Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayeitzei

       This week's Dvar Torah is in memory of Ezra Schwartz, HY"D. May it be a blessing for his memory.

       This week’s parsha is Parshas Vayeitzei, where the birth of the Jewish People takes place. Yaakov worked for Lavan for fourteen years in order to marry Rachel and Leah, and through them, as well as Bilhah and Zilpa, the twelve shevatim are born. After an additional six years of working for Lavan, Yaakov gets a message from Hashem that it’s time to leave.

       Yaakov was afraid that Lavan would try to stop him from leaving; so while Lavan was away, Yaakov packed up his family and his possessions, and left. When Lavan found out, he and his sons chased down Yaakov and confronted him. A heated argument ensued where we see Yaakov confront Lavan for all the times he tried to cheat him. At the end, Lavan decides to set up a treaty with Yaakov as a truce.

       “וְעַתָּ֗ה לְכָ֛ה נִכְרְתָ֥ה בְרִ֖ית אֲנִ֣י וָאָ֑תָּה וְהָיָ֥ה לְעֵ֖ד בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵינֶֽךָ... אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם וֵֽאלֹהֵ֤י נָחוֹר֙ יִשְׁפְּט֣וּ בֵינֵ֔ינוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י אֲבִיהֶ֑ם וַיִּשָּׁבַ֣ע יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב בְּפַ֖חַד אָבִ֥יו יִצְחָֽק” “And now, come, let us form a covenant, you and I, and may He be a witness between you and me…May the God of Avraham and the god of Nachor judge between us, the god of their father. And Yaakov swore by the Fear of his father, Yitzchak.” (Bereishis 31:44, 53). Lavan offers Yaakov to affirm the treaty through either Avraham’s God (the True One), or through Nachor’s (a false god), whichever he is more comfortable with. But Yaakov takes the third route and swears in the name of “the Fear of Yitzchak.” Rashi explains that this refers to Hashem. What does this mean and why did Yaakov do this?

       Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky, in his sefer, Emes L’Yaakov, offers an interesting explanation. During the Seder on Pesach, we read in the Haggada that Lavan was worse than Paroh since Paroh only tried to kill the Jewish boys while Lavan wanted to eradicate the entire Jewish Nation. The commentaries ask that we do not see Lavan ever trying to harm a single one of Yaakov’s children. In fact, he states multiple times that he loved his daughters and grandchildren very much! They explain that while Lavan did not try to physically eradicate Bnei Yisrael, rather, he attempted to spiritually dilute them until they merged with the general society. Where do we see this?

       R’ Yaakov explained that we find it in this story. When Lavan offers to make a treaty, he actually offered Yaakov like this: “Let’s take the God you serve, the God of Avraham, and the god that I serve, the god of Nachor, and join them to truly bond us together!” He proposed a treaty where the two deities being worshipped, the True One and the false one, would be merged to create one new “religion” that would bond him and Yaakov together for generations; a very practical idea for a treaty. This is what the pasuk means when it refers to “the god of their fathers”. In this way, the service to Hashem would eventually be worn down until there was no actual real Judaism left. In this way, Lavan attempted to completely eradicate the Jewish People, even before they had really started.

       As a counter response to this proposal, Yaakov gave a calculated answer. First, he swore not in the name of Avraham, whose connection to his brother Nachor, Lavan’s grandfather, provided a platform where the two systems of belief could potentially merge. Rather, he chose to swear in the name of Yitzchak, someone who, though he was still related, never had any connection with his idol-worshipping relatives. Secondly, he used the phrase, “the Fear of” to refer to Hashem instead of using the normal Hebrew word for god, “אלוהים”. Both Hashem and false gods are referred to with this name. Therefore, in order to completely detach himself from Lavan’s proposal, he used a “nickname” that referred only to Hashem, the True God, thereby showing that he would only commit to Him and not to an avoda zara.

       In today’s day and age, we come across different situations in society where we feel a need to show our support and encouragement towards these circumstances. While it is always nice and important to show caring and compassion, in each of these instances we must make sure that we go in from a perspective based on Torah. Every instance may be supported, but it must be done with the proper outlook, one based on Hashem and His Torah.

Shabbat Shalom! 

Click here for last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayeitzei

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Toldos

       Parshas Toldos begins by reintroducing us to Yitzchak. However, the introduction seems a little repetitive. “וְאֵ֛לֶּה תּֽוֹלְדֹ֥ת יִצְחָ֖ק בֶּן־אַבְרָהָ֑ם אַבְרָהָ֖ם הוֹלִ֥יד אֶת־יִצְחָֽק” “And these are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham; Avraham gave birth to Yitzchak” (Bereishis 25:19). The commentaries all ask why the pasuk has to repeat itself; after saying that Yitzchak is the son of Avraham, why does the pasuk turn around and say that Avraham gave birth to Yitzchak? Isn’t that the same thing?

       There are several answers given, ranging from simple to more complicated. I would like to focus on the answer of the Kli Yakar.

        At the end of last week’s parsha, the pasuk told us “וְאֵ֛לֶּה תֹּֽלְדֹ֥ת יִשְׁמָעֵ֖אל בֶּן־אַבְרָהָ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָֽלְדָ֜ה הָגָ֧ר הַמִּצְרִ֛ית” “These are the generations of Yishmael the son of Avraham; who was born to Hagar the Egyptian” (25:12). There is a distinct difference between the way the pasuk describes Yitzchak and Yishmael’s lineage; by Yitzchak, the pasuk calls him the son of Avraham and that Avraham gave birth to him. By Yishmael, he is called the son of Avraham, but the pasuk says he was born to Hagar.

       In Hebrew language, there is a big difference between being called someone’s son and someone’s descendent. There are times when a person can be called someone’s son without being a true descendent of theirs. For example, students of a specific teacher are called his children if they accept him as their rebbi, their spiritual guide. A community can be called the children of their leader if they truly accept his authority over them.

       On the other hand, no matter what, there are certain natural tendencies, including behavioral, spiritual, physical, and mental, that all children inherit from their parents. They are a person’s natural tendencies that make up their character before they make any changes.

       This is the difference between a parent and a teacher. The tendencies you inherit from your parents make up your natural state of mind, and are extremely difficult to change out of. However, that which you learn from your teacher does not come naturally, and is gained with difficulty but lost easily.

       This, explains the Kli Yakar, is the true difference between Yitzchak and Yishmael. Yishmael is known as Avraham’s son because he did pick up some good traits by living in Avraham’s house. However, his natural tendencies leaned towards his mother, Hagar; as we see in the pasuk, as soon as he left Avraham’s house, he became a bandit (See 21:20). Therefore, the pasuk tells us that he was truly descended from Hagar.

       By Yitzchak, Avraham was both his father and his rebbi. While he too learned many things from living in his father’s house, even more so, he naturally imbibed his father’s (and mother’s) sterling traits, proving him to be the true heir to Avraham. Therefore, the pasuk tells us that he was both Avraham’s son and that he was descended from him.

       From this parsha, we see how important it is to make the most of the opportunities provided to us. Yishmael had a 50/50 chance of ending up like Avraham or like Hagar; but instead of going towards his Avraham tendencies, he went in the opposite direction. When we are placed in a situation where we can go one way or another, or where we have the opportunity to connect to someone who can lead us in the right direction, let’s make sure we don’t act like Yishmael, and take the proper path.

Shabbat Shalom! 

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Chayei Sarah

In this week’s parsha, Parshas Chayei Sarah, Eliezer travels to Charan to find a wife for Yitzchak, the son of his master, Avraham. The Torah describes in great detail the tremendous siyata dishmaya that led Eliezer to finding Rivka and bringing her back to Eretz Yisrael.

       While on his trip, Eliezer meets the rest of Rivka’s family, including her brother, Lavan. Lavan takes a more prominent role in later parshiyos when Yaakov goes to live with him; however, one aspect of Lavan’s character is shown immediately, starting from our parsha. Lavan was known as a liar and cheat; different examples show this to be overwhelmingly true, including most famously, his switching Rachel for Leah under Yaakov’s chuppah, as well as examples in this week’s parsha and other encounters with Yaakov. However, there is one pasuk in this week’s parsha that paints a slightly different picture.

       “וּלְרִבְקָ֥ה אָ֖ח וּשְׁמ֣וֹ לָבָ֑ן” “Rivka had a brother whose name was Lavan.” (Bereishis 24:29). The Ohr HaChaim brings a medrash that explains that when a pasuk in the Torah introduces a tzaddik, it will write, “and his name was…”, but when talking about a rasha, the pasuk will write, “and…was his name.” So according to how our pasuk is written, Lavan was actually a tzaddik!

       The Ohr HaChaim explains that by looking at the whole pasuk, we can understand what was actually happening here.

       Immediately after he is introduced, the pasuk says that Lavan ran down to the well to meet Eliezer, and the beginning of the next pasuk says he saw the jewelry that Eliezer had given Rivka. Chazal explain that he ran down to see if Eliezer was going to hand out any more money; consistent behavior with our overall impression of him. However, if this was the case, shouldn’t the pasuk say that he first saw the jewelry and then ran down to meet Eliezer?

       Explains the Ohr HaChaim, after coming home from the well, Rivka told Lavan all about this stranger who she was very excited about, but who Lavan saw was clearly making advances on his sister. This immediately brought up protective feelings in Lavan and he immediately raced down to the well to defend his sister from whomever this man may be, without even listening to a proper explanation! But after seeing the expensive jewelry that Eliezer had given Rivka, and listening to him speak, he understood that Eliezer had only the best intentions in mind and was actually paying his sister a huge honor by bringing her into the family of Avraham. At this point, all of Lavan’s suspicions were gone, and he began to plan to separate Eliezer from his money, once again slipping back into his natural state.

       The Ohr HaChaim says that it was from this small act of running to defend his sister that Lavan merited having the Bnei Yisrael come from him. From his two daughters, Rachel and Leah (as well as Bilha and Zilpa according to one opinion) came the twelve tribes of Yisrael, meaning Lavan was the grandfather of the Jewish People!

       While we hopefully will do more mitzvos and kind acts in our lifetime than Lavan did, it’s important to realize the power of a single act. It’s not as if Lavan did something crazy, he was simply following his instinct to protect his sister, and yet, Hashem rewarded him magnificently. You never know which act you do will be the one that affects you, your family, and the whole world for generations to come. Don’t waste the opportunity, this may be it.

Shabbat Shalom!

Click here for last year's Dvar Torah for PArshas Chayei Sarah

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayeira

       Parshas Vayeira begins with Avraham Avinu welcoming guests into his tent. While Avraham’s propensity for chessed and Hachnasas Orchim is well-documented in Chazal, this is the only occurrence in the Torah where his kindness is extensively detailed. The situation at the time, Avraham was recovering from surgery and it was an extremely hot day, make it the best example to demonstrate this great middah of his.

       The three “guests”, actually angels in disguise, were ערביים, Arabs. When Avraham goes to greet them and invite them inside, he makes a strange request. “יֻקַּח־נָ֣א מְעַט־מַ֔יִם וְרַֽחֲצ֖וּ רַגְלֵיכֶ֑ם” “Please take a little bit of water and wash your feet” (Bereishis 18:4). Rashi explains that Arabs would worship the dust, so in order to make sure no Avoda Zara was brought into his house, Avraham made them wash the dust off their feet.

       It is difficult for us to understand the draw of Avoda Zara today, but some are easier to understand than others. To worship the sun or the moon might make sense; they ‘rule’ the sky and they might be the symbols that most represent day to day life. An argument could be made for certain majestic animals or scenery. But why dust? What is so amazing about it that would lead someone to worship it as a god?

       I heard an explanation in the name of the Maharal that provides us with an explanation as well as an important lesson.

       The ancient Arabs (and their modern-day descendants) were extremely dedicated to ‘god’, so much so that they wanted to make everything they did a holy experience. However, they wouldn’t try to find out what god wanted from them, they simply decided that whatever they were doing at the time, regardless of what it was, was what he wanted from them. Therefore, they were always doing exactly what god wanted from them! And they would do it 110%.

       Therefore, even the dust under their feet was holy; since the journey they were on was a ‘mission’ from god, the dust on their feet was a part of this holy mission and connected them to their gods. So Avraham made them wash off even the dust to remove any potential connection to their worship.

       It is this idea of complete dedication that has made them such a dangerous enemy throughout time. They are completely dedicated to their idea of god, and they are in complete harmony with ‘him’. Their fight is with man, and specifically, us. The only way to counteract this mindset is to counter it with complete dedication of our own.

       In this week’s parsha, we see Avraham recovering from his bris milah, we see him desperately looking for guests, we see him praying to Hashem to save the city of Sedom and the surrounding area- a place where there was not even one righteous individual, and finally, we see Avraham willing to sacrifice his only and beloved son, Yitzchak. All this in the name of serving Hashem. This is complete dedication; this is what it takes to be 100% committed to being a true servant of Hashem.

       If we hope to defeat our enemies, we must look to Avraham Avinu and commit ourselves 100% to serving Hashem, and even better for us, we know how He should be served! With this, we should all have a tremendous zchus to see true bracha and yeshua!

Shabbat Shalom!

Click here for last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayeira

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No Dvar Torah this Week

Due to unforeseen circumstances, there is no new Dvar Torah this week. Please click here for last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Lech Lecha. We will, b'ezrat Hashem, return next week with a new Dvar Torah.
Shabbat Shalom!

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No New Dvar Torah this Week

Due to unforeseen circumstances, there is no new Dvar Torah this week. Please click here for last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Noach. We will, b'ezrat Hashem, return next week with a brand new Dvar Torah.

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Bereishis

       Parshas Bereishis is not only the beginning of the Torah, it is where we begin to piece together our understanding of the world and how it works. By reading the pesukim and observing the order and style of how everything was created and designed, we can derive some understanding of how the world is supposed to function. For this reason, Bereishis is the most difficult parsha to understand in the Torah while also being perhaps the most important one.

       After six days of creation, the Seventh Day arrived. The pasuk says, “וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה” “And Hashem completed on the seventh day His work that He did” (Bereishis 2:2). We know that Hashem didn’t ‘work’ on the seventh day because it was Shabbos, so how does the pasuk say that He completed His work on that day? Rashi explains with a medrash that the concept of ‘rest’ was missing from the world until Shabbos when Hashem ‘rested’, so Hashem really didn’t finish creating everything until Shabbos. (Exactly what is the concept of ‘rest’ is discussed in various commentaries.)

       Two questions emerge from this explanation:

       Perek 2 Pasuk 1 says that on the seventh day, the heavens and earth had been finished, meaning that with the creation of rest, the physical world was finally complete. but while rest is integral to our day-to-day lives, why is it integral to the world itself? Can’t it survive without us resting? Why is rest so integral that it is considered a foundation of the world?

       The Sifsei Chachamim answers using a Rashi from the first pasuk in the Torah. The commentaries ask why the Torah starts with the word בְּרֵאשִׁית, which is translated as “in the beginning”, but is not the standard word the Torah uses when describing the beginning of something. It is more correctly translated as “the first” rather than “the beginning”. The medrash answers that this word shows that the world was created primarily for the Jewish People and the Torah, which are both called ראשית (in reference to Hashem’s preference for them).

       Without the ability for Jews to study the Torah, there would be no purpose for the world’s creation and subsequently, the world would fall apart at its foundations. During the week, everyone is hard at work trying to make a living for themselves and their families. As a result, there is little time and energy available to study Torah. However, there is one day each week that is dedicated to rest, a day when no constructive work may be done (by Jews). On this day, we are free to dedicate ourselves to Torah study, thereby insuring the survival of the world through the strengthening of its foundations, the heaven and earth, which are built on Torah. So we see that the creation of rest is vital to the creation of the world.

       The second question is: resting is not an active activity, it is a passive activity; so why is its’ creation called so? Hashem didn’t actually do anything, He just didn’t do anything!

       The Sifsei Chachamim answers that question as well. While the answer to the first question dealt with the spiritual side of creation, this one focuses more on the physical side. Without setting up a plan of rest, where people would work for a certain amount of time before taking time to recharge, eventually people would completely break down physically, leading to the destruction of the human race and subsequently the world. (We are not discussing resting as the need to sleep, that was always necessary. We are discussing more the idea of taking a day off or taking vacation; the need for rest from daily routine for an amount of time after working for a while.) By placing this concept of rest into the fabric of the physical world, Hashem made it normal for people to rest up from time to time and recharge their batteries. And so it is in reality; though Shabbos is a Jewish idea, the concept of a weekend and vacation has developed into a big part of the secular world has well (it was not always that way). Every culture has an idea of using time to recharge their bodies and minds in order to remain productive and healthy.

       Rest is not only helpful for physical exhaustion, but for spiritual needs too. Being physically and mentally tired drains our spiritual resources as well. So while Shabbos is a time to recharge physically, we should use it as a time to recharge spiritually too.

       This is just one example of how studying Parshas Bereishis gives us an insight to the inner workings of the world. In this case, we hopefully have gained a better understanding of Shabbos. As we go through the sefer and study the different stories of our ancestors, let’s keep this idea in mind and hopefully learn more about Hashem’s plans for the world and for us.

Shabbat Shalom!

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