"By chance" I heard shiur of R' miller on Chanukah this week - & now I realize its appropriate for the parshah - beha'aloscha es haneiros!
Vehayu li halevi'im what got them to such a level that from Hashem's chosen nation - vehayu LI! - they are the CHOSEN ONES?
Ravta es Rivam - R' miller asks a great but simple question - we praise Hashem for fighting THEIR fight???!!! Hashem ought to thank THEM for fighting HIS fight!? They lives weren't threatened, rather the Torah was!
The answer is though just as simple. It WAS their fight. This qeeks pirkei avos says "asay ritzono kirtzonecho" do His will as your own. It doesn't mean just to do it that way but it SHOULD be YOUR WILL! The chashmonoim took Torah & mitzvos so PERSONALLY, it was THEIR fight!! To the point that we can honestly say HASHEM did it for THEM!!
This was shevet Levi. when the rest of the jews saw the eirev rav with the eigel, it didn't bother THEM enough to take a stand. But shevet levi did. Mi LHashem eilay. - vehayu LI.
We spoke about the need to have our own brakes. It comes from Torah having a meaning to ourselves. Our own yiras shamayim. Our own appreciation for honesty, Tzniyus, kiddush Hashem, middos tovos etc.
We don't have shotrim to ensure that others are doing well. But each man - if there are things he takes stand on, things that he shares wuth his family - AS HIS OWN PERSONAL upset about certain downfalls he's noticed by others (w/o mentioning names) that BOTHER him. We can - & must be - the brakes that restrain the yeridah & prevent nefilah. Take a stand. Draw a line for yourselves that says 'ad kan', and let your family sees what yidishkeit means to YOU, regardless of your capabilty of changing the world. You can stop yourself & let your family be 'the chosen people' as well.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
B'ha'aloscha
the beginning of the parsh speaks of aliyah - b'ha'aloscha....
the end of the parsha speaks of yeridah - baba basra 75a - when moshe gave over the spirit of nevuah to the 70 elders, they said pnei moshe k'chama pnei yehoshua kyerach, oy L'oso busah... pninim mishulchan gra asks What busha?
rosh hashana 25a says why the torah doesn't detail the names of the 70 zekainim? so that no one in future generations may say my rav is not like so & so so I don't have to listen... The 70 names are hidden so people may assume their rav to be like them who are unknown to them.
this was the busha of the zekainim. When they saw such a yeridah already in one dor, from moshe to yehoshua, & this would go on for so many more generations, what a bushah it would be for them to be compared to the gedolim of the later doros!
the middle of the parsha avoids nefilah. - Vayehi b'nsoa ha'aron is entirely a new sefer. Rashi explains that this was to break between one "puroniyos" & another. The Nuns here also represent nefilah - as we know ashrei does not have a pasuk starting with nun because if there is nun - nefilah - R"L, there's very little hope.
What's the difference between such a huge yeridah & the nefilah that we're so careful to avoid?
When one goes down, he still retains his own ability to STOP. However when one is falling, he stops only when he hits something. Something else stops him.
If the yeridah becomes a nefilah, where he have to be reliant on external entities to stop us, that is a terrible state.
We surely need to have filters on the internet, but if we're RELYING on the goyim to stop us from cheit, we're in huge trouble. We need to have something internal - not instead - but besides, for the filters. We need OUR OWN BRAKES! If we don't build our own capability to stop ourselves, - oy vey! What a sorry sight!
the end of the parsha speaks of yeridah - baba basra 75a - when moshe gave over the spirit of nevuah to the 70 elders, they said pnei moshe k'chama pnei yehoshua kyerach, oy L'oso busah... pninim mishulchan gra asks What busha?
rosh hashana 25a says why the torah doesn't detail the names of the 70 zekainim? so that no one in future generations may say my rav is not like so & so so I don't have to listen... The 70 names are hidden so people may assume their rav to be like them who are unknown to them.
this was the busha of the zekainim. When they saw such a yeridah already in one dor, from moshe to yehoshua, & this would go on for so many more generations, what a bushah it would be for them to be compared to the gedolim of the later doros!
the middle of the parsha avoids nefilah. - Vayehi b'nsoa ha'aron is entirely a new sefer. Rashi explains that this was to break between one "puroniyos" & another. The Nuns here also represent nefilah - as we know ashrei does not have a pasuk starting with nun because if there is nun - nefilah - R"L, there's very little hope.
What's the difference between such a huge yeridah & the nefilah that we're so careful to avoid?
When one goes down, he still retains his own ability to STOP. However when one is falling, he stops only when he hits something. Something else stops him.
If the yeridah becomes a nefilah, where he have to be reliant on external entities to stop us, that is a terrible state.
We surely need to have filters on the internet, but if we're RELYING on the goyim to stop us from cheit, we're in huge trouble. We need to have something internal - not instead - but besides, for the filters. We need OUR OWN BRAKES! If we don't build our own capability to stop ourselves, - oy vey! What a sorry sight!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Avos 1.2
HaTorah HuAvodha - hey hayediah is exclusive. I'm lo brisi Torah she bal peh. The world DOESN'T stand on the existance of Torah scroll or its spiritual entity. Rather it's living existance by the mouths (chaim l'motzaihem bapeh) of its learners.
HuAvodah is exclusive even though all mitzvos are avodas Hashem & acc. to sefer chareidim, every mitzvah even demands avodah shebalev, the world stands specifically on HaAvodah sheb'lev of korbanos/tefilah.
Gemilus chassadim doesn't seem to be exclusive of anything...
Chassam sofer notes the mention of Shimon hatzadik being from the anshei knesses hagedolah. They restored 'attarah l'yoshna' with hagadol hagibor v'hanora. The C.S. Explains these 3 titles as refferences to the three pillars Chessed Torah & Avodah. (as the avos were - chessed avodah & torah). Gadlus is an extension or expansion of self beyond its previous borders & limitations.
This perhaps defines Gemilus Chassadim of our mishnah as being exclusive as well. The world doesn't stand on just any Chessed. It stands on chessed of gadlus, which is the difference bet. Chessed & GEMILUS chassadim. The gemara shabbos relates why the feet of the gimmel run after the dalet....
The world stands on the chessed of those who LOOK to do chesed. Who run & create chessed, not on those who wait for a need to arise to then help out.
HuAvodah is exclusive even though all mitzvos are avodas Hashem & acc. to sefer chareidim, every mitzvah even demands avodah shebalev, the world stands specifically on HaAvodah sheb'lev of korbanos/tefilah.
Gemilus chassadim doesn't seem to be exclusive of anything...
Chassam sofer notes the mention of Shimon hatzadik being from the anshei knesses hagedolah. They restored 'attarah l'yoshna' with hagadol hagibor v'hanora. The C.S. Explains these 3 titles as refferences to the three pillars Chessed Torah & Avodah. (as the avos were - chessed avodah & torah). Gadlus is an extension or expansion of self beyond its previous borders & limitations.
This perhaps defines Gemilus Chassadim of our mishnah as being exclusive as well. The world doesn't stand on just any Chessed. It stands on chessed of gadlus, which is the difference bet. Chessed & GEMILUS chassadim. The gemara shabbos relates why the feet of the gimmel run after the dalet....
The world stands on the chessed of those who LOOK to do chesed. Who run & create chessed, not on those who wait for a need to arise to then help out.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Naso
Vayehi byom kalos moshe. Tanchumah vay - the angels cried that the shechina is leaving the heavens....
Another pshatt the tanchuma says is mashal for king with argumentative wife. He gave her fine fabric to make a royal garment. After a long while she finished. Upon presentation to the king he wailed. Oy vey! - she asked if he didn't like it to which he replied its beautiful but until now things were quiet, as you were busy. Now with the free time the arguments will resume!
so too when klall yisrael finished the mishkan....
We must be aware with the long days of summer arriving now, to be extra careful that the available time not cause more 'arguments' but rather we must make use of the time wisely.
Another pshatt the tanchuma says is mashal for king with argumentative wife. He gave her fine fabric to make a royal garment. After a long while she finished. Upon presentation to the king he wailed. Oy vey! - she asked if he didn't like it to which he replied its beautiful but until now things were quiet, as you were busy. Now with the free time the arguments will resume!
so too when klall yisrael finished the mishkan....
We must be aware with the long days of summer arriving now, to be extra careful that the available time not cause more 'arguments' but rather we must make use of the time wisely.
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