Life Is Not Cheap

Parshas Shoftim

Posted on August 26, 2025 (5785) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

On the highway, in the middle of nowhere, a body is found, an apparent homicide victim. The police cordon off the crime scene and painstakingly collect whatever forensic evidence remains on the scene of the crime. They question passersby, travelers who may have seen someone or something that would shed some light on the identity of the killer, but they are no clues to finding the killer than when they began. This death will have to remain a mystery. They file it away among their other unsolved crimes.

 

So what is to be done now? Is this the end? Having exhausted all avenues of investigation, does the case become forgotten?

 

Not so, says the Torah. There is still a need for atonement. Exact measurements are taken from the spot in which the body was found to the surrounding towns and villages. The responsibility for atonement falls on the one closest to the scene of the crime. Their elders must bring a calf and perform the ritual of the eglah arufah, and they must say, “Our hands have not spilled this blood.”

 

Where in the Torah do these laws appear? It wedges between two chapters that discuss the laws and ethics of waging war.

 

The commentators explain that this placement is very telling. In war, there is a tendency to devalue human life. People see the dead and the dying wherever they turn, they are surrounded by slaughter and bloodshed, and life becomes cheap. Therefore, the Torah interrupts its instruction regarding warfare and draws our attention to the ritual of the eglah arufah.

 

We see the town elders declare that they did not shed this blood, when no one really suspects them of murder. At most, they may have allowed the stranger to pass through their town without offering him proper hospitality. Still, the entire town needs atonement for the unexplained death of an unidentified traveler. Clearly, all life is precious beyond measure. And just when we are studying the rules of engagement in war, we must bear in mind that we cannot allow ourselves to be brutalized and desensitized. We cannot allow ourselves to forget the infinite value of a single life.

 

A young woman standing in a doorway saw a little boy fall off a low ledge. The child lay on the ground writhing in pain and screaming at the top of his lungs. Even from the distance, the woman could see that the child was badly injured and that his legs were smeared with blood.

 

Screaming and crying desperately. The woman ran though the streets toward the fallen child. An old sage was also moving toward the scene of the accident, but at a much slower pacer. He stepped aside and leaned on his cane to let the screaming woman pass, and then he continued on.

 

A few moments later, he saw the woman coming back, wiping tears from her eyes with the edge of her apron. When she saw the sage, she stopped respectfully.

 

“What happened?” asked the sage. “A moment ago you were beside yourself, and now you are so calm.”

 

“Oh yes,” said the woman. “I am truly so relieved. I thought that my little boy had fallen and hurt himself badly, and I was beside myself with worry and fear. But I came there and saw it was not my son but someone else. Now I can breathe again.”

 

“This other little boy?” asked the sage. “Is he badly hurt?”

 

“I’m afraid he is,” said the woman.

 

“Then how can you feel so calm and relieved? Aren’t you upset you that an innocent young human being is enduring so much pain and suffering?”

 

In our own lives, we need to find it within ourselves to care for all people, not only those in our immediate circle of family and friends. We are all brothers and sisters, all part of the Jewish people. Every Jewish life, every human life, should be infinitely precious to us. When other people suffer, we should fell their pain. When other people die, even if they are not connected to us, we should feel a sense of terrible loss. We must remember that if we value other people then we ourselves have value as well.

 

Text Copyright © 2009 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.

 

  

 

Improve Your Eyesight

Parshas Reeh

Posted on August 13, 2020 (5780) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

 

To Moshe, life choices are clear and self-evident. He tells the Jewish people to merely look, and they will see the difference between life and death, good and evil, eternity and time-burdened irrelevance. He implores the Jewish people to use their common sense, to pay attention to the experiences over the past 40 years in the desert, and their story. Then, they will be able to clearly see their choices in life, and what basic decisions they must make regarding what should be visible and obvious to them.

 

Yet, we know that even when people are aware of the consequences of their behavior, when, so to speak, they actually do see the differences and choices that lie before them, they will often choose to sin and take the wrong turn in life. People know that all addictive drugs and immoral behavior inevitably lead to personal disaster. The evidence for this is so abundant that all of us know cases and people that somehow willingly and even voluntarily choose this path of self-destruction. None of this holds people back from themselves.

 

The story is told about a man who was becoming an alcoholic, who was taken by his children to visit skid row where the victims of alcoholism reside on the street in their drunken stupor. One of the drunks was wallowing in the gutter amidst the filth that permeated the area. His children – those of the potential alcoholic – said to him: “Father don’t you see where excessive drinking will lead you?” However, the man went over to the drunk in the gutter and whispered to him: “Where did you get such good and powerful whiskey?” We always see what we want to see.

 

What is perfectly obvious to the sane and rational mind, is not seen by one captured by the evil instinct, affected by social pressure, and suffering from a lack of self-discipline.

 

All parents and educators know you may lead someone to a fountain of fresh water, but you cannot make that person drink from it, unless the person wishes to do so. It is hard to convince people to see what they do not want to see, and to believe what they do not wish to believe. All the exhortations of the prophets of Israel were of little avail in the times of the first Temple, simply because the people refused to see the obvious consequences of idol worship, and the abandonment of Torah and its teachings.

 

The only hope for parents and educators is to improve the eyesight, so to speak, of their children and students, so that those individuals themselves will be able to perceive the clear difference between life and death, right and wrong. This is a slow and painful process, but with persistence it can be successful and lifesaving. Good eyesight requires tenacity of focus as well as excellent peripheral vision. Jewish tradition and Torah values within both the family and society help provide the good vision which enables productive choices, that will lead to eternal life and goodness.

 

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

 

Choosing Life, Every Day

Parshas Reeh

Posted on August 6, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Series: Lifeline | Level: Beginner

 

Our reading this week begins, “See I have placed before you today blessing and curse. The blessing, if you listen to the Commandments of Hashem your G-d, which I have Commanded you this day. And the curse, if you will not listen to the Commandments of Hashem your G-d, and turn away from the path which I have Commanded you this day, to go after other gods which you have not known.” [Deut. 11:26-28]

 

The Yalkut Shimoni says that someone might say: “since Hashem placed two paths in front of me, that of life and that of death, I will travel whichever I wish.” To him the verse says, “and you shall choose life.” [Deut. 30:19]

 

This seems hard to understand. Self-preservation is a natural instinct; we fear death. Why does the verse need to tell us, “and you shall choose life”? I don’t need to be told twice to get out of the road! The Yalkut offers a parable:

 

It is like a person sitting at a fork in the road, with two paths in front of him: one begins with smooth ground and ends up among thorns, and one that begins with thorns but ends with smooth ground.

 

And he informs passersby and says to them: what you see as a smooth path, for two or three steps it will be smooth, but in the end you will be among thorns. And what you see as a path that begins with thorns, for two or three steps you will walk among thorns, but in the end will be on smooth ground.

 

The Yalkut is explaining to us that what is described as “the curse” doesn’t look bad. On the contrary, it looks more attractive! It looks easier and more interesting initially to go on that path, when it actually leads to pain and destruction. That is why the Torah must tell us to make the right choice, because it often means doing what seems at the outset to be more difficult and painful.

 

In reality, we have to make choices like this every day. At the beginning of Chayei Sarah [Gen. 23:1], we read that Sarah’s lifetime was “100 years and twenty years and seven years.” Rashi tells us that the repetition of years is to use each to teach a lesson. In Jewish thought, a person is held responsible in Heaven for actions after the age of twenty.

 

The Medrash explains that Sarah at 100 years was as free of sin as she was at twenty. Every day, she chose the right path.

 

This coming week, we enter the month of Elul, leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, the Day of Judgment. This is the season when we pay special attention to the choices we have been making, trying to improve upon them for the future.

 

Part of being human is that we make mistakes. None of us is perfect, so all of us can find things we might have done better, and which we can do better in the future. The question, then, is whether we learn from our mistakes! Repentance gives us an opportunity to get ourselves off the path leading into the thorns, and back onto solid ground. May we use this Elul to get out of the thorns, dust ourselves off, and place ourselves back on the straight path.

 

 

 

A Father’s Love

Parshas Eikev

Posted on July 30, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

The sadness still lingers in our hearts. Just days ago, we fasted and grieved over the destruction of Jerusalem. We read the lurid accounts in the Book of Lamentations, and we shed a tear over our ancestors who suffered so terribly in ancient times. And then our thoughts turned to our own situation, still mired in exile and divine disfavor, still surrounded on all sides by foes and detractors who seek our downfall.

 

But the time for grieving has passed, and now it is time to be consoled. The seven weeks between Tishah b’Av and Rosh Hashanah are known as the Weeks of Consolation. For the Haftorah during this period, we read passages of solace and hope from the Book of Isaiah, whose glowing prophecies paint a picture of the pure joy, thanksgiving and music we will experience when this exile comes to an end.

 

These inspirational messages are meant to lift our spirits, but this is easier said than done. How can we nurture hope in our hearts when we must endure so much suffering?

 

How can we relate to a serene and blissful future when we see our people attacked, persecuted and vilified all over the world? How can we fortify our faith in the Almighty when He presents us with so many challenges?

 

The answer to these troubling questions lies in this week’s Torah portion. Moses tells the Jewish people that the Almighty chastises them “just as father chastises his son.” This is the key to dealing effectively with life’s challenges. As long as we remember that the Almighty loves us like a father loves his children, we can be confident that everything that takes place is for the greater good. A father would never allow gratuitous harm befall his son.

 

A man from a big city took his family for a long visit with a brother that lived on a farm. Early one morning, the man’s young son went out to the fields and saw his uncle plowing.

 

“I don’t understand, uncle,” he said. “Why are you ripping apart this beautiful field? It was so pretty, and now it’s full of long ditches.”

 

The farmer smiled indulgently at his little nephew and continued to plow. “Just wait a little while,” he said, “and you will understand.”

 

The farmer stripped the kernels from a sheaf of golden wheat stalks until he had a little mound. Then he took a handful of the kernels and began to walk alongside the furrows, dropping them in as he went along.

 

“Why are you ruining those beautiful stalks?” the boy protested. “Why are you tossing those kernels into the ground?”

 

Time passed, and fresh stalks grew from the ground. “Watch closely,” said the farmer. He cut down the stalks and ground them into flour. Then he made the flour into dough, which he formed into loaves. He put the loaves into the oven, and soon, the kitchen was filled with the savory smell of fresh bread baking.

 

“Now do you understand why I tore up the field?” the farmer said to his nephew. “It is called plowing; there can be no bread without it.”

 

In our own lives, we often see that seemingly catastrophic downturns and reversals can actually lead to great results. We may lose a well-paying job and be devastated by our misfortune; we may even reproach Hashem. But a short time later, we find another job far better and more lucrative than the first. So, what do we think? Do we recognize Hashem’s guiding hand, or do we chalk it up to sheer good luck? It all depends on our perspective. If we live with the knowledge that Hashem is our loving Father, we can see His kindness all around us. If we widen the lens of our perception and observe the broader landscape of life, we will see Hashem’s loving fatherly embrace all around us.

 

And we will discover within ourselves the strength to survive and even grow spiritually during the long dark night of our exile.

 

Facing the Challenge

Parshas Vaeschanan

Posted on August 9, 2022 (5782) By Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

“G-d our L-rd sealed a covenant with us at Chorev. Not with our forefathers alone did G-d seal this covenant, but with us, we who are here today, all of us alive. Face to face G-d spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire.” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 5:2-4) Moshe then repeated the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments that G-d uttered as the central event of the Revelation at Sinai when the Children of Israel accepted G-d’s Torah to create a timeless covenant. Sifri (Tannaitic halachic medrash to the Books of Bamidbar and Devarim) discusses G-d’s initial offer of the Torah to the nations of the world. Understandably, they wanted to know what it contained. To one nation He told the ban on murder, to another the prohibition of adultery. When they heard of these restrictions they had no interest in accepting the Torah.

 

They refused the offer.

 

In Beraishis/Genesis, centuries before the Torah was given, G-d spelled out the Seven Noahide Laws that all of mankind is obligated to follow. These seven include the prohibitions of adulterous relationships and homicide. Why, then, did G-d, when offering the nations of the world the Torah, describe the Torah using mitzvos (commandments) they were already commanded to follow? More so, why would the nations of the world forego the opportunity to become G-d’s chosen people simply because the Torah contained commandments they were already obligated to observe?

 

Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr (Rosh Yeshiva/Dean of Mesivta Torah Voda’ath in New York; 1910-1979; acknowledged as one of the first American trained gedolim [Torah giants], he authored Ohr Gedalyahu on the Torah and festivals) explains the fundamental difference between the Decalogue and the Seven Noahide Laws. Rashi (Shemos/Exodus 22:12) clarifies that all 613 of the Torah’s mitzvos are alluded to in the Ten Commandments. Each one of the ten has numerous lessons and obligations extending from it, guidelines for the countless intricate details of life. Rabbeinu Yonah explains that an extension of the ban on murder is a prohibition of embarrassing another person; such an act is tantamount to killing the person. But the original Noahide restrictions were not nearly so broad and imposing. One could readily go through life, maintaining the guidelines of the command with no requisite character refinement. The Torah was given to people to enable them to realize their spiritual potential.

 

This accomplishment necessitates attention not only to the big picture but on all of the small details as well.

This is what G-d was telling the other nations when he offered them the Torah; this is the level of responsibility they rebuffed. But the Jewish nation answered “we shall do and we shall listen.”

 

We accept the challenge, we will grow from the challenge.

 

Have a Good Shabbos!

 Rebuilding is a Process

Parshas Vaeschanan

Shabbos Nachamu

Posted on July 29, 2020 (5780) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

The Shabbat immediately after the sad fast day of 9 Av is called Shabbat Nachamu – the Shabbat of comfort and consolation. This Shabbat draws its name from the first two words of the prophet Yeshayahu, and this series of prophetic readings continues for seven weeks with a message of hope and contentment.

 

The prophetic readings leading up to the ninth of Av were only three in number, but the message of consolation is more than twice that in number. The prophet himself notes that the comforting message will be granted in a double manner (Nachamu Nachamu), and we receive seven weeks of comfort to counterbalance the three-week messages of doom and destruction.

 

We are all aware that there are many varied and valid reasons and motives for Jewish customs and traditions. All of these customs regarding the readings of these specific Haftorot and the reasons for them should not be treated lightly, and one should not dismiss them in a cavalier fashion simply because it may no longer seem to be appropriate to the situation.

 

Human life and behavior are too complex to attribute it to just one motive and reason. This is true regarding all details and aspects of Jewish tradition as well. There are ample examples in past and present Jewish society, how the abandonment of certain customs that modernists felt to be anachronistic (outdated) eventually led to violations of explicit Torah commandments and values themselves. Judaism should never be observed and viewed in a simplistic, superficial manner. It is too grand for such treatment.

 

There is a profound and important lesson to be derived from the fact that the prophecies of destruction required only three weeks of public reading while the prophecies of hope and consolation mandated a seven-week period of time on the Jewish calendar.

 

In our lives, destruction requires far less time and effort to achieve its sad and nefarious goal. When the end comes, it does so with inevitably and swiftness. Great empires and powerful countries can exist for centuries but are consigned into the dustbin of history in only a few decades or even a few years. It is so much faster and easier to slide down than to attempt to rise and rebuild and struggle forward.

 

Rebuilding is a process, and it is never accomplished in an instantaneous and easy manner. There are many ups and downs that rebuilding will engender, disappointments, frustrations and even reversals.  It will take much more time for the effort to comfort the Jewish people in its continuing effort to rebuild itself anew in its ancient homeland currently. The Jewish world was almost destroyed in a few years in the past century. It will take time to rebuild it. It is a continuing process along a very bumpy road.

 

We should be comforted realizing that the process has begun and is underway. There are many weeks and years ahead of us, as we continue our quest to be comforted. But we are already blessed with the knowledge that we have reached the season of comfort and consolation.

 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

 

A Hack for the Heart

Parshas Vaeschanan

Posted on August 16, 2019 (5779) By Torah.org | Series: Lifeline | Level: Beginner

While reading an article with information for her research report, Ellen noticed the Facebook “Like” button alongside the webpage. It was now 9:15am and she hadn’t checked Facebook since she woke up three hours earlier, so she wondered if anything was going on in her social circle. Not yet engrossed in her article, she figured she could spend a minute or two scrolling through her friends’ updates and come right back to her research.

 

There wasn’t much interesting going on with her friends, except that Janet had posted a cute video with dancing kittens. That was fun to watch for a few minutes. Before she returned to her report, the video player automatically loaded its next clip, this one of a teenage boy catching eels on the side of the river. Gross! That didn’t interest her, but it made her wonder if something of interest was in the news. Her three favorite news outlets didn’t have much to offer, but she did need to buy some bandaids and wondered whether the price would be better on Amazon or on Ebay. Of the six boxes of bandaids on Amazon, Ellen finally decided on the one with the best reviews and found it on Ebay for less.

 

Then she remembered that she had to check the weather and the flight schedule, because her cousin Sue was arriving from California that night. Nothing more than a drizzle was predicted, but the Arrivals page wasn’t loading on the airport website, even after she refreshed the page a few times. Her stomach began to grumble, so she figured she’d try again after she grabbed some lunch.

 

In the reading of Shema, part of which is found in this week’s Torah portion, we read the Commandment to love G-d “Bchol Livavecha, with all our hearts.” Does a person have more than one heart? The Talmud explains that the multiple “hearts” are a reference to a person’s two drives: the one to do what is right (the Yetzer Tov) and the one to do wrong (the Yetzer Hara).

 

We can understand loving G-d with our drive to do the right thing, but how can we love G-d with our drive to do wrong? The answer is found in our story. Most of us are good people at heart; we want to do good. But the drive to do the wrong thing creeps up on us. One small action leads to the next, and before long we’ve done something wrong. Like Ellen, we sat down to do research, and we ended up buying bandaids and wasting three hours. That’s the modus operandi of the drive to do wrong.

 

Given that the persuasive methods of the negative drive are so effective, we should find a way to use those methods to do the right thing, instead. Ellen had trouble committing herself to her report, but what if she said, “I’ll spend 20 minutes on my report, and afterwards I’ll spend 2 minutes checking the weather?” Twenty five to thirty minutes later, she might then check the weather — but as she has been reading for twenty minutes, she is likely to return to work more quickly, especially if she found it interesting. She could then reserve another two minutes for a quick break after another twenty or thirty minutes working. Following this pattern, she could aim for 90% productivity during her three hours of work. In that way, she has leveraged the techniques of her drive to do wrong — in order to do things right.

 

We too can love and serve G-d, as we truly want to do, with this method. We can look forward to 80%, or even 90% growth in our spiritual goals. That negative drive is pretty clever! It’s wise to glean some of its methods for holy purposes. (Based on Sefer Ksav Sofer)

 

 

They Can Assure a Cure

Parshas Devarim

The Three Weeks

Posted on July 12, 2013 (5773) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah| Level: Beginner

While we are sitting low and feeling low on Tisha B’Av we might want to figure out how we got to this point. After all, that’s the refrain of Eicha- “How did it happen?”- echoing in our ears. How did it happen?

 

Our sages tell us that what brought about the destruction of the 2nd Temple was something called “Sinas Chinam” -baseless hatred! I can still recall the feeling of helplessness when I was yet a young Yeshiva student and ever since, sitting there on Tisha B”Av and not knowing exactly what to feel guilty about. How to I find that hidden hatred and how do I practically uproot it?

 

Where is the class on psychoanalysis or the workbook that comes along with the diagnosis?

 

Well, now I have a new problem. The origins of Tisha B’Av do begin when the 1st of the 2nd Temple were destroyed. The first “Tisha B’Av” was when the spies in the dessert came back with a discouraging report the congregation “gave their voices crying and the nation cried on that night” (Bamidbar 14:1). The Talmud (Taanis 29) quotes Rabbi Yochonon, “That night was Tisha B’Av. The Holy One, blessed is He said to them, “You are crying a cry for nothing (Bechia shel chinam- a baseless cry)? I will fix for you a crying for generations!”” Now I have to figure out what a baseless cry is all about also!

 

Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon offers a blunt and sobering explanation of the phenomenon of “baseless hatred” which our sages tell us is the underlying reason for the destruction of the 2nd Temple and the length of the subsequent exile. Imagine a teacher is trying to gain the attention of a student in his class. The child is playing with some toy inside his desk and he is warned time and again. Eventually the teacher cuts off the arm of the student. The parents and the principal are mortified. The teacher explains that he was playing with things inside his desk during class time. Everyone would agree in this absurd case that the teacher stepped over all bounds of acceptability, no matter how he may try to explain his behavior. Sure the kid was not innocent but he didn’t deserve to lose a limb.

 

So says Rabbi Solomon that sometimes a person has a real claim against another. He was slighted or cheated or damaged in some way but that does not justify hating him in his entirety or frowning at and complaining about his family and wishing them ill. All that would be overkill. It requires a sophisticated and surgical approach not to condemn the whole of a person or his clan because a single albeit legitimate point of contention.

 

That’s the definition and the dynamic of the debilitating disease called “baseless hatred”. Not that it is entirely unwarranted but that that the limited license to complain spills over and floods the arena of the “unwarranted”.

 

Perhaps we can apply the same working definition and standard to help us to understand the “baseless crying” -“bechia shel chinam” which was the real root of our downfall of Tisha B’Av.

 

Sure the people felt justified in their crying because the news was disappointing as interpreted. However, the extra moaning and complaining, and the indulging in feelings of being defeated, and the accompanying anger and resentment in crying- is what spills over for generations.

 

Tears too need to be surgical so they can assure a cure!