest man to ever live, has nothing better to do than go say good bye to everyone as he's about to enter the next world? He needs a bracha from all the people? 

During World War ‎One, the Chaftz Chaim's yeshiva was forced to move out of Radin & moved to Smilovitz. Then, in 1916, a new refuge was sought as the battle-line drew closer; the yeshiva moved further into Russia, to Shumyatz in the Province of Mohilov and later to Snovsk in the Province of Chernigov, (currently Shchors City, Ukraine). When the Holiday of Sukkos arrived, there was no esrog to be found. Finally, after much effort, they were able to get one set of the four species. After the chazan finished Shemona Esray, he waited for the Chafetz Chaim to take the lulav & esrog before he started Hallel. To his & everyone else's surprise, the Chafetz Chaim just signaled him to start Hallel without taking the lulav & esrog. 

After davening, they went over to the Chafetz Chaim to inquire why he didn't take the lulav & esrog. He answered that it was impossible for everyone to take the lulav & esrog because there were too many people. I, alone, couldn’t take it; who am I that I should merit what no one else does? For just some of the people to take the minim wouldn’t be proper for if someone who didn't get to do it would be upset at me, then I would be transgressing a Torah prohibition. It's better to lose the mitzva of lulav than to hurt someone's feelings. he concluded that hurting others is like playing with fire!

Perhaps Moshe was teaching us this too, he went to the people to say good bye &/or get a bracha from them not because he needed to but rather to make the people feel good about themselves. When people feel good about themselves, they are more peaceful with each other which would be the way to have Hashem with them to protect them. We can learn from Moshe that even if sometimes we have to do something which would be beneath our dignity, if it will make someone else feel good then do it anyway. Even more, learn from the Chafetz Chaim that if doing a mitzva would hurt someone in the slightest, he would pass up the mitva. How much more so do we have to be careful not to hurt someone's feelings. Perhaps this year on Yom Kippur, we should take upon ourselves to be a little more cognizant of other people's feelings. We should not just avoid hurting them but go out of our way to make them feel good. With that, we will ensure that we have Hashem on our side & will be blessed with a great year!‎
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Nitzavim / Rosh Hashana

The previous sedra tells us all the blessings which will be given to us when we listen to Hashem as well as the curses that would befall us when we don't listen.  Ramban says this is talking about the future; at some point in time, the blessings will happen & at another point in time the curses will happen. 

Now, Moshe tells the people about these blessings and curses.  When they are in exile amongst the nations of the land, and will return to Hashem to listen to His voice & all that Moshe commanded them today, then “ושב ה אלקיך את שבותך ורחמך, Hashem will return your captivity & have mercy on you.” Then, Hashem will gather us all from the four corners of the world & bring us back home to the holy land. 

All the curses will then be placed on our enemies, those that ‎persecuted us throughout the exile. All the blessings will come to us when we listen to Hashem & keep His commandments. We just need to do teshuva & choose the path of good & be granted life. The posuk goes on to list numerous ways that we choose good, of which one is ללכת בדרכיו, to walk in His ways . 
What are the ways of Hashem? What characteristics of Hashem are we supposed to emulate?

‎In his sefer, Reb Chaim Shmulevits mentions various ways to ensure that one has a good judgment on the Days of Judgment. One of them is דן את כל האדם לכף זכות, judge every person favorably, for the gemara says that if one judges other people favorably, then Hashem will judge him favorably too. 

Reb Chaim asks what does that mean that Hashem will judge favorably? As humans, we're not sure what someone is doing so we can judge him either for good or bad. However, Hashem knows the person’s intentions. He knows exactly what's going on, so how can we hope that He judges us favorably?

He explains, the posuk says, "there is no one righteous in the land that does only good & does not sin" meaning that even though the tzaddik doesn't actually sin & do bad things, in the good that he does there might be something that's lacking, or he didn't do it happily or to its fullest extent etc.  Included in the Mitzva to judge people favorably is the occasion when one sees someone doing something good with some bad possibly mixed in. Rather than thinking that he's doing it for ulterior reasons, one has to think that he's doing it only because that's the will of Hashem. So, מידה כנגד מידה, Hashem will judge his actions by the good that's in them not the bad. Even if his mitzvos are not done one hundred percent, he will be judged by his good intentions. 

Similarly, says the Chafetz Chaim, one has to be very careful to judge people favorably, for by this very judgment, one seals his own fate. We know that the merit of a person is based on how many mitzvos or avairos he has. We also know that if Hashem would judge us strictly, not many of us would have too many mitzvos. After all, many are done without the proper intent & enthusiasm, or they are lacking in some other way. If, however, Hashem judges us with mercy, then the good parts of our mitzvos will be what He looks at & our mitzvos will count. More than that, He will see our sins as lacking intent or that they were accidental. No matter what we do, Hashem can really make it go either way depending on what He focuses on. 

What He focuses on depends on how we judge other people. If we always looked to see what the bad was in what people were doing, then Hashem will look to see the bad in what we're doing. If we look to always see the good in what people are doing, then Hashem will look to see only the good in our actions. 

Sometimes we don't even see someone doing anything wrong but just think that it must have been this person that hurt us because who else could it be? We have to learn to not jump to conclusions as can be exemplified by the following story.  There was an egg merchant in Jerusalem who, during a bad economic year, started noticing that every morning he was short thirty eggs. He realized that there must be a thief & started checking to see how he might have entered. Not seeing any forced entry, he came to the logical conclusion that it had to be his neighbor in the store next to him. However, he couldn't catch him. Day after day, the same scene repeated. At his wits end, he went to Rav Shmuel Salant & told him of his problem & asked what he could do to confront his neighbor. 

Rav Shmuel told him to boil up thirty eggs & put them on the top of the egg pile.  The man was wondering how that could help but did what he was told, listening to his Rav even though he didn't understand. In the morning when he opened the store, imagine his surprise when he saw a huge snake dead on top of the eggs! It became clear that this snake was the thief & would eat the eggs.  Now, when he ate them hardboiled, he choked & died.  
Had he confronted his neighbor, imagine the embarrassment.  

This is how we should be careful to emulate Hashem, מידה כנגד מידה , knowing that Hashem will treat us as we treat other people. For, if we would take it ‎to heart & really believe that we will be treated as we treat other people, then who among us would ever treat someone else badly? No one would, for then he’s just doing bad to himself! Before judging others or jumping to conclutions  we must think if I was doing that, what would I want people to say?

Ki Savo

Upon entering the Land, the Jews assemble at Har Gerizim & Har Ebal to ‎swear their loyalty to the Torah. They recognize the blessings that Hashem gives to those who fulfill His commands & the curses and calamities that come to those that ignore the word of Hashem. 
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After the Torah enumerates all the curses that will befall the Jews if they do not keep the Torah & mitzvos, the chapter ends by saying, אלה דברי הברית אשר צוה ה את משה לכרת את בני ישראל, These are the words of the covenant that Hashem commanded Moshe to forge with the Bnei Yisroel.  Rashi interprets "to forge with Bnei Yisroel" that they accepted upon themselves with a curse & an oath.

‎Asks רב שמואל לנדא, why did Hashem have to make us accept the Torah & mitzvos with an oath which either way we are required to fulfill? Does a master who acquires a slave have to make him swear to do his commands? Does a king have to make his country swear to uphold his laws? They are required to do so without it so why make them swear?

‎Before the Torah lists the curses, it tells us of all the blessings we will get if we keep the Torah & mitzvos. One of them is ברוך אתה בעיר וברוך אתה בשדה ‏, blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. The Meged Yerachim says that this beracha has a lesson attached to it too. There are people who have two different standards of behavior, one for the shul & one for the home. Those who observe this person in shul will think that he\'s the paragon of piety while his behavior at home leaves much to be desired. The shul which is בשדה has no similarity to his home which is בעיר. 

The beracha is that one who follows Hashem’s mitzvos will have his mundane affairs positively affected by his spiritual ones & the same level of piety displayed in shul will come home with him. People might act differently in shul and in public because sometimes people are embarrassed to openly display their commitment to Torah & mitzvos for fear of being called old fashioned; so the Torah is saying if you want to be blessed you must remain loyal to the Torah even in the public eye. However, sometimes people find that hard to do. How can we motivate ourselves to remain loyal no matter where we are?

Perhaps ‎we can answer our original question with the answer to this. The reason we had to accept the Torah & mitzvos with an oath is to help us when we are out in the city. We know that there are times when we don't want to do things & can rationalize not doing them. However if you also promised someone to do it, then even your rationalization won’t help because of your promise. 
Maybe here too, there are times when one is out in the city where one can rationalize not staying committed to mitzvos & the Torah. However, having sworn to keep them might be the push needed to ensure that one keeps the commandments even when one is out of one's comfort zone ‎& in return merit the blessings of Hashem no matter where one is!
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Ki Seitzei

This parsha contains more commandments than any other. One commandment states, כי תבנה בית חדש , when you build a new house,ועשית מעקה לגגך, you must put a gate around the roof.  
The Ben Ish Chai has a very interesting take on this Posuk.
‎The clever person is never standing still; his thoughts are always full of new ideas & plans - whether it be materialistic, how he's going to succeed in business, or in spiritual matters, how much he plans on accomplishing in Torah. However, when those plans don't come to fruition, a person can become depressed. Even though the ideas were great when he started, the shattering of his dream can bring him all the way down. 

The Ben Ish Chai continues that even if a person on Rosh Hashana was inscribed for great things to happen, it's possible for a person to have reality changed to illusion. If a person is always dreaming about great things happening to him so that it seems real, so Hashem, figuratively speaking, isn't obligated to give it to him anymore.   

There was a story of a person whose business was selling eggs & chickens.  ‎Every week he would go into the Arab village, buy some chickens & eggs, go back to his town & sell them for a few dollars more then he paid. This way he would eke out a small profit to feed his family. One day, as he's walking from the village to his town with a basket full off eggs on his head & chickens on his shoulders, he begins to think & bemoan his lot as an egg peddler & how hard it is for him to eke out a meager living.

As he's thinking, he gets an idea.  Instead of selling the eggs & chickens, why not bring them home, let the chickens sit on the eggs & then he will have a thousand chicks. Of course they will all be female & have more eggs and then more chicks. His thoughts continue that, in a few months, he could have hundreds of thousands of chickens which he could then sell, ‎buy merchandise from overseas & make huge profits. Afterwards, he will be able to exchange his little hut for a huge house surrounded by gardens. Within a short time he will be appointed the leader of the town. He will lead the delegation that goes to the king on his birthday. He begins thinking about how he will bow to the king when he greets him. Because his daydream was so real to him, he actually starts bowing.

The basket of eggs on his head came crashing down; he fell on top of it killing the chickens on his shoulder & crushing all the eggs. So not only didn't he have the glory of his dreams, he also didn't have his eggs or chickens & was now penniless. Alas, his dreams had robbed him of what little he had.  
 
This, says the Ben Ish Chai, is what the Satan tries to do to us. He wants us to daydream & just think about what we‎ could do rather than actually doing anything.  By having us live in our daydreams, he, in essence, steals from us what we were meant to get for real. Instead, we were living in a dream. 

To avoid this, he translates the posuk as follows כי תבנה בית חדש , when a new thought enters your head on how to prosper either financially or spiritually, ועשית מעקה לגגך that new thought is the roof of the house, while the body of the person is the fence to give the thoughts a boundary, making sure that they don't run wild. This “fence” requires one to take what's able to be done & do it before the thoughts go wild. Then ולא תשים דמים you won't have illusions in your home & you will be able to get the actual good that's meant to come to you!  

Shoftim

Our Parsha begins: שפטים ושטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך, Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities. The parsha then continues to describe how the judges have to conduct themselves with honesty & integrity. Finally, the Torah tells us that if you do these things, you will take possession of the land. Rashi says the merit of doing these laws in enough to keep the Jewish people on their land. These seem like pretty important laws, but how do they relate to the average person?  

The Shela Hakadosh tells us that there are seven gates to the soul: the two ears, two eyes, two nostrils & the mouth ‎whose job it is not to let outside influences into the body of a person. This is what the posuk means & how it relates to every one -  שפטים ושטרים תתן לך בכל שאריך put judges & police on all your gates;  be careful that no bad enters through these gates on your body. Hear no evil, see no evil, don't let smells lure you & be careful how you speak; these are the lessons the Torah is trying to tell us. Let's take this a step further.  

Later on, the parsha tells us the laws of the unintentional murderer & how we have to prepare a city for him & make sure the roads are clearly marked so that when the man is fleeing, he knows exactly where to go. Once, in Radin, two men came collecting; one came collecting for yeshivos & charity orginazations in Yerushalaim and the other for secular institutions throughout Israel. The latter was in town for a short time & left with all that he needed, while the other one had to spend much time working tirelessly to reach his goal.  

This bothered him very much. Here he was doing the right thing, collecting for worthy causes yet, it was so hard for him while this other person had it so easy. He brought his complaint to the Chaftez Chaim who answered him as follows. When the Torah gives the mitzva of the city of refuge, it says to prepare the route with signs & make it easy for the person to run there. There must be clear signs and  good lighting to make sure he can find it easily. However, by the Mitzva to go up to Yerushalaim for the three festivals, we find no commandment to put up signs & make the way clear for the people going up.  Why, for a sinner, we are so careful that he should know where to go but for people doing a Mitzva we let them figure it out on their own.  

What kind of person has to go to a city of refuge? A sinner; even though he killed by accident there is still negligence & a sin.  That is why he has to go for atonement. We don't want a person like that talking to other people asking directions therefore there needs to be clear directions were to go so he doesn't influence other people. However, people that are going up to Yerushalaim are good people; we want them to ask directions & engage other people in conversation so that they could influence them for the good & get them to go. So, too, continued the Chafetz Chaim, that man who was collecting for secular things, Hashem made him succeed quickly so he wouldn't hang around long & influence people for the negative.  However, you, who were collecting for good & would be a positive influence on people, Hashem made it take you longer so that you would inspire people for the good. 

If we take the lesson of the beginning of the parsha & use our natural gates to shield us from outside influences, then, as we are walking around all day meeting people from all walks of life, we can be a positive influence by showing that leading a pure life makes us better people, more caring, kind & considerate. By example then, we will have a positive influence on all those around us!

Re'eh

There is an argument in the gemara between Reb Meir & Reb Yehudah regarding a verse in our parsha. The posuk says בנים אתם לה אלקיכם you are children to Hashem your God. Reb Yehudah states that the Jews are only considered children of Hashem when they comply with his wishes. Reb Meir disagrees, maintaining that even when the Jews do not display the proper respect & devotion to Hashem, they still enjoy the special status of being "children of Hashem". Rashba notes that although in disputes between Reb Yehudah & Reb Meir we usually follow Reb Yehudah, in this case we follow Reb Meir. Thus, Jews are irrevocably & unconditionally deemed children of Hashem.    

The Rabbi of Ludz once came to talk to one of the ministers of the king. As they were talking, the king’s minister was very impressed with the knowledge & sharpness of the rabbi.   He remarked, “How unfortunate is it that you were born a Jew. Had you been born a Christian, you could have risen so far as being the Pope!  
The rabbi smiled and answered, “instead of feeling sorry for me that I was born a Jew, feel sorry for yourself that you were born a Christian. As a Christian, the most you could become is the level of Pope who is serving the "son of God". However, had you been born a Jew, you could have reached a way higher level  ‎of being an actual son of God Himself, for the Jews are בנים לה!  

What does this mean to us that we are בנים לה ? How does it affect each one of us personally? 

When the Chafetz Chaim was very old, already in his nineties,  ‎Reb Chaim Ozer asked him to come to Vilna to speak to the people about family purity.  Because of his age, the Chafetz Chaim didn't go anywhere anymore, However, because Reb Chaim Ozer asked him, he was willing to take the trip. Since his family didn't want him to go, they said they wouldn't help him; but when they saw that he was going out to go himself, barely walking, they agreed to go & took him to Vilna. When he arrived, thousands of people came to greet him. He spoke on Friday night for the women with over six thousand women attending. The next day, on Shabbos, he spoke for the men, with also over six thousand men in attendance. 


On Shabbos late afternoon, he received people with individual ‎needs. One man came to talk to him about his problems. After the Chafetz Chaim answered his questions, he took the man's hands in his & spoke to him earnestly about Emuna until he saw that his words made an impact on the man. When he left the house, the Chafetz Chaim was overheard saying to himself "it was worth it to come from Radin to Vilna just to strengthen one man's Emuna".  Even though he had spoken to thousands of people, he had no way of knowing if it had accomplished anything; but for that one man that he knew he had affected, it was all worth it. 


This powerful story demonstrates that each & every one of us is important for we are all Hashem’s children. Just as a parent cares about each child individually & tries to do what's best for that child, so, too, Hashem treats each one of us as that special child & He will always do what's best for us. Each one of us matters to Him as an individual. So, if we can internalize that & know that Hashem loves us & only wants what's best for us, we should try to reciprocate that love & try to get closer to Hashem whatever way we can!