Dvar Torah for Parshas Lech Lecha

       The first steps towards the birth of the Jewish People appear in this week’s parshah with the introduction of Avraham Avinu, the patriarch of the Jewish Nation. The parshah begins with Hashem telling Avraham to move to Eretz Yisrael, and ends with the promise of a great nation coming through Avraham’s future son, Yitzchak.

       The parshah begins with the first instance that Hashem ever spoke to Avraham, who at the time was still known as Avram. The pasuk reads, “וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ” “And Hashem said to Avram, ‘Go forth from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you” (Bereishis 12:1). The Ohr HaChaim points out that there is no other instance of Hashem speaking to someone without first appearing to that person in some capacity, either through a dream, vision, or a physical object. By Avraham, however, Hashem spoke to him without the assistance of a visual aid.

       The Ohr HaChaim gives two reasons for this. First, unlike anyone else that Hashem spoke to in the Torah, Avraham, from a very young age, actively sought out Hashem. In fact, until that point in history, no one else had ever done this. At a time when everyone was worshipping idols, Avraham looked at the world and recognized that Hashem as the true creator. With everyone else that Hashem spoke to, while they all believed in Him, there was a part of them that did not completely ‘recognize’ Hashem for who He is. Therefore, Hashem had to speak to them using a visual aid in order for His full impact to be appreciated and ‘understood.’ However, because Avraham had worked on recognizing Hashem in a ‘hostile’ environment, and completed this journey over the course of his life, he did not need the extra visual aid when Hashem finally came to speak to him. He had developed this appreciation and understanding of Hashem while overcoming a world full of idol worshippers, and recognized Hashem as the one true God.

       The second reason also has to do with Avraham recognizing Hashem, but from the opposite perspective. For the previous ten generations since Noach, there had not been anyone who had been worshipping idols and then gone away from them to seek out Hashem. Therefore, Hashem was not ready to appear before just anyone, He had to be sure that Avraham was really committed to Him. So He first spoke to Avraham, without a visual aid, and gave him a difficult task, to leave his family and his homeland and venture into the desert. Once Avraham completed that task with enthusiasm, Hashem saw that it was the right time to appear to him. By the others Hashem appeared to, they already had grown up knowing Hashem and had shown themselves to be committed to Him, and therefore, Hashem felt comfortable appearing to them immediately on His first time speaking to them.  

Shabbat Shalom!

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Noach

       Parshas Noach tells the well-known story of when Hashem brought a flood and destroyed the world except for a tzaddik named Noach, and his family. The reason given in the Torah for the Flood is that humans had destroyed society, and had gone so far away from how the world was supposed to function, that Hashem had no choice but to ‘start over.’ After the Flood ended, Hashem made a few structural changes to how man related to the world in order that future generations would not reach the same levels of degradation that the generation of the Flood had reached.

       One of these changes is something that makes a very big difference in our lives, that we may not realize was not allowed until this point in history. “כָּל רֶמֶשׂ אֲשֶׁר הוּא חַי לָכֶם יִהְיֶה לְאָכְלָה כְּיֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב “נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת כֹּל “Every moving thing that lives shall be yours to eat; like the green vegetation, I have given you everything” (Bereishis 9:3). With this statement, Hashem gave man permission to eat meat. For ten generations since Adam, all men had been vegetarians, not by choice, but by the command of Hashem. After the Flood, this was changed.

       The Ohr HaChaim asks why Hashem waited until now to permit the eating of meat, and did not permit it immediately by Adam and the creation of the world. He explains that the permission to eat meat gives humans a certain governance over animals; Noach was given this governance for three reasons. The first reason is that without Noach, Hashem would have destroyed the entire world, including the animals that came with him on the ark. So, in essence, these animals, and their descendants, owed Noach their lives. Therefore, Hashem gave him authority over them. The second reason is that when Noach came off the ark, he immediately brought korbanos (from the animals) to Hashem. It was because of these korbanos that Hashem promised to never again destroy the world. (See 8:21.) Since Noach was responsible for insuring the survival of the world, Hashem gave him permission to satisfy himself from even animals. The final reason is because of all the hard work and effort Noach put into taking care of the thousands of animals he brought onto the ark with him. As a reward, Hashem gave him this extra authority over them.

         None of these reasons applied to anyone at any time before the Flood. Only now, after Noach did all these things in order to sustain the animals, was man given this ‘supreme’ authority over them, and was granted permission to eat meat. Enjoy your seudah this Shabbos! להתענג בתענוגים ברבורים ושלו ודגים!!

Shabbat Shalom!

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Dvar Torah for Succos

AIMeM would like to wish everyone a wonderful Succos and a Chag Sameach! Please click here to enjoy a beautiful Dvar Torah for Succos.

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Dvar Torah for Yom Kippur 5775

       As we stand on the eve of Yom Kippur and look back at the last forty days, it has been…an experience. We have gone through the month of Elul, Rosh Hashanah, and the Aseres Yimei Teshuvah, and we now have arrived at Yom Kippur, the most incredible, holy, and awesome day of the year. A day that represents our final chance to achieve repentance for our sins, our priority is to use these last hours to focus on doing Teshuvah. There is no better time than now to make sure we know exactly how Teshuvah works. Here are a few ideas about Teshuvah to keep in mind as we experience Yom Kippur.

       Every year when Elul comes around, we do our best to improve ourselves. Whether we accept new stringencies on ourselves to improve our behavior and reinforce our commitment to Hashem, promise to dedicate ourselves more to the study of Torah and doing mitzvos and treating people better, we are all focused on becoming better people. And yet, it seems that every year, shortly after Yom Kippur ends, we go right back to the way we acted before, as if nothing ever changed.

       The Gemarah in Moed Katan (27) says that a person who does the same sin over and over again, eventually begins to treat it as if it is not a sin at all! Rashi explains further that from that point on, he will never do Teshuvah for that sin. But perhaps this isn’t true, maybe that person will come to his senses and realize that what he is doing is wrong; will he no longer be able to do Teshuvah? Of course he will! Rather, explains R’ Shalom Schwadron ZT”L, the Maggid of Yerushalayim, what happens is that this person will continue to do Teshuvah year after year and then, following Yom Kippur, will go and do the same sin again. The end result is that this person does not just see that he keeps doing the same sin, he sees that his motivation to do Teshuvah and go back on his bad habits was not real! He’s still doing the same sins! Eventually, because he does not see any value in it, Teshuvah will become worthless to him and he won’t do it anymore! Can you imagine losing Teshuvah, such an important part of our lives! This is what the gemarah in Moed Katan meant when it said that he treats his sins as no big deal.

       This is an idea we must keep in mind. We too see that no matter how much we try and change in Elul, eventually, the whole cycle repeats itself and once again we find ourselves at Yom Kippur asking forgiveness for the very same sins we did last year! Perhaps, chas v’shalom, our Teshuvah is worthless! This is of course not true, our Teshuvah matters very much. We must continue to motivate ourselves to do Teshuvah, let us tell ourselves that perhaps this is the year that we will overcome our Yetzer Hara and our commitments will stick!  

       The truth is, keeping to our commitments from this time of year would go a long way in making us feel good about ourselves, however, it is extremely hard to accept new projects and make sure to follow through on them for a year or even longer! An idea to help with this is to think of a commitment, then take half of it…then split it again and make that your new commitment. Besides for helping avoid the issue of taking on a huge commitment, it is more important that you stick to your commitment fully than try to impress by taking on more than you can handle. Therefore, it is better to take on a small commitment and be able to completely accomplish it, than to take on something big and only complete some of it.

      

       There is a story told in the Gemarah (Avoda Zara 17) of a man named Elazar ben Durdaya who went out of his way to commit some of the worst sins imaginable. One day, he was told that he could no longer do Teshuvah for sins. He went and sat between two mountains and asked that their ministering angels should daven for him. When they refused, he realized, “the matter is entirely dependent on me.” He began crying and davening so hard that he passed away. Immediately a voice came out of heaven, declared him a tzaddik, and that he was going straight to Olam Haba.   

       This story has many different points we can discuss, however, the one I want to bring out is this idea of “the matter is entirely dependent on me”. During Elul, we constantly seek out different motivating sources to help us do Teshuvah. Whether it’s going to a shiur, reading inspirational stories, or looking for that person who can unlock for us the secrets of the universe, we have many different places from which to choose. However, there comes a time when we have to sit up and realize that at the end of the day, the only one who can change us into someone better is…us. No matter how many speeches I hear or stories I read, only I have the power to truly change myself.

       We also see this idea by Yonah, whose story we read at Mincha of Yom Kippur. When a storm hits his boat, even though there were many people on the boat who served idols and were tremendous sinners, Yonah did not think for a second that this storm had anything to do with them. Rather, he knew right away that he was the source of this trouble since he did not listen to Hashem; he did not blame anyone else for one second! (See Yonah 1:12.) This is the most important lesson we can take from this story of Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya, that when a person sins or something bad happens to him, he shouldn’t try to find other outside reasons why this might have happened. He must realize that no one else is responsible for what happens to him besides himself!

       This is our thought process on Yom Kippur. On a day when we are alone with Hashem, there is no one else who can help us change besides for us. Our commitment to Hashem cannot be determined by how outside forces, good or bad, motivate us. A true commitment to change can only come from within.

       Let us use these lessons of Teshuvah and be able to truly commit ourselves to a life as Ovdei Hashem, and be able to carry those commitments all the way until next Elul, thereby showing both Hashem and ourselves how much we really care.

Gmar Chasima Tova!                                                                                      

Shabbat Shalom!  

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