Parenting
By Example
Parshas Haazinu
Posted on June 7, 2002 (5760) By Rabbi Yaakov
Menken | Series: Lifeline | Level: Beginner
“Corruption is not His — the
blemish is His children’s, a crooked and twisted generation. Behold, to HaShem you
have done this, your Maker and the One who established you.” [32:5-6]
The Shaar Bas Rabim provides a homiletic interpretation of
these verses. He says that they provide a profound lesson in parenting.
Some people, he says,
behave incorrectly — and they know it — and yet, it does not bother them.
Although they do not follow the Mitzvos, they
feel no guilt for their actions, nor do they try to improve.
And yet, at the very same
time, they expect exemplary behavior from their children. They expect their
children to follow the path of Torah, to study and perform the Commandments.
And if, or when, their
children deviate from that path, it causes them a great deal of anguish.
Says the Shaar Bas Rabim — they have been ensnared. They are
making a tragic mistake. They need to understand: just as they expect their
children to follow the straight path, the Holy One, Blessed be He, wants that
from His children as well.
The children see that
their parents do not listen to the voice of their Father in Heaven — so why
should they do any differently? By not listening to their parents, they follow
their parents’ example in two ways: through their misbehavior itself, and
through their rejection of their parents’ wishes. This is exactly what they
should be expected to do — so the parents should not be surprised if their
children go off course.
This is what the verse
says, translating just one or two words at a time: “his corruption” — the fact
that he himself is corrupt — “no” — this doesn’t bother him at all; but “his
children” — the same corruption from his children — “their blemish” — it is a
painful blemish in his eyes. This is “a crooked and twisted generation” — such
a person is mistaken, crooked in his thinking. “It is to HaShem that
you do this” — you yourselves are doing precisely the same thing to HaShem, Blessed be He, and “He is your Maker,
the One who established you.” He wants from you, as His child, that you follow
the good and straight path — and if you do not listen to your Father, how can
you then expect from your children that they should listen to their parents?
If you would like to have
children who are upright in their behavior, says the Shaar Bas Rabim, then you must be upright in your
behavior. If you listen to your Father in Heaven, then your children will
listen to your own voice.
We all want our children
to be good people — I think it is natural for parents to want their children to
“turn out better than we did!” We want our neighbors and friends to be good as
well.
The Shaar Bas Rabim is telling us that the way we can
influence others — especially our children — is to influence ourselves first.
This is, of course, the
ideal time for us to reexamine our actions, and improve them. On Yom Kippur we
can start anew, and set ourselves in the right direction. We can only lead by
example!
Good Shabbos, and may you be Sealed in the Book of
Life,
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
The
Essence of Jewish History
Parshas Haazinu
Posted on September 19,
2017 (5777) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner
The special nature and all
of the events of Jewish history are outlined for us in this week’s parsha. Ramban in the 13th century comments that
anyone who can, so many centuries earlier, accurately foretell the later fate
of a people is an exceptional prophet. Moshe certainly
fits that description and test. And what more can we add to this phenomenon,
now seven hundred-fifty years after Ramban!
The rabbis of the Talmud attributed the crown of wisdom to the one
who has a vision of the future. Even though Moshe is the
greatest of all prophets, his title amongst the Jewish people is Moshe the teacher, indicating his wisdom and
knowledge are translated into his ability to view the future.
Moshe lays down the basic pattern of all of Jewish
history – the struggle to remain Jewish and not succumb to the blandishments of
current cultures and beliefs, the illogical and almost pathological hate of the
world toward Judaism and the Jewish people, the awful price paid by Jews
throughout history and the eventual realization of Jews, and the non-Jewish
world as well, of God’s guidance in history and human life.
This entire, very complex
story is foretold to us in this week’s most remarkable parsha. It is
no wonder that Jewish tradition dictated that Jewish children should commit
this parsha to memory, for within it is recorded the
entire essence of Jewish history.
Though we never really
know the exact details of the future of the Jewish people, the broad outlines
of the story have been known to us for millennia. Just read and study the words
of this parsha.
Moshe establishes heaven and earth as witnesses to the
covenant and the historical fate of the Jewish people. Rashi explains
that not only are they honest and objective witnesses but most importantly they
are eternal witnesses. Human witnesses are mortal and passing. Later
generations cannot hear their testimony, and even though current video
technology attempts to correct this deficiency, much of the personal nuance and
force, which colors all human testimony, is lost.
So, we rely on heaven and
earth to reinforce our belief and commitment to the eternal covenant. It is the
very wonders and mysteries of nature itself that point to the Creator. And it
is all of human history that rises to testify as to the uniqueness of the
Jewish story and the special role that the Jewish people played and continue to
play in human events.
The witness testimony of
heaven is found in the wonders of the natural world. The witness testimony of
earth is found in the history of humankind and of the role of the Jewish people
in that amazing, exhilarating and yet depressing story. Moshe begs
of us to listen to these two witnesses for it is within their and our ability
to know our past and future through their testimony.
Much of their testimony is
frightening and worrisome but it is even more frightening to be unaware of our
past and future. We should listen carefully to the parsha. It
has much to teach us about our world and ourselves.
Shabat shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein
Unstoppable
Force
Parshas Haazinu
Posted on June 7, 2002 (5760) By Rabbi Mordechai
Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha| Level: Beginner
The final song of Moshe’s
life is read this week. Appropriate as a prelude to Yom Kippur, it talks about
the great potential that the Jewish nation has within its very essence. Moshe tells us to “Remember the days of yore,
understand the years of generation after generation. Ask your father, and he
will relate it to you, and your elders, and they will tell you” (Deuteronomy
32:7-8).
He reminds us of the glory
days, when Hashem asked us to be His chosen people,
accepting the yoke of Torah observance. But Moshe does
not stop there. Using our tremendous capacity as a role of responsibility, he
warns us of the calamitous effect if we waste or misuse our talents.
Despite the harrowing
foreshadowing of disaster, however, the verses of misfortune contain a message
of hope as well. Moshe once again warns us of Hashem’s potential
wrath; yet a blessing lies within his curse, defining the very essence of the
physiological indestructibility of the Jewish nation.
In predicting calamitous
repercussions of sin, Moshe speaks for Hashem and declares, “I shall accumulate evils
against them. My arrows I shall use up against them.” What does that mean?
Rashi explains the verse according to a Talmudic
explanation in Tractate Sotah. “My arrows will come to an end, but they
themselves will not come to an end.”
The question is obvious.
Is G-d’s quiver limited? Can the L-rd ever be bereft of ammunition?
How is it possible that
the Heavenly arsenal, equipped with more power than an atomic armory, will
spend its ammunition without achieving total annihilation?
Reb Yosef Friedenson,
editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort, tells the story of how he and a group of friends
were in a smithy shop in the iniquitous labor camp in the town of Starachowice.
The camp was notorious, and though the overseer of the factory in which they
worked, a man named Pape, treated them kindly, one mistake meant that a German
guard would treat them as saboteurs and shoot them dead.
Assigned to the Herman
Goering works one Shmini Atzeres, they were not told what their job was for
that day. And so, to fulfill their holiday spirit, they broke out in a
traditional song, Ain Adir kaHashem, Ain Baruch k’ben Amram (There is none as
powerful as Hashem nor blessed as Moshe, the
son of Amram).
Pape was shocked. Despite
the torture the humiliation, and the endless poison-tipped arrows of the
Holocaust, these people were singing!
“Why are you Jews
singing?” he asked incredulously. “Do you have it so good that you can sing?”
The group explained the
words of the song to Pape, going through each stanza, including those that
read, “there are no wise men like the scholars of the Torah, and there is no
redeemer like Hashem.” Pape was astonished. “After all the torture
that you have been through, do you really still believe this?” Immediately, one
of the younger members of the group, not a particularly religious lad, jumped
up with an emphatic, “Yes!” And then each member of the troupe shouted their
endorsement as well. “Of course! Surely! Without doubt!” One by one, each of
those in the work-force-turned-choir exclaimed his unyielding approval.
Pape soon understood that
he was dealing with an indestructible people. He gesticulated wildly with both
arms and declared, “I don’t know how the Führer will ever get rid of you!” With
that, he walked away and let them continue their relentless commitment to their
unshakeable, indestructible faith.
Noted scientist Isaac
Asimov compiled a book of 3,000 interesting facts about the universe, history,
and science. In it he deals with a longstanding question: “What would happen if
an irresistible force met an immovable body?” Asimov explains that the question
is ludicrous. He simply explains a physical fact. “In a universe where one of
the above conditions exists, by definition the other cannot exist.”
And so the Torah tells us
something about the promise that Hashem made
to His people. They are an immovable object. Hashem’s unremitting commitment
for his children has declared Judaism impregnable. And so the physical arrows
He may send to chastise them cannot forever continue. They must eventually
expire. As long as we understand the immovable body of the Rock of our faith,
we are assured that there no longer exists an irresistible force to budge our
eternity.
Good Shabbos ©2000 Rabbi Mordechai
Kamenetzky
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