Ki sisa

Two main themes dominate this week's parsha. First, the parsha begins with the taking of a census for which everyone had to give a half shekel, as the posuk states: זה יתנו  כל העבר על הפקדים מחצית השקל , this they shall give, everyone who passes through the census, a half shekel.
Rabbeinu Yona teaches that charity has the power to protect one from suffering, pending his repentance from sin. Furthermore, it can even delay a Divine death sentence from being carried out, as the famous posuk states: צדקה תציל ממוות, charity rescues from death. The Simchas Aaron says that we see this same concept from our posuk, for we can translate the posuk as follows: כל העבר על הפקדים, whoever transgresses the commandments, זה יתנו מחצית השקל, he has to give the half shekel. By giving charity one can buy himself time to repent so that he won't get punished for his sins.

The Alshich explains that we have to give a half shekel and not more or less, to demonstrate that every Jew alone is merely a fragment. Only by linking ourselves to others can we be complete. The Toldos Yaakov Yosef takes this a step further and says that this is also referring to a spiritual sense. One shouldn't think that just because he is wealthy in Torah and mitzvos, he plays a more significant role than his spiritually destitute brother. Also, one who is spiritually destitute shouldn't look down on his own contribution to the spiritual welfare of the nation. Each Jew, no matter who, fulfils his unique contribution to the nation as something​ that only he can fulfill and will be complemented by someone else fulfilling the other half.

Following this theme, the parsha relates the incident of the עגל, the golden calf, where Moshe went up to get the luchos and when he came back down the Jews had made a golden calf to replace him. The people thought he was dead and wanted an intermediary between them and Hashem. When he came down and saw them dancing around the golden calf, he broke the luchos and punished the sinners. Afterwards, he said to Hashem, “yes, they made​ a great sin; however, either forgive them or erase me from your book. Rashi says it means erase me from your whole Torah, so that people shouldn't say about me that I wasn't worthy to ask forgiveness for them.

Rav Nosson Wachtfogel explains Moshe’s words as follows: people shouldn't say I didn't daven for them because I didn't trust that Hashem would have pity on them and forgive them.There is no greater honor to Hashem then having complete trust in Him, that no matter what, he will have mercy and forgive. Conversely, there is no greater disrespect than one who doesn't trust Hashem fully to cast all his burdens on Hashem.

One time, the king of Poland journeyed to the various cities in Poland. Each city he came to, made a royal reception that was befitting the king. One of the cities he visited was the city of Mir, upon which the mashgiach, Reb Yeruchem, said that Mir was the only city that gave the true honor befitting a king. They didn't really do any more than the rest of the cities, so what was the great honor? There was one woman whose husband was on death row. When the king's carriage came into town, she lay down in front of the wheels and cried out, “my master, the king, my husband is sentenced to death and there is no other force in the world that has the power to save him only you. I’m not moving from here until you forgive him and pardon him”. That, said Reb Yeruchem, is real honor for the king showing that all the power is his.

Perhaps, the Torah is teaching us twofold; a person should never think that he isn’t worthy, because, whatever one’s status, he is integral to the Jewish people and no matter what we might have done, as long as we put our complete faith in Hashem, there can always be forgiveness and salvation!

T'tzaveh purim

Our parsha continues with more of the items needed for the mishkan and the making of the clothes for the kohanim. However where normally the posuk says וידבר ה אל משה, Hashem spoke to Moshe, here it says ואתה תצוה, you command, and doesn't mention Moshe's name in the entire parsha. The בעל הטורים says that this is the only parsha since Moshe was born that he's not mentioned. The reason he gives is that when after the sin of the golden calf and Hashem didn't want to forgive the Jews , Moshe said מחני נא מספרת אשר כתבת erase me please from the book that You wrote. And even though Hashem ended up forgiving them we have a rule that when a righteous person says a curse even if it's on condition it's fulfilled. Therefore Moshe's name was taken out of this parsha to fulfill that curse.

The Vilna Goan explains why this parsha was chosen to be the one where Moshe's name was taken out, because it almost always falls out right around the seventh day of Adar when Moshe was physically erased from the land of the living so it's from this parsha that his name is erased as well. However continues the Goan, even though Moshe's name isn't stated explicitly there is an allusion to his name. As we know the letters in Moshe's name are משה, now when you spell out each letter the מ, is מם the ש is שין and the ה is הא, the letters that we see are called the revealed letters while the other letters are called the hidden letters . If you take the hidden letters and add up their numerical value it's 101 and the parsha has 101 pesukim in it alluding to the hidden letters in Moshe's name to show that he's there just hidden.

Another place where we have no mention of a name and we say it's alluded to is the megillah. We know that Hashem's name isn't mentioned at all in the megillah yet we know that it was Hashem who was orchestrating the events , they say that every time it says המלך it's referring to Hashem. The Mishnah says that the megillah can be read on the 11th 12th 13th 14th and 15th day of Adar not less and not more. Rashi explains not before the 11th and not after the 15th. Asks the טורי אבן Why does it say not less and more once it stated the exact days you can read the megilla we know not before or after?

The sefer ברית כהונת עולם says as follows. We know that there are two ways Hashem runs the world one is when He runs the world openly and that's run with the name הוי”ה and then when He runs the world hidden, when His presence is concealed and that's run with the name אדנ”י. Now if you add up the value of the days the Mishnah says you can read the megillah which were י”א , י”ב ,י”ג, י”ד, ט”ו they add up to 65 if you add up the value of the letters of אדנ”י it equals 65 to show us that the reading of the megillah that happened with Hashem concealing Himself shows us that whenever Hashem runs the world when He is concealed like nowadays we should know that He is still there behind the scenes. And what's the number less than י”א it's י and the number more than ט”ו is ט”ז if you add them together you get 26 the exact number of the name הוי”ה to reiterate that the megillah is not at a time when Hashem is revealed and to learn to trust that He is nevertheless controlling everything no matter how it appears to us. I heard a story about the Tosher Rebbi, who had a long line of people waiting to speak to him. There was a poor man on the line who had been waiting for hours and it was almost his turn when a rich man came in and the Rebbi called him in almost immediately. The poor man was upset he thought to himself not only am i poor and have to come here to the Rebbi to ask for a handout i don't even get any respect here i'm pushed aside because someone has more money that me? When he finally got in to see the Rebbi he told him of all his problems and voiced his complaint that even here he's trampled on, the Rebbi smiled and gave him an envelope. He left and as he was going he saw the rich man who offered him a ride home. As they are going the poor man opens the envelope to see what's inside and the rich man looks over and sees that that's the envelope that he gave the Rebbi and it was never opened! He turns around and they go back into the Rebbi the rich man says you never even opened my envelope? You don't know how much is gave you? The Rebbi answered why do I need to know it's the poor man that needs to know, the money was for him. Only then did the poor man realize why the Rebbi let the rich man in before him it was only for his benefit so that the Rebbi would have the money to give him.

This is the lesson of the megillah to show us that Hashem is controlling everything behind the scenes and that even though sometimes what He does seems that it's unfair and not good for us we have to know that it's all done just for us and it's what's best! 

Terumah

After commanding the Jewish people to contribute to the construction of the mishkan, the Torah discusses the various components and vessels to be kept there, the first of which is the ארון, the Ark that contained the Torah.

It was made out of shittim wood upon which the Torah says וצפית אתו זהב טהור מבית ומחוץ תצפנו, you shall cover it with pure gold, from inside and from outside you shall cover it.
Rava elicits from the fact that it says from inside and from outside you shall cover it, that any Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside, is not really a Torah scholar.
The Gemara relates that during Reb Gamliel’s leadership, he said that any student whose inside isn't like his outside can't come to the Bais Medrash to learn and established a guard to implement his policy. It was only after Reb Eliezer took over, that he reversed that decree and removed that guard, so that anyone who wanted was allowed to come in to learn. The Gemara concludes by saying that on the day that Reb Eliezer took over, hundreds of benches were added to the Bais Medrash.

Now it's difficult to understand who this doorman was and how he knew if someone’s inside was the same as his outside. Who knew what people's innermost thoughts were?  הזקן מסדיגורה explains that the doors to the Bais Medrash were locked with a bolt; however, those that really wanted to learn, figured out a way to get in. The ones that would get themselves in by any means were the ones who were the same on the inside as they looked on the outside. הג”ר גדליה אייצמן asked why does it say that on that day they had to add benches to the Bais Medrash? Why didn’t it count the number of people that were added rather than the benches? He answered that the increase of benches isn’t meant to tell us about the increase in students. Instead, it tells us about the type of student that now came.  Whereas, prior to Reb Eliezer, the students just wanted to learn; they didn't care whether there were benches or if it was comfortable. Their total desire was to learn. Now, however, a different kind of student was admitted to the Bais Medrash who needed creature comforts. Therefore, it was the increase in benches that was significant, not students.

The Gemara also states that when Reb Gamliel saw how many more students there were, he became fearful that he might suffer divine punishment for keeping so many students away from the Bais Medrash. Now, we know that these weren't the ideal students, so what caused him to reassess his position? The Chidushei Harim explained that this influx of new students who initially weren't qualified to come into the Bais Medrash now started to learn, they were transformed into students whose insides matched their outside. The Torah had such a powerful effect on them that they were transformed; When Reb Gamliel saw this he was fearful that he would be punished for not having given them the opportunity to succeed.

The Chazon Ish was very critical of those that insisted on elitist standards for those who should be allowed into a yeshiva. When Reb Shlomo Wolbe asked him to recommend good boys for his yeshiva, he said, “good boys don't need a yeshiva”; the point is to take regular boys and turn them into good boys!

What the Torah is teaching us here, is not to be judgmental. That the way to inspire is not to shun but to draw close. Even if we see people that seem far away from what we interpret as the right way, we have to befriend them and inspire them. By so doing, we will be part of the transformation, taking people who may be struggling on the inside and giving them the chance to excel!

Mishpatim

Our parsha deals with the interpersonal laws that apply between people. For instance, אם כסף תלוה את עמי, when you will lend money to my people. Rashi tells us that normally when the Torah says אם it's translated as “if”, which implies that it's optional; this is one of three places in the Torah where it's translated as “when”, which makes it a requirement.

We know that the highest form of charity is to give someone a loan, for it is better to help someone maintain his dignity by giving a loan during a hard time rather than waiting until the person is totally down and needs a hand out.

There is a posuk in משלי that says צדקה תציל ממות, charity saves from death. The בן איש חי asks how does it work that an inanimate object can save a living being? We see by the קרבנות that they can atone for sins and save a person from punishment; however, they are live animals, so it might be the concept of a soul for a soul.  How, though, does it work with money that's inanimate? The יערות דבש explains that when a poor man brings a Korban mincha, he brings a small measure of flour. The midrash says that Hashem looks away from what was supposed to come to Him. Then the midrash continues and says this is what is written, “search Hashem and find Him when He is close, because He will forgive.”

Now, what does the Korban of the poor man have to do with searching out Hashem?  יערות דבש explains that if a person becomes weak with great pain, so he can't daven properly, there is one thing he can do to help which is crying out to Hashem. Even a plain cry without heart can still reach the heavenly throne.
This he learns from the poor man's Korban. Despite the absence of a soul in his Korban, Hashem looks away and accepts it anyway because of the plight of the poor man, so, too, by davening, if a person has troubles, and can't bring the complete tefilla, then Hashem will accept even just a cry just as He accepts the poor man's lifeless Korban.
We can apply this concept to money, too. Charity was designed for the poor man, for he needs the inanimate money. The same way Hashem equated the poor man's inanimate Korban to that of a live one, so, too, Hashem does this same kindness with the rich man who gives charity. As far as his inanimate object is concerned, Hashem considers it like something that does have a soul and can stand as redemption for his own soul and save him from death.
There's a powerful story that shows us just how true this is.
A person, who was in charge of free loan fund from which many people benefited, had specific hours every night when he made sure to be there on time to help the people that needed it. One night, he was very busy with a family simcha when he realized he had to leave right then so as not to be late. As he ran out, his family member stopped him and said, “you have to take your clothes so you can change and come straight to the wedding”, but he said, “no, if I wait another minute, I'll be late to open the fund. People need their money. I'll come back later to change”. That night, after closing the fund, he came back home to change. As he was changing, he heard crying coming from the kids’ room. He went in to check what was going on and saw that his niece was burning up with fever with a terrible cough. He called Hatzolah who took her straight to the hospital.  Afterwards, it was determined that, had he arrived a few minutes later, it would have been too late. The only reason he was home then was because he didn't want to be late to open the fund. In the merit of distributing charity and free loans, the child was saved!