5771 פרשת נשא

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah gives over the command to the Kohanim of the generations to bless the people of Bnei Yisroel. The Torah then tells them what the blessing should be. Right after the Torah gives over the Bracha the Torah describes to us the Chanukas Hamishkan.

 It seems from the placement of the two parshios together that there is a connection between them. The question is that on the surface there does not seem to be any connection. In order to try to see the connection let us try to understand these 2 parshios a little bit better.

 The Siforno explains the blessings of the Kohanim the following way. There are three parts to the blessing. The first part is a request for parnasa as without basic parnasa it is difficult to learn Torah. The second part of the blessing is a request that God open our eyes to the light of Torah and to seeing the hand of God. The last part of the blessing is a request that we should merit a life in the world to come without any punishment and to be close to God.

 One aspect of the Chanukas Hamishkan was when the Nassiim brought wagons for use by the tribe of Levi in transporting the vessels of the Mishkan. The Torah tells us that each wagon was brought by two Nessiim. The Siforno explains that the reason for this was that it was a sign of brotherhood among them which made them worthy of the shechinah resting amongst Bnei Yisroel.

 If we look at these 2 Sifornos we might be able to explain the connection between the two parshios. In the blessings of the Kohanim we ask God to bless us with physical good to enable us to spend time learning Torah and serving God, the spiritual ability to see God in our lives and to merit life in the world to come without any punishment. The blessings of the Kohanim would seem to lead us to having a close relationship to God.

 However, the Torah is telling us that in order to have the Shechina live amongst us  the highest level of closeness to God we need to have the most important thing which is unity.

 In our lives we many times focus on our lives and the lives of those closest to us to daven and request from God good both physically and spiritually for us. However, we sometimes forget that we have to also worry and think about all members of Bnei Yisroel since it is only that unity that can bring the Shechina to rest amongst us.

5770 פרשת נשא

 In this week’s Parsha, the Torah discusses the Chanukas Hamishkan and relates how the Nasi from each shevet brought a Korban as a representative of his shevet. When the Pasuk describes that the Nasiim brought the Korbanos it repeated the words and “the nasiim brought” two times.

 The Ohr Hachayim asks, why did the Torah repeat the words “And the Nasiim brought” two times?

 The Ohr Hachayim answers that the Torah was telling us that the Nasiim did not care about their own honor and brought the Korban all the way to the Mishkan.

 If we look at this Ohr Hachayim more closely we can ask the following question. The Ohr Hachayim seems to imply that it was a great praise of the Nasiim that they did not care about their own honor and brought the Korban themselves to the Mishkan. This would further imply that the natural thing for them to do would have been to let someone else lead the animal to the Mishkan and they would have just donated it or brought it a short way. This is difficult to understand since they were the only members of the entire Bnei Yisroel who were actively partaking in the Chanukas Habayis. This being the case, bringing the Korban to the Mishkan would seem to be the greatest honor that the Nasiim could have received, then why would the Torah be giving special praise to the Nasiim for doing something that would bring them great honor?

 The answer could be that a person naturally views an action in a vacuum not always in relation to the situation in which the action is done. This can explain why the Torah was praising the Nasiim for bringing the Korbanos all the way to the Mishkan since that action in and of itself is one that would not be done by a highly respected person. The Nasiim would not want to do it but they nevertheless brought the Korbanos all the way to the Mishkan against their natural tendency and for this they were worthy of praise.

 This can teach us a very important lesson. There are many times where we come upon an action (a lot of times relating to chesed) that in and of itself might not appear to be something that is befitting a person of our stature to be involved with and might lead us to lose out on doing a very important Mitzvah. However, if we can look past the physical action itself and focus on the fact that it is a Mitzvah it will help us ensure that we do not lose out on many Mitzvah opportunities.

 Just to share a practical example of this idea. My Rosh Yeshiva always used to pick up any garbage he saw littering the Beis Medrash and encouraged us to do the same. Even though, he was a great Talmid Chacham and that action in and of itself would not appear fitting for a person of his stature to do, he looked past the physical aspect of the action and realized the action for what it truly was, a great Mitzvah.

פרשת נשא  5769

In this week’s Parsha the Torah teaches us about the special Mitzvah of Bircas Cohanim. The Torah before telling us the content of the Bracha the Cohanim were required to say give the following short introduction:

 “So shall you bless the Bnei Yisroel, say to them”

 The Torah uses the word Emor to mean say. Most times in the Torah the word Emor is written without the letter vuv or what is called chasair, however in this Pasuk the word is written with a vuv. Many of the commentaries ask why in this particular Pasuk the word Emor is written with a vuv.

 The Rabbeinu Bechai explains that the Torah is giving a specific Mitzvah to the Cohanim that they should not give the bracha only because God commanded them and therefore doing it quickly like someone who is commanded to do it rather it should be done with a full heart.

 Why is it that specifically by this Mitzvah the Torah has to tell the Cohanim to do it with a full heart and nowhere else?

 In order to answer this question, let us examine the different types of Mitzvos. We know that there are two different categories of Mitzvos. The first kind is those Mitzvos that are between man and God and the second type is those that are between man and his fellow man. Let us examine if there is anything special and different about this Mitzvah than all the rest.

 What would be a reason why someone would have to be told to do a specific Mitzvah with a full heart? A person only would need that warning if they felt put upon or they were not gaining from the action. Now let us look more closely at the other Mitzvos. The Mitzvos between man and God are such that they don’t involve other people at all. When a person puts on Tefilin, for example he is not benefiting anyone but himself. Regarding a Mitzvah like this, a person doesn’t feel that he is missing something since all the potential benefit is his. The Mitzvos between man and his fellow man; where one person as part of doing his Mitzvah is benefiting another person he might feel put out. Why am I going out of my way for someone else’s benefit? However, even in this case when a person does something good for someone else, he is also getting a benefit. Either the other person will feel indebted to him and will help him later or a person will bathe in praise for being such a kind and charitable person. This person also would not need to be warned to do the Mitzvah with a complete heart since he is benefiting from it also, so of course he will do it with a complete heart.

 However, by the case of Bircas Cohanim, the Cohanim do not get any tangible benefit for giving the blessing. As Rabbeinu Bechai wrote earlier about the Mitzvah of Bircas Cohanim that God gave the Bracha to the Cohanim to give to Bnei Yisroel, however they do not seem to be included in the Bracha themselves. In this case, the Torah must stress to the Cohanim to do the Mitzvah with a full and complete heart.

פרשת נשא 5768

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah tells us the prohibition of stealing from a convert. When describing this prohibition, the Torah uses the following language:

 A man or a woman who transgressed a sin that caused them to misappropriate that which belongs to God.

 The Sipurno on this Pasuk says the following:

 The reason that someone who steals from a convert is considered to be a person who misappropriated that which belonged to God  is that since he causes the name of God to be desecrated in the eyes of the convert who came to be part of Bnei Yisroel since he wanted to be close to God.

 If we look at this Sipurno a little bit closer, we can ask the following question:

 It seems from this Sipurno that the reason a person is called someone who missapropriated that which belonged to God is because he desecrated God in the eyes of the convert. The question is then, why does this apply specifically to causing God to be desecrated in the eyes of a convert, shouldn’t it apply even to any act that causes God to be desecrated. Furthermore, we already have a prohibition of “Chilul Hashem” – causing God to be desecrated in the world, so why would the Torah need to tell us that there is a special prohibition to cause God’s name to be desecrated in the eyes of a convert which generates the requirement to bring a different more stringent Korban?

In order to answer this question, we must look at what is special about the convert that the desecration of God in his eyes is so damaging. The answer we can see from the words of the Sipurno who describes the convert as “someone who came to seek refuge under the wings of God.”

 A convert is someone who saw in God and the Torah something special that made him want to leave his current way of life and join the Jewish people. When a person steals from a convert, it causes the convert to lose a little bit of the feeling he had for the specialness of the Torah and God that caused him to join Bnei Yisroel in the first place. This kind of Chilul Hashem is worse than the typical type of Chilul Hashem in that it caused a person who came close to God out of his own volition and recognition to lose part of that love and closeness to God. This is not true in a typical case of Chilul Hashem where someone who does not feel any connection to God looks down at God and the Torah. It is for this reason that the Torah needed to add this prohibition and special Korban for someone who steals from a convert.

 We see from here the importance that the Torah puts on a person coming close to God through their own recognition, and on the flip side how big a sin the Torah considers it, when someone causes a person who came to that recognition, to lose some of that closeness to God. This does not only apply to a convert. We should constantly strive to increase our closeness to God through an increased recognition of him in our lives and to try to act in a way that people will look at us and also grow closer to God and not Chas Veshalom to be drawn further away from God.

   5767 פרשת נשא

 In this week’s Parsha there is a very interesting Sipurno that can teach us a very important lesson. The Torah says the following:

דבר אל בני ישראל איש או אשה כי יעשו מכל חטאת האדם למעול מעל בד’ ואשמה הנפש ההיא

 Speak to Bnei Yisroel and tell them that a man or woman that does one of the sins to missapropriate that which belongs to God has a great sin (Asham).

The Sipurno on this Pasuk is bothered by the following question:

 He says we know that this Pasuk is discussing the sin of a person stealing from a convert. The korban that he must bring for that sin is a korban Asham. Why is it that for stealing from a regular person there is no requirement to bring a Korban Asham, however by stealing from a convert, a korban Asham must be brought?

The Sipurno answers the following:

 Since someone that steals from a convert profanes the name of God in the eyes of the convert for this reason he is considered to be one who approriates from God and therefore is required to bring a Korban Asham.

Let us examine this a little more closely.

 The Sipurno seems to be saying that what creates the requirement to bring a Korban Asham for the action of stealing when it is done to a convert is that there is a profaning of God’s name involved.

 What is the difference between a Korban Asham and a Korban Chatas that is normally brought as a pardon for a sin?

 The Ramban in Parshas Vayikra when discussing the difference between a Korban Chatas and a  Korban Asham says the following:

 That the name of Asham is something so big, that its punishment would be that their name would be destroyed if not for the pardon of the Korban.

 From this Sipurno we see how great the sin of profaning God’s name really is. We have to be so careful to watch over our actions to such an extent to prevent any possible profaning of God’s name since we see from the Sipurno that the aspect of profaning God’s name can turn even a small sin into a really bad sin.