Parshas Nitzavim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem...... In perek lamud posuk vav it says "U'mal Hashem Elokecha es livavcha v'es livav zarecha l'ahava es Hashem Elokecha bichal livavcha u'vichol nafshicha l'maan chayecha"  "Hashem your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring to love Hashem with all your heart and all your soul that you may live." The Ramban explains, " U'mal Hashem Elokecha es livavcha " means what the Gemorah says in Shabbos. "Habah litaher misayin oso"  If someone comes to make himself tahar Hashem will help him. The Gemorah continues that Hashem guarantees that if someone will try to do teshuvah with all their heart and soul, Hashem will help them. The Ramban is mashma that without Hashem's help a person would not be able to do teshuva with all their heart. The Rosh Yeshiva asks, the Ramban says that Hashem helps the people who are trying to
 do teshuvah with all their hearts and souls. If these people are returning with all their heart, why are they the ones who need Hashem's help? They are returning whole heartedly even without his help. The Rosh Yeshiva explains that  we see from here that even a person who wants to do a full teshuvah is not able to without the help of Hashem. The Yetzer Hara is just too strong to be misgaber over without the help of Hashem. There are many people who want to do teshuvah on different things, the only issue is they don't think they have what it takes. What they don't realize is that nobody has what it takes but that's the beauty of it. When we take the steps to do teshuvah and get close to Hashem, he lifts us up way past our true kochos. He takes us by the hand, kaf al kaf, and allows us to reach tremendous levels that were nowhere near our grasp. If we keep this idea in our minds and
 hearts as we approach Rosh Hashana we can hopefully use it to give us the spark we need to do the best Teshuvah we possibly can and be nichtav lishana tova u'misuka. Good Shabbos          

Parashas Ki Savo

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

Parshas Ki Seitzei

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

Parshas Shoftim

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

Parshas Re'eh

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

Parshas Eikev

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R'Yisroel Menachem.... In perek ches posuk yud alef it says, "Hishamer licha pen tishkach es Hashem Elokecha."  "Watch yourself lest you forget Hashem your God."  In the Sharei Tshuva, Rabeinu Yonah says that this is an "azhara" warning that is directed towards ones heart, do not forget Hashem.  It is said that any time the words "hishamer" "pen" and/or "al" is mentioned, it is a "lo sasei".  So there is an actual mitzvah not to forget Hashem.  The Torah is telling us that we must remember Hashem at all times, and try to work on acting in a manner befitting one who recognizes Hashem.  The Misilas Yisharim says that a person has to be constantly thinking about what the proper path in life is.  The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks, Hashem is not amongst us in a way that we can see him, and many times we are caught up with different gashmiusdik things, and just can't always be focused on remembering Hashem and thinking of the proper ways to serve him.  When people are busy at work, for example, they obviously will have work on their mind and not be able to focus on this.  This being the case, how could the Torah command us to be focused on it "bichal eis" at all times?  He explains, that of course there are times that people are caught up with things, but they can always have it in their mind on a sub-conscious level.  Just as no matter how busy we are, we always ensure that harm does not befall us, and that we are not damaged, so too in our subconcious we can constantly remember Hashem and think of the proper ways to serve him.  Rav Isaac Scher ztl the Rosh Yeshivah of Slabodka, brought a ra'yah to the idea of being subconciously aware, even when people are sleeping.  A mother will awaken from a childs cry, even from an extremely deep sleep and even if the cry is soft. However, she most probably will not wake up from a train thundering by  her window.  To explain this phenomenon we must say that really we hear everything while we are sleeping, we just choose what to actually listen to and what to ignore.  A mother will instantly listen to the cry of her child and therefore wake up to care for it, but the train she will ignore.  We have this same power to at least sub-consciously remember Hashem and think of the derech we should follow, and therefore it is not an impossible mitzvah.  We should all be zoche to be on the level where we can think about Hashem "bichal eis" no matter where we are or what we are doing... Good Shabbos

Parshas Va'eschanan

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.... In perek dalid posuk mem alef the posuk says, "Az Yavdil Moshe shalosh arim b'eiver hayardein" "Then Moshe seperated three cities on the other side of the Yardein"  The Sapurnu says, the "az yavdil Moshe" "then Moshe seperated", is referring to after Moshe had explained the Torah to Klal Yisroel. Moshe seperated the cities at this point to show Klal Yisroel how important doing mitzvos is, that he was going out of his way to do only a part of a mitzvas aseh (because until all the arei miklat were established, none of them worked, and the remaining ones were to be set up later in Eretz Yisroel). The Rosh Yeshivah asks, obviously Moshe was extremely busy, he was spending most of his time teaching Torah to the entire Klal Yisroel. Did he really need to put aside his Torah learning and teaching to teach Klal Yisroel how important
 mitzvos were? Why can't he continue what he is doing and just give powerful, fiery shmuessin on the greatness of mitzvos? He explains, that the Torah is coming to teach us the famous lesson that actions speak louder than words. You can talk about somethings importance from today until tomorrow and it will have an effect, but it does not come close to showing with actions. Moshe Rabeinu took the time to perform his part in setting up the arei miklat in order to show Klal Yisrael how chashuv mitzvos truly are. We should always keep in mind how powerful our actions are, and the affect they have on other people.. Good Shabbos

Parshas Devarim

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem.. In perek beis Psukim gimmel through Heh Hashem commands Klal Yisrael not to start up with the descendants of Esav, and the psukim says as follows. " Rav lachem sov es hahar hazeh pinu lachem tzafona, v'es ha'am tzav leimor atem ovrim bigvul acheichem bnei Esav....al tisgaru bam" "Enough of you circling this mountain, turn yourselves northward and command the people as follows, you arecrossing into the border of your brothers, the descendants of Eisav.....Do not incite them". The Medrash Rabah explains that Eisav's zchus to deserve to be left alone was his tremendous kibud av that he had for his father Yaakov avinu. The is another Medrash Rabah that brings down as follows. Rav Shimon ben Gamliel said that most children did not give honor to their fathers as well as he did, but he did not do it as well as Esav. Rab shimon ben Gamliel
 would wear his old and worn clothing when he served his father, and would change into his fancy ones when he went to the Shuk while Esav did the opposite. The Rosh Yeshivah ztl asks a seemingly obvious question. If Rav Shimon ben Gamliel understood that what seperated Esav's kibud av from his own was just the fact that Esav wore his fancy clothes to serve his father while he wore his rags, than why didn't he just take that step and also wear his fancy clothes when tending to his fathers needs? The Rosh Yeshivah explains that this is a rayah to the yesod of Slabodka mussar, of understanding where we are holding and try to grow normally without trying to change ourselves into something we are not holding by. " Tafasta m'ruba lo tafasta " if you try to grab too much, many times you will end up with nothing at all, however sometimes even if we do not end up with nothing, we may end up
 mistakingly thinking we have reached the top and will have issues with gaivah and may have no drive to grow more, which in the end will cause us to fall. This is why Rav Shimon be Gamliel did not try to go the extra mile. He knew that it was a good thing to do, but he also understood that he was not holding by it and doing it just to match Esav would not have been a healthy step. We know it is important to always be growing but at the same time to make sure to understand where we are holding and not try to overdue it... Good Shabbos

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