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

Parshas Balak

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek chaf beis posuk lamud gimmel the Malach Hashem said to Bilam "Va'tirani ha'ason vateit lifanay zeh shalosh rigalim oolay natsa mipanay ki atah gam oscha haragti v'osah hecheyeisi" "And when the donkey saw me it turned aside these three times , had she not turned aside before me as she did, I would have surely killed you and she, I would let live" Rashi explains that the malach was saying, because the donkey admonished you, and you were unable to withstand her admonishment, I killed her. For had I not killed her people would see her  and say, "this was the donkey that drove away Bilam with her admonishment, and he was unable to reply". Rashi continues that Hashem is makpid on human dignity, and that is why when a woman lives with an animal we are required to kill the animal, as well as the woman. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl brought out a tremendous yesod from this incident. Bilam was a tremendous rasha, he was a bum, and most probably a woman who lives with an animal is too. Why would the Torah care about their feelings, about their dignity? Furthermore, they brought this upon themselves, Hashem didn't want him to go with Balak's officers, and no one told her to live with an animal. Yet the Torah is telling us, how much Hashem cares about every human, how he goes above and beyond to minimize the embarrasment of even Rishaim gemurim. We must respect this innate dignity in our interactions with others, and be extremely careful about slighting another, no matter how much he "deserves it." Good Shabbos.

Parshas Chukas

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem..... In perek chaf alef posuk lamud beis it says, "Vayishlach Moshe lirageil es Yazeir vayilcidu binoseha vayoresh es ha'Emori asher sham."  "Moshe sent people to spy out Yazeir and they conquered its suburbs, and he drove away the Amorite that was there."  The Medrash Rabah explains that Moshe sent out the Meraglim to spy out Yazeir and they were mizareiz and took it upon themselves to capture it.  They said, "We are confident in the Tefila of Moshe, and the last time miraglim were sent they caused tremendous destruction.  We will not do like them, rather we believe in Hashem and will wage war now."  They waged war and they conquered the land.  Its mashma from Chazal that the reason why the Miraglim waged war in this case, was because they were afraid that they may end up following in the footsteps of the previous miraglim and wreak havoc on Klal Yisroel.  The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, what were the Miraglim afraid of?  They knew where they were holding and that they were ma'aminim Ba'Hashem, so why were they afraid of following in the previous Miraglim's footsteps?  He explains, that the Miraglim were full believers in Hashem, however they were afraid that they would lose their level of emunah and in their weakened state follow in the footsteps of the Miraglim before them.  A persons battle with their yetzer harah is constant, and the yetzer harah is constantly strengthening itself to try to win.  Therefore, the Miraglim didn't trust themselves in the fight against the Yetzer Harah, rather they immediately waged war against the inhabitants.  This zrizus is what Chazal is praising them for.  They understood how tough the battle with the yetzer harah is, and therefore acted accordingly.  We see how important it is not to convince ourselves that we have reached a madreiga where certain nisyonos can not reach us anymore.  There is no such thing as being above and beyond, no such thing as being untouchable.  As long as we are alive the yetzer harah will be in top gear trying to bring us down, but as long as we keep that in mind and know that we have not overcome him completely, we can hopefully have the strength to continue winning and growing... Good Shabbos        

Parshas Korach

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem...... In perek tes zayin posuk lamud beis it says, "Va'tiftach ha'aretz es piha vativla osam v'es bateihem v'eis kal ha'adam asher l'Korach v'eis kal harichush."  "The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses, and all the people who were with Korach, and all the posessions,"  The Gemorah in Sanhedrin perek kuf yud amud alef says, "osher shamur l'ba'alav l'raaso."  "Wealth caused its owner to go bad."  Reish Lakish says that this is referring to the wealth of Korach.  The Gemorah goes on to say that Yosef had hidden three treasures in Mitzrayim.  One Korach got; one went to Antoninus; and one will be for the Tzadikim L'asid lavo.  The Maharshas says that the way that korachs money caused his downfall was that since he was so rich he believed he deserved to be of a greater stature that Moshe and Aharon.  The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks a seemingly obvious question.  Korach was quite a smart person.  He obviously knew that Moshe and Aharons positions were not attained through greatness in worldly matters, rather they were chosen because of their loftiness in ruchniyus  So what exactly happened here?  How did his great financial backing cause him to make such a grave mistake, and cause so much destruction?  The Rosh Yeshivah explains that Korach responded in the way that is normal for most people to respond.  He was extremely rich and therefore was a highly respected individual, everyone treated him with tremedous dignity, as if he was royalty.  This tremendous kavod got to him and made him begin believing that he was great in ruchniyus too.  After all, look at how much respect he received.  Based on this mistake he believed that Moshe and Aharon were not as great as him and therefore he should have been chosen as the leader of Klal Yisroel.  It's unbelieveable how losing our perception of where we are holding can cause so much destruction.  We can't lose sight of where we are holding, and of course that being great in our world is not based on how much we are worth in dollar value, but how much we have achieved in ruchniyus and growth in avodas Hashem... Good Shabbos

Parshas Shelach

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek yud dalid posuk tes, Kaleiv and Yehoshuah tell Klal Yisroel, "Ach ba'Hashem al timrodu v'atem al tirau es am ha'aretz ki lachmeinu heim..." -  "But do not rebel against Hashem, and do not fear the people of the land for they are our bread..."  The Ramban says that Yehoshuah and Kaleiv gave two reasons why Klal Yisroel should not fear the inhabitants of Eretz Yisroel.  Reason number one was that they had to believe in the capabilities of Hashem.  Just as Hashem did all the miracles in Mitzrayim, so too would he conquer the natives to fulfill his promise.  The second reason was that even biteva Klal Yisroel had the means to conquer them, they had the capabilities to "eat them like bread".  The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks that the second reason should not have been given; it was superfluous.  Regardless of what should happen under
 normal circumstances, the entire fate of Klal Yisroel was based on whether or not Hashem wanted them to be victorious.  Kaleiv and Yehoshuah knew this fact.  Their actual strength meant zero.  It would not determine what the outcome would be.  So why would they mention it?  The Rosh yeshivah explains that what Yehoshuah and Kaleiv were doing was being "maktin the nisayon." - "making the challenge smaller."  To convince Klal Yisroel that Hashem will help them win when the enemy is weaker than them would be much simpler than convincing them that Hashem would be able to make them beat a tremendous super power.  By cutting down the nisayon in the eyes of Klal Yisroel, they made it that much easier for Klal Yisroel to have bitachon that Hashem is the only one who fights our wars, not us.  This yesod is true in all types of nisyonos.  People are faced with tremendous nisyonos that seem unbeatable.  Sometimes they could even be very close to that, but there's a trick on how to beat it.  We can play mind games with ourselves and talk into ourselves that its not so big, its not so hard, and guess what, it'll be easier to beat.  As long as we believe that something is impossible, it is.  It's only once we believe that we have the power to achieve, that we will be able to do to just that.  We will achieve!.... Good Shabbos  

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.