Tzav

Our parsha discusses many of the laws of the Korbanos that a person has to bring for various reasons. Chazal inform us that, even though we don't have Korbanos now, tefilla takes the place of the korbanos. 

The Maharal tells us that ‎the korbanos were to show a complete subjugation to Hashem, that no other power exists except for Him.  If that's the purpose of the Korbanos & Tefilla takes the place of the Korbanos, then the purpose of tefilla is to show a complete subjugation to Hashem, to know that He is the One that creates and maintains all life & that He is the only One who deserves our praise. 

‎The Megilla describes Mordechai’s reaction to Haman’s decree,   ויזעק זעקה גדולה ומרה , and he cried loudly & bitterly. The Midrash tells us that the reason for Mordechai’s rise to greatness was that he davened all the time; he was constantly being misspallel to Hashem. So much so, that even after things were turning around for the Jews, with Haman having to lead Mordechai around town on the horse, immediately וישב מרדכי , Mordechai went right back to what he was doing before, davening to Hashem. 

Mordechai's greatness came from his constant davening which shows us that a person who davens at all times recognizes that Hashem is the only One that who can influence any situation. It's only Hashem that has the power to do anything that affects our lives. This solid faith brings one closer & closer to Hashem & propels him to greatness. 

There was a story told of a young kollel rabbi who for years had no children. He went with his wife to doctor after doctor ‎to no avail. One day he was talking to a friend & poured out his heart to him telling him his problem having done all that he could do, visiting every doctor. He didn’t know what else to do. His friend advised him to go to America to some of the top doctors in the field. Left with no choice, the young rabbi went with his wife to America to the top doctors.  

After weeks of tests & months of trials, the doctors in America also gave up hope. However, there was one doctor that they hadn't seen yet; the top doctor in the world with a waiting list requiring months to see him. However, they had no choice, so they waited & finally got to him with all their test results.  After hours of looking through everything & doing his own tests, the doctor called them in to his office for this diagnosis. My conclusion, after hours & hours of research to figure out the problem, is that there is no problem. Therefore, I can't cure you. For whatever reason, you’re not having children is beyond me. The doctor continued, “I see that you & your wife are religious Jews, so the only thing I can tell you is pray to your G-d for only He can help you. 

When they heard the words of the doctor they were filled with such heartache & pain, they went back to where they were staying, crying bitterly the whole time. At mincha time, the young rabbi went to daven where he started davening and crying from the depths of his heart. As he's davening, he started thinking how this all must be a test from Hashem to show him that there is no power in the world, no doctor that could help him. The only help that he could count on is Hashem.  

From the depths of his heart, he said, "Hashem I want to ask You forgiveness for trusting that the doctors could help me, for putting my faith in them. Now I recognize that there is no power other than You & from today on I will only put my faith in You; please help me”.

Nine months later they had a son!

Vayikra

Sefer Vayikra introduces us to the laws of sacrifice. One of the rules is that every Korban had to have salt on it- ולא תשבית מלך ברית, you may not discontinue the covenant of salt. The Gemara tells us that Raish Lakish equated this mention of ברית by salt to the mention of ברית by יסורים, hardships, that just like salt tenderizes the meat so too hardships tenderize a person by erasing his sins. 

The Sefer Shomer Emunim says that all hardships, even small hardships, that a person faces on this world, cleanse him from needing hardships in the next world, for even small hardships in this world one is saved from great punishment in Gehennom. This is true only if one believes and recognizes that it's coming from above and doesn't question Hashem. If one would understand this, then, at the advent of hardships, one would dance with sheer delight at the opportunity that Hashem is giving him 

The Chafetz Chaim says that one should accept hardships humbled and not try to run away from them for it is impossible for one to run away from that which is coming to him. The Steipler writes similarly that all one’s troubles are decreed on him on Rosh Hashana & there is no way to run away. If one tries to avoid these troubles, then another one will just come in its place. 

Chazal tell us that no one can avoid hardships; praiseworthy is the one whose hardships come from Torah. As we just said, there is no way to avoid hardships completely. Even if one could, he would be losing out on the eternal benefits. So what can we do to make our hardships as easy to handle as possible, while still receiving the eternal benefit of having sins erased? 

Once, Reb Elchanan Wasserman came to a town to collect money for his yeshiva. He asked one of the rabbis of the town to come around with him to the people to help him collect. When the rabbi was hesitant because he was going to be embarrassed to go around collecting with him, Reb Elchonan told him "you should know if you are supposed to get embarrassed, then it will come to you regardless of what you do. You can't run from it, so it's better to suffer embarrassment because of the Torah then having it come from somewhere else. 

Reb Elchanan wrote in his sefer that when one is busy & works hard at doing a mitzva or is embarrassed because of the mitzvah, then Hashem will decrease his work & embarrassment somewhere else

The Vilna Goan was once teaching his students Mussar when he said was that people think that the way Gehennom is described is exaggerated. One should know that that's a mistake, for there is no exaggeration. It's exactly as described. When one of the students heard that, he became physically ill & confined to bed. When the Goan heard how sick this student was & why, he went to visit. While he was there, he got up & said "I had told you that all the descriptions of Gehennom were true. That's a fact.  However, there was one thing I forgot to mention; had I said it, you never would have gotten sick. If a person would know how much the pain & troubles of this world serve to cleanse him of the punishments of the next world, one wouldn't hesitate to accept on himself the worst of hardships. 

Now, since most of us wouldn't want real hardships on this world & also not the real punishments of the next world, the way to accomplish both would be to put all our energy into Torah & mitzvos, for if one were to lose sleep because he was learning or doing chesed, that's classified as hardships.  If one were to be embarrassed in front of his friends for doing the right thing, for going that extra step, then he won't be embarrassed for other things & it will erase his sins.

Let's take this opportunity to strengthen our commitment to Torah & mitzvos not only to get their reward but to ensure that the hardships we endure will also cleanse us of any sins we may have! 

‎

Pekudei

The Torah continues telling us the accounting of all the material that went into the building of the Mishkan and all its vessels. It details how Moshe assembled the Mishkan after it was completed mentioning,  וישם את הבדים על הארן, he inserted the poles into the Aron. 

The gemara tells us that even though the kohanim looked like they were carrying the Aron, really it carried them. Reb Aharon Levine explains that similarly those who financially support Torah, symbolized by the poles, do not raise the Torah & define its standards; rather the Torah, the Aron, will raise its supporters to its own elevated level.

There is, however, another way to understand this. Just like the Aron carried the ones who looked like they were carrying it, so, too, even though we may think we know what's the best way for us, it's all just an illusion and Hashem is really calling the shots.      

There was a story told over by the menahel of a yeshiva about himself. He had a yeshiva with many rebbeim.   He got along with all but one, for no matter what he would tell him, he would immediately forget. Anytime there were new policies or rules, everyone else would comply except for this one rebbi. He would always end up doing the opposite and when confronted would say, “sorry, I forgot”.  

The menahel wanted to get rid of him but had a dilemma. All the students that he taught, excelled. Even students who didn't do well in any other class, did well with him. The parents loved him too, so with no choice, the menahel kept him & had to look the other way. 

The yeshiva was outgrowing its building was and needed larger quarters. The menahel had heard that there was a wealthy man who was looking at a few schools to build a new building in memory of his parents. He contacted him & he agreed to come look at this school, too. 

The menahel continued, “before the day he was supposed to come, I called all the rebbeim together to tell them to make sure everything in their classrooms was in order & clean & neat, to make a good impression on the wealthy ‎man so that he would choose our school to donate the building to. 

The day came.  I was taking the wealthy man from classroom to classroom showing off the children, how well behaved they were & how nicely they  were learning until I got to that rebbi's class. We opened the door & I thought I would have a heart attack. All the desks were turned over, with the kids sitting on the turned over chairs playing bumber cars.  To top it off, the rebbi was on the floor playing with them too!

The rebbi tried to explain he had had a contest with the boys that if they learned very well & finished the mesechta they would have a fun day, so they had finished & this was their treat. I was mortified & knew that I had lost any chance at the new building.  As soon as the wealthy man left, I went straight to that rebbi & told him to pack his bags & leave. I couldn’t take it anymore. The rebbi pleaded with me saying, “I’ve been here so long; I just forgot that he was coming today.” I told him, “enough with the excuses, just go”. He protested, “but I have a wife & ten children. You can't just put me on the street”. To which I answered, “I don't care about your livelihood; you just cost me a building; it's over.” 

A few days later one of the Menahel's kids fell & broke his leg. Then, a few days later, another kid fell into a glass window.  Then, his daughter hit her head & would up in the hospital followed by his wife falling in the street & breaking her arm & leg. Realizing that something was going on, the menahel went to talk to one of the gedolim to ask why was this happening to him and his family. “The first question the godol asked me was did I cause someone pain recently? I told him what recently happened with the rebbi.  He said I was wrong & that I should go apologize ‎to the rebbi, which I did. He forgave me & I offered him his job back which he declined, for he had already found a new job. 

About a week later, I got a letter from the wealthy man saying that he wanted to donate all the money for the new building, for there was something that set my school apart from the rest. At all the other schools, there seemed to be a disconnect between the rebbeim & the students, but in your school, it didn't seem that way. I saw the rebbi on the floor playing with the kids which showed me that they have a great connection. That’s why I want to donate the building.  

Just look at what happened here. The very thing that this menahel thought killed his chances for the donation was the exact thing that got it for him. Instead of just looking away, he ended up firing the reason that he got the donation at all. This shows us that it's not us carrying anything. We have no idea who’s really pulling the strings. We have to realize that we have control over nothing. Therefore, there is no reason to react with anger or lose control, for at the end of the day, it's Hashem who's carrying  us!  

Vayakhel

Moshe summons the people to charge them with the building of the Mishkan. He prefaces those instructions with the command to keep the Shabbos, to teach us that the Mishkan could not be built on Shabbos. However, instead of just telling us not to work on Shabbos, the posuk states instead,   ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה , on six days work may be done. First, why does it say תעשה ,tay-ah-se, in the passive: work will be done. It should have said ,תעשה , tah-uh-se,you shall do? Also, why the need to preface that one needs to work for six days to tell us we can't work on the seventh? 

Reb Shlomo ‎Ganzfried  says that this posuk informs us that only one who believes wholeheartedly that sustenance is allotted to each person from heaven & is not determined ‎on one's effort is able to rest peacefully on Shabbos. Contrast that to one who believes that his sustenance is determined by the amount of work he puts in, he will certainly be troubled all day by the thought that he has to stop working for the day which is hindering him from earning a living.  

A person like that will have a very hard time keeping the Shabbos. Therefore, the posuk tells us, six days work will be done; don't think it's you that's doing the work & making it happen; rather all the blessing in your work comes from Hashem. It's like work done by itself, that's why it says that the work will be done, for it’s really Hashem who's doing the work for you. When a person will internalize this, then & only then will one be able to really keep the next part of the posuk, that the seventh day will be holy for you. 

‎There was a talmid chacham who recounted a story that proves this point. When he was young, his father was a builder who was building the first twenty houses in a new settlement in Eretz Yisroel. The biggest expense he had in the building was the cement, for they had to import it at great expense from outside the land. The delivery came one Friday afternoon in the summer, hundreds of open barrels of cement. 

After they had taken the delivery it was already late in the afternoon so all the workers went back home to their town of Yaffo. Suddenly, the sky went dark & it looked like any moment the heavens would open up & there would be a storm. The workers came running over to the builder & said we have to go back; since all the barrels are open, if it rains, the cement will get wet, harden & be ruined, a tremendous loss. We have to go back & cover the barrels. However, with the time left until Shabbos it would be impossible to do the job without desecrating the Shabbos. The builder said, no! I will not sell Shabbos for all the money in the world. No one should go back and desecrate the Shabbos for me. 

As expected, that Friday night it poured & poured. It was obvious that this man had lost a fortune; however, he acted as if nothing had happened. He still had a smile on his face; he sang zemiros; he talked divrei torah at the meals and acted like he would on any other Shabbos, truly personifying that on Shabbos one should feel as though all his work is done. 

After Shabbos, he started to think about his great loss & how all his cement that he paid so much for, all went to waste. He took his wagon & went to see the damage for himself. As he got closer to his building, he couldn't believe his eyes. All his barrels of cement were totally covered & sealed, nothing was lost. He couldn't believe it & wanted to touch the miracle with his own hands. He went over to one of the barrels, took off the cover, ran his fingers through the cement and, yes, it was still dry & good to use, a miracle. 

Afterwards, he found out that the street pavers had sent people to go cover their barrels of cement. In the confusion of the darkness & the impending storm, they‎ had covered the wrong barrels saving this man’s fortune. This man, whose dedication to Shabbos was unwavering, who acted like he didn't have a care in the world on Shabbos, had Hashem’s protection.  Hashem made sure he was taken care of. So, too, if we could recognize that success happens through the hand of Hashem, then we, too, will be able to really make the Shabbos holy!