Motzash thoughts....

Sometimes we'll actually come across something on Shabbos itself that is worth sharing especially since we are still in the parasha untill Tuesday when we move on to next weeks parasha.

"And you shall rejoice with all the good that Hashem your God has given you. Devarim 26:21" This is a mitzvah! We are commanded, obligated to feel joy with what we are given by Hashem the Almighty. Why should we, do we, need a directive to be happy, to rejoice? It should be a automatic reaction to getting good things? The reason is because man's nature is to always want more than what he has now. "He who has one hundred wants two hundred. Koheles Rabbah 1:34" Our moments of joy are always mixed with a sadness over what we still lack. The Torah, therefore, gives us a mitzvah, a command to rejoice with what we have. We should strive to feel a joy that is complete because lack of joy with what we have is destructive both physically and spiritually. [R' Mordechai Gifter; Pirkei Torah as quoted in Growth Through Torah]

Let's not forget one of my new favorite lines that I heard from Rabbi Lazer Brody. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow only with the things that you had thanked Hashem for today!?!?!?!?
Have a great week everybody! Till next time...............

One for the Wife. A guarantee that I'll be nice from now on ;)

When talking about Dasan and Aviram getting sucked into the earth "......the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with their homes, their tents, and all the possessions that were at their feet Devarim 11:6"

A man's livelihood comes to him mainly because of his wife. She corresponds to Malchut, which is associated with the "feet" so this pasuk tells us that a man stands on his "feet" - his wife. Therefore Chazal advised "Honor your wives, so that you may become wealthy(Bava Metzia 59a)"  

Simple and to the point just like we like it!

Points to Ponder: Devarim, Devarim, We are Bikurim!!!

I always used to think of Sefer Devarim/Mishneh Torah" as just a review of the other four books of the Torah that we just learned, with a few additions so that it shouldn't be too boring and so that us students could hold out just a bit more so we could finish Chumash and move on to the heilegeh "Torah she b'al peh/The Oral Torah, Mishnayos and Gemmarah".

Wow was I wrong! I don't want to bore anyone or excite anyone too much so we'll just go through the names of the different parshiyos, a few direct quotes, and how they all connect and give us a direct path to where we need to be heading. That's all...

Devarim: "These are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Israel...Devarim 1:1" Moshe gets all of Israel together, every Jew until the end of time, to review the first four Books of the Torah, with veiled rebuke, and more than seventy new laws. "May Hashem, the Lord of your fathers, add on to your numbers a thousand times, and bless you as He has spoken to you.Devarim 1:11" Bottom line is, listen to Hashem, follow His Torah, and you will be blessed and blessed and blessed. Simple.

Va'eschanan: "I pleaded with God at that time, saying...Devarim 3:23" All you have to do is Plead! Pray! Daven! Simple! Cry out! Scream! Laugh! Sigh! Whatever it takes, in whatever language, at whatever time, in whatever place! All you have to do is start your own personal relationship with Hashem! Then the sky is the limit!

Eikev: "If you listen to these laws, observing them and carrying them out, God your Lord will guard for you the covenant and the kindness that He promised your fathers Devarim 7:12" Again very simple, listen and observe and receive Gods kindness!!! Why wouldn't you?!?!? "V'haya eikev tishmiun..../If you listen...Devarim 7:12" Eikev/if literally means heel. There are many lessons taught about this lets just try and learn the most simple one. When playing "tugawar" the first rule is to dig your heels in the ground. We are living through the toughest war that mankind has ever seen and we are on the front lines, every step is a battle, so we have to Listen, Plead, and dig our heels in!

Re'eh: "See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse...Devarim 11:26" Once again simple. It's up to us, all we have to do is choose! And if we choose the blessing then we merit getting to Re'eh/See Hashem in all of His glory in the Beis Hamikdash at least three times a year!

Shoftim: Ok, so far we've listened to the words, we've pleaded, we've grounded ourselves, we've been able to finally see clearly. Now we have to further ground ourselves. The initial spark and excitement is over. We have to set up systems. We have to appoint judges and officers. We have to listen to people wiser than ourselves, no matter how smart we think we are, no matter how good our idea is, we must always ask. And not only ask "...Do not deviate from the word that they tell you either to the right or the left. Devarim 17:11" It's hard at first because we all love being independent thinkers and doers, but once we subjugate ourselves to the people who are smarter than us, the people who have more experience than us, our lives will take a turn for the better.

Ki Seitzei: "When you go out to war against your enemies and God your Lord delivers them into your hands, and you take some of them captive. Devarim 21:10" Now that we are properly grounded and we have proper guidance the time has come for us to go on the offensive. Not if you go out to war, but rather "When you go out to war!" We unfortunately were brought up to think that life could be easy, that we could reach a certain plateau and just glide. Not true! One of my favorite lines I heard from one of my rebeim, The Mash, Rav Yisroel Blumenfeld shlita. "Yidishkeit and life in general, is like walking up a down escalator; once you stop going up, you right away start going down." We always have to be on the offensive, sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes this way, sometimes that way, as long as we never stop fighting, never remain stagnant. "...and you take some of them captive. ibid" A person can overcome his or her yetzer harah/evil inclination by using that very thing with which it seeks to overpower him. Your arrogant, be arrogant about your Torah learning and good deeds, one day you'll do it for real etc. The examples are endless.

Ki Savo: Ah! Finally we've caught up Baruch Hashem! "It will be when you enter the land....Devarim 26:1" After we've done whats needed to be done until now. After we've committed to and gone out to fight Hashem's war, now we can enter the Land that Hashem, our God has promised to us! And not just enter, but we will also posses it and dwell in it with all of the blessings that Hashem made to us. So how to do we do it? By being Bikurim. Simple, no? By being the first of the fruit, through constantly renewing ourselves, and by always bringing our A game. Simple as that! The Jew's gift of Bikurim symbolizes that he or she dedicates everything that he has to the service of Hashem.

To end off for now we go back to the beginning. "See! God your Lord has placed the Land before you. Go up and take possession, as God, the Lord of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid and do not loose heart. Devarim 1:21" As always Hashem always puts whatever it is that we truly need, right in front of our eyes! It's ours for the taking! We just have to at least long to, desire to, hope to take it!

Have a great Shabbos everyone!

Etan

A message from The Mash!

Dear Alumni and Friends,

It’s mind boggling! Did you ever pause to think about how different the mitzva of bikurim, how seemingly blown out of proportion this mitzva is both in halacha and Chazal?!

You probably know that a craftsman, artisan or construction worker who is employed to work for a time period, let’s say 8.30am – 4pm, is not allowed to stand up and give the proper respect to a talmid chacham that passes by while he is working (Kidushin 30a). But did you know that when people bringing bikurim pass by, “all the workers, craftsmen and artisans of Yerushalayim stand before them?” Amazing. We know how super important it is to give respect and honor to a Talmid Chacham, and that the Sages chastised those who stand up for a Sefer Torah and not for a Chacham who is in essence a walking Sefer Torah!

Not only that, but even the gisbarim, the CEO’s of the Beis HaMikdash come out to greet the groups of people bringing bikurim. I said groups because we are told to bring bikurim to Yerushalayim (dafka) especially in groups because of “the vastness of the people honors the King.” We don’t find this concerning other similar mitzvos.

If that’s not enough, consider the Sifri that tells us “do this mitzva (bikurim) so that with the reward of this mitzva you will be able to enter the Land.” It is in the merit of bikurim that we were worthy of Eretz Yisrael!

But not even this is enough! The Medrash Raba tells us, “in the beginning Hashem created…there is no raishis (beginning) other than bikurim, as it is said, “the raishis bikurim of the Land.” It seems that the cosmos owes its existence to bikurim as well!

These questions and others were asked by the Nesivos Shalom, (Devorim on our parsha) the Slonimer Rebbe ztz”l and his answer encompasses what I wanted to suggest.

To understand this concept properly you probably need to learn the second and third chapters of Chovos Halevovos (Sha’ar Bechina and Sha’ar Avodas Hashem – not a bad project for Elul.) But for those who haven’t the time let me try to express it in a few words. Hashem created the world for us to appreciate, to be grateful and to recognize and thank Him. Our purpose in this world is to appreciate the unbelievable gifts of the Creator and express in our hearts and prayers our appreciation. Of course not that Hashem needs our thanks, but that this fulfills man’s purpose which is to recognize and connect with the Al-mighty!

A farmer has worked and toiled for months: planting, weeding, pruning, watering, spraying and caring for his crop. Finally, the day has arrived. He excitedly enters his field. He sees luscious figs that have just appeared. He takes a string and wraps it around and says with tears of joy in his eyes, these are bikurim, the first fruit of my labor. You have no idea of how precious these are to him unless you toiled to construct something yourself. I remember as a 9 or 10 year old, I built together with my twin a radio transmitter. In those days you had to solder wires, resistors, condensers and tubes and it was quite a task. Even completed it wasn’t worth that much but to me it was a treasure because of the toil I put into it. The bikurim are treasures and it is this treasure that he gives to the Creator as gratefulness, thus fulfilling the purpose of Creation. Now we understand the special significance of this mitzva.

To celebrate the first Shabbos of the zman (besides Rabbi Mendy Goldman and Shoshana’s bris, bezras Hashem) I am making a Seudas Hodaya and a very special siyum during Seudas Shlishis. I wish you all could come, but at least I shared with you some of the thoughts that I hope to express, thanking Hashem for when He restored my health and for the opportunity to work with Neveh another year.

We are looking forward to a great year, although your tefillos are always appreciated (I was able to daven at the kevorim in Tzefat for those who sent in their requests and for many other alumni as well).

Have a great Shabbos,

Mash