B"H

Friday, Tammuz 4, 5780 / June 26, 2020

This Shabbat we will recite the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot.  Among the many teachings in the chapter, is the following lesson from the Talmudic sage, Ben Azzai, "Do not be scornful of any person and do not reject anything; for you have no person without his hour and no thing without its place." 

The following parable illustrates this idea: A lion was asleep when a little mouse crawled over and woke him up.  Angry at the chutzpah, he declared, "You deserve to die for waking the king of the animals!"  The little mouse pleaded for her life.  "Please spare my life.  I promise to repay you one day!" the mouse begged. 

The lion roared with laughter, "How can a little mouse ever help me?"  Nevertheless, he let the little mouse go. 

A few days later,  the lion was walking through the forest and he stepped into a hunters' trap.  The lion tried to escape, but it was no use.  The little mouse heard the lion shouting for help, "Now is the time to repay him."  She found the lion and started nibbling at the rope.  Before long, the rope was cut and the lion was free! 

Similarly, the Midrash states that Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua once saw a ship sink.  One man survived by holding onto a plank.  However, by the time he reached the shore, he had lost all his clothes.  "I am your cousin a descendant from Esau, please help me!" the man cried.  But the people who saw him only laughed. 

He asked Rabbi Elazar for help.  The sage gave him one of the robes that he was wearing, brought him into his house and gave him food, drink and 200 dinars.  Rabbi Elazar even had him ride his own donkey and escorted the man to his home. 

Many years later, the man became the Caesar.  He ordered his army to kill all the Jews in the province.  Terrified, the people turned to Rabbi Elazar for help.  "Collect money.  Perhaps I can bribe the Caesar!" he ordered.  The community gave him 4,000 dinars and Rabbi Elazar went to the royal palace. 

Outside the gates, he asked for an audience with the ruler and it was granted. 

When the Caesar saw Rabbi Elazar, he recognized him and exclaimed, "Why did you come?"  

"To seek mercy for the Jews!" Rabbi Elazar replied.  "But they did not have mercy on me!" the Caesar stated. 

Rabbi Elazar agreed, "True, they are guilty, but please accept their gift and forgive them." 

The Caesar replied, "In your merit, I will spare your people.  What's more, I give the 4,000 dinars to you, in exchange for the 200 dinars you gave me!  I will also give you seventy robes for the one you gave me.  Go in peace to your people!"    

Life is compared to a wheel that is constantly turning.  As the wheel of fortune turns, those who have been at the bottom may one day find themselves at the top and vice versa.   One may one day need the help of the very same person whom he rejects today.  Ben Azzai teaches us that by doing good for others, you may in fact be doing good for yourself.

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 8:29 / Shabbat ends: 9:45

Tuesday, Tammuz 8, 5780 / June 30, 2020

As mentioned previously, since Shavuot, the Torah readings on Shabbat, differ between Israel and the Diaspora. Israel is one Parsha ahead of us. However, this Shabbat we in the Diaspora will catch up to Israel. This is accomplished by Israel reading one Parsha, Balak, while we will combine the two Parshiot, Chukat and Balak together. After this Shabbat we will both be reading the same readings.

Parshat Chukat begins with the mitzvah of "Para Adumah" (Red Heifer) whose ashes mixed with spring water were sprinkled upon one who became spiritually unclean through contact with the dead.  This mitzvah falls in the category of "Chukah" - mitzvot which have no logical reason.  Although some parts of the mitzvah may be explained, in general it is a mitzvah with no rational explanation.  We observe this category of mitzvot with pure faith, because G-d commanded us to do them. 

In Parshat Chukat we read about the passing of Moshe's sister, Miriam. When Miriam passed away, the special well which accompanied the people in the desert, stopped flowing. When the people realized that they had no water, they complained to Moshe and Aaron, "Why did you bring us into this wilderness to die here? Why did you bring us out of Egypt to this evil place… there is no water..."

G-d then told Moshe, "Take your rod and assemble the congregation; you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes and it will give forth its water."  Moshe gathered the people and addressed them, beginning with these words, "Hear now you rebels ...."  Moshe then "lifted up his hand and hit the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly and the congregation drank along with their cattle." 

Moshe and Aaron didn't speak to the rock as commanded, but hit it instead.  G-d said, "Because you didn't believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." Thus, G-d decreed that Moshe and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land.

Q.  How did Moshe make the mistake of hitting the rock when G-d told him to speak to it?

A.  As a result of Moshe's becoming angry at the people, he lost self control and forgot G-d's instructions. According to our sages,  this teaches us the tremendous destructiveness of anger.  According to our sages, there were three occasions in which Moshe became angry and each time it caused him to make a mistake. Anger brings negative consequences.

Q.  Why was Moshe punished so severely for hitting the rock?

A.  There are two ways of serving G-d; out of love or out of the fear of G-d's punishment. One should serve G-d out of love rather than fear. By hitting the rock, Moshe emphasized the notion of obeying

G-d’s commandments for fear of punishment, relating to the Jewish people the wrong message.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY

B"H

Wednesday, Tammuz 9, 5780 / July 1, 2020

As mentioned yesterday, the Torah reading this Shabbat in Israel is Parshat Balak. In the Diaspora, we will read Parshat Chukat and Balak combined.

In Parshat Chukat we read about the passing of Moshe’s sister, Miriam and Moshe’s brother, Aaron. This took place at the end of the forty years which the Jewish people travelled the desert, as a result of their sin of refusing to go into Israel 38 years earlier. Miriam, passed away in the month of Nissan, about three and a half months before her brother, Aaron, who passed away in Av.

Moshe passed away 11 months after Miriam. His passing is recorded at the end of the Torah. Miriam was 125 years old when she passed away. Aaron was 123 years old and Moshe was 120.   

Throughout the forty years which the Jewish people traveled the Sinai desert, well-water flowed miraculously from a rock and supplied them with all the water they needed. The rock traveled with them. Now that Miriam passed away, the water stopped since it was in her merit.

This caused the Jewish people to complain and argue with Moshe, that they had no water. G-d told Moshe to take his staff and speak to the rock and it would then give water.

Moshe was upset and angry at the people for constantly arguing against G-d.  In anger, Moshe called out, “Hear now you rebels…”  Then instead of speaking to the rock, as G-d told him, Moshe hit the rock twice with his staff.  The rock gave lots of water, but Moshe and Aaron were punished for not speaking to the rock.  G-d told them that as a result, they would not merit entering the Promised Land.

Every story in the Torah is a lesson for all generations. From this story we learn the negative results which can come as a result of anger. The extent of the prohibition to being angry is expressed in the following saying of our sages, “A person who becomes angry is like he is worshipping idols.”

Q.Why does the Torah tell us that Moshe struck the rock twice?

A.The following explains it: Rabbi Israel of Rushin once saw one of his children become angry at someone.  When the Rebbe’s son saw that his father didn’t reprimand him, he again expressed his anger against that person.  But now his father reprimanded him for being angry.

His father then said to him, “We find that only after Moshe hit the rock twice did G-d react negatively to him.  Why didn’t G-d react to him after he struck the rock the first time?  The answer is that a person is not an angel. A person is only human and perhaps Moshe couldn’t help himself on the spur of the moment from becoming angry. But when Moshe hit the stone in anger a second time, then it was his fault and G-d reprimanded him.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY