A Separate Peace

Parshas Bechukosai

Posted on May 29, 2019 (5779) By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha | Level: Beginner

 

“If you will walk in my statutes, and heed my commandments …” (Leviticus 33:3).

This week the Torah bestows its promise of blessing and peace to those who follow in the path of Torah. Rashi is bothered by the seeming redundancy of walking in statutes, and heeding commands. He explains that “walk in my statutes” refers to arduous Torah study, and “heed my commandments” refers to keeping the mitzvos.

 

And then there is peace. Hashem promises that if we adhere to the directives, “I will bring peace to the land” (ibid v. 6) In the same verse, the Torah also tells us that “a sword will not pass through your land.” If there is peace, then obviously a sword will not pass through. What is the meaning of the redundancy? Once again, Rashi explains that the “sword passing through” is referring to a sword that is not directed against our people; rather it is a sword that is passing through on the way to another country. Thus the two types of peace.

 

But maybe there is a different type of peace; one that does not refer to guns and ammunition, but rather to a peace that is on another level.

 

Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein of B’nei Berak tells the story of Rav Eliezer Shach, the Ponovezer Rosh Yeshiva, of blessed memory.

 

Rav Shach once entered a shul and sat down in a seat towards the back, and, while waiting for the minyan to begin, Rav Shach began to study Torah. Suddenly a man approached him, hands on his hips, and began shouting at him.

 

“Don’t you know that you are sitting in my seat?” the irate man yelled.

“Who are you to come here and just sit down, without asking anyone permission?”

 

Rav Shach quickly stood up and embraced the man. He hugged him lovingly as he begged the man for forgiveness. He agreed to the irate man’s every point.

 

“I am so sorry for taking your seat even if it was for a few moments,” he pleaded. Please forgive me. I must have absent-mindedly sat down there. Please forgive me.

The man was taken aback at the Rosh Yeshiva’s humility, and immediately apologized for his rude behavior.

 

“After the davening, students of Rav Shach approached him and asked why he so readily accepted blame and begged forgiveness for what surely was not a misdeed. After all, why should he not be able to sit down in the seat. Rav Shach explained, “If Torah is all that one aspires to have, then everything else in this world, all the items one would normally squabble about has no significance. When one is immersed in Torah, a seat is meaningless, a place is meaningless. Surely a material object is not worth getting upset over, surely no less tare they worth fighting over. Why shouldn’t I apologize?”

 

The Torah tells us a secret to peace in our community. If we toil in Torah, there will be peace in the land. The Torah is telling us that if we immerse ourselves in Torah then all the temporal objects that are the fulcrum of most fights are meaningless.

 

We think of peace as a concept that occurs between nations. However, we often forget that what we need is peace within our own community and lives…. A separate peace.

 

Good Shabbos

                                                              

Dedicated in memory of Rabbi Dr. Menashe Refael (Manfred) Lehmann of blessed memory.

Repercussions and Resilience

Parshas Bechukosai

Posted on May 29, 2019 (5779) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

 

The final portion of this third book of the Torah contains an ominous tone. This is because of the vivid description of evil events that will befall the Jewish people when they desert their G-dly mission and sink to the level of the societies that surround and outnumber them. The Torah promises us that such behavior and attitudes will surely lead to disaster, exile and persecution from the very societies that the Jews try to emulate.

 

All Jewish history bears testimony to the accuracy of the words that exist in this week’s portion of the Torah. And the way the Torah presents these events, which will occur in the future, is not in the necessary framework of punishment but rather in the inevitable picture of events that inexorably lead to consequences. It is not G-d Himself, so to speak, that is punishing the Jewish people but rather it is the Jewish people itself that is doing the punishing. This is a logical and even an evitable result of past behavior and misguided attitudes and beliefs. This is a very important lesson for Jews to understand.

 

Behavior, speech, attitudes and beliefs always have consequences in the real world in which we live. They are not to be taken lightly and not to be shrugged off as just being examples of the fallible nature of human beings. We are not allowed to dig a hole under our seat in the boat.

 

The words of the prophet Jeremiah ring true today as they did thousands of years ago: “the fathers ate sour grapes and therefore the children of later generations will have their teeth set on edge.” One has to be blind to history or even to current events not to realize the lessons involved and described in this week’s Torah portion.

 

The Torah will expand upon this much later towards the end of the fifth book of the Torah. We will be presented with a full and graphic picture of the cruelty of humanity towards the Jewish people over the centuries until our day. Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman in his commentary to Torah explains that this week’s portion and its predictions referred to the destruction of the first Temple and the relatively short exile of the Jewish people after that in Babylonia.

 

The later section, towards the end of the Torah, refers to the destruction of the second Temple and the long and seemingly endless exile that follows upon its demise. The latter exile, which was, and to a certain extent still is, a long and difficult one to endure, one that has cost countless generations of Jews their lives and their futures and others their spiritual heritage and legacy, seems to have little if any redeeming features.

 

And yet the remarkable fact of Jewish history is the vitality and productivity of the Jewish people in exile, suffering persecution and living under adverse circumstances. This resilience is also reflected in the prophecies of the Torah regarding the eternity of the Jewish people and its eventual return to both its physical national heritage and spiritual greatness.

 

Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein

 

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Grateful Bread

Parshas Behar Bechukosai

Posted on May 18, 2002 (5782) By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha | Level: Beginner

 

It is rare to read two Torah portions together, each with nearly the exact verse. This week we read two portions: B’har, which commands the laws of shmita in which the Jewish nation lets its land lie fallow, and B’chukosai, which entails both blessing and curses bestowed upon the Jewish nation in response to its behavior.

 

But in each portion there is a similar blessing. The Torah tells us, both B’har and in B’chukosai, that if we deserve blessing then “you shall eat to satisfaction and live securely in your land.” (Leviticus 25:19 & Leviticus 26:5) Each time the Torah talks about eating to satisfaction, an agricultural issue, it suffixes a security issue. Now there are verses that deal with the curse of war and the blessing of peace. But why mention tranquility with eating?

 

Yankel was a vagabond. Every Friday he would spend the last of his few zloty at the bathhouse and barber and, well groomed, he would present himself in the synagogue as a respected businessperson from out-of-town. Then he would usually get a sumptuous Shabbos meal at the home of the wealthiest Jew in town. One Friday afternoon he was in the city of Lodz and inquired about the wealthiest Jew. “Velvel, the banker,” he was told “is definitely the wealthiest Jew. But he is also the stingiest. You never get a chance to eat the delicious dishes that he serves you!”

 

“How’s that?” asked Yankel.

 

“Well, as soon as you take you first bite he engages you in conversation. You begin to speak, and as soon as your eyes leave your plate, a waiter comes and snatches your food away!”

With a game plan in mind Yankel posed as a businessman from Warsaw, and got invited to Reb Velvel’s magnificent home. The table was set with exquisite china, and the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen made Yankel’s hungry mouth water.

 

After kiddush and challah, the first course was served, a succulent piece of white fish stuffed with gefilte fish. As Yankel speared it with his fork a voice boomed from the head of the table.

“So, Yankel, tell me, how is my cousin Shloime feeling? You must know Shloime, the tailor of Podolska Street in Warsaw?”

 

Yankel kept his fork embedded in the fish and held tight as he nodded somberly. “He’s dead.”

“What?” shrieked Reb Velvel, “Shloime is dead? How can that be?” He ran to the kitchen and shouted for his wife, while Yankel managed to finish his fish in comfort. He even got in a few nibbles off an adjoining plate. After the shock wore off, they served the soup.

 

After the first sip, the banker was quick to his old ways. “You don’t happen to know my father’s brother Reb Dovid the bookbinder, do you?”

 

With the waiter poised to pounce, Yankel nodded again. “He died too!”

 

“What?” cried the stunned host. “How can that be? I just got a letter from him last week!”

He ran next door to tell his brother the terrible news — while Yankel calmly finished his soup.

 

The main course, with chicken, kugel and tzimmes also saw the death of more members of the Warsaw community, each tiding throwing the banker into a tizzy. Meanwhile Yankel ate his portion and all the portions of those who were sickened by the terrible news that they had just heard.

 

By the time dessert came, the banker got hold of the scheme.

“What’s going on?” he shouted. “Are you trying to tell me that the entire Warsaw has dropped dead?”

 

“No,” answered Yankel, “what I am trying to tell you is that when I eat, the whole world drops dead!”

 

The blessing of plenty is worthless without serenity. Peace in your land (and life) is not only a blessing for military men. It is a blessing that enhances every aspect of life, from breaking ground to breaking bread. What good are storehouses of plenty or a wonderful economy without the peace and harmony in which to enjoy them?

 

Calm and composure are the greatest blessing. For without them, the bread of plenty can still be bread of affliction. The Torah does not give half-baked blessings. It tells us that we will eat our bread to satisfaction because it guarantees us peace in our land. For we must not only pray for sustenance, but also health, well-being, and serenity with which to enjoy it.

 

Good Shabbos

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

 

 

Leadership By Example

Parshas Emor

Posted on April 30, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah | Level: Beginner

 

And HASHEM said to Moshe: ‘Say to the Kohanim, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: “To a (dead) person he shall not become impure among his people…”‘ (Vayikra 21:1

Say to the Kohanim…and you shall say to them: The Torah uses the double expression of “say” followed by “and you shall say” to caution the adults with regard to the minors. (Rashi)

The Kohanim-The Priestly cast are to play an important role as living examples of holiness and purity for the entire nations. Where is the manual for success in relating this sublime message from one generation to the next?

 

Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetsky ztl. Had made an important distinction between two important words in the realm of raising children; Chinuch – Education and Hashpah – Influence. Education is a form of direct teaching. The teacher fills up the cup of the child with valuable information and important knowledge. Hashpah comes from a root word Shefa which means abundance. Hashpah is when he/she fills ones cup and what overflows washes over and influences those in one’s immediate surroundings. Which is most effective?

 

I have had many parents brag to me over the years, “Rabbi, I push my children!” They think I will be impressed. While I am sure they mean well, my response is, “Don’t push! Pull!” I explain, “When someone honks their horn behind you, do you feel like going faster or slower? However, when a car goes racing by, we all have an urge to speed up. Teach your child primarily by example!

 

Children are studying their parents in ways the parents may never imagine and they will naturally imitate their behavior. One day I opened the food cabinet at home and an avalanche of 2-ounce applesauce snack containers came crashing down. As I gazed at the pileup on the floor below a great truth dawned upon me, “The applesauce doesn’t fall far from the pantry!”

 

The parents who unfortunately talk in Shul are raising the next generation of Shul talkers. Those who remain focused on the business of Davening invariably raise children who Daven.

One clever child told his parents, “Your actions are so loud, I can’t hear what you are saying!”

 

The story is told about a principal who called a father at his work to discuss his child’s behavior. While the principal was demanding a face to face meeting the father insisted to be told the reason for the call.

So, the principal told him straight, “It seems your child has been stealing pencils from the other children in school.” The father was righteously indignant and replied to the principal, “Why in the world would my child steal pencils from the other children? I bring home all the pencils he needs from the office!”

 

One of my teachers was happily skipping home on Simchas Torah with his then young family. They were singing a lively tune to the words, “Olam Haba is a guta zach…Learning Torah is a besser zach…” (The next world is a good thing…Learning Torah is a better thing…” His four-year old daughter interrupted the parade and asked her father in all earnest, “Abba, what’s Olam Haba?”

 

He knew he had to address her question on a level she could comprehend. He asked her what the most delicious thing in the world was, thinking that if she said chocolate, then he would tell her it’s tons of chocolate and if she said marshmallows then he’d tell her how many marshmallows. She gave a most surprising answer, though. “Davening!” He asked her where she had learned that. She was not yet in school and all she said was, “Mommy!”

 

How had she learned this? He realized that after the morning rush, when all the older brothers and sisters are sent off to school the mother and daughter sit down to eat some breakfast. The mother has her coffee and a muffin and the daughter has her sweet raisin bran. Afterwards, the mother approaches a blank wall, siddur in hand and prays. The child notices the look of sublime joy on her mother’s face. Intuitively she compares it to the sweetness of the breakfast goodies and naturally concludes one experience must be far sweeter than the other. Davening must be that delicious.

 

That’s the power of Hashpa, the highest form of leadership – by example.

 

Life’s Got Rhythm

Parshas Emor

Posted on May 6, 2020 (5780) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

 

This week’s Torah reading begins with a rather detailed instruction sheet for the children of Aaron, the priests of Israel. The Torah describes for us the limitations that were placed upon them in order to guarantee that their service would be in purity and in holiness. Aspects of this instruction are still enforced today.  Those who are of the priestly clan observe them rigidly even if, in other matters, they may not be that strict.

 

I had an experience with this regarding a certain leading official in the Jewish Agency about 30 years ago. I knew the man very well and he was a person of honor and integrity, but he was an old time socialist and was not observant in any traditional sense of the word. I happened to be in Israel when another leading person in the educational department of the Jewish Agency passed away and the family asked me to say a few words at the funeral.

 

This man accompanied me to the funeral chapel, but as I was going to mount the steps, he said, “This is as far as I’m going because I am a priest, a Kohen, and I don’t go to funerals.” I looked at him somewhat quizzically because there were so many other violations of tradition that I had observed in him, but even so I was greatly impressed. And he said to me, “Don’t be so surprised; for thousands of years my family are Kohanim and I’m not going to give that up. That is a heritage that I cannot forgo.” So, that is the first part of the Torah reading.

 

The second part of the Torah reading, which also occupies a great deal of the subject matter of the entire portion, is a recounting of the calendar. It is an enumeration of the holidays, the special days of the Jewish calendar throughout the year. At first glance, one would think that these two sections of the same Torah reading really have no intrinsic connection one with the other. They deal with far different subjects and have a different tone and mood to their words. But again, I feel that that is only a superficial view. Upon deeper examination we will see a common thread that runs thru not only these two subjects but thru all subjects in the Torah as well.

 

The Torah represents for us constancy. It establishes a regular rhythm in our life. It is why we have so many commandments that we can, and should, fulfill day in and day out under all circumstances and conditions. It is this very constancy, the repetitiveness that the Torah imposes upon us that builds within us the holiness of spirit and is the strength of our tradition.

 

The fact is it is not a one-day-a-week or three-days-a-year holiday for the Jewish people, but that every day counts and has its importance. Daily, one is obligated to do the will of one’s creator. All of this gives a rhythm to our lives, makes life meaningful, with a specific direction for the time that we are here on earth.

The holidays themselves are the rhythm of the Jewish calendar year. We just finished Pesach and we are coming to Shavuot and then after Shavuot there comes the period of mourning, then after that the High Holy days, the holiday of Sukkot, then Hanukkah, et cetera. It is that rhythm of life that invests every holiday and allows the holiday to live within us even when its days have passed. Essentially, every day is Pesach and every day is Shavuot, and every day can be Yom Ha-Kippurim. And this is the constancy regarding the laws for the priests as well, that every day they are reminded who they are. Every day they are bound by the restrictions, discipline and nobility that the Torah ordained for them.

 

So, that is the thread of consistency that binds all these disparate subjects together. The Torah preaches consistency, regularity, habitual behavior, and the idea that life is one rhythm, like a river flowing, not to be segmented into different emotional waves depending upon one’s mood and upon external conditions.

 

Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein

 

Life’s Got Rhythm

Parshas Emor

Posted on May 6, 2020 (5780) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

 

This week’s Torah reading begins with a rather detailed instruction sheet for the children of Aaron, the priests of Israel. The Torah describes for us the limitations that were placed upon them in order to guarantee that their service would be in purity and in holiness. Aspects of this instruction are still enforced today.  Those who are of the priestly clan observe them rigidly even if, in other matters, they may not be that strict.

 

I had an experience with this regarding a certain leading official in the Jewish Agency about 30 years ago. I knew the man very well and he was a person of honor and integrity, but he was an old time socialist and was not observant in any traditional sense of the word. I happened to be in Israel when another leading person in the educational department of the Jewish Agency passed away and the family asked me to say a few words at the funeral.

 

This man accompanied me to the funeral chapel, but as I was going to mount the steps, he said, “This is as far as I’m going because I am a priest, a Kohen, and I don’t go to funerals.” I looked at him somewhat quizzically because there were so many other violations of tradition that I had observed in him, but even so I was greatly impressed. And he said to me, “Don’t be so surprised; for thousands of years my family are Kohanim and I’m not going to give that up. That is a heritage that I cannot forgo.” So, that is the first part of the Torah reading.

 

The second part of the Torah reading, which also occupies a great deal of the subject matter of the entire portion, is a recounting of the calendar. It is an enumeration of the holidays, the special days of the Jewish calendar throughout the year. At first glance, one would think that these two sections of the same Torah reading really have no intrinsic connection one with the other. They deal with far different subjects and have a different tone and mood to their words. But again, I feel that that is only a superficial view. Upon deeper examination we will see a common thread that runs thru not only these two subjects but thru all subjects in the Torah as well.

 

The Torah represents for us constancy. It establishes a regular rhythm in our life. It is why we have so many commandments that we can, and should, fulfill day in and day out under all circumstances and conditions. It is this very constancy, the repetitiveness that the Torah imposes upon us that builds within us the holiness of spirit and is the strength of our tradition.

 

The fact is it is not a one-day-a-week or three-days-a-year holiday for the Jewish people, but that every day counts and has its importance. Daily, one is obligated to do the will of one’s creator. All of this gives a rhythm to our lives, makes life meaningful, with a specific direction for the time that we are here on earth.

The holidays themselves are the rhythm of the Jewish calendar year. We just finished Pesach and we are coming to Shavuot and then after Shavuot there comes the period of mourning, then after that the High Holy days, the holiday of Sukkot, then Hanukkah, et cetera. It is that rhythm of life that invests every holiday and allows the holiday to live within us even when its days have passed. Essentially, every day is Pesach and every day is Shavuot, and every day can be Yom Ha-Kippurim. And this is the constancy regarding the laws for the priests as well, that every day they are reminded who they are. Every day they are bound by the restrictions, discipline and nobility that the Torah ordained for them.

 

So, that is the thread of consistency that binds all these disparate subjects together. The Torah preaches consistency, regularity, habitual behavior, and the idea that life is one rhythm, like a river flowing, not to be segmented into different emotional waves depending upon one’s mood and upon external conditions.

 

Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein

 

 

Encouraging His Children to Climb

Parshas Kedoshim

Posted on May 3, 2012 (5782) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah | Level: Beginner

 

ASHEM spoke to Moshe saying, “Speak to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them, “You shall be holy, for holy am I, HASHEM, your G-d.”” (Vayikra 19:1)

 

Be Holy! Great! How do you “be holy”? What’s holy? Where do I begin? What’s required to be holy? These are not easy questions but they are screaming out for answers. Success and failure in life are hinging on our response to this mandate to become holy! How do I know when I’ve achieved holiness?

 

There is a rule I have discovered! Anything taken out of context will tend to be misunderstood!

 

Stated affirmatively: “Something seen in its proper context is more easily understood!

 

On Shabbos, for a few weeks in the year, I am treated, as I stroll to and from Shul to watching some Pakistani fellows playing cricket. It looks like baseball but it isn’t. The guy bowls overhand with a stiff arm instead of just throwing it as a pitcher would, and then anther chap with a wide bat like a beaver’s tail takes a stiff armed swing in an awkward fashion. I’m left with too many questions.

 

Are they not allowed to bend their elbows? Do they not know how to hit and pitch properly? When he hits the ball nobody runs. Is this practice? Admittedly I’m lost! I don’t know the rules and watching from afar once a week for so many years has not made me any wiser when it comes to cricket. I’m sure they too are a little mystified about me walking around on a sunny day with bar codes on my shoulders like I just escaped from Sam’s Club!

 

What is the context of this general admonition to “be holy”. In “Acharei Mos we start out with the laws of the Kohen Gadol, the high priest going into the Holy of Holies on the highest of the holy days. He alone is allowed on that day alone to go into a place where no man can go! The Kohen is like the astronaut who reaches the moon while the entire nation celebrates his accomplishment. This was not just for any man! No! The Kohen Gadol had to be worthy to survive the experience. During the 420 years of the Second Temple more than 300 Kohen Gadolim had to be dragged out and one entered successfully for 80 years. It really was a celebration of high achievement.

 

At the end of that Portion we are reading about the lowest of the low behavior. Unspeakable practices are listed and cautioned about as if anyone normal needs to be chased away from actions that are universally taboo and intrinsically despicable. However, just like the Kohen Gadol in the opposite direction, a few decrepit individuals and maybe more than we know are flirting with danger.

 

What we have outlined before our very eyes is a spectrum of the greatest and the worst of human potential. Like Yaakov Avinu’s ladder which stretched from the earth to the heavens, this is the range of humanity, of every man! In Yaakov’s dream angels of G-d were going up and down but interestingly none were parked and standing in one place. Either they were going up or they were going down!

 

When my wife left seminary in Israel to return to the United States the Rabbi warned the girls to learn five minutes each day! He told them, “A bird that stops flapping its wings does not remain in the same place!” At a Yeshiva dinner years ago an old friend I had not seen for many years told me, “Label, you are exactly the same as you were 25 years ago!” I took it as a complement and I told him, “You have no idea how hard work is required just to remain the same!”

 

In that context, when we understand how low a person can fall and at the same time how high a person can climb we realize that we are faced with a dramatic choice. “Choose life” like “be holy” is not just an admonition but rather it’s an invitation to climb upward. Holiness is a direction on the ladder of life. It’s no wonder the verse that calls out for holiness is crowned with the words, “for holy am I, HASHEM, your G-d.” How does that help? Topping that ladder is HASHEM like an Abba encouraging His children to climb.

 

 DvarTorah, Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Label Lam and Torah.org.