Parshas Beha'aloscha

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek ches posuk vav it says, "Kach es haleviim mitoch Bnei Yisroel vitiharta osem." "Take the Leviim from among Bnei Yisroel and and purify them." The Medrash Tanchuma says on "Kach es Haleviim", that this is what the Torah meant when it said "Hashem tzadik yivchan..." Hashem does not raise anyone to an important position, until he has tested and checked them first.  Once they are omed b'nisayon, they can be raised to their lofty position.  Hashem tested Avraham Avinu with ten nisyonos, and then was mivareich him "bakol". So too Shevet Levi.  They gave their lives al Kiddush Hashem so that the Torah should not be bateled.  When Klal Yisroel was in Mitzrayim they went astray from Torah and Milah, and were all oved avodah zarah.  Shevet Levi however were all Tzadikim and kept the Torah. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, this Medrash says that Shevet Levi gave  their lives, "nasnu nafsham" for Torah in Mitzrayim.  How were they moser nefesh?  Why is it like they gave their lives?  There was no sakana in Mitzrayim to keep the Torah.  The Rosh Yeshivah explains, all of Bnei Yisroel was straying from Torah and Mitzvos and doing the wrong thing.  Shevet Levi was able to fight and remain Tzadikim and stay on the Derech Hashem.  Its obviously not an easy thing but its much more than just that.  Shevet Levi was showing a tremendous strength, a strength that Chazal consider them as giving their lives for Torah.  True, Klal Yisroel wasn't poking fun at them or harrassing them for doing what they did, and no one was forcing them away from Torah, but to have the strength to not be mushpah and swept up with the rest of Klal Yisroel requires tremendous strength.  This tremendous strength makes the Leviim into martyrs.  There was no Sakana, yet they are considered that they were moser nefesh, because beating this nisayon of getting swept in with the crowd is comparable to giving ones life for Torah.  As frum yidden we look around and see most of our brethren far away from the derech Hashem, and the truth is some of it looks extremely enticing.  There are jews who are professional athletes (not too many), and the film industry is swarming with jews.  We have big doctors and Lawyers and millionaires, and the world they've thrown themselves into seems so inviting.  How many times do we find ourselves on the edge where we feel we just can't do it anymore.  Whether "it" is reffering to Yeshivah, or a shiur or Yiddishkeit altogether.  Its not easy to fight this feeling.  If it was it wouldn't be like giving up ones life for Torah.  However, sometimes understanding the greatness of our actions can give us the strength to keep fighting, and hopefully that is enough to continue giving us the strength to keep fighting... Good Shabbos  

Parshas Nasso

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek vav posuk beis it says "Daber el Bnei Yisroel v'amarta aleihem ish oh isha ki yafli lindor neder nazir l'hazir La'Hashem". Rashi explains the juxtaposition of Sotah and Nazir, that anyone who sees a Sotah should take upon themselves a Nazirus neder against wine, which leads to promiscuity. Even though before someone saw a "Sotah B'kilkula" they already knew this fact, seeing it strengthens it and therefore it would be a good time to guard themselves. In perek gimmel posuk lamud vav in Mishlei it says "Ki To'avas Hashem Naloz V'es Yisharim Sodo" The Yalkut Shimoni speaks on this posuk and says "Ki to'avas Hashem naluz" is talking about someone who is involved in arayos. "V'es Yisharim sodo" is talking about someone who saw arayos and therefore distanced himself from wine. "sodo" means that Hashem will teach him and help
 him to be able to stay away from arayos. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, its mashma from this medrash, that keeping yourself from wine will grant you the rights for Hashem to give you the "sod" on how to save yourself from arayos. However, even without the wine, if Hashem wouldn't grant you this gift, ultimately you would fail because the tayva is too great. If that's the case, why would anyones reaction to seeing a Sotah be to stay away from wine? They know it doesn't do much anyway, they know their chances of being nichshal are still great. The Rosh Yeshivah explains, that this is the tevah of a person. True -- distancing oneself from wine is not a major guard against arayos, but when someone is in a makom sakana, they do everything they possibly can to guard themselves even if in retrospect that block may seem minute and almost pointless. When someone sees a Sotah they distance themselves
 from wine  because on a very small level it will lower the chances of them being nichshal. When Hashem sees that they are making an effort, he grants them "sodo" the daas and strength they need to complete their task. This is an important lesson for all of us. Many times when we are in a makom sakana of any sort, we want to make gidarim but gidarim won't solve the problem so we don't even do that. As small as the gedarim may be, they show Hashem what we want, they show him that we are making an effort and he will lift us up the rest of the way and help us with our challenge. I believe the same is true in stam ruchniyus and growth. We want to grow and be better, we want to learn, but everything seems so out of reach. If we make the effort and show Hashem what it is we really want, he will hopefully grant us the gift of "sodo" to be able to grow in Torah and Ruchniyus... Good Shabbos

Bamidbar

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek alef posuk nun dalid it says, "Va'yaasu Bnei Yisroel kichol asher tziva Hashem es Moshe kein asu."  The Medrash Rabah says that the Torah is telling us, that even in regard to the machanos they listened and did not camp near the mishkan, as it says "Vchanu Bnei Yisroel ish el machaneihu....... Vi'haliviim yachanu saviv li'mishkan."  Klal Yisroel was not allowed to camp around the Mishkan because Hashem would get angry with them because they were not worthy, not "ra'uy".  The Leviim however, would guard the Mishkan and and act in the proper way and therefore were the chosen shevet to be encamped around the mishkan.  This was a difficult thing for Klal Yisroel to accept but "Vayaasu es kol asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe" and they distanced themselves from the Mishkan and allowed the Leviim to move in. The Eitz Yosef says on, that Klal Yisroel did this b'leiv shalom and that's why  the posuk says "K'chol asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe kein asu."  Its mashma from the posuk that at first Klal Yisroel encamped around the Mishkan and probably did so because they wanted to be as close to Hashem and be zoche to as much growth in ruchniyus as they could possibly get.  However, Hashem let them know that they were undeserving of being so close and would be killed if they did not move.  Bnei Yisroel listened to Hashem and vacated the area bleiv shalom, and that was the tremendous praise that was given to them by the Torah, that they did it bleiv shaleim.  The Rosh Yeshiva ztl asks, what was the great praise of retreating "bleiv shaleim"? They should have been broken hearted,"bleiv Shavur".  Here they were all excited to get as close as possible to Hashem in order to strive to the highest levels of ruchniyus they could possibly achieve, and were just told that they just didn't make the cut, they weren't good enough.  Shouldn't the thought of not making it due to lack of greatness and even due to aveiros cause them extreme distress?  The Rosh Yeshivah explains, that yes they were down for not being able to make it because of their avieros, but on a seperate note by moving away from the Mishkan they were fulfilling the Tzivuy of Hashem and that gave them tremendous simcha and allowed them to move "bleiv shaleim".  There are times when we may find ourselves in similar situations, many times where the easiest thing to do is just be broken hearted.  We do something wrong and it hinders us from continuing our growth as an eved Hashem.  Klal Yirsoel was down, they couldn't be as close as they wanted because of things they had done wrong, but they didn't break, they regrouped and went straight into continuing serving Hashem to the best of their ability, which in this case was to complete the move happily.  We get knocked down and we let ourselves just stay down.  We have to be able to be unhappy with ourselves for falling, but we have to keep our heart intact, pick ourselves up, and continue down the path that will bring us closer and closer to Hashem. . .Good Shabbos

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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