Rashi says in Perek ב posuk ג:

וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י ב֤וֹ שָׁבַת֙ מִכׇּל־מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃

Rashi:

אשר ברא אלהים לעשות. הַמְּלָאכָה שֶׁהָיְתָה רְאוּיָה לֵעָשׂוֹת בַּשַּׁבָּת, כָּפַל וַעֲשָׂאָהּ בַּשִּׁשִּׁי כְּמוֹ שֶׁמְּפֹרָשׁ בְּב”ר:

After I admit that I didn’t yet look up the Braishis Rabba, I was inspired this year as follows:

Rashi is essentially saying that there was a מלאכה that was supposed to be done on Shabbat, but since G-d wanted to complete the creation in six days, so He did double on Friday, Friday’s creation and the creation that was supposed to be on Shabbat.

When looking above, in simplicity, Friday’s מלאכה was the creation of the animals, and Shabbat’s מלאכה was the creation of man. First of all, this arouses the thought that Man has a connection, an attachment to Shabbat, and as such it is logical that he should be created on Shabbat.

But moreover, it is well known a quote from the Holy Zohar that a Talmid Chacham is called “Shabbos”. This is quoted by many works, like the Noam Elimelech parshat Ki Tavo, and elsewhere. A Talmid Chacham is someone who learns a lot of Torah, and observes the Mitzvot. This is in essence the tachlis of creation, as in the first Rashi, בראשית, for Yisrael who is called Raishis, and for the Torah which is called Raishis. Therefore it is in place that Man should have, excuse the expression, been created on Shabbat, because that is the tachlis of his creation, to learn Torah and be a Talmid Chacham. Just that since the Ribono Shel Olam wanted everything to be created in six days, to therefore he was created also on the sixth day.

תשפ”ו:

וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
פירש”י: וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל: אף בזה אנו צריכים לדברי אגדה.
מזרחי: אף בזה אנו צריכים לדברי אגדה. כמו במלת בראשית מפני שאי אפשר לפרש ההבדל הזה כמשמעו כי לא יפול הבדל רק בדברים המתערבים והאור והחשך הם העדר וקנין ולא תפול בהם ערוב ואי אפשר חבורם בעת מן העתים:
זאת אומרת שהפירוש של רש”י הולך על המילה ויבדל, שהוא הרי בדברי המתחיל של רש”י

At the end of Parshat Balak, the Targum Yonasan lists 12 miracles that occurred when Pinchas stabbed Zimri and the shiksa that he was living with. The eleventh miracle that he lists is as follows:

נֵס חַדְסְרָאֵי דְאִתְנַטְרוּ כַּד חַיָין עַד זְמַן דַהֲלִיךְ יַתְהוֹן בְּכָל מַשִׁרְיָיתָא מִן בִּגְלַל דְלָא יִסְתָּאָב כַּהֲנָא בְּאָהֳלֵי דְמִיתָא.

That Zimri et al were kept alive the whole time that Pinchas was marching them throughout the entire encampment in order to show that it was not in vain that he killed Zimri the head of Shevet Shimon. And the Targum adds, “in order that the Cohen (Pinchas) should not become tameh (ritually impure) by being in an ohel hamais”, in the tent, so to speak, meaning under the same roof as a dead person.

I comment, why do you have to come on to an ohel hamais? A mais is metamei even by masah. Even if Pinchas would have held the romach at an angle such that he was never underneath, he would still be tamei because of masah.

In the afternoon I learn in the Tzanzer Bais Medrash Beitar B2. I asked this question to one of the talmidai chachamim who learns there, and he answered me that he thought that I was going to ask something else, a question that was bothering him. That at the time Pinchas was not yet a Cohen, so why does the Targum express itself “the Cohen”?

To my question he didn’t have an answer. But to his question I suggested, that even though the gemara states, and Rashi brings this:

וְכֵן שָׁנִינוּ בִזְבָחִים (דף ק”א) לֹא נִתְכַּהֵן פִּינְחָס עַד שֶׁהֲרָגוֹ לְזִמְרִי

(and since Zimri was not yet dead you can’t say עַד שֶׁהֲרָגוֹ), still, what the posuk actually says is: is that G-d granted Pinchas to be a Cohen אֲשֶׁ֤ר קִנֵּא֙ לאלקיו and when he did the myseh with the romach he was kinay Lailokav already, even though Zimri didn’t die immediately. Hashem Yisborach told this to Moshe afterwards, but there was no official ceremony that was done to make Pinchas a Cohen, Hashem granted this when Pinchas did the myseh kana’us. So I suggest.

When I finished afternoon seder I took a bus home, it was hot and a bus was expected momentarily. I got on and I met Rav Yitzchak Kline, the Rosh Yeshiva of Amshinov. He asked me if I have any chidushim, and so I told him my comment on the Targum Yonasan. He asked me why did I not ask from maga, the fact that Pinchas was touching the romach, and חרב הרי הוא כחלל. I thought to answer him that I imagined the romach to be made out of wood, but then I realized that he was probably correct that it was made of metal. And besides, the mishnayos in Kailim talk about where the functional part of a kli is made out of metal, and the rest, even the rov, is made out of wood. But I don’t have the mishna on my fingertips to quote it responsibly.

But on my question, whether you ask from masah or whether you ask from maga, I don’t think that he answered me anything.

I feel like a million dollars though, that I finally have the bekius that I could ask such a question.

1) For years I really didn’t have a clear pshat in the words, אֶחָד אָחֻז מִן הַחֲמִשִּׁים. People told me that the phrase means one in fifty. But what’s אָחֻז? Does it mean like we use it today? It is implied not, the Targum renders, דְּיִתָּחַד. But what does That mean? Anyway, to make a longer story shorter, my eyes fell upon a Chezkuni this year:

כשהלויים נטלו עשרה באלף, הכהנים נטלו בו אחד כנגדן שלא היו הם אלא אחד מאחת עשרה ידות שבמשפחות לוי כיצד משפחות לוי חמש ומחצה משפחת הלבני וחברוני המחלי והמושי העמרמי וחצי של יצהר כמו שפי׳‎ בפרשת פנחס ומשפחת העמרמי היתה חציה כהנים וחציה לויים הרי לך הכהנים אחת מאחת עשרה ידות שבמשפחות לוי.

Keeping this indeed short, it comes out according the cheshbon that he makes that it is indeed one in fifty.

I told this over to my friend R. Moshe Ben-Shem, and asked him if he ever heard an explanation for אָחֻז? He told me that he once heard from R. Meir Milikovsky, the Rebbe’s son, approx. (because he doesn’t remember exactly): That the first batch wasn’t separated by counting the whole thing. When they counted, when they got to 500, so they took one to the side. The same thing at 1000.

But when they came to the second batch, the meches for the levi’im, so then they already knew how many then had, because they counted them for the first batch. So the second meches could be done by just separating what they had.

R. Moshe didn’t tell me this, he knew that he didn’t remember everything, but it seems to me to add, and I imagine that this was also included in R. Meir’s words, that they didn’t know when they reached the half way point. They just counted and each 500 separated one. So then when they finished and knew exactly how much they had, so double the amount that they needed for the meches for the Cohanim was already separated. If so, then that was already אחוז, that was already held, so to speak.

2) I saw this week, also a Chezkuni, about how half of shevet Menashe came into the picture, listen to this:

ולחצי שבט מנשה: בני מנשה לא שאלו להם נחלה בארץ סיחון ועוג רק בני ראובן וגד שאלו אלא שעל ידי שאביהם גרם להם לשבטים שקרעו בגדיהם במעשה הגביע נתנה לו נחלתו בשני חלקים בשני עברי הירדן.

Says Rashi:
“Everyone who so much as ventures near: We cannot be careful of that. We are all permitted to enter the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting, but one who goes closer than his fellow and proceeds into the Tent of Meeting will die.
We are doomed to perish: Have we been abandoned for death?”

Why is this fear expressed here, at this point? If it is because of the general knowledge of the Halacha, (Jewish Law), one would think that they were taught this when the Mishkan was first erected. But the events here in this Parsha happened later, after they had traveled already from Har Sinai.
Rather, in simplicity, it is because they saw that Hashem punishes for this the death penalty. But where do we see that the punishments of death mentioned in the Parsha have anything to do with coming closer than permitted? Korach and his group was because they didn’t go along with the appointment of Aharon as the Kohain Gadol. And even the 250 who offered up the ketoret was also for the same reason. Or even if you will say that it is because a “sam hamavet” (the ketoret contained a deadly characteristic) which only a Kohain is not affected by, and these people were not Kohanim, still, what does that have to do with entering into an area which was forbidden to a non-kohain?

בעברית:

:שמעתי מידידי הרה”ג ר’ מיכאל פרידמן שליט”א, חתנא דבי נשיאה, על קושיא אחת בפרשת קורח
הֵן גָּוַעְנוּ אָבַדְנוּ כֻּלָּנוּ אָבָדְנוּ וכו’, פירש”י אֵין אָנוּ יְכוֹלִין לִהְיוֹת זְהִירִין בְּכָךְ, כֻּלָּנוּ רַשָּׁאִין לְהִכָּנֵס לַחֲצַר אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, וְאֶחָד שֶׁיַּקְרִיב עַצְמוֹ יוֹתֵר מֵחֲבֵרוֹ וְיִכָּנֵס לְתוֹךְ אֹהֶל : :מוֹעֵד יָמוּת
למה התעוררו לחשש זה דוקא עכשיו? אם בגלל הידיעה הכללית של ההלכה, בפשטות הם ידעו מזה מאז הקמת המשכן, וזה הרבה אחר כך אחרי שכבר נסעו מהר סיני. אלא בפשטות זה מפני שראו שהשי”ת מעניש על זה חיוב מיתה. אלא מאיפה מצאנו במיתות המפורשים בפרשה רמז שאם יתקרב יותר מידי חייבים מיתה? אצל קורח ועדתו העונש הוא בגלל שעוררו על הכהונה. ואפילו ה 250 מקטירי קטורת גם כן נענשו על אותו סיבה. או אפילו אם תמצא לומר שבגלל סם המוות נתון בקטורת והם לא היו כהנים, עדיין איפה מרומז העניין של להיכנס יותר פנימה ממה שהותר?

עוד דבר:
שינוי לשון:
אצל משיחת הכלים כתוב:
וְאֶת־הַשֻּׁלְחָן֙ וְאֶת־כׇּל־כֵּלָ֔יו וְאֶת־הַמְּנֹרָ֖ה וְאֶת־כֵּלֶ֑יהָ
אבל על עשית הכלים כתוב:
וְאֶת־הַשֻּׁלְחָן֙ וְאֶת־כֵּלָ֔יו וְאֶת־הַמְּנֹרָ֥ה הַטְּהֹרָ֖ה וְאֶת־כׇּל־כֵּלֶ֑יהָ

(לה, יח):
ד”ה בנימין (שניהם). זה הכל דבר אחד, רעיון אחד. נראה בעיני (הטעם למה קרא לו בנימין), שנולד בארץ כנען בנגב, בדרום, מלשון צפון וימין אתה בראת…

Why does Rashi connect this with what comes before, that despite all of your sins, still all what Hashem asks from you is Yiras Shamayim?

So the Gur Aryeh says that Rashi’s הכרח was because of the word עתה, עתה שואל.
But what’s the pshat?
So I found in the Be’er Besadeh:

ועתה אעפ”י וכו’ לא שעתה שואל ליראה ולא מקודם שהרי משהוציאם ממצרים כמה פעמים הזהיר אותם על זה לז”א אעפ”י וכו’ והכונה שאפילו עתה שחטאתם והיה מן הראוי לשאול מכם דברים קשים וכבדים אפ”ה לא שאל מכם שום דבר כבד וקשה כ”א ליראה דבר קל ואע”ג דקאמר בתר הכי ללכת וכו’ ולאהבה ולעבוד ולשמור והם שאלות רבות י”ל מדלא קאמר ליראה וללכת בוי”ו ההעטף כל הדברים האלו נמשכים מאליהם מחמת היראה ואדרבא לא מבעיא שאין זה עול ועבדות אלא הכל הוא טוב להם:

The verse says:

דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אִ֥ישׁ אִישׁ֙ כִּֽי־תִשְׂטֶ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ וּמָעֲלָ֥ה ב֖וֹ מָֽעַל׃

“Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: Any person whose wife has gone astray and broken faith with him…”

And Rashi explains the juxtaposition:

איש איש כי תשטה אשתו. מַה כָּתוּב לְמַעְלָה מִן הָעִנְיָן? “וְאִישׁ אֶת קֳדָשָׁיו לוֹ יִהְיוּ”, אִם אַתָּה מְעַכֵּב מַתְּנוֹת הַכֹּהֵן, חַיֶּיךָ שֶׁתִּצְטָרֵךְ לָבֹא אֶצְלוֹ לְהָבִיא לוֹ אֶת הַסּוֹטָה:

“What does it say previous to this? “Each person retains the right to give the holy gifts to the Cohen of his choice”. By your life, if you refrain from giving the Cohen that which you are obligated to give, then you’re going to have to come before him to bring your sotah (unfaithful) wife.”

I always took it like, if you do this, then from Heaven they will guide the events so that you will get that. And the focus is the Cohen. If you gyp a cohen out of his teruma, then from Heaven they will arrange things so that you have to come before the Cohen for other (unpleasant) reasons.

This year I had a different thought:

If you handle your business dealings at home that you try to avoid fulfilling your obligations to others that are indeed coming to them, if you’re that kind of a person, then by your life, your wife will see this and she’ll also act the same way.

In Hebrew:

נהיה לי השנה הבנה חדשה על דברי רש”י, ונראה לי שזה הפשט הפשוט, רק שאף פעם לא חשבתי על זה:

הפסוק אומר:

דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אִ֥ישׁ אִישׁ֙ כִּֽי־תִשְׂטֶ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ וּמָעֲלָ֥ה ב֖וֹ מָֽעַל׃

ורש”י מסביר את הסמיכות:

איש איש כי תשטה אשתו. מַה כָּתוּב לְמַעְלָה מִן הָעִנְיָן? וְאִישׁ אֶת קֳדָשָׁיו לוֹ יִהְיוּ, אִם אַתָּה מְעַכֵּב מַתְּנוֹת הַכֹּהֵן, חַיֶּיךָ שֶׁתִּצְטָרֵךְ לָבֹא אֶצְלוֹ לְהָבִיא לוֹ אֶת הַסּוֹטָה:

תמיד הבנתי זאת שאם תעשה כך וכך, אז מן השמיים יגלגלו שתקבל כך וכך. והדגש הוא על הכהן, אם תמנע ממנו מה שמגיע לו, אז חייך, תצטרך לבוא עליו לסיבות אחרות לא נעימות.

השנה היה לי מחשבה אחרת:

ר’ איד, אם אתה מנהל את העסקים שלךָ בבית בלי נאמנות, בלי ישרות, אם אתה כזה מין שמשתדל למנוע מאחרים מה שבאמת מגיע להם, חייך, אשתך תראה זאת ותתנהג בדיוק כמוך בהתאם.

The Shas Bavli alone would be 7 1/2 pages a day, and I am sure that he was learning it with Tosfos. Where did he find the time in a day to learn all of the above mentioned subjects?

Now it came out during the Shiva. When the Tzanzer Rebbe was paying a condolence call to the sons, the above claim was all confirmed by the sons themselves. They said that he had the goal to make a siyum hashas every year. The first year he tried and failed, the second year also. But the third year he was able to, and then every year since then he was successful. And not only a siyum of the Babylonian Shas, also everything else that I mentioned above, including also the Zohar.

Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

The children said that when they were younger they always viewed their father as a regular Kollel student. He never made anything particular of himself, and they just assumed that what he knew, everyone knows.

The Rebbe asked them what he demanded from the children. They answered, that he learned with each one individually the whole Torah.

Personally I am moved to the point of tears. How much it is possible to do if you only put your mind to it and not waste time.

If you understand Hebrew, then you can view the whole conversation from the link below:

https://torahonline.co.il/videos/reb-chaim-siyum-kol-hatorah-kula.mp4

Click here to see a minute from yesterday’s funeral

With the passing of HaGa’on Harav Chaim Kanievsky zatzal, the Tzanzer Rebbe expressed himself that “The World Has Changed”. Reb Chaim Kanievsky is no longer in this world.

The world of Torah has certainly changed, the bulwark of Torah knowledge has passed, someone who was completely at home with ALL of the Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi, Toseftas, all of the Tur, the Rambam, the Bait Yosef, the Shulchan Aruch and all of its commentaries, like we are at home with the Shema prayer.

But not only the world of Torah, also the world of all those who observe it. Many people from all walks of life came to seek guidance from Reb Chaim, and he helped and blessed all those that came to him, no matter what the shape of their kipa was nor what political leanings he may have. And he solved their problems, sometimes in a miraculous way, the stories are now coming out by the dozens. For the ability to do wonders and miracles comes from Torah knowledge, and there was no one more knowledgeable in all of the parts of Torah than Reb Chaim.

The Rosh Yeshiva Rav Gershon Edelstein expressed himself in his eulogy that there was no one greater than Reb Chaim, and that really in terms of the level of “great men” that the Gemara speaks about, in whose merit sustenance and all kinds of good things come in to the world, Reb Chaim was the only one.

His very existence was a source of merit to Klal Yisrael.

And now he has left, and all of Torah Jewry feel like orphans.

Chazal (the Talmudic sages) say, Rashi brings this in Parshat Chukat, that the death of a righteous person, (there it was a reference to Miriam), brings atonement for Klal Yisrael. One of the super-commentaries on Rashi, the Maskil Ledavid, writes that this only works together with that which Chazal say “that anyone who cries and mourns over the death of a righteous person is granted atonement for all of his sins.” But it doesn’t work for someone who doesn’t take the passing of the righteous to heart.

For anyone who knew of Reb Chaim, it is imperative to understand what happened in the proper perspective. The loss for Klal Yisrael is immense, unmeasurable. But life goes on, and it is appropriate for anyone who feels so, to take something from Reb Chaim in order to lift himself up. I don’t imagine that any of us are going to be the next Reb Chaim, but to instill into our beings some aspect of that which Reb Chaim was famous for. For example, first and foremost to strengthen our Torah learning in terms of quantity and/or quality.

Hoping and praying for the deliverance of Klal Yisrael and the end of the exile,

Yours,

Rabbi Boruch Rappaport
Torah Online

2)
Rashi brings that if a Cohen Hediot does Avoda with 8 begadim the Avoda is posul. Yet we find that wearing 8 begadim is a way of bringing a Cohen Hediot into the Kehuna Gedola, as in the mishna Megila (1, 9). So when is it posul and when does it make a new Cohen Gadol? I understand when he is appointed, but appointed by whom?

It bothered me, why didn’t the psil techelet straps in the middle interfere with the wearing of the Tefillin?

I asked several people who couldn’t answer me. So I asked R. Yitzchak Kline, the Rosh Yeshiva in Amshinov and also a Cohen. Reb Yitzchak told me that what’s the problem? Both straps went over the Tefillin, and then split up, one went under the Mitznefet and the over the Mitznefet. Pashut.

As part of the morning prayers, in the siddur you will find an addition for the 10 Days of Teshuva an addition, after Yishtabach.

שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲל֑וֹת מִמַּעֲמַקִּ֖ים קְרָאתִ֣יךָ השם

Tehillim, chapter 130.

Ten days, once a day, to rectify, it says in the holy works, that which I caused imperfection or worse in the ten sefirot.

Everyone complains that I worked so hard on myself, I strengthened myself, I took upon myself different things that I really really internalized into my heart. I made a real change, a real teshuva. And then by Rosh Chodesh Kislev it’s all gone. I return to be the same person that I was during bain hazmanim after Tisha B’av.

My Rosh Kollel once asked, we find in the Mussaf prayer on Yom Kippur a whole description of the Sa’ir LaShem, the goat whose blood was taken into the Kodesh Hakodashim. Every detail. Achas Ve’Achas, Achas Ve’Shtayim. One can ask: The whole Sa’ir LaShem was only to atone for Tum’as HaMikdash, something that in the simple understanding is not applicable today, as we don’t have a Bait HaMikdash today. Also it atones only for a handful of specific sins.

But the Sa’ir Hamishtalayach, the goat which is sent out into the wilderness. this atones for most all of the sins, lighter sins and heavier sins, positive commandments and negative commandments, by accident and on purpose, malkot, karet, sins for which one gets the death penalty.

Then why is it that we put all of our attention into the Sa’ir LaShem, and not into the Sa’ir Hamishtalayach? “Then he gets to the first sukkah, then he gets to the second sukkah…”

Answered my Rosh Kollel, that often a person has an inner fault, that that fault causes him to do all kinds of other sins. This is the Tum’as HaMikdash. And he may realize it or he may not realize it. That’s why we focus on the Sa’ir Lashem.

I think that these words of my Rosh Kollel is a true idea, and that this is what is stopping many people from making progress. Like for example a person decides that he MUST work on his anger. And he indeed makes a valiant effort. But what is really lacking is the belief that Hashem controls everything that there is and everything that happens. So what he is actually working on is the external expression of his failure. He can work on his anger from today till tomorrow, but if he doesn’t strengthen his basic shiviti Hashem lenegdi tamid, then he will quickly fall. Because today the yetzer says do this, and tomorrow do that, until by Rosh Chodesh Kislev the show’s over.

Mima’amakim karaticha Hashem. From the depths of my heart I call out to you Hashem. I believe that these days hold the power that you can pray to Hashem to reveal to you what is the inner point of the soul, in order to rectify that from which the yetzer works, and to make a real lasting change wider than you could ever imagine.

Hashem should help us succeed.

The headlines of most of the articles which are written to inspire, go to the tune of “What Does G-d Ask From You”, a play on the verse, (excuse the expression), in Devarim (Deuteronomy) (10, 12) where “What”, Mah, mem heh, has the numerical value 45. 45 souls that perished in one happening, especially when it happened and where it happened, is an expression of the arousal of Midat Hadin (the Heavenly attribute of strict judgement) which relates to the entire Jewish people.

These 45 souls that were taken away are like a Korban Tzibur, a sacrifice offered up for the whole people.

We don’t understand the ways of Heaven, given that G-d loves us much stronger and much deeper than any love that we can experience here in this world, how this fits in to the whole picture. We will ultimately understand this clearly when the whole story is played out. Just we must not let this shake our core beliefs.

But, yes, G-d is speaking to us. Speaking to me, Speaking to you. I will let others greater than me say that we have to work on this or on that. But one thing that I can tell you, we certainly have to work on something.

I was present at the funeral of four of the six martyrs that were murdered in cold blood in the massacre in Har Nof a number of years ago. Rabbi Yitzchak Mordechai Rubin, the Rav of the shul where the slaughter occurred, said that such a happening demands a cheshbon hanefesh (a soul-felt reckoning) on the part of each and every one of us. He said that he’s not going to say do this or do that. Every person knows what he has to work on, what he has to improve. Each person should take it upon himself to improve in those areas that he/she is weak.

I add, that we are not talking about saying an extra chapter of Tehillim (Psalms) each day, or being careful to give a dime into the charity box before praying. I don’t mean to belittle such actions, saying Tehillim even one chapter and giving tzedaka (charity) even a dime is very important and meritorious.

But everyone knows deep in his heart, deep in his soul, even me and even you, that there is an area which is very major, and very difficult, (each person according to his individual makeup), that he/she is very weak in and needs to be greatly improved. Maybe this is the very area that he was sent to this world in order to rectify. This is what I am trying, bl”n, to improve in, and this is what I would recommend for others as well. To take a firm hold of oneself and sincerely change for the better.

My hope and my prayer is that we should merit to find the inner strength to make a real change for the good, thus arousing upon ourselves the Heavenly attribute of Chesed and Rachamim (kindness and mercy) in a revealed way, which will spill over to the entire Jewish people, to bring life, good health and sustenance and all good things for ourselves and for the whole world.

Table Of Contents of my Passover Articles

•  
• The Haftorah For Shabbos HaGadol, Serving G-d and Not Serving Yourself
• We’re Leaving Mitzrayim, Are You In?
• Why We Need The Symbols Of Slavery Also on the Table
• The Second Half Of Maggid Starting With “Metchila Ovday…”
• The Seder Night As the Vehicle of Passing Over the Tradition to the Children and Grandchildren
• A Collection of Individual Points on the Story of the Exodus
• Seder Night and the Day After
• The Last Day of Pesach, What Was Revealed At the Splitting of the Sea
• Reciting Shiras Hayam Joyfully as if I Passed Through the Sea

OK, so I did what I told my family that you’re supposed to do. That there is a power in the seder night which holds the key to unravel ourselves from the shackles or the yetzer harah, and to throw ourselves into the hands keviyochol of the Ribono Shel Olam.

And that is by attaching ourselves to the night, by feeling the exiting from Mitzrayim, meaning by feeling and internalizing that we were living the most miserable kind of life both from the physical standpoint and from the spiritual standpoint, and that Hashem Yisborach saved us and lifted us up in both senses. Took us out, goy mekerev goy, separated us from Mitzrayim, both from the avdus and from the tumah.

Now what? What’s supposed to have happened? And now I am a tzadik, bin liylah? How does it work exactly?

The next day, when the madraigot that we reached on the night of the seder were taken away, (like it says in the sefarim hakedoshim), sure, I feel uplifted a bit. But the yetzer harahs are still there. Sure, it’s easier to vanquish, who wants to sin on Pesach, that’s pretty stupid. But I know in my heart from many years of experience that it’s basically downhill from here.

Rather, that’s also what it says in the sefarim hakedoshim – that the madraigot of seder night are taken away, and now we have to work on ourselves during the days of sefira, sheva shabbosos temimos, until by Matan Torah which will be on Shavuos, then I hopefully will have mastered the self-control of leaving the yetzer behind, and clinging to Torah and Yir’as Shamayim, shivisi Hashem lenegdi tamid, and then I will indeed be in the Hands (keviyochol) of the Ribono Shel Olam.

In other words, included in the successfully experienced lail haseder is accepting upon ourselves a process of continued working on ourselves, which will result in distancing ourselves more and more from Mtzrayim, ervas ha’aretz, basar chamorim besaram, zirmas susim zirmasam. To rise up level after level in kedusha, which means strengthening ourselves in limud HaTorah, observance of the Mitzvot, and tikun hamidos.

A number of years ago I got great inspiration from the reading, and I recorded my feelings here in my Author Blog:

Parshat Hachodesh

My following words will fit like a glove with the above mentioned post as an introduction:

There is certainly a feeling in the air that it could be that we are seeing the last days of the galus and mashiach is right around the corner. Everyone is talking about it.

On the other hand, meanwhile now we are in a time of real danger, and we all have to protect ourselves and our loved ones, and all of society. Even if a person will say that I have no loved ones, and I am young and strong without any real danger from the virus, still he must follow the guidelines set by the government, and society will force him even if he doesn’t want to behave.

This is an interesting trial in which we are being forced to have concern for the community at large, to bend our own personal will for the benefit of others that we may not even know. In a similar vein, people who were tooth and nail at odds with each other are now finding common ground for working together.

One thing that we for sure all have to do is to pray again and again that G-d should have mercy upon us and take away the pandemic.

Many recommend strengthening ourselves in certain things. I am not going to mention any of them, rather I will jump straight to what I think.

This is truly a very big suffering/trial/punishment, really big, and what I told myself is that it requires from us improvement in a really big way.

They write in the name of Rav Dessler that each person has his area of trial, where his daily battles are fought. But there are certain things that are all the way over in the good side, and he is almost not tested on them. For example, I don’t have an urge to drive to the synagogue on Shabbat, I would never do that, and it is not a test for me.

And on the other hand, everyone has his area or areas which are all the way over in the bad side. And these things are not a trial for him either, because he just transgresses them all the time. He doesn’t even fight. Big areas, like Vanity, Lust, Jealousy, Machloket (flaming dispute), Pursuing Honor.

Everyone knows the suffering of his own soul, what he is weak at.

My opinion, and I tell this to my family all the time not just now, is that it is critical, all the time, to be in a position of improving. Getting better. Not necessarily completely righteous, but improving. I think that now in our current suffering with the pandemic virus, that it would be an appropriate response that not only should I be in a position of improving, but I should also be trying to soften up those deep areas that I don’t even work on, which are totally rooted in the bad, and to start making progress on those things also.

I am a 65 year old heart patient, therefore I have to be extra careful. I stay home now as much as I can.

If you would like to share with me your story, your experience, I would love to hear it.

In many circles it has become an accepted practice to open this spiritual door with increased Torah learning. In particular, to learn without taking a break every 10 minutes to talk about covid or politics. To try to go at least a half hour, or an hour, or two hours, or 5 hours without breaking. (Going to the bathroom and getting something to eat or drink doesn’t constitute a break).

When I was saying Tehillim recently, a verse (119, 119) stood out suddenly that I found interesting:

סִגִים הִשְׁבַּתָּ כָל רִשְׁעֵי אָרֶץ לָכֵן אָהַבְתִּי עֵדֹתֶיךָ.

“You do away with the wicked as if they were dross (dregs, waste); therefore do I love Your (Torah) Statutes.”

It’s a bit strange. You do away with the wicked, therefore I love your Torah Statutes!?! What does one thing have to do with the other?

Thinking about it, I wanted to understand as follows: Rashi says on the verse in Parshat Yitro:

.וְעַתָּה אִם שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ בְּקֹלִי וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת בְּרִיתִי וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל הָעַמִּים כִּי לִי כָּל הָאָרֶץ

as follows:

(ועתה. אִם עַתָּה תְקַבְּלוּ עֲלֵיכֶם, יֶעֱרַב לָכֶם מִכָּאן וָאֵילָךְ, שֶׁכָּל הַתְחָלוֹת קָשׁוֹת (מכילתא

AND NOW — if you will now take upon yourselves the observance of My commandments, it will be pleasant (easy) to you from now and henceforth, for every beginning is difficult (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 19:5:1).

Not everyone finds learning Torah, especially at the beginning, like honey. Many understand this because there are forces of evil in the world, pollution, bad spiritual forces. Simply understood, this is because of the many sins that we have done, as the Mishna says in Pirkei Avot, that when a person does a bad deed, that he creates a not-good spiritual force, that Chazal say is there to wreck havoc on a person, to punish him. The sin itself punishes him, like it says in a different place.

That’s what the verse means, that now that You, G-d, destroyed all of these evil forces, now I can love learning Torah.

I wanted to see if my explanation is born out by the Reshonim, the medieval commentators, so I looked on the page of Tanach. And I found a different, but related, explanation by the Radak which goes well with what we said above regarding Shovavim:

סיגים. כמה פעמים ראיתי עשית נקמה ברשעים והם הסיגים כמו שאמרת ואצרוף כבור סיגיך, והם אותם שזכר כי שקר תרמיתם שהם מרמים העולם והם רעים לעולם יותר מן הרשעים המגולים כי מאותם ישמור האדם את עצמו ומאלה אין אדם נשמר, ואתה תביאם לידי גלוי ותשביתם מן העולם:

לכן אהבתי עדותיך. כי הם מנקים את האדם מכל סיג והם מורים שיהיה האדם שלם תוכו כברו לפיכך אהבתי אותם ודבקתי בהם:

“DREGS: Several times I have seen the taking of vengeance upon the wicked, and these wicked people are the dregs, like it says in the beginning of Yeshaya, (the Haftara that we read on Shabbat Chazon) “…” And these are the ones that the verse mentions… (in another place), who deceive the world, and they are bad for the world much more then the revealed wicked people, because from the latter one can protect himself, but from these one cannot protect himself. And You (G-d) brought them out to revelation and destroyed them from the world.

Therefore I love your Statutes: Because they (the words of Torah) cleanse a person from all of the dregs, and they teach him to be complete, internally like his is externally, therefore I love them and I cling to them.”

So the Radak learns from this verse that Torah learning (lishma – for the right reason, not to be a bigshot, rather because G-d wants us to learn, and to cling to Him), cleans a person from his impurities and makes him complete.

There is a second interesting point that I noticed in the parsha. There were two places where the character of that part of the story was the central character, but actually the whole narrative was being done because of someone else.

When Hagar and Yishmael needed rescuing, and the angel spoke to Hagar from Heaven to tell her not to worry, and her eyes were opened to see the spring of water that was waiting for her. That was a revelation that Yishmael did not partake of. But the whole revelation was for the sake of Yishmael which is really explicit in the verses themselves.

Also the whole story of Lot. All that he was saved together with his wife, well, and his daughters, everything was in the merit of Avraham like the verse says (19, 29).