Friday, July 31, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Va'eschanan

       AIMeM would like to thank Samantha Azizo for filling in this week

       In this week's Parasha, V'Etchanan, we come across two of the most widely known concepts in Judaism, the Ten Commandments, and the Shema. Of course one can say that this Parasha is filled with insight and depth into the basic tenants of our lives as Jews, however, as important as these concepts may be, it is imperative to realize that in truth, every passuk in this week's Parasha carries depth, insight, and an important message. Having said that, zeroing in on one seemingly insignificant pasuk teaches us an essential lesson.
       In perek 3 pasuk 29, the Torah says "וַנֵּשֶׁב בַּגָּיְא מוּל בֵּית פְּעוֹר"- "and we settled in the valley, opposite Beit Peor". At first glance the passuk seems to be simply retelling the history of Bnei Yisrael and their travels in the desert for 40 years. Yet, by breaking down the passuk one can propose a deeper explanation.
       The first word "וַנֵּשֶׁב", means to sit or settle, and the next word "בַּגָּיְא" means valley, as translated above. It is from these words that one can derive the message. In Judaism, a person can never "sit" or "settle" on the level that he or she is currently on. Doing so will lead us to a "valley", which is defined as a low place. Being a Jew and striving to create a meaningful life and relationship with Hashem requires constant movement towards growth and ascent. Otherwise, as often seen, a person will tumble right down into a lower level.
       To further establish this concept one can take a look at the end of the passuk. It ends, "מוּל בֵּית פְּעוֹר"- meaning that Bnei Yisrael settled near this place. Beit Peor represents the idol known as Baal Peor, and references an incident when Bnei Yisrael succumbed to the enticements of Moav and worshipped this idol. This is meant to reinforce the above idea that if we settle on the level we are on, and we do not attempt to reach a higher level, not only will we be stuck in a valley, but we will likely fall into the most grievous of sins, such as avoda zara. 
       There is a commonly used analogy to portray the above lesson involving a downward escalator. If a person gets on a downward escalator but wants to climb upwards and remain on the top, one cannot simply stop on a step. Stopping will pull a person downward until he or she reaches the bottom, exactly where they do not want to be. So too in the life of a Jew; a Jew must persistently climb upwards towards the "top of the escalator". Stopping on this incline will only result in a decline, which will ultimately lead to falling back to the lowest point.
       The same idea can be seen with the configuration of the Mizbeach (altar). In Shemot 20:23, Hashem tells Moshe that the Mizbeach should NOT have steps, but a ramp leading up to it. The simple p'shat explanation of this commandment is for the sake of preserving modesty within the nation to the highest degree. However, the deeper understanding of drash tells us that the ramp represents a constant need to go forwards. Gravity will pull a person down if he or she stops in the middle of a ramp. In other words, stopping one's spiritual growth is not an option! 
       It is now clear that this seemingly minor passuk carries a timeless lesson for all of us. Being Jewish means we are always reaching for something more, always trying to climb higher in every aspect of our spiritual health. Of course one should note that rushing one's growth process can be dangerous, but stopping and settling on the level we are currently on is just as bad. Time and time again our nation has never settled for less which has truly allowed us to persevere throughout the ages.


Shabbat Shalom! 

Samantha Azizo is originally from Queens, NY. She studied for three years in Baer Miriam Seminary in Har Nof. She is currently working on a degree in Business Writing. She is a first-time contributor to AIMeM.




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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Devarim (Message for Tisha B'Av)

       Sefer Devarim is Moshe’s final address to the Bnei Yisrael. The entire sefer contains the information Moshe felt was most vital to give over before he died; by viewing it as such, we can gain great insights into Moshe’s thought process as the Bnei Yisrael were about to enter Eretz Yisrael. Parshas Devarim specifically contains a lot of mussar given by Moshe to the nation.
       At the beginning of Shlishi, Moshe is telling over the story of when Bnei Yisrael wanted to send the spies into Eretz Yisrael. The first pasuk of Shlishi says, “וַתִּקְרְבוּן אֵלַי כֻּלְּכֶם“And all of you approached me” (Devarim 1:22). Rashi explains that Moshe was saying this as a rebuke; they came so quickly and so forcefully to Moshe, that no one showed any respect for each other. The younger people pushed away the older people, and the older people did not show any respect to the leaders of the nation. This, Rashi explains, is a contrast to how they acted at Har Sinai, where everyone treated each other with the proper respect. (Rashi learns this out from the pasuk in 5:20 that discusses the giving of the Torah.)
       The simple explanation is that Moshe was rebuking Bnei Yisrael by telling them how well they had acted earlier and how had badly they acted under similar circumstances later on. Asks the Kli Yakar, if Moshe is rebuking Bnei Yisrael, why does he need to mention Har Sinai? Why can’t he just say that they acted poorly by the Meraglim?
       He explains that this is really a lot worse than what Rashi originally said. When Moshe saw how the Bnei Yisrael respected each other at Har Sinai, he assumed it was as he saw it, that they all respected each other. However, now that he saw how they acted by the Meraglim, pushing and shoving with no regard for one another, he understood that the ‘respect’ they showed each other at Har Sinai was not respect either.     
        When the nation pushed each other by the Meraglim, they were motivated by the expectation of receiving land and wealth and other physical pleasures. They couldn’t get to the front of the line fast enough! (Remember, at this point, the whole nation was expecting to go into Eretz Yisrael right away. They didn’t think the spies would come back with a bad report and they would end up spending another 38 years in the desert.) But by Har Sinai, when it came to receiving the Torah, the ultimate spiritual reward, all of a sudden they couldn’t wait to give someone else the opportunity to go first, passing it off as ‘politeness’. The younger people allowed the older people to go in front by Har Sinai because they didn’t see any value in Torah for them. “The elders will appreciate Torah because older people appreciate wisdom. We are young, we need land and wealth; we want the opportunity to build the new world, which the elders will not be a part of for too long. So we need these physical things more.” Therefore, they pushed in front when it came to going into Eretz Yisrael.
       It is this middah that led to the destruction of both Batei Mikdash. When it comes to Torah, everyone is ready to honor the other. Sometimes it is legitimate, but often it is because we just want to pass on the burden of Torah on to someone else. But when it comes to making money, we don’t generally try to respect other people’s feelings.
       The first Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because we committed sins against Hashem, the second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because we sinned against each other. Both of these aspects are on display in this story in Devarim. When the younger people allowed the older people first access to the Torah, they were sinning against Hashem by showing that they did not see any benefit in receiving the Torah; they felt that it was unimportant and irrelevant. When they pushed the elders away, (and when the elders also didn’t show respect to the nation’s leaders,) they showed that they cared more about their own personal gains than trying to help out their friend and neighbor.
       Even though we don’t commemorate it until Sunday, this Shabbos is Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both Batei Mikdash. The saddest day of the year. Tisha B’Av is not even about doing teshuva (though it is a good time for it), it’s simply about remembering the Beis Hamikdash and trying to comprehend what we have lost.
       Parshas Devarim always falls out the week before Tisha B’Av. By focusing on this lesson from the parsha, we can see what we need to work on. We must respect our friends and neighbors, by putting their physical and spiritual needs before our own, and repair our relationship with Hashem, by accepting upon ourselves the ‘burden’ of the pleasures of the Torah, and respecting each and every Jew. Every Jew is extremely important to Hashem, therefore, all of their needs, both physical and spiritual, should be our top priority.


Shabbat Shalom!     




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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Matos-Masei

       Parshas Matos-Masei has Bnei Yisrael right on the border of Eretz Yisrael, making final preparations to enter the land. However, two of the tribes were seemingly not as eager to enter Eretz Yisrael.
       The tribes of Reuven and Gad came to Moshe with a request. The pasuk reads, “הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הִכָּה יְהוָה לִפְנֵי עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶרֶץ מִקְנֶה הִוא וְלַעֲבָדֶיךָ מִקְנֶה. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִם מָצָאנוּ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ יֻתַּן אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לַעֲבָדֶיךָ לַאֲחֻזָּה... “The land that Hashem struck down before the congregation of Yisrael is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.’ They said, ‘If it pleases you, let this land be given to your servants as a heritage” (Bamidbar 32:5-6). As the pasuk explains, these two tribes had a larger amount of animals than the rest of the tribes, so they wanted to remain on the other side of the Jordan River in order to raise their flocks in the superior grazing areas found there.
       Moshe, however, is not happy with this request. He gets upset at them, and tells them how the last time someone didn’t want to go into Eretz Yisrael, the entire nation wandered in the desert for forty years! They come back to him to further explain their request.
       “וַיֹּאמְרוּ גִּדְרֹת צֹאן נִבְנֶה לְמִקְנֵנוּ פֹּה וְעָרִים לְטַפֵּנוּוַאֲנַחְנוּ נֵחָלֵץ חֻשִׁים לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד אֲשֶׁר אִם הֲבִיאֹנֻם אֶל מְקוֹמָם וְיָשַׁב טַפֵּנוּ בְּעָרֵי הַמִּבְצָר מִפְּנֵי יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץלֹא נָשׁוּב אֶל בָּתֵּינוּ עַד הִתְנַחֵל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ נַחֲלָתוֹ.” “…And they said, ‘We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here and cities for our children. We will then arm ourselves quickly before the children of Yisrael until we have brought them to their place. Our children will reside in the fortified cities in account of the inhabitants of the land. We shall not return to out homes until each of the children of Israel has taken possession of his inheritance.” (32:16-18). It’s not that they didn’t want to go into Eretz Yisrael or that they were afraid of participating in the war, they were simply being practical. They knew they would need extra space for their considerable flocks, so they asked to be able to set up a place for them before the conquering of the land, and they would stay there even after.
       Even with this explanation, Moshe still was not happy. He made them swear that they would take place in the war equally with the rest of the nation, wait until everyone else was settled in their portions, and only then return home. Why the seeming animosity from Moshe? Once he understands that Reuven and Gad were not afraid to enter Eretz Yisrael, why didn’t he trust them to fulfill their promise?
       Based on an explanation from the Kli Yakar, we can contrive an answer to this question.
       When the pasuk explains the amount of animals the two tribes had, it uses an unusual language. “וּמִקְנֶה | רַב הָיָה לִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְלִבְנֵי גָד עָצוּם מְאֹד“The descendants of Reuven and Gad had an abundance of livestock, very numerous” (32:1). While it doesn’t appear strange in English translation, in the original Hebrew, there are two terms used to describe the amount of livestock, “רַב”, “many”, and “עָצוּם מְאֹד”, “very strong”. Additionally, these terms are listed in different parts of the pasuk. If these two phrases mean basically the same thing, why do we need both and why are they not written next to each other?
       The Kli Yakar explains that each term is supposed to be used separately. The term “many” is used to describe the flocks of Reuven; they were the ones with the massive amount of animals. Gad’s flocks are referred to as “very strong”, because they were particularly fierce. In fact, the gemarah says that they did not need outside protection from wolves because they could defend themselves.
       When the tribes came to Moshe with their second proposal, they told him that they would build places for their animals and only then would they build cities for their children (See pasuk16); Moshe told them they should do it the opposite way, building the places for their families and then their animals. Based on this explanation of the Kli Yakar, we can understand their thought process. Because of the ferocity of their animals, the tribes believed it would be better to set them up as “watchsheep” for their families. Therefore, it was necessary to set up places for them before they set up anything permanent for the women and children.
       However, Moshe was still not happy since this was the wrong way to handle this. These two tribes needed to believe that Hashem was going to take care of them no matter what. More than that, since Reuven and Gad had seemingly found their place of comfort and were ready to settle down with no other issues, the other tribes were looking at these two to see what they would do. Therefore, Moshe told them to first build cities for their children; that they should show the other tribes that they trusted in Hashem to keep their families safe from harm, even when they already had a good guard system available. This attitude then trickled down to the rest of the people. With this attitude in place, the nation was ready to enter Eretz Yisrael.

Chazak Chazak V’Nischazek!


Shabbat Shalom! 

Click here for last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Matos & for Parshas Masei


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Thursday, July 9, 2015

No New Dvar Torah This Week

Sorry, but due to unforeseen circumstances, there is no new Dvar Torah this week. Please click here to enjoy last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Pinchas. We will, B'ezrat Hashem, return next week with a brand new Dvar Torah.
Shabbat Shalom!


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Thursday, July 2, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Balak

       Parshas Balak tells the famous story of Bilaam attempting to curse Bnei Yisrael, but being continuously forced to bless them instead. We have discussed many different aspects of this story over the years, and many more still remain.
       Balak, the king of Midian, sent messengers to Bilaam to convince him to come and curse Bnei Yisrael. The messengers told Bilaam, “הִנֵּה עַם יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם הִנֵּה כִסָּה אֶת עֵין הָאָרֶץ“A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have covered the land” (Bamidbar 22:5). Balak was scared of Bnei Yisrael coming to attack him, so he wanted to hire Bilaam to curse them and take away Hashem’s favor.
       Later on that night, Hashem came to Bilaam in a dream. Bilaam explained his encounter with Balak’s men. “הִנֵּה הָעָם הַיֹּצֵא מִמִּצְרַיִם וַיְכַס אֶת עֵין הָאָרֶץ“Behold the people coming out of Egypt has covered the land” (22:11). Why would Bilaam say that Bnei Yisrael are currently coming out of Egypt, by this time, it’s been almost forty years since then!
       The Kli Yakar explains that, as with almost everything he said, Bilaam was trying to show Hashem that Bnei Yisrael deserved to be cursed. Bilaam looked at all the complaints Bnei Yisrael had made while in the desert and how many times they had said they would have rather had stayed in Egypt. By saying that Bnei Yisrael were still coming out of Egypt, he wanted to show that the influence of Egypt had never left them. If by this point, after spending forty years in the spiritual bubble that was the desert, Bnei Yisrael still had not been affected positively, then they were not so great after all.
       This obviously was not true, but it was not only Bilaam that thought this. The commentaries show how each one of Bilaam’s blessings was really the opposite of what he wanted to accuse Bnei Yisrael of. In one of his blessings, the pasuk reads, “כִּי לֹא נַחַשׁ בְּיַעֲקֹב וְלֹא קֶסֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל“For there is no divination in Yaakov and no soothsaying in Yisrael” (23:23). Egypt was known as the sorcery capital of the world; after being there for over 200 years, the world expected the only way Bnei Yisrael had left was through harnessing some powerful sorcery of their own. This blessing showed this wasn’t true. There was no sorcery in Bnei Yisrael, they had been saved through the work of Hashem. And because they had relied on Hashem throughout their journey through the desert, they deserved to be blessed at this point, not cursed.
       Many of the stories found in Sefer Bamidbar are not so flattering to Bnei Yisrael. From Korach, to the miraglim, to the many complaints, to the very serious story found at the end of this week’s parsha, it’s easy to assume that the generation in the desert was not the greatest people; and we see that Hashem never hesitated to punish them by any of these episodes. And yet, here by Bilaam and Balak, they end up receiving some of the most beautiful brachos ever given!
       Bnei Yisrael spent forty years in the desert. They received the Torah, ate manna every day, built the Mishkan, and experienced countless miracles that showed Hashem’s direct presence in their lives. The bad stories we read about, make up a total of maybe a few months’ time. The majority of the time, they studied Torah and followed the word of Hashem. The proof is in these brachos; going through the brachos, we can see what praises the nation deserved. They only served Hashem, they were modest, they definitely were not affected by their time in Mitzrayim, among other things. These brachos are our way of appreciating our ancestors for who they were, some of the greatest people in history. And imagine, we learn it from the brachos of the wicked Bilaam!
Shabbat Shalom!



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