Today's Learning
Eruvin 3:5-6
O.C. 4:8-10                                          Sponsored by
Bava Kama 94                            Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Edeson
Yerushalmi--                                           and family
     Eruvin 55                                        in honor of
                                         Helene Edeson's birthday

                    HAMAAYAN/THE TORAH SPRING
                      edited by Shlomo Katz

                     PARASHAT BEHA'ALOTECHA
      Vol. VIII, No. 33 (363), 18 Sivan 5754, May 28, 1994

   "And the man, Moshe, was exceedingly humble."  What is humility? 
Humility does not mean becoming the victim of an inferiority complex,
writes Rav Shimon Schwab shlita.  To be humble does not mean to
consider oneself smaller or more unworthy than all other human
beings.  This would merely be an inverted form of pride þ as long
as I am inferior to all other human beings, I am still somebody
special.

   To be humble means to be nobody special, to be just like
everybody; to be convinced that everybody given my chance could and
would do the same as I do and maybe even prove himself superior to
me.

   Any ostentation is a form of conceit, writes Rav Schwab.  To daven
with only a yarmulke where most wear a hat or to wear a hat where
most do not, to pull the tallit over one's head where it is not the
custom or to refrain from doing so where it is the custom, these are
all forms of conceit. (Selected Writings p.206)

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   In this week's parasha, we read of the obligation to blow trumpets
and shofarot are various times.  These include when sacrifices are
brought in the Bet haMikdash and when a city is under siege.

   The Rambam counts these two cases of blowing trumpets as one
mitzvah.  How are they related?

   Rav Shlomo Goren shlita explains based on a statement in the Otzar
haGeonim that the law that one is permitted to perform a forbidden
labor on Shabbat when a person's life may be saved is derived from
the law that sacrifices are brought on Shabbat.  Bringing sacrifices
removes people from danger and so, too, performing labor on Shabbat
is permitted for that purpose.

   The purpose of blowing trumpets when a city is under siege is to
arouse Hashem's mercy and to save lives.  Bringing sacrifices removes
people from danger and saves lives, and thus the mitzvah to blow
trumpets in conjunction with the sacrificial service is part of that
purpose.
                                (Torah haShabbat v'haMoed p. 274)

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   "But now, our life is parched, there is nothing; we have nothing
to anticipate but mahn.  And the mahn was like a coriander seed. .
. ." (11:6-7)

   Following Bnei Yisrael's complaint, the Torah describes the mahn,
as if to say, "Look what My sons are complaining about!  The mahn
has such and such virtues."

   Rav Avraham Yaakov Pam shlita observes that this statement, "Look
what My sons are complaining about!" can be applied to many daily
situations:  For example, a person comes home from work and, instead
of noticing the children which G-d gave him, he notices the mess
which his children have made.  A child comes home from school and,
instead of seeing how hard his mother has worked to make supper, he
complains, "Tuna, again?"

   In particular, Rav Pam writes, when people are fortunate enough
to marry off their children, many seem to be more interested in
quibbling with their in-laws over small details of the ceremony than
in enjoying the moment.

                                                (Atarah laMelech)

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   At the end of the parasha, we read that Miriam spoke lashon hara
of Moshe to Aharon.  The Chafetz Chaim notes that we learn several
laws from this story:

     1) Lashon hara does not become permitted just because the one
spoken about is very humble and doesn't mind.
     2) Even if the speaker had previously done a great favor for
the one spoken about, for example, saving his life (as Miriam had
done for Moshe), one still may not speak lashon hara.
     3) The prohibition of lashon hara applies even if only one
person hears and even if that person loves the one spoken about (as
Aharon loved Moshe).
     4) One may not downplay the greatness of a nation's leaders
(which is what Miriam did).
                                            (Shmirat haLashon II)

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     "The nation did not travel until Miriam['s strength] was
gathered." (12:15)

     Rashi explains that in the merit of Miriam's waiting for Moshe
when he was an infant in a basket on the Nile, the Jewish people
waited for Miriam.

     This is difficult to understand, says Rav Moshe Sternbuch
shlita.  After all, Miriam waited only because she was curious!

     This question may be answered based on the interpretation given
by Rav Yechezkel Abramsky zatz'l to the question which each Jew is
asked after 120 years: "Did you watch for the redemption?"  One is
not asked, "Did you hope for the redemption?" þ that is too
elementary.  Rather, a person is asked, "Did you actively watch to
see how and when the redemption will unfold?"

     Miriam, too, had no doubt that Moshe would be saved.  She stood
by, however, to see how Moshe would be saved from the Nile.  In the
merit of that faith, Bnei Yisrael waited for her.
                                                  (Ta'am vaDa'at)************************************

                     The Twentieth of Sivan
   The Magen Avraham (O.C.  580) writes that it is customary in all
of Poland to fast on the 20th of Sivan.  The Siddur Rav Yaakov Emden
(p. 307) even includes a series of special prayers for this day, and
explains as follows:

     The 20th of Sivan was established as a fast day by our brothers
     in Poland because of the persecutions of Tach and Tat of the
     sixth millennium [the Hebrew years corresponding to 1648-49],
     when the blood of Jews was spilt like water.  Therefore, the
     great ones among them decreed fasting and crying on this day,
     every year, to mourn and cry and be pained by the killing of
     the righteous and pious and of Jews in general, through cruel
     and unusual forms of death, and [to mourn and cry] over G-d's
     pain, so-to-speak.

   The events described by Rav Yaakov Emden are known to us as the
Chmielnetzki massacres, after a Cossack leader who rebelled against
Polish rule and vented his rage on the Jews.  Although the massacres
lasted many months and as many as 100,000 Jews may have died, the
20th of Sivan was chosen for this observance because many Torah sages
were killed on that day.  Among the best known of these was the
mekubal, R' Yechiel Michel of Nemirov.

   This day was also a day of suffering for Jews of an earlier
period.  In Blois, France, in 4931 (1171), approximately 55 Jewish
men and women, including many Torah scholars were burnt at the stake.
                                                (Atarah laMelech)

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