Parashas Ki Savo

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem. In perek chaf zayin posuk zayin it says, " V'zavachta shlamim v'achalta sham v'samchta lifnei Hashem Elokecha" You shall slaughter peace offerings and eat there, and you shall rejoice before Hashem your God". The Sapurnu explains that "v'samachta lifnei Hashem Elokecha" is referring to rejoicing over the fact that Hashem entered a covenant, a bris, with Klal Yisroel by Har Grizim and Har Eival. It seems from the Sapurnu that we are obligated to rejoice over the occurences of both Har Grizim and Har Eivel. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks a seemingly obvious question. Its understandable to be happy over the fact that we were given the brachos at Har Grizim, however what warrants happiness by Har Eivel? That is where we were given all the klalos for doing things wrong, is that someting to be misameach about? The Rosh Yeshivah explains that
 we still should be b'simcha over the reception of the klalos because they are an extra shmira for us to hold us back from doing aveiros. Even for people who b'etzem know what is right and what is wrong and want to do the right thing have a difficult time. Without the klalos that difficult time would be multiplied, the fight would be that much greater. Therefore the Torah is telling us to be thankful to Hkbh for giving us the extra shmira to help us go in the right derech. Good Shabbos    

Parshas Ki Seitzei

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek chaf heh posuk alef it says " Ki Yihiyeh riv bein anashim v'nigshu el hamishpat ushifatum, V'hitzdiku es hatzadik vi'hirshiu es ha'rasha" " When there will be a grievance between two people, and they come to court,and they judge them, and they vindicate the righteous one and find the wicked person to be guilty.." Rashi explains that the posuk is telling us that when people argue (not just a difference of opinion but really argue)their end will be to go to court. No peace comes from arguing, after all that is what cause Lot to seperate from a Tzadik (Avraham). The Gur Aryeh explains the same thing as Rashi.The Torah was teaching us somehing by beinning "Ki yihiyeh riv" instead of "Ki Yigshu anashim lamishpat". Any time people will have an argument, they will be unable to take care of it themselves, rather they will end up bringing each other to
 court. It seems from the Gur Aryeh and Rashi that this posuk is telling us that no matter how great the participants in the argument are, and no matter how important they believe shalom is and how terrible machlokes is, they will not be able to settle their argument regardless of the size or amount of money involved without making a din Torah. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl explained that we see the great power of arguments, of a "riv" and how destructive they are. As long as people are having a difference of opinion in a matter, which happens and is a regular normal part of life, they can work on reaching an outcome together. However, once it turns into a "riv" a grievance, it can not be solved without beis din. The anger on each side will not allow them to reach an outcome, no matter how great they are, no matter how much they want peace. We see how destructive grievances are, and how far they can go to even tear apart families and businesses chas vishalom,
 and therefore how important it is to try to work on ourselves to try to stay away from them..Good Shabbos

Parshas Shoftim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek tes zayin posuk chaf it says, Tzedek tzedek tirdof lima'an tichyeh viyarashta es ha'aretz asher Hashem Elokecha nosein lach" "You shall pursue righteousness so that you will live and take possession of the land that Hashem your God gives you." Rashi explains that the Torah is telling us to go to a high quality court. The Sifri adds that people should go to the batei dinim of R' Yochanan ben Zakai and Rabbi Eliezer. Its mashma from the Sifri, that even if the dayanim of your town are big talmidei chachamim, it is still a mitzvah and important for the ballei dinim to travel to the beis din of the gedolei hador. The Gur Aryeh explains that the reason for this is because there are times when the judges can make a mistake and not recognize that they did, and it can come out the the wrong party will end up winning and stealing money from the other party.
 The Rosh Yeshivah ztl explained that we can learn a tremendous chidush from this. The Torah requires people to be careful and suspect that they and even the beis din of their town will make a mistake, and therefore they must go to the higher beis din. However, at the same time we see later on in the parsha that even if the judges in our time are not like the judges before, we must listen to them. Furthermore, even if the Chachamim tell you something that you believe is wrong " yamin shehu simol" you should still listen. We see from here how far one must go to make sure to end up doing the right. He must even suspect that the judges in his town will make a mistake, but at the same time how important it is to have emunas chachamim even if the chachamim in your day are not as capable as the ones from yesteryear.Good Shabbos

Parshas Re'eh

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek yud dalid psukim alef and beis it says, "Banim atem La'Hashem Elokeichem, Lo sisgodidu v'lo sasimu karcha bein eineichem lameis. Ki am kadosh atah la'Hashem Elokecha....." "You are children to Hashem your God, you shall not cut yourselves and you shall not make a bald spot between your eyes for a dead person. For you are holy people to Hashem your God."  The Even Ezra explains that the Torah is giving two reasons why one should not cut themselves in mourning.  The first reason is because we are "banim", children, of Hashem.  He loves us even more than a human parent loves their child, and therefore we should realize that everything he does is for the good even though we may not understand it, just as a child may not understand something their parent does.  The second reason is that we are an "Am kadosh", a holy nation, and we are not like all the other nations; therefore, we should not act like them.  The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks why the Torah feels the need to give the second reason of being a holy nation.  If the first reason clarifies why we should not cut ourselves, then the second reason is unnecessary.  If there was no first reason, what good is the second reason? Even if we are not like the other nations, maybe it would be allowed to make cuts due to the greatness of the pain and mourning.  Either way the second reason is not necessary.  He explains that really the first reason is enough to explain why it is incorrect to cut our skin.  Nevertheless, the second reason is still necessary, so that we are not negatively affected by the nations around us.  The Rambam explains, that a person will think and act like his friends around him and have the traditions of his community.  Without the second reason we would be affected by our surroundings, even when we know that we are different, that we are the children of Hashem and everything he does is for our good.  A person can know that they are different than their surroundings, yet they will automatically be affected by the people around them and begin acting like them.  If a rich man lives among poor people who are very frugal, even though the he does not need to be careful, he will automatically be frugal as well.  However, the Torah is telling us that the affect that the nations have on us is only when we feel that we are similar to them and are connected.  The Torah gives the second reason in order to break the connection that we may feel with the surrounding inhabitants in order to save us from being affected by them.  We live in a time where there is so much negative to learn from the surrounding nations.  If we remember that we are different , that
 we are the chosen nation, we may hopefully be able to pick up as little of the negative as possible. . . Good Shabbos