5771 פרשת תצוה

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah discusses the special clothes that had to be made for the Kohanim to wear when they do the Avodah in the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash.. The Torah then also describes the additional 4 garments that must be made for the Kohein Gadol on top of the 4 garments that all the other Kohanim wore. One of the garments of the Kohein Gadol was the Choshen Hamishpat which had in it 12 specific stones each one relating to one of the Shevatim of Bnei Yisroel. After the Torah describes the detail of how to make the Choshen and which stones are to be used the Pasuk says 2 different things. The first Pasuk says that the Kohein Gadol should wear the Choshen when he enters the Kodesh as a remembrance before God always and the second Pasuk says “Aharon should carry the judgment of Bnei Yisroel on his heart in front of God always.”

 The Siforno explains that these 2 Pasukim were explaining the two reasons the Kohein Gadol had to always wear the Choshen. The first was that since it had the names of all the Shevatim in it, God would remember the righteousness of the Shevatim and remember their children (Bnei Yisroel) for good. The second reason was in order that the Kohein Gadol should pray for them that they should have a good judgment.

 If we look at this Siforno a little bit closer we can ask the following question. The Kohein Gadol was wearing the Choshen so that God would remember the merit of the Shevatim and do good to Bnei Yisroel, why is there also a need for the Kohein Gadol to pray for Bnei Yisroel if God is already remembering them for good due to the merit of the Shevatim?

 In order to answer the question we need to look at the words of the Siforno a little bit more closely. When explaining the first reason the Siforno says that God will remember the righteousness of the Shevatim and remember their children for good while when discussing the need for the prayer of the Kohein Gadol the Siforno says that they should have a good judgment. This seems to indicate two totally different ideas. The first one relates to the fact that God inherently wants to do kindness to Bnei Yisroel but sometimes their merits aren’t enough so God will look back to the merits of their forefathers in this case the Shevatim. However, when the actions of Bnei Yisroel are just not only deserving of great amounts of good but potentially are deserving of punishment the righteousness of the Shevatim might not be enough to get Bnei Yisroel a good judgment. It is for this reason that God commanded that the Choshen be around the Kohein Gadol’s neck always so he can pray for Bnei Yisroel that they should have good judgments.

 We see from here an incredible idea in the power of Tefilah. When it comes to ensuring that Bnei Yisroel gets a good judgment the merits of our holy forefathers might not be enough to protect us from our sins while the power of true prayer can in many cases be enough to protect us from a bad judgment. 

5770 פרשת תצוה

 In this week’s Parsha, the Torah discusses among other things the command to make special garments for the Kohanim to wear when they were doing the Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. The Torah tells us that there were 8 garments four of which were worn by the regular Kohanim and 4 additional garments which were worn specifically by the Kohein Gadol.

 The Torah lists the garments that must be made but only lists six and not all eight of the garments.

 The Ohr Hachayim explains that the two garments that were not listed were the Tzitz and the Michnasayim – the pants. The Ohr Hachayim then explains that these were hinted to in two other Pesukim. The Tzitz was hinted to in the Pasuk that says “and you should make the garments for Aharon to sanctify him”. The Pasuk uses the word to sanctify him – meaning specifically Aharon and that would refer to the Tzitz which is an item of the special garments of the Kohein Gadol. Regarding the pants of the Kohanim that is hinted to in the Pasuk that says, “And you should make holy garments for Aharon your brother and his sons to serve me”. This Pasuk is extra and relates to the pants of the Kohanim.

 The Ohr Hachayim asks why is it that the Torah separated these particular garments of the Kohanim and did not list them together with all the other garments?

 The Ohr Hachayim answers that the Tzitz was separated out because it was the most special and holy of all the Bigdei Kehunah. The pants of the Kohanim, on the other hand was separated out since it is the least special of all the Bigdei Kehunah. All the rest of the garments are the same level of holiness and are therefore listed together. The Ohr Hachayim continues and explains that the Torah broke out these particular 2 garments to teach us specific Halachos. The Pasuk of the Tzitz teaches us that the words “Kadosh Lashem” must be written on the Tzitz. The Pasuk discussing the pants of the Kohanim teaches us that the pants must be made Lishmah and from this we learn that all the garments of the Kohanim must be made Lishmah.

 If we look at this Ohr Hachayim a little more closely we can ask the following question. Why did the Torah specifically need to teach us the Halacha that one of the garments that needed to be made were pants from the same words that teach us that all the garments must be made Lishma ?

 The answer could be that the difference between all the other garments and the pants are that pants must be worn by every person. On the surface, pants are not worn due to a need to give honor to God as potentially the other garments of the Kohanim were but rather to cover a person. This is why the Ohr Hachayim describes the pants of the Kohanim to be on a lower level than the rest of the garments, nevertheless the pants also must be made Lishmah.  What the Torah could be teaching us is that even the basest physical needs that a person has from going to the bathroom to eating and drinking can and must be done with kedushah. 

פרשת תצוה – פרשת זכור – פורים 5769

 This Shabbos being the Shabbos before Purim we also read Parshas Zachor. Parshas Zachor and Purim both relate to attempts by the nation of Amalek either as an entire nation as in the time Bnei Yisroel were in the Midbar or through an individual descendent of Amalek in the case of Haman to destroy Bnei Yisroel. The holiday of Purim and Parshas Zachor many times fall out on the weeks that we read the Parshiyos that describe the building of the Mishkan and the making of the Bigdei Kehunah.

 Many times we can learn a lesson from trying to understand the connections between two things that are many times placed together during the same period. For example, Chazal make connections and learn lessons from the fact that every year Shabbos Chanukah comes out on Parshas Mikeitz. Based on this idea, let us try to see if we can find any connections between the Mishkan/ Bigdei Kehunah and Purim/Parshas Zachor.

 On the surface, not only would there not seem to be any connections, they would actually seem to be polar opposites. The Mishkan was made as a conduit for Bnei Yisroel to use to get close to God. This was also the case of the Bigdei Kehunah. If Bnei Yisroel as an entity had questions, they were able to get answers through the urim vetumim. Both the Mishkan and the Bigdei Kehunah were tools to be used to sharpen the everyday relationship between God and Bnei Yisroel. Purim, on the other hand, was actually a time of complete hester panim of God in relation to Bnei Yisroel. We know from Chazal that the name of God is not even mentioned one time in the Megilah. The reason for this is that there were no overt miracles occurring rather God’s presence was hidden from us even though He was always working behind the seens. This being the case, it would seem difficult to understand, why Purim many times falls out by these Parshios.

 The answer would seem to be that in truth what we view as two diametrically opposite things are really both necessary steps for Bnei Yisroel to use to get close to God.  People many times say, when asked why they don’t serve God in the best possible manner, if I would see an overt miracle like Bnei Yisroel did during the Exodus from Egypt or when we had the Beis Hamikdash I would serve God much better. The most obvious way for us to connect to God would be to see constant overt miracles which would constantly inspire us to connect to God. This is exactly what Bnei Yisroel had many times in our early history with the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash and the many overt miracles that occurred to us as described in Navi. However, as we also know throughout our history that even those people who experienced constant overt miracles and relationships with God many times end up leaving the path of Torah. The cause of this can be that Bnei Yisroel got so used to seeing the miracles that the miracles did not have the strength to inspire them anymore.

 What occurs at that point is that God removes himself from us in the overt manner that Bnei Yisroel was accustomed to and now deals with us in a hidden manner. It is at that point that Bnei Yisroel has the ability to grow close to God through turning to Him when times are difficult and we are in desperate straits. It is at that time when we have the ability to get closer to God then even when we were experiencing overt miracles.

 This is the lesson of the placement of Purim together with the building of the Mishkan. In our lives there are times when the Hand of God is so blatantly clear that it is like our own overt miracle occurred. It is our job to appreciate the overt miracles that God did for us and use that to inspire ourselves to grow closer to God while at the same time turning to Him when we do not see his presence constantly and have difficulties and build on the original inspiration we got when we saw His hand in our lives.  

 If we can begin to see the Hand of God more in our lives, we will begin to see some of the “overt” miracles He does for us. We should use them to inspire us to want to build a connection to God that we can improve even and especially when times are difficult.

פרשת תצוה  5768

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes the Mitzvah of taking pure olive oil for use in lighting the Menorah. In giving over the commandment the Torah says the following:

You should command Bnei Yisroel and they should take pure olive oil for lighting.

 The commentaries ask why is it that by this Mitzvah, the Torah uses the word meaning  to command while by the other Mitzvos the Torah uses the language meaning to tell over?

 The midrash answers this question the following way:

 The word command is a language of urging. The special urging is needed here since here there is a financial loss to the people donating the oil.

 On this same Pasuk there is a Gemara that explains why it is that we only use the special pure oil for lighting the Menorah and not for the Korban mincha which is eaten by the Kohanim and should definitely use the better oil the following way:

Rabbi Elazar said the Torah cares about the money of Bnei Yisroel.

 Rashi explains this Gemara the following way:

 The korban mincha was big and required a lot of oil. If for the korban mincha people had to buy the purest olive oil like the menorah they would lose money since they would be forced to buy the pure oil at a high price.

 On the surface these two statements of Chazal would seem to contradict each other.

 On one hand we say that God did not make Bnei Yisroel use the pure olive oil for the korban mincha even though they really should have since he cared so much about ensuring that Bnei Yisroel would not have to pay a high price for the oil so they wouldn’t have to spend so much of their money to do the mitzvah. This would imply that what the Bnei Yisroel would have to spend on the pure olive oil would be a small easily manageable amount.

 On the other hand the reason this mitzvah needs special encouragement is because of the fact that there is a financial loss for the people who are providing the oil. This would imply that the amounts being spent would be on the large side which is why people would need special encouragement. If a person would have to give a few cents every day, it logically should not need any special urging since it wouldn’t even make a dent in the person’s pocket.

 The answer is that in truth the amounts are very small, however even though financially it will not put a dent in a person’s finances it still requires special encouragement. The reason for this is the fact that the oil has to be lit every day so there is a constant requirement to spend the money. It is the consistency of the giving, not the amount that causes us to need the special encouragement and urging.

 In our lives we can sometimes get inspired to give a few big donations, but when we get the daily requests for even small amounts of charity we give grudgingly. We have to realize that our natural tendency is to find it difficult to give on a daily basis and it is actually easier for us to give a few big donations.

 How should we work on conquering this natural tendency that finds it difficult to give on a daily basis?

 The answer is to force ourselves to give charity every day. We should start out small and when we give to do it with feelings of happiness that this amount we are giving will get us so much reward in olam haba. As time goes on, we should increase the amount and continue to try to have those same feelings of joy, and after a while we will be able to give with total and complete joy with no second thoughts.

פרשת תצוה 5767

 This week’s parsha discusses the making of the preistly garments. The Torah tells us that God told Moshe the following:

 And you should speak to all the wise men whose heart is filled with wisdom and they should make the garments of Aharon.

The Abarbanel says on this pasuk the following:

 For this reason it says here by the telling over of the details of the making of the preistly garments the command  of God that Moshe should tell the wise men to make the garments which was not written in regards to all the other vessels in the mishkan or by the building of the mishkan itself. The reason is in order to prevent people from saying that Moshe Rabbeinu took a lot of gold to enrich his brother Aharon. Therefore, God told Moshe not to make the decisions regarding the amounts of gold and silver needed to create the preistly garments himself.

 Let us look at this Abarbanel a little bit more closely.

God wanted to prevent people from suspecting Moshe Rabbeinu of taking money to enrich his brother Aharon which apparently was not an issue by the other vessels in the mishkan even though they were also made out of gold (i.e. the menorah.)

 The question is what form would the suspicion of Moshe Rabbeinu take?

 There are 2 possibilities:

1. That Moshe Rabbeinu took the gold and instead of putting the gold into the preistly garments, he would take the money and give it to Aharon.
2. That Moshe Rabbeinu would make the preistly garments fancier with more gold.

Now let us look at each possibility separately.

In the first possibility the suspicion is that Moshe Rabbeinu  would take the money for him and Aharon. Now in truth, this suspicion should have applied even by the making of the rest of the vessels of the mishkan. However, we know from the Abarbanel that the suspicion would not have occurred by the making of the other vessels. This tells us that the first possibility is not right. This is the case since no one would suspect Moshe Rabbeinu from stealing outright from the tzibbur.

Based on this we must say that the suspicion that the Abarbanel was discussing was our second possibility which is that the people would think that Moshe Rabbeinu made the preistly garments fancier to enrich his brother Aharon.

The question is that the preistly garments didn’t belong to Aharon, so why would people suspect that Moshe Rabbeinu would do that. We see however, that even though to us it would seem illogical, there may have been a few people who would suspect Moshe Rabbeinu anyway. (We can actually see from the words of the Abarbanel that we are only talking about a few people, since when he describes the people who would have suspicions he uses the words that mean someone; while if it were many people who would be having the suspicion, he would have used the word meaning  men instead).

We see from this Abarbanel how far a person has to go to prevent someone from thinking badly about them. If for the few individuals who would illogically think badly of Moshe Rabbeinu it was worthwhile for God to change the way the materials to be used for the making of the preistly garments would be gathered, how much more so do we have to be careful with all of our actions that they should not be seen by people in a way that would shed a negative light upon us.

If we can try to watch our actions and try to ensure that we are always seen in a good light, we will end up making a kiddush hashem and keeping away from creating a chilul hashem, and we will hopefully merit seeing the greatest kiddush hashem with the coming of mashiach in our days.