Nahar U'Pashtei Parshas Matos Maasei

The Sanctity of Your Word

We cannot pass over the passage of nedarim, optional vows, without reviewing some poignant lessons. It was on Yom Kippur night before kol nidreh many years ago that I found myself needing to prepare a speech to make an appeal. My father, the Rosh HaYeshiva, ztvk”l, told me to say the following. It is curious that we begin the prayers of the holiest day of the year, a day where we beg forgiveness for our sins and hope for a fresh chance going forward, with a public annulment of all types of vows. Why was kol nidreh chosen then to lead off the Yom Kippur davening? He explained that before we can do proper teshuvah for transgressing the Torah, we must first repent for not keeping the vows that we voluntarily placed upon ourselves. Not living up to our own declarations that we invented ourselves is in a way even more pitiful than not living up to Hashem’s mitzvos! The Torah can sometimes prove challenging for us, but to fall short of our own self-imposed regulations - this demonstrates an even greater lack of control over one’s base desires! Before we can come forward and ask for forgiveness, we must rid ourselves of this embarrassing reality. A second reason why the presence of our nedarim on Yom Kippur presents as such a terrible stain is because the very fact that one makes these vows demonstrates that one’s attitude is that the Torah’s restrictions are so easy to keep that we can add our own rules on top of them! Therefore, we recite kol nidreh to rid ourselves of these unfulfilled vows, for we foolishly took for granted that we could follow the Torah and its mitzvos, and now we see that we could not! And these two points are extremely important matters to contemplate. First, the words that come out of our mouths create a serious commitment and responsibility. There are some circumstances when nedarim and permitted, and according to some even encouraged, to better fight the battle with one’s specific yetzer hara. But even when one merely “commits” to do something, or in the calculations one makes regarding how he intends to spend his time in the pursuits of avodas Hashem, his word should be treated as binding. If you yourself say that you will, or you can, or you will not; you should follow through. And secondly, when one finds himself looking to take on new commitments or to add unnecessary chumros to his avodah, he should first take a sharp, clear look to see how he measures up to this potential commitment. Is he already fulfilling all the mitzvos properly, in accordance with halachah? Or is he a bit lax in one area, and a bit ignorant in another? Is it proper to add on to what Hashem asks of him before he has done as He says? There are a myriad of levels to many mitzvos of the Torah, and there is indeed a proper place for things like abstinence and fasting, but everything must be in its proper place. The message of kol nidreh is not only for Yom Kippur night, but should shape our approach to nedarim and commitments the entire year. A Gut Shabbos! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss

matos-maasei

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Nahar U'Pashtei Parshas Pinchos

The Answer

When Moshe Rabbeinu saw that Hashem would allow Tzelafchad’s daughters to continue his legacy, he knew the time was ripe to ask Hashem that his own sons continue his legacy, and assume the mantle of leadership. Furthermore, Moshe davened a unique tefillah at this time - he prayed that any subsequent leader of Klal Yisroel should not be stopped in the midst of his mission, but should rather be given the strength to see it through. Moshe knew the pain of leaving his flock before their dreams were realized and he prayed that no other leaders would experience it. Hashem answered Moshe that it was Yehoshua who would succeed him, and Moshe responded with grace and humility. Not only that, but Moshe was so selfless, he gave Yehoshua everything he was able to help Yehoshua be successful his new mission. What is interesting is that after this series of events, the Torah lists the communal mussaf offerings of Shabbos and the Festivals. In explanation of this curious placement, Rashi comments that Hashem said to Moshe, “Before you command me regarding my children, command My children regarding me!” In other words, before you worry about the future leaders of the nation, let us teach them about the korbanos. The meaning of this lesson was that Moshe had led a nation whose belief system was built on the open miracles they were privy to. This inspired a great awe and belief in Hashem, but lacked the foundation of faith needed to trust Hashem going forward. Thus, when they were confronted with new challenges, the nation faltered. Moshe was their leader and gave every ounce of his being to guide and protect them in their journey from Mitzrayim through the Wilderness to Eretz Yisroel. He protected them, he sacrificed for them, he pleaded on their behalf. The reality is that if not for the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu, the nation would not have survived; and Moshe knew this. He came now with a plea before Hashem that the leader of the nation always have the strength to overcome the complaints and the rebellions that would inevitably present themselves, and still have the strength to continue. Hashem replied with korbanos! Hashem told Moshe that it was now time to learn the lessons of the korbanos and thereby morph the nation into a people who can withstand any test to their faith! When one learns through the passage of the offerings and internalizes the hashkafos therein, he prepares himself to live a life of bitachon! When Klal Yisroel realize that Hashem is the true Giver, and all of the natural order of the world is but a coverup of His complete and total control over everything, they are ready to trust Him! This, Hashem told Moshe, is the answer. Not to hope to have a leader as great as Moshe who could pull the nation out of their pitfalls, but to build a nation with strong bitachon learned through korbanos and avoid these sins altogether! Now, with this new approach, we can see how integral the passage of korbanos is to our growth. This was Hashem’s chosen path to enable us to overcome the common pitfalls of a life without bitachon. We must run and study them! We must delve into the lessons contained within these passages, and take each one to heart, for they afford us with the foundation of strong bitachon that we crave. A Gut Shabbos! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss

Pinchos

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Nahar U'Pashtei Parshas Pinchos 5781

The Sage Donkey

In Parshas Balak we are introduced to Bilaam; a man who possessed so many of the evil traits we strive to rid ourselves of. His sheker, his greed, and even his immorality, were on full display. But what I would like to speak about a little is Bilaam’s anger. When Bilaam went with the officers of Moav, he rode his faithful donkey. Unbeknownst to this rashah, an angel of Heaven was sent to block his path, which set the stage for the absurd sequence of events that was to follow. The donkey saw the angel, and veered off the path as a result. Bilaam responded by striking it to get it to return to the path. Then, the donkey veered off once again, this time trapping Bilaam’s leg. His response was again to hit his donkey, perhaps harder and stronger than the first time. On the third time, when the donkey simply refused to move onward - for it saw no way past the angel - Bilaam let loose his anger. As the verse attests, and Bilaam’s anger flared, and he hit the donkey with his staff. Here, it was his extreme embarrassment and general haughtiness that allowed him to lash out in anger. At that point, Hashem allowed the donkey to explain to Bilaam why it had stopped, and that he should have trusted it, for it had never done this before! But Bilaam was still prepared to kill his donkey even then, as the verse states, for he was still in the throes of his temper! Now that we see the way Bilaam was acting, let us examine what finally did get him to calm down. Ultimately, it was the appearance of the angel that scared the anger right out of him! This is an important lesson for us indeed. People are often under the impression that anger excuses improper behavior. Even when they act inappropriately, people rationalize that they cannot be blamed, because in a moment of weakness, when they were somewhat blinded by their anger, they are excused for making a poor decision. They even think that this is not at all a reflection of their character, and they do not believe there is anything to be improved upon. But we see from Bilaam that this is not so. Fear is so powerful that it can cause the biggest and ugliest temper to dissipate in a moment! Just think - if this is so, then true cognizance of Hashem’s Presence at all times should stand in the way of one losing control to his bouts of anger. Yiras Shamayim should prevent one from ever reaching a state of uncontrolled actions! Even the haughty Bilaam’s anger was quieted at the realization that there was an angel of God in his way! There is also another more crucial lesson that we can glean from the episode of Bilaam’s donkey. The Mishnah in Avos teaches that one of the ten items created during twilight of the Sixth Day of Creation was the mouth of Bilaam’s donkey. All the other items mentioned in the Mishnah seemed to have played a central or significant role in the history of Klal Yisrael. But what was the significance of the donkey’s talk with Bilaam? The donkey said to him, “Why? Why are you reacting this way? Did I ever fail you before”, etc. A few minutes later and the donkey was dead. What is so momentous and purposeful about this encounter that it called for a special creation? The answer is simple, but resonates deeply. Essentially, all the donkey was telling Bilaam was to judge favorably, and not to follow his initial reaction so absolutely. He was telling us all that when we find ourselves in a situation where we were “obviously” wronged or insulted, we must look again. Try to find the favorable side of things, and you might be surprised to realize the truth! Many an argument could be stopped if we would listen to the sage advice that emerged from the donkey’s mouth. A Gut Shabbos! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss

Nahar U_Pashtei Pinchos 5781

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