Fwd: Parshas Mishpatim

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From: <3478602930@vzwpix.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 12:04 PM
Subject: Parshas Mishpatim
To: Me <yonah927@gmail.com>


Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, R' Dovid Meir ben R' Shmuel,

In perek chaf alef posuk beis the posuk says "Ki sikne eved ivri sheis shanim ubashviis yeitzei lachafshi chinam." "When you will buy an eved ivri he shall work for six years and in the seventh he shall go free without charge."

Chazal say that one of the ways a jew is sold as an eved ivri is if he steals and has no way of paying it back.

Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman ztl brings down a question that is asked on this posuk and its location. Wouldn't it be more befitting to begin  parshas Mishpatim with discussions of people doing gemilos chassadim such as lending people money or watching things for people as a shomer chinam, and not to begin with what should be done to robbers?

He answers from the Alter of Kelm that if the Torah was written by man then this question would be a valid point. Start with chashuv people not with ganavim. However, the Torah was given by Hashem who is our father and we his children. When a father has a son who is a ganav amongst his sons, a son who is troubled, all his thoughts and all his worries are directed toward that son. He is constantly thinking of ways to help out his son to lead him back onto the correct path. Therefore the Torah begins the parsha with the parsha of eved ivri.

This also can help us understand why the Torah commands Beis Din to sell them ganav as oppose to throwing him in jail. Throwing the ganav in jail as a punishment would just put him together with more ganavim and probably just cause him to become a worse person. Finally when he gets out he will be in the same penniless situation and will be forced to steal again. Selling him however, will assist him in getting back on his feet and help him back onto the correct Torah path.

We see the tremendous love that Hashem has for each and every one of us. Even a ganav has Hashem's immeasurable love, how much more so someone who spends their life trying to get as close as they can to our father in Heaven... Good Shabbos        

Parshas Yisro

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, Avraham ben R' Yitzchak Zev, R' Dovid Meer ben Harav Shmuel

In perek yud tes posuk ches after Moshe tells over what Hashem had told him, the posuk says, "Va'yaanu kal ha'am yachdav vayomru kol asher diber Hashem na'ase, vayashev Moshe es divrei ha'am el Hashem."  "And all the people answered together and said, 'everything that Hashem has spoken we shall do,', and Moshe brought back the words of the people to Hashem."

Rashi explains that obviously Moshe did not need to report back to Hashem what Klal Yisroel had responded, because Hashem already knew what they said.  However, the Torah is teaching us derech eretz from Moshe Rabeinu.  Moshe could have said that Hashem knows what Klal Yisroel answered so he didn't need to go back, rather he went to Hashem and told him what they had answered.

The Rosh Yeshiva ztl explains, we see from here that to act with derech eretz (proper conduct) is a d'oraisa  that applies even when one is extremely busy;  Even if the thing that they are busy with is extremely important.  Moshe Rabeinu was busy with Klal Yisroel preparing for Kabolas Hatorah, yet he knew that proper derech eretz was to go back to Hashem and give over Klal Yisroel's response.

The Rosh Yeshiva continues that the importance of derech eretz can be learned from the posuk in Ki Sisa "Vayihi sham im Hashem arbaim yom v'arbaim layla, lechem lo ochel umayim lo shasa...."  The Medrash asks, is it possible for someone to go forty days without food or drink?  R' Tanchuma in the name of R' Elazar ben R' Avin in the name of R' Meir says b'derech Mashal, when one goes to a town he should act in the way of the town.  In the heavens where sustenance is not necessary when Moshe went up he followed suit, and on earth where food and drink are necessary, Malachim went down (when they went to visit Avraham) and they ate and drank (its a machlokes tanaim whether they actually ate or just made it seem like they were eating).

From the fact that Hashem created a nes and Moshe was able to survive for forty days without food, in order to not act differently than the minhag hamokom, we can learn how important derech eretz is. Good Shabbos

Parshas B'shalach

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, Avraham ben R' Yitzchak Zev, Rav Dovid Meer ben Harav Shmuel

   In perek yud dalid posuk chaf alef the posuk says, "Vayeit Moshe es Yado al hayam vayolech Hashem es hayam b'ruach kadim aza kal halayla vayasem es hayam lecharava vayibaku hamayim."  "Moshe stretched his hand over the sea and Hashem moved the sea with a strong east wind all night, and he turned the sea to damp land and the waters split."

    The Yalkut Tehillim says on the words "Hayam ra'ah vayanas", "the sea saw and it split", What did it see? The aron of Yosef, and Hashem said "Nas mipnei hanas" split because of the fleeing of Yosef from eishes Potiphar.

    Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman ztl asks, if Hashem had already commanded the yam to split, what did it need to see the aron of Yosef? Hashem told you split you split.

    Therefore Rav Neiman explains that it must be Hashem did not command the yam to split, rather he just told Moshe "nitei es yadcha al hayam uvkaeihu" stretch out your arm over the sea and split it."  Moshe commanded the sea to split not Hashem.  However, the yam did not want to listen to Moshe.  "What makes you Moshe any better than me?  You do the ratzon of Hashem to the max?  Well guess what so do I.  I always do everything that Hashem commands me to do, so why should I listen to you."  Yet the yam was forgetting one thing and the aron of Yosef was a very strong reminder.  Yes the yam listens to Hashem, but that does not bring it onto the level of man.  The yam has no nisyonos to fight while attempting to do the ratzon Hashem.  Man on the other hand lives a life of nisayon going from battle to battle as we work on doing the ratzon of Hashem and getting closer to him.  Yosef Hatzadik was the eye opener to the Yam that told it Moshe Rabbeinu is way bigger than you!  Yosef's running from Potiphars wife is known as THE story where man came out superior to his Yetzer Hara.  After all this is what turned Yosef from Yosef to Yosef Hatzadik.

    Understanding the greatness of man and the challenges we must overcome to continue climbing caused the Yam to understand that it should be machnia itself to Moshe Rabeinu, and therefore it split.. Good Shabbos

Parshas Vayeitzei

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Avraham ben R' Yitzchak Zev, R' Dovid Meer ben Harav Shmuel

     In perek chaf tes posuk chaf hei the posuk says, "Vayihi baboker vihinei hi Leah, vayomer el Lavan ma zos asisa li halo b'Rachel avaditi imach v'lamah rimisani."  "And it was in the morning and behold it was Leah, so he said to Lavan, what is this you have done to me?  Was it not for Rachel that i worked for you?  Why have you deceived me?"

     Rashi explains, that Yaakov only realized in the morning that he had married Leah when he believed he was marrying Rachel, because he had given Rachel "simanim" signs with which she was to identify herself.  Rachel however realized the embarrassment Leah would have felt when her father sent her in the place of Rachel, and she would fail to give over the simanim correctly, and gave Leah the simanim.

     The Medrash Raba on the posuk where Rachel names Naftali (lamud, ches) says, that originally when Rachel allowed Leah to marry Yaakov, Rachel said, "If I am not deserving of having the world built from me, at least let it be built by my sister".

     The Rosh yeshiva ztl asks, what does Rachel mean she is not deserving?  How did she know that she did not deserve to the the "Ima" of the world?  She was the woman he had planned on marrying, she was the one he had worked so hard to acquire.  She just felt she couldn't go along with his plans because she could not bare to cause such pain to her sister, as is explained in the gemora in Megilla.  It would seem that she was the rightful zivug.  She was not undeserving or the wrong one; she just felt that the right thing to do was to give it up.

     The Rosh Yeshiva explains that what Chazal are teaching us, and what rachel was saying, was that this marriage was obviously not for her.  Rachel was saying that if she was truly supposed to marry Yaakov then Hashem would not have put her in a position where the right thing to do was to give up the simanim.  She understood that it was not, "I am the rightful match just something came up", that something coming up was a raayah that that is not the way it is supposed to be.  That is why she said, "If i am undeserving i may as well let my sister be zoche".  "She is not stealing this zechus away from me, because it is not rightfully mine." 

     I heard from my Rebbe, Rabbi Kaufman shlita, something that is a davar pashut but so true and oftentimes forgotten.  If a businessman was about to close the biggest deal of his life when suddenly a Navi hashem walked in and told him, "Do not make that deal it will be a tremendous mistake."  The businessman would probably feel indebted to the Navi forever for saving him from this terrible mistake.  However, if this same businessman was about to make the biggest deal of his life, and the fellow offering him this deal says, "Ill see you Saturday morning to close the deal, and I don't want to hear any excuses if you're not there you can kiss this deal goodbye".  Although the businessman would not go, he would probably hate Shabbos for the rest of his life.  We all are guilty of this on one level or another.  Shouldn't the businessman realize that Shabbos is Hashem's way of telling him "Don't do the deal".  It is the same as the Navi Hashem just in a little disguise.  There are times in our lives when we may have grand plans of how things in our life will work out, but how we think they will end up and how they do end up are many times completely different.  So many times if we just take a moment to realize that the fact that things didn't work out the way we thought they would is because Hashem, as the loving father that he is, causes things to happen sometimes that hold us back from what we think we want in order to do what is truly best for us.  This is not to say that one should not feel any pain. As we said recently, "when it hurts we cry", and I'm sure Rachel was deeply grieved to be unable to marry Yaakov, yet she understood that not marrying him was the right thing.  It was what Hashem wanted.  We should be zoche to see the not so obvious yad Hashem in all aspects of our life, but especially when things may seem to be the opposite of what we had hoped for. Good Shabbos   

Parshas Bo

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, Avraham ben R' Yitzchak Zev, R' Dovid Meer ben Harav Shmuel

In perek yud posuk chaf dalid, immediately after makas choshech, it says, "Vayikra Pharaoh el Moshe vayomer lichu ivdu es Hashem rak tzonchem uv'karchem yutzag gam tapchem yeileich imachem."  "Pharaoh called to Moshe and said, Go serve Hashem only your sheep and cattle shall stay here; even your children can go with you."

After the makka of choshech Pharaoh told Moshe to take out all the people but leave the animals in Mitzrayim.  Rav Yaakov Neiman ztl asks, why would Pharaoh tell Moshe to leave the animals in Mitzrayim?  He knew they were going to serve Hashem and bring Korbanos because Moshe told him so.  Not only that, Pharaoh himself during the makka of arov had told Moshe and Aharon "l'chu zivchu LeiLokeichem ba'aretz."  "Go slaughter for your God in the land". So what exactly is Pharaoh thinking excluding the animals, the means to serve Hashem?

Rav Neiman explains, that originally Moshe had told Pharaoh that Klal Yisroel can't bring karbanos in Mitzrayim because there is no way that the Mitzriim would just watch passively as the jews killed their gods.  However, after choshech Pharaoh said to Moshe, "You were able to brings karbanos during choshech without the Mitzriim seeing.  What's your reason for not bringing them then?  It must be that you don't want to bring Karbanos.  In that case you can go serve Hashem but leave your animals.  To this statement Moshe Rabeinu answered "Gam atah titein biyadeinu zvachim v'olos..." "You will also give us zvachim and olos."  In other words, Pharaoh you've got it wrong, really we do want to bring karbanos but we don't know how much we need and maybe our animals won't be enough so we need from you.  However, we can not bring karbanos from stolen animals and therefore we could not take from you without your permission and that is why we could not bring the karbanos during makkas choshech.

I saw from the Rosh Yeshiva ztl that Rabeinu Yonah explains that when Klal Yisroel actually asked the Mitzriim for their possessions although the Torah uses the lashon of "sha'al" borrowing it obviously can not mean that because Klal Yisroel would be lying if they said that.  Even though the jews were owed so much for all their work and the things rightfully belonged to them, nevertheless asking them to borrow it and taking it for keeps would have been wrong.

I don't know if Rav Neiman meant that davka because a karban can't be stolen Klal Yisroel didn't take it and otherwise they would or that it was because stam g'neiva is assur (even rationalized g'neiva such as the case with the Mitzriim's possessions)  but it seems that either way the animals would have been considered stolen regardless of the fact that they too were well deserved.

Sometimes the line between what truly belongs to us and what is not ours can be hard to locate. Sometimes it takes extra sensitivity to help us do the right thing and not chas v'shalom take what doesn't belong to us.
Good Shabbos