Parshas Eikev

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem.... In perek ches posuk yud alef it says, "Hishamer licha pen tishkach es Hashem Elokecha."  "Watch yourself lest you forget Hashem your God."  In the Sharei Tshuva, Rabeinu Yonah says that this is an "azhara" warning that is directed towards ones heart, do not forget Hashem.  It is said that any time the words "hishamer" "pen" and/or "al" is mentioned, it is a "lo sasei".  So there is an actual mitzvah not to forget Hashem.  The Torah is telling us that we must remember Hashem at all times, and try to work on acting in a manner befitting one who recognizes Hashem.  The Misilas Yisharim says that a person has to be constantly thinking about what the proper path in life is.  The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, Hashem is not amongst us in a way that we can see him, and many times we are caught up with different gashmiusdik things, and just can't always be focused on remembering Hashem and thinking of the proper ways to serve him.  When people are busy at work, for example, they obviously will have work on their mind and not be able to focus on this.  This being the case, how could the Torah command us to be focused on it "bichal eis" at all times?  He explains, that of course there are times that people are caught up with things, but they can always have it in their mind on a sub-conscious level.  Just as no matter how busy we are, we always ensure that harm does not befall us, and that we are not damaged, so too in our subconcious we can constantly remember Hashem and think of the proper ways to serve him.  Rav Isaac Scher ztl the Rosh Yeshivah of Slabodka, brought a ra'yah to the idea of being subconciously aware, even when people are sleeping.  A mother will awaken from a childs cry, even from an extremely deep sleep and even if the cry is soft. However, she most probably will not wake up from a train thundering by  her window.  To explain this phenomenon we must say that really we hear everything while we are sleeping, we just choose what to actually listen to and what to ignore.  A mother will instantly listen to the cry of her child and therefore wake up to care for it, but the train she will ignore.  We have this same power to at least sub-consciously remember Hashem and think of the derech we should follow, and therefore it is not an impossible mitzvah.  We should all be zoche to be on the level where we can think about Hashem "bichal eis" no matter where we are or what we are doing... Good Shabbos

Parshas Va'eschanan

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek dalid posuk mem alef the posuk says, "Az Yavdil Moshe shalosh arim b'eiver hayardein" "Then Moshe seperated three cities on the other side of the Yardein"  The Sapurnu says, the "az yavdil Moshe" "then Moshe seperated", is referring to after Moshe had explained the Torah to Klal Yisroel. Moshe seperated the cities at this point to show Klal Yisroel how important doing mitzvos is, that he was going out of his way to do only a part of a mitzvas aseh (because until all the arei miklat were established, none of them worked, and the remaining ones were to be set up later in Eretz Yisroel). The Rosh Yeshivah asks, obviously Moshe was extremely busy, he was spending most of his time teaching Torah to the entire Klal Yisroel. Did he really need to put aside his Torah learning and teaching to teach Klal Yisroel how important
 mitzvos were? Why can't he continue what he is doing and just give powerful, fiery shmuessin on the greatness of mitzvos? He explains, that the Torah is coming to teach us the famous lesson that actions speak louder than words. You can talk about somethings importance from today until tomorrow and it will have an effect, but it does not come close to showing with actions. Moshe Rabeinu took the time to perform his part in setting up the arei miklat in order to show Klal Yisrael how chashuv mitzvos truly are. We should always keep in mind how powerful our actions are, and the affect they have on other people.. Good Shabbos

Parshas Devarim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.. In perek beis Psukim gimmel through Heh Hashem commands Klal Yisrael not to start up with the descendants of Esav, and the psukim says as follows. " Rav lachem sov es hahar hazeh pinu lachem tzafona, v'es ha'am tzav leimor atem ovrim bigvul acheichem bnei Esav....al tisgaru bam" "Enough of you circling this mountain, turn yourselves northward and command the people as follows, you arecrossing into the border of your brothers, the descendants of Eisav.....Do not incite them". The Medrash Rabah explains that Eisav's zchus to deserve to be left alone was his tremendous kibud av that he had for his father Yaakov avinu. The is another Medrash Rabah that brings down as follows. Rav Shimon ben Gamliel said that most children did not give honor to their fathers as well as he did, but he did not do it as well as Esav. Rab shimon ben Gamliel
 would wear his old and worn clothing when he served his father, and would change into his fancy ones when he went to the Shuk while Esav did the opposite. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks a seemingly obvious question. If Rav Shimon ben Gamliel understood that what seperated Esav's kibud av from his own was just the fact that Esav wore his fancy clothes to serve his father while he wore his rags, than why didn't he just take that step and also wear his fancy clothes when tending to his fathers needs? The Rosh Yeshivah explains that this is a rayah to the yesod of Slabodka mussar, of understanding where we are holding and try to grow normally without trying to change ourselves into something we are not holding by. " Tafasta m'ruba lo tafasta " if you try to grab too much, many times you will end up with nothing at all, however sometimes even if we do not end up with nothing, we may end up
 mistakingly thinking we have reached the top and will have issues with gaivah and may have no drive to grow more, which in the end will cause us to fall. This is why Rav Shimon be Gamliel did not try to go the extra mile. He knew that it was a good thing to do, but he also understood that he was not holding by it and doing it just to match Esav would not have been a healthy step. We know it is important to always be growing but at the same time to make sure to understand where we are holding and not try to overdue it... Good Shabbos

Parshas Matos-Masei

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem...... In perek lamud gimmel posuk alef the posuk says "Eileh maasei Bnei Yisroel asher yatzu mei'eretz mitzrayim li'tzivosam b'yad Moshe V'Aharon" "These are the journeys of Bnei Yisroel, who went out of Mitzrayim according to their legions by the hand of Moshe and Aharon" The Sapurnu says that Hashem wanted the travels to be mentioned to praise Klal Yisroel for following Hashem blindly in a strange land, "Lechteim acharay bamidbar bi'eretz lo zarua" They followed in a manner which caused them to be rauy/deserving of going into Eretz Yisroel.  Its mashma from the Sapurnu that following Hashem the way they did, was enough of a reason alone to bring Klal Yisroel into Eretz Yisroel. Rav Dovid Leibowitz ztl asks, why was it such an unbelievable thing deserving in such reward? True it was great that they followed Hashem blindly, but was
 it that great? They had seen tremendous nisim from Hashem, they had good reason to trust in Hkbh. Reb Dovid explains that this is one of the Chasdei Hashem. The etzem act itself of following Hashem "bi'eretz lo zarua" was tremendous, elah mai it wasn't so difficult based on the situation, but Hashem does us a favor and looks at the act seperate of the circumstance. Now the act is viewed as a mindblowing thing. To follow Hashem into a random place and just put total trust in him, of course that would be an act deserving of tremendous schar. We see from here that we can never be sure how much schar we are receiving for things that we may think are trivial. However, on another level we see the love that Hashem has for us, and how far he goes to assist us in getting as much schar as we possibly can. Good Shabbos

Parshas Pinchas

Liyluy nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem... In perek chaf ches posuk tes vav it says " U'si'ir izim echad lichatas La'Hashemal olas hatamid yei'ase vinisco" "And one he goat for a sin offering for Hashem beside the continual  burnt offering, it shall be offered. Rashi says a Midrashic interpretation of this posuk, that Hashem commanded this karbon be brought as an atonement for Hashem making the moon small. The Gemorah in Chulin daf samach amud beis, says, Rav Shimon ben Pazi asks a contradiction. The Torah says " Vayaas Elokim es shnei hami'oros hagidolim" "Hashem made the two great luminaries" this sounds like they were the same size. However immediately afterword it says "Es hami'or hagadol v'es hami'or hakatan". Rav Shimon ben Pazi explains, at first the sun and the moon were created the same size. The moon went to Hkbh and asked him " How can two kings share one crown?" Hashem responded " you're right so go diminish yourself" The moon was hurt and asked Hashem "Because I said something correct I have to diminish myself?" So Hashem to appease him told him he will rule by day and night, to whice he responded, "what good is a candle in daylight?" Hashem tried again to appease the moon with having Klal Yisroel count the days and years through him, but he said the sun also has that. Hashem responded that Tzadikim will be called by his name, such as Yaakov hakatan, Shmuel Hakatan and David hakatan. Finally when the moon was not appeased by that, Hashem said "Bring an atonement on my behalf fo having diminished the moon" Rabein Bachyay explains that the moon was diminished as a punishment for questioning Hashem's decisions, but once Hashem saw that he was embarrassed and was hurt Hashem tried to make him feel better. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, why did Hashem go through so much to try to make the moon feel better, the moon sinned and therefore deserved what he got, after all Hashem is 'Keil emunah v'ein avel". The Rosh Yeshivah explains that of course the moon received the correct punishment, and got what he deserved, however Hashem did all he could to appease him so that he would not feel that Hashem didn't love him. Even thought Hashem created him and continues giving him the koach every day to shine, still without Hashem's appeasement he would have felt that hashem hated him. Therefore Hashem tried quite a few tactics in order to make sure that the moon knew the love Hashem had for him even though he punished him. We see how important it is even in times of giving tochacha and punishment to make sure the recipient remembers the love that we have for them. Good Shabbos