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AVrohom Vegh
http://jewish-links.yolasite.com/

Behar bechukosai

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek Chaf vav posuk mem beis near the conclusion of the Tochacha it says, "V'zacharti es brisi Yaakov v'af es brisi Yitzchak v'af es brisi Avraham ezkor, v'ha'aretz ezkor."  I will remember the bris of Yaakov Yitzchak and Avraham, and my land.  Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman ztl asks, what is this posuk doing here?  Hashem is in middle of letting us know of the terrible tzaros that will befall us if we don't follow his Torah and Mitzvos and then he throws in "Btw i'll remember the bris I made with your forefathers and i'll remember the land."  At first you may try to think of a way that this posuk means something negative and therefore fits right in with everything else, but its in Rosh Hashana shmone esrei by zichronos so that can't be true.  Rav Neiman explains that Hashem was sending us an important message.  Many times when people have tzaros whether it's an individual or an entire group, they begin to feel "yiush", hopelessness.  How could so many terrible things be happening to them if Hashem really cared about them?  Therefore Hashem is telling us, even in the worst of times and even when we deserve every little bit of your pain because we threw away the yoke of Torah, still Hashem is with us, and he will do small acts of good to remind us that he's next to us holding our hand.  This is the famous pshat in the Yalkut Shimoni in Parshas vayeishev from the Alter of Kelm and Rav Chaim Shmulevitz ztl, when Yosef was going down to Mitzrayim after his brothers sold him.  The Torah let's us know that normally the arab merchants had terrible smelling merchandise, this caravan however had bisamim and smelled good.  Who cares? Yosef at this moment probably felt that his whole life was falling apart, he was just sold as a slave, oh but it smells good! Now things are great! The Teretz is not that now everythings better, but Hashem made it smell good as a way of telling Yosef "I'm still with you every step of the way, and I will always be with you". Sometimes it may seem that Hashem is nowhere in sight, but he is always with us, taking care of us, and many times if we just look down we'll realize that he is right there carrying us on his shoulders protecting us from greater harm... Good Shabbos   

Parshas Emor

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek chaf dalid posuk yud, when the Torah begins the famous story of the mikalel, it says, "Vayeitzei ben isha yisraeilis vhu ben ish mitzri bsoch bnei Yisroel, vayinatzu bamachane ben hayisraeilis v'ish hayisraeili."  Rashi brings down from the Toras Kohanim that we see from the fact that it says "mitoch bnei Yisroel" that the mikalel was migayer.  Whether or not the mikalel needed to be migayer since his mother was jewish is a whole discussion, because the halacha is that an oveid kochavim habah al bas yisroel havlad kasher (-if a non-jew has a child with a jewish woman, the child is pure).  In any event, everyone holds that he was a jew and based on that, the Turei Zahav (The Taz) has a question.  In Shemos, when Moshe killed the Mitzri it says that he checked to make sure that there was nobody from him that would be migayer and only then did he kill him.  What about the mikalel? He was the son of
 this Mitzri so why was he not included?  The Taz gives two answers.  The first is that Moshe was checking from then on and the Mikalel had already been born.  The second is that the mikalel was not included because he was a rasha and rishaim are not considered  a part of Klal Yisroel.  The Rosh Yeshiva ztl derived a tremendous yesod from the Turei Zahav's first teretz.  This lowly Mikalel was enough of a reason for Moshe to not kill the Mitzri.  Had he looked into this Mitzri's furture before the Mikalel was born, and seen his birth in the future, it would have been sufficient to shield the Mitzri from his death even though in the end he stooped low enough to lose both his olam hazeh and olam haba.   We see the tremendous kedusha of each and every one of us, and how special we are.  No matter where we are holding in life we have to remember how special we are and use that knowledge to assist
 us in continuing to grow.. Good Shabbos

Acharei Mos-Kedoshim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek yud ches pesukim beis and heh when Hashem comes to Moshe Rabbeinu to have him warn klal Yisroel for the toeivos he says, "Ani Hashem".  Rashi explains that Hashem was saying that "I am the same Hashem from Har Sinia and I am ne'eman to pay you back either good for withholding from arayos or bad for being nichshal.  At the end of the warning in posuk lamud "Ani Hashem" is repeated.  Rashi explains here that what Hashem is saying is, if you are mitameh yourself with these things  then you are "nifsal meiacharai".  Why do I need you? The Sifsei Chachamim explains that Rashi said this because he knew that the first time Hashem said it was for schar and therefore knew that this time Hashem was kaviyochal disowning people who didn't listen.  I heard from my Shaul Umeishav Harav Yehoshua Schloss shlita that we can see a tremendous thing from this.  The first warning to someone who wants to do unheard of things such as mishkav zachar is that if they do it they will be punished tremendously by Hakodosh Baruch Hu.  However it seems that that is not enough.  The Torah has to go on to say that Hashem will break his connection with someone who does these toeivos.  Here we have a person who is ready to do who knows what and the idea of being paid back tremendously is not enough to stop, this person seems beyond help!  Yet the Torah says Hashem will disown you, and its mashma that that will have an effect on them!  True it may be a mixture of the fear of bing punished mixed with the desire to not be disowned, but either way we see a tremendous concept.  Everyone, no matter where they are holding, has a desire, a tshuka, to have a connection with Hashem.  They could be down in the dumps and have desires they want to fulfill and not care what will happen to them physically or emotionally as a result of this action.  However, even in such a dire situation, they are not ready to give up their connection with Hashem Yisborach! Mi K'iamcha Yisroel...Good Shabbos

Parshas Tazria Mitzorah

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.....  In perek yud dalid, posuk beis, it says, "Zos tihiyeh Toras hamitzorah biyom taharaso v'huva el hakohen."  The Medrash Rabbah brings down a famous story.  A peddler was once selling his wares and called out "who wants to buy the potion of life?"  People flocked around him to see what he had to sell and maybe buy some extra life for themselves.  Rav Yanai heard this and decided he wanted to buy some.  However, the peddler told him he didn't need it, but after much persistance the peddler gave in and opened a Tehillim and showed him, "Mi ha'ish hechafetz chayim oheiv yamim liros tov, nitzor lishoncha meira usifasecha midaber mirma."  Reb Yanai responded, "My whole life I've been reading this posuk and I never realized how simple it is."  What Rav Yanai gained that he didn't understand before is a discussion in itself however Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman zt"l (Darchei Mussar) asks, what was everyone thinking when they all came running?  Didn't they know that you can't buy the elixir of life?  Furthermore, once they heard what he meant they should have stoned him!  Here they were shutting down their businesses, putting their lives to a halt to acquire the greatest possession one can possibly acquire and it turns out that he reads them a posuk on how to better themselves!  Elah mai, says the Darchei Mussar, they must have known that the peddler was talking about gaining something in ruchniyus when they all came flocking.  They all closed their stores and put their lives to a halt so that they can hear a chidush in Avodas Hashem.  They understood that olam hazeh is nothing and a life of Torah and Olam Habah is the only life, and therefore knew that he must have been selling "life" as they knew it.  We find this idea in Chazal on the posuk of "V'nas el achas ha'arim vachai."  If someone has to go to golus, his rebbe must go with him because the posuk says "va'chai", and a life without a Torah and a Rebbe is not a life.  This is an unbelievable darher.  Forget about what we would be thinking when we heard the announcement in the market "wow I could live forever!" Picture what would happen to the peddler once we heard what he had to say.  We should work on ourselves to be on that madrega of our forefathers to understand what true "Chaim" is..... Good Shabbos..

Parshas Shmini

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem..... In perek yud posuk beis it says "Vateizei eish milifnei Hashem vatochal osam vayamusu lifnei Hashem." The Medrash says that R'Levi said that the problem with Nadav and Avihu was that they were extremely haughty and therefore they caused many women who wanted to marry them alot of tzaar. Many women wanted to marry them and therefore waited for them and never got married. Nadav and Avihu said "our fathers brother is the melech, our mothers brother is the nasi, our father is the kohen gadol and we are kohanim, what woman is worthy of us?" The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, what did Nadav and Avihu do wrong? They didn't force these women to wait for them, they didn't even want them to so what did they do wrong? Elah mai the Rosh Yeshivah said we can see from here how responsible we are for things that we cause, even indirectly (gramah) Eve
 though Nadav and Avihu didn't mean for this to happen, they had acted "shelo kihogen" and therefore had caused the pain to these women and were held accountable. Furthermore, the Rosh Yeshivah explained, from R' Levi we see that the reason why Nadav and Avihu were chayav Misa was not because of their Gaivah, and not even for not fulfilling the mitzvah of "pru u'rvu" which is considered like shvichas domim, as if you killed people. Their aveira was causing tzaar to these women. We see how terrible it is to even in a backhanded way cause tzaar to people and how careful we should be to make sure that we don't... Good Shabbos.

Shabbos Hagadol

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem....... The Lekach Tov brings down, that there's a Medrash that says, that the reason why this week is called "Shabbos Hagadol" is because anyone who did an aveira and is mischareit and does Teshuva, Hashem will be michaper on all his aveiros. The author of the "Kometz Hamincha" asks, What does teshuvah and kaparah have to do with Shabbos Hagadol? He explains as follows. The Medrash says that Klal Yisroel in Mitzrayim were serving avodah zarah. Hashem told Moshe, "as long as bnei Yisroel are serving avodah zarah, I will not take them out. Go tell them to remove themselves and do teshuvah" As it says in Parshas Bo "mishchu uki'chu lachem"  withdraw from avodah zarah and take the god of Mitzrayim and bring a karbon Pesach. The day that Klal Yisroel withdrew from avodah zarah was on Shabbos yud Nisan, right before they brought the Karbon,
 right before the left Mitzrayim. This day was a tremendous day for our ancestors, it was kimat a Yom Kippur and that is why its called Shabbos Hagadol, and that's why anyone who is mischareit on this holy Shabbos, Hashem is michaper all their averios. We should be Zoche to utilize this special Shabbos Hagadol and go into the chag of Pesach completely pure. Good Shabbos and Chag Kasher V'sameach....

Parshas Vayikra

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem..... In perek alef posuk gimmel it says "Im olah Karbano min habakar zachar tamim yakrivenu el pesach ohel moed yakriv oso li'ritzono lifnei Hahem."  Rashi says, yakriv oso teaches us that the guy doesn't want to bring the korban, we force him.  He continues that you might think we make him bring it against his will, so the posuk says "li'ritzono" to tell us that they force him until he says "rotzeh ani".  The Gemorah in Kidushin says the same idea when it comes to a person who Beis Din is trying to make divorce his wife.  The Rambam in Hilchos Geirushin brings down the Halacha and asks, how could this be a good get?  We know that if someone beats a guy until he sells him something it doesn't work, so what's the difference between being forced into a sale you don't want or being forced into doing the right thing against your will? The Rambam answers with an unbelieveable yesod.  This guy who doesn't want to divorce his wife, wants to be a part of Klal Yisroel.  Deep down he wants to do the mitzvos and stay away from aveiros and do the right things.  Elah mai, something is blocking that internal feeling, but that is what is truly inside of him.  Therefore, when Beis Din forces the guy until he says he wants it, its not a fake desire, the force had the koach to remove the yetzer harah that was blocking his true feelings and now his real pnimi'is can break through.  The Rosh Yeshivah Ztl explained that we have to understand how far this goes.  We're not only discussing the regular "frum" jews that we know.  That we learn with and sit next to in shul. The bums who are koifer b'ikar, the lowlives that don't keep a word of what the Torah says, are included in this.  These rishaim have a deep internal yearning to be a part of klal
 Yisroel.  To keep all the mitzvos, and stay away from aveiros.  They too want to listen to the Chachamim when they are told to divorce their wife, even though they probably love her and are close to her and on the other end have no "external" positive feelings towards Yiddishkeit.  This is a tremendous lesson for all of us.  When we realize how connected we truly are to Hakodosh Baruch Hu, and how lucky we are that we don't have to push so far to show our true colors, we can find the koach to make that push, however big it is and to truly serve Hashem "bi'ritzoneinu"... Good Shabbos

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AVrohom Vegh

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AVrohom Vegh

Parshas Vayakhel Pekudei

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek lamud ches posuk chf beis it says "U'Betzalel ben Uri ben Chur l'matei Yehuda asah eis kal asher tziva Hashem es Moshe" Rashi explains, that it doesn't say "asher tziva oso Moshe" what Moshe commanded him, rather what Hashem commanded Moshe, because even things Moshe did not tell him he figured out. Moshe told him to make the keilim and then to build the Mishkan, but Bezalel asked "isnt it the norm to first build the house and then build furnishing for it? Moshe responded that Betzalel was correct and that Hashem had told him to make build the Mishkan before the keilim, and praised him saying "Btzeil keil Hayisa" you were in the shadow of Hashem when he told me. Therefore, Betzalel first built that Mishkan and then the Keilim. The Gur Aryeh and others discuss how it was possible that Moshe Rabeinu made such a mistake, and actually forgot a part of his nevuah. However even with that issue resolved, the Rosh Yeshiva Ztl was bothered by a seemingly obvious question. Why would Betzalel question  Moshe's command? Did he not believe that     Moshe was receiving his nevuah directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu? The Rosh Yeshiva explained, that obviously Betzalel believed what Moshe was telling him was one hundred percent true, however he felt there was something he was lacking because he did not understand what Moshe was telling him. Building the keilim first didn't seem right to him, and therefore he asked Moshe so that he could fully understand his command. Many people make the mistake of thinking, that needing to believe what their Rabbeim tell them means just to take everything they say and listen without ever asking. This is a tremendous mistake! True one must listen to their Rebbe, and not react with the famous lines of "He just doesn't understand my situation, of course he'd agree with me if he did." or "he didn't understand what I was asking", however there is no crime in trying to understand what it is your Rebbe told you to do. The more you understand how your Rebbe thinks and acts the more you can grow. Betzalel's questioning allowed him to reach the madrega of "btzeil Kel" being in the shadow of Hashem. We should all strive to understand what our Rabbeim say, in Torah, Halacha and everyday Hashkafas Hachaim.... Good Shabbos

Ki Sisa

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem..... In perek lamud beis psukim alef and dalid it says "Vayar ha'am ki boshesh Moshe laredes min hahar...Va'yaseihu eigel maseicha vayomru eileh elokecha."  Rashi says that it doesn't say "eileh elokeinu," "this is our g-d", rather it says "this is your g-d".  From here we see that the instigators for the eigel were the eirev rav, and they were the ones that made it, and only after Klal Yisroel was nicshal and follwed along.  Rav Chaim Shmulevitz ztl asks, we see that Klal Yisroel would not have sinned if not for the eirev rav, but what about the eirav rav themselves?  They were part of the dor deah, part of a tremendous generation.  Chazal say, "Ra'asah shifcha al hayam ma shelo ra'ah haniviim." The eirav rav were there too.  They saw the shchina; They were included in "vayiru ha'am es Hashem va'ya'aminu ba'Hashem uvi'Moshe avdo."  How
 could they stoop so low?  Reb Chaim answers, "ra'asah shifcha", the shifcha saw the shchina!  She was a part of tremendous nisim.  Wouldn't you think that at the end of the day she would be greater than the neviim?  Yet she remained a shifcha.  The tremendous nisim that occurred did not change who she was.  We see from here a tremendous yesod.  It is not being a part of great events that makes you great.  No outside source can make you grow.  True growth comes from working on yourself, your midos, your learning, your mentshlichkeit, on the things that will help you become a bigger eved Hashem.  The eirev rav saw a lot, they were part of many nisim, but it was exterior, it was not a part of them, and so they remained on their madrega, and were able to be machti the rabim with an eigel.   But a Navi Hashem's spark comes from within, his growth is not exterior and therefore it helps him grow to greater heights.  We can see how important it is to truly work on ourselves to grow from within and reach our true potential... Good Shabbos

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