5771 פרשת בהעלותך

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the construction of the Menorah as well as the Mitzvah of the Kohein to light the Menorah.  Regarding the construction of the Menorah the Torah tells us that it must be formed out of one piece of gold and regarding the lighting of the Menorah the Torah tells us that the Menorah has to have seven branches and when the Menorah is lit the three wicks on either side must face the middle branch.

 The Siforno asks why is it that of all the vessels in the Mishkan only the Menorah had to be formed out of one piece of gold. Secondly, the Siforno asks why is it that the wicks on both sides of the Menorah must face the middle wick.

 The Siforno explains that the Menorah is a symbol of the unity of Bnei Yisroel that they are united in the singular cause of serving God. This is why the Menorah must be made out of only one piece of gold.

 The Siforno expounds on this idea while explaining why the wicks on each side of the Menorah must face the middle one. He explains that the middle branch of the Menorah is the main one symbolizing the worship of God while the branches on the right side represent those people who spend their entire life involved in only Torah pursuits while the branches on the left side represent people who are also involved in worldly pursuits who financially assist those whose sole pursuit is in Torah. This is why all the wicks must face the middle wick as the goal of both groups of people should be working together to bring God’s will into the world.

 If we look at this Siforno a little bit more closely we can learn a very important lesson. The Siforno is learning that the purpose of the law that all the wicks must face the middle is that both the people who are involved in Torah pursuits and those involved in physical pursuits should work together to bring God’s will into the world which is also symbolized in the actual construction of the Menorah.  From the fact that the Menorah was constructed this way shows us that this was the way God wanted Bnei Yisroel to function – meaning that there should always be two groups of people those whose sole pursuit is Torah and those who are also involved in making a living and supporting those whose sole pursuit is Torah.

 Now that we are standing just after Shavuot the holiday of Kabbalas Hatorah we should realize that no matter who we are and what we do for a living as long as our goal is to bring the will of God into the world through either the sole pursuit of Torah or through working, setting up set times for learning Torah and assisting those whose sole pursuit is Torah we are an integral part of Bnei Yisroel and without our contribution there will be something lacking in the completion of the job of Bnei Yisroel. 

5770 פרשת בהעלותך

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the different types of traveling that Bnei Yisroel did while in the Midbar. The Torah tells us that there were some times where they stayed in one place for only a day or two days and some places they stayed as long as a year or more. The Torah further describes how Bnei Yisroel knew when they should travel and when they should camp. The Pasuk tells us that when the “heavenly cloud” would rise up from the Mishkan, Bnei Yisroel would know it was time to travel and when the cloud was resting on the Mishkan, Bnei Yisroel knew that they should not travel.

 The Ohr Hachayim is bothered by why the Torah is so descriptive of the travels of Bnei Yisroel in the Midbar that some were long and some were very short, etc?

 The Ohr Hachayim explains that the Torah is telling us the praise of Bnei Yisroel in two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, when God told Bnei Yisroel to camp which was at times really what they would have wanted to do, they only did it because it was the will of God and not at all because it was to their benefit. On the other side of the coin, there were times when it must have been very difficult for Bnei Yisroel to travel after only camping for one or two days and truly feeling that they needed to rest and nevertheless they traveled because it was the will of God. The Torah went out of its way to describe the travels of Bnei Yisroel in detail to show us the great praise that no matter the situation they were in both if it was something easy for them like camping or difficult for them like traveling or at some times visa versa, they did everything that God desired specifically because God wanted it with no personal thoughts involved.

 If we look at this Ohr Hachayim closer, we can ask the following question.  

 How is it possible for Bnei Yisroel to totally block out their feelings to do something only because it is the will of God?  I can understand a situation where something is difficult for a person and they conquer their emotions and do it anyway because it is the will of God but here camping was something that they felt was good and would want to do anyway, so how could they blot out those feeling and do it just because God wanted them to?

 The answer could be that the reason a person would do something based on his own feelings is because he thinks that a particular action is beneficial for him. However, if a person realizes that he is very shortsighted and what he thinks is good for him might not be and what he thinks is bad for him might truly be good then he will inherently not feel any desire to take one action over another. This was the tremendous praise of Bnei Yisroel. They understood that they had no idea what was really good or bad for them as only God did. If that is the case, then when God told Bnei Yisroel to camp they did it not because they knew it was good but rather because God told them to and He knew it was good. The same thing was true for traveling. They accepted God’s wish with the full understanding that God knows that this is good even if on the surface I would have thought it was bad.

פרשת  בהעלותך 5769

In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the sanctification of the Levites at the hands of Moshe and Aharon. Part of the sanctification was Aharon lifting up each of the 22,000 Leviim a little bit off the ground and moving him in all 6 directions which were up, down, east west, north and south. The Torah describes this action differently in three different Pasukim. In the first instance the Torah says and you should wave them “as a waving in front of God”, the second instance says wave them “as a waving for God”, and the last instance says wave them “as a waving”.

Rashi explains that each of the three different Pasukim relates to the descendents of a different one of the children of Levi.  The first case where the Pasuk says in front of God is discussing the waving of the descendents of Kehas whose job was to carry the vessels of the Mishkan including the Aron and the Menorah and the Shulchan. The second Pasuk which says for God is discussing the descendents of Gershon who were one step removed and even though they weren’t carrying the vessels of the Mishkan they were carrying the curtains that were the divisors between the Kodesh and the Kodesh Kadashim. The third Pasuk which does not mention the name of God when describing the waving relates to the descendents of Merrari whose job was one step more removed as they carried the boards and connectors for the actual walls of the Mishkan. The sanctification of each of them was described differently to teach us that their level of holiness differed due to their different jobs.

However, the Torah after describing the sanctification process three times for each of the children of Levi repeats the concept one last time and in the last one once again uses the phrase in front of God. The Rabbeinu Bechai explains that the last time relates to the entity of the Leviim and not each group individually. The Rabbeinu Bechai continues and explains that this is coming to teach us that even though each family of Leviim was on a different level they were all meritorious and beloved to God.

From this Rabbeinu Bechai we see a very important idea. We know the Torah does not have an extra word. In this case the Torah added six words to teach us that every person is created differently and every person has a job in the world. There were some people who God created to be the leaders of the generation and great Torah scholars with lofty souls and there are people God created whose purpose is to run a chesed organization and there are those whose purpose is to be in business and make sure to always act honestly. As long as a person serves God with all his efforts and fulfills his purpose in the world he is as beloved to God as the Gadol Hador. Every person must look at the situation God put him in to see what God wants from him but also to realize that God loves him for filling his purpose in the world and that love is not reserved only for the leaders of the generation and the great Torah scholars.

5768 פרשת בהעלותך

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the different types of travels that the Bnei Yisroel encountered while traveling through the desert to reach Eretz Yisroel. The Pasuk describes them as follows:

By the word of God Bnei Yisroel traveled and through his word they camped. There were times the cloud of glory stayed in one place for many days and the Bnei Yisroel stayed there and didn’t travel. There were those times that the cloud of glory stayed in one place for only a few days and the Bnei Yisroel traveled only when God commanded.

The Torah continues with these descriptions of the different lengths of time that Bnei Yisroel camped and at the end of each description it says that they camped and traveled only by God’s word.

The Sipurno explains that the reason that the Torah went through such detail in describing the different amounts of time that Bnei Yisroel camped as praise of Bnei Yisroel that no matter how difficult it was to either camp or travel they nevertheless did not complain and traveled only when God told them to.

What we see from here is that Bnei Yisroel trusted God fully that everything he does for Bnei Yisroel is for the good. That is why they never complained about when they had to travel.

However, after this, the Parsha continues and describes the fact that Bnei Yisroel complained against God.

The Sipurno explains the complaint as follows:

They complained about the difficulty of the travels through the desert; however they weren’t actual complaints that they felt badly about since they really had nothing to complain about rather they were complaining just with their speech to test God.

Let us try to examine this Sipurno a little more closely:

First of all, in what manner was Bnei Yisroel testing God?

Secondly, we saw above how committed Bnei Yisroel was to God and how strong their belief in God was that without any complaints they traveled only when God told them to, so why now would they be testing God?

Furthermore, Bnei Yisroel had experienced so much good in their travels through the desert including the miracles of the exodus, the manna, the well of water that traveled with them and the clouds of glory that protected them, so furthermore, why would they need to “test” God?

In order to answer this question, we first need to understand what exactly it means that Bnei Yisroel wanted to test God. The word ”Lenasos”  relates to the word “Nisayon”. The concept of Nisayon is something we first see when God tested Avraham Avinu 10 times. When God tests a person, it is to see in that person’s actions the strength of their connection to God whereby no matter what is required in his service of God, the person will achieve it.

This idea can possibly explain the Sipurno. What Bnei Yisroel was trying to test was the strength of God’s relationship to them. Bnei Yisroel intellectually knew that everything that God did is the best thing for them which is why they were willing to travel everywhere without question, they however, wanted to feel that whatever they did God would still love them and not break the bond between Him and them.

From the fact that Bnei Yisroel was punished for this shows us that this was not the correct course of action. The bond between Bnei Yisroel and God is a covenant that is unbreakable and the love that God has for us is immense and unending, but this idea can’t be felt by doing actions that cause the distancing of us from God rather it must come about by seeing the good God did for Bnei Yisroel during their time in the desert; from the Exodus from Egypt through having the Manna and the well of water as well as the clouds of Glory that God provided them throughout their journeys.

When it comes to building our relationship with God, we should always look at the positive things that God does for us in our lives and realize how much he cares for us and use that to grow in our Service of God.

 פרשת בהעלתך 5767

 In this week’s Parsha there are the very famous Pesukim of ”vayehi binsoa haaron” which we say when we remove the sefer torah from the ark  and “uvenucho yomar” which we say when we put the sefer torah back in the ark after we read from it. Just before and after those Pesukim we find the inverted letter “Nun” and Rashi bringing the Gemara that  explains why the inverted letter ”Nun is there in the following way: 

The Torah put a sign that this Parsha is not in its proper place and it was written here to put a break in between different tragedies.

The Gemara  continues and explains what the 2 different tragedies are. The second one is the PAsuk describing the complaints that Bnei Yisroel had against God while the first one isthe PAsuk that says that “Bnei Yisroel traveled from Har Sinai”. The Gemara  explains why the words “and they traveled from “Har Sinai” would be considered a tragedy in the following way:

Bnei Yisroel turned away from God .

The Ramban explains the sin  of ”turning away from God” as follows:

Bnei Yisroel traveled from Har Sinai in joy like a child running out of school to get away in case God  would want to give them more Mitzvos.

Let us try to examine this Ramban a little more closely.

Who are we dealing with? This is Bnei Yisroel who when offered the Torah responded first we wil ldo then we will hear, they were wiling to accept the Torah no matter what was involved without even asking what was in it. Secondly, Chazal describe the occurrences at Har Sinai where the angels placed 2 crowns on the head of each member of  Bnei Yisroel. Also,Chazal tell us that anyone who had a disability was cured (i.e. someone who was blind was able to see). These were just some of the incredible miracles that occurred when the Torah was given to Bnei Yisroel.

Now if all these incredible miracles occurred when God was giving the Torah to Bnei Yisroel, you would think Bnei Yisroel would say let me be more involved in whatever the Torah has, so how is it that Bnei Yisroel would happily run away from Har Sinai to ensure that God won’t give them more Mitzvos?

The answer is that our natural tendency is to run away from responsibility. Since a person’s natural pull is to get away from responsibility, then it becomes very difficult to appreciate the fact that this “responsibility” has the power to bring you tremendous good and happiness.

The question becomes, if Bnei Yisroel who saw all the miracles at the time of the giving of the Torah and were on such a high level, did not fully understand the joy of the mitzvos, how could we do the mitzvos properly with the proper happiness and joy?

The answer is to work on ourselves constantly to appreciate that the Torah and mitzvos are what make us special. One way to start ourselves on the right path is through our prayers. There are several prayers that we say every day that reiterate how special Torah and mitzvos are and how they make us special. Just a couple of examples:

1. In Birchas Hatorah that we say every morning we say “God chose us from among all the nations of the world to give us the Torah”. The idea being brought over is that Torah is special and we are special enough to have received it.
2. In the end of ”Uva Letzion” we say “Thank oyu for creating for God’s honor… and gave us a Torah s our lives would not be empty”" – again we are reiterating how it is the Torah that enables us to live our lives with purpose.

If we can try when we daven to concentrate on trying to bring these ideas into our heart it will enable us to serve God with the utmost joy and to merit  to be able to serve God in the Beis Hamikdash in our lifetimes.