Purim/Titzaveh

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem and my grandfather Rav Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehudah (Yahrtzeit was Yud Adar)... (little different than usual) In Meseches Megila the Gemorah says that the reason why Klal Yisroel deserved to be punished was because they were nehene from the seuda of Achashveirosh, and because they bowed down to the Tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer. Reb Yonasan Aybeshetz ztl asks, why would Klal Yisroel be punished now in the times of Achasveirosh for bowing down to the tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer, wouldn't it make more sense to punish them right then, or at least the next dor during Baal Shaatzar's reign? Also, why would having hana'ah from Achashveirosh's party make them chayiv misa? Its a lav not a misa? To answer these questions, he brings down a Zohar that asks, when Yaakov met Esav how was he able to bow down to him? The Zohar answers, that the
 posuk says "vhu avar lifneihem" "vhu" is reffering to the Shechina. Yaakov saw the shechina passing by and bowed, and Esav made the mistake of thinking that Yaakov was bowing to him. It says in the Medrash that the tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer had the Tzitz from the Beis Hamikdash with the The name of Hkbh on it, therefore Klal Yisroel took a lesson from their father Yaakov and bowed down to Hashem causing Nevuchadnetzer to mistakingly believe that they were bowing to the Tzelem. However, in truth, once the Tzitz fell into the hands of the goyim, it lost its kedusha as it says in Avoda Zarah "u'bau pritzim v'chaliluhu" Once the pritzim got the keilim they were nischalel.  The party of Achashveirosh was filled with the keilim of the Mikdash, and the Halacha for m'ilah b'meizid is misa. However, the claim could have been, that once the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed there is no Din Hekdash
 anymore and therefore no isar of m'ilah so the jews there were only doing a lav. Using this as their excuse would cause them massive problems, because mimah nafshach, if there is no din hekdash after the beis Hamikdash is destroyed, then what were they doing bowing down to the Tzelem of Nevuchadnetzer, and they are chayiv misa, and if there still is a din of hekdash, then how could they use the keilim by Achashveirsoh's party, and that is why they were chayiv misa. That is why Hashem waited until Achashveirosh's dor, because until then Klal Yisroel had a good svara why they bowed to the tzelem, and that is why eating by the party would have a penalty of death.... Good Shabbos and Afreilichin Purim

Parshas Mishpatim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem......In perek chaf alef posuk lamud zayin "ki Yigniv ish shor oh seh u'tvacho oh micharo chamisha bakar yishaleim tachas hashor v'arbah tzon tachas haseh" Reb Yaakov Aryeh Neiman ztl author of the Darchei Mussar brings down a very famous chazal. The Rivaz says, that the reason why a ganav pays less for the seh than the shor is because he has to carry the sheep on his shoulder. Reb Yeruchum Levovitz ztl adds an extra nekuda, doing an aveira and being happy and nehene from it is incomperable to doing an aveira and being bitzaar as you are doing it, feeling those pangs of guilt as you are giving in to the yetzer harah. The ganav who is carrying the sheep on his shoulders and is embarrassed  is not having the same hana'ah from his newly acquired possesion. He's not so happy that he stole and therefore has some charata in his heart, that
 is why he has a lighter punishment. The Darchei Mussar says that if this is how onshim work its forsure true by schar. Someone who does a mitzvah happily gets much more schar than one who does it in an unhappy state. In the Parsha of the Tochacha it says that the whole reason why the Tochacha was given was "Tachas asher lo avadita es Hashem Elokecha bLsimcha" There are people who ask, how could the whole tochacha have been given just for people not doing mitzvos with simcha? Isn't the main part still at the end of the day doing the mitzvah? They answer that its not saying that they did the mitzvos but didn't do them b'simcha, there's a comma after "Elokecha" they went against Hashem B'simcha. However, one Goan explained that both readings are correct. Originally, people begin serving Hashem, but without any happiness, without any good feelings, and therefore they are led to completely abandoning the mitzvos, and that is done with simcha. There's a tremendous lesson to be learned. Firstly, we see how important it is to do the mitzvos we do happily, and how in doing so it is a completely differet action. We also see that there's a domino effect, just as not doin mitzvos b'simcha causes u to totally cease to do them, by starting with doing small things that are easy B'simcha we could strengthen ourselves to be able to be oved Hashem completely in the highest way possible. Good Shabbos

Parshas Yisro

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem....... In perek yud tes posuk beis it says "Vayisu meirifidim Vayavou mitbar Sinai vayachanu bamidbar, Vayichan sham Yisroel neged hahar."  Rashi says that the Torah wrote "Vayichan" a singular lashon as appose to Ovayachanu" because they were K'ish echad bleiv echad, one man with one heart.  Reb Chaim Shmulevitz ztl brings down, that Chazal say, because they lived together in such harmony without any resentment toward one another, they were zoche to Kabalas Ha'Torah.  Hashem said "Hoil v'sanu Yisroel es hamachlokes v'ahavo es hashalom v'naaseh chaniyah achas, harei ha'shaah she'etein lahem es Torasi." Surely Klal Yisroel was on a tremendous level, however the thing that caused them to deserve Kabalas Hatorah was their oneness, their unbelieveable bond to one another.  The Gemorah in Sanhedrin says "'Sheker Hachein' zu Doro shel Moshe V'yehoshuah" because they were osek in Torah, "'hevel Hayofi' zu doro shel Chizkiyahu," because they were even more osek in Torah than the dor of Moshe, "isha yiraas Hashem hi tisalal" zu doro shel Reb Yehuda be Rebbi Ilaiy because they would have six talmidim under one taalis.  Pashut pshat is that even though they were extremely poor, they pushed themselves to learn in an extremely difficult situation." However, Reb Chaim says, that the gadlus was something else.  Most people worry about themselves, imagine being underneath one taalis/blanket with five other guys on a freezing winter night.  In the freezing cold you're trying to get as much of the blanket as you possibly coud, but the guy next to you is doing the exact same thing, at the end of the night all six guys are freezing cold.  Imagine if you cared about the guy next to you and instead of trying to keep yourself covered and warm you were pushing the blanket towards your friend, and he is pushing it toward you, at the end of the night, everyone is covered, everyone is warm.  This was the greatness of the dor of Reb Yehuda ben Illaiy, each person honestly cared so much for their freinds, for their neighbors. Chazal say that these three doros are mentioned because these are the second and third doros that could have accepted the Torah, had Moshe's dor not been mikabel it.  Rashi says that although the first two were tremendous, the third was even greater than the first two because "shisha b'talis achas" is the highest level of "K'ish echad bleiv echad" throughout all doros of Klal Yisroel, and therefore they deserved to be mikabel the Torah more than any other dor.  We see the koach of shalom, of v'ahavta lreiacha kamocha, how much it could bring.  We should work on ourselves to truly feel like we are one, "k'ish echad bleiv echad"... Good Shabbos