Today's Learning Eruvin 4:10-11 O.C. 7:1-3 Sponsored by Bava Kama 101 the weekday minyanim Yerushalmi-- at Young Israel Shomrai Emunah Eruvin 62 (Arcola Avenue) Silver Spring, Maryland HAMAAYAN/THE TORAH SPRING edited by Shlomo Katz PARASHAT SHELACH Vol. VIII, No. 34 (364), 25 Sivan 5754, June 4, 1994 At the end of this parasha we read of the mitzvah of tzitzit. The Torah says that we should see the tzitzit and be reminded of all of the mitzvot; we should be careful not to let our eyes wander, lest we be drawn to sin. Based on this, Chazal say that there are two agents of sin: first the eye sees, then the heart desires. In his work Ayin Roah, Rav Yoel Schwartz shlita discusses the wonders of the eyes of different creatures and the uniqueness of the human eye. For example, man, alone among all creatures, chooses his mate based on sight. The eye also is symbolic of many things: the large white, outer expanse represents the sea; the iris represents the continents of the world; and the pupil represents Yerushalayim, the center of the world. The Zohar writes that a deceased man's son should be the one to shut the deceased's eyes. Rav Schwartz explains that since the eyes represent the whole world, this represents that the son is undertaking to finish his father's mission in the world. ************************************ What made the spies predisposed to see Eretz Yisrael in a bad light? Why didn't the Jews of the generation of the Exodus want to enter Eretz Yisrael? Rav Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook zatz'l explains that those Jews were too spiritual. They thought to themselves, "Why do we need to enter the Land? To plow? To sow?" As we see from their fate, they were in error. Planting and sowing in Eretz Yisrael is itself a spiritual act. (quoted in b'Sdeh haReiyah p.397) ************************************ "Moshe sent [the spies] from the Paran Desert by the word of Hashem." (13:3) Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zatz'l explains: What was "by the word of Hashem"? Hashem did not approve of sending the spies; He had promised Bnei Yisrael that the land was good and that should have been sufficient. However, Bnei Yisrael never asked Hashem whether they should send spies. They only asked Hashem, through the urim v'tumim or through the prophet, who they should send. An important principle of interpreting the words of the urim v'tumim is to know that Hashem answers only the question which He was asked. We see this in the book of Shoftim, regarding the incident in which the tribes joined together to attack the tribe of Binyamin. Twice they asked the urim v'tumim, "Who should go first?" and it answered, "Yehuda." Nevertheless, Yehuda lost those two battles to Binyamin because the tribes had never asked, "Should we go?" (Emet l'Yaakov) ************************************ "Speak to Bnei Yisrael and say to them: When you will come to the land . . . the one who brings his offering to Hashem shall bring a meal offering . . . [and] wine for a libation." (chapter 15) Rashi comments: "He informed them that they will enter the land." After decreeing that the generation which had believed the spies would die in the desert, Hashem wanted to reassure Bnei Yisrael that the Jewish people (as a people) would continue to exist and would enter and conquer Eretz Yisrael. Why did Hashem choose this mitzvah, of all mitzvot, to give them that reassurance? asks Rav Moshe Feinstein, zatzl. He answers that wine libations and meal offerings are not a mitzvah that one is ordinarily obligated to observe. Only if one has voluntarily accepted upon himself the obligation to bring an animal sacrifice does he then become obligated to bring these sacrifices as well. We see the same thing in the experiences of Yehoshua and Kalev, the two spies who brought back good reports. Nobody forced them to stand up to their ten colleagues and literally to risk their lives. But because they did so, Hashem gave them more mitzvot: Kalev became a nasi and Yehoshua became responsible for conquering and dividing the Land. This is what Chazal mean by "Mitzvah goreret mitzvah" þ "one good deed draws another one after it." (Darash Moshe) ************************************ Rav Shlomo Halberstam of Bobov born 5607 (1847) - died 1 Tamuz 5665 (1905) Rav Shlomo was a grandson of Rav Chaim of Sanz, the son of Rav Chaim's son Rav Meir Nasan. Rav Shlomo's maternal grandfather was Rav Eliezer of Dzikov, who had first introduced Rav Chaim to chassidut. Rav Meir Nasan himself died at age 20, and Shlomo was raised in Dzikov and taught by his maternal grandfather. At the age of 17, Rav Shlomo was chosen as Rabbi of the town of Bikovsk. When the young Rabbi asked his grandfather Rav Chaim how a Rav should conduct himself, Rav Chaim replied, "Just as you do." Rav Shlomo served as Rabbi in four towns: Bikovsk, Oshpitzin (Auschwitz), Vishnitza (not to be confused with Vizhnitz) and Bobov. When he assumed the post in Vishnitza, he explained that he was not worthy to hold a post which previously had been held by illustrious Rabbis. Rather, he felt like an artisan of mediocre ability who had been hired to clean the dust and grime off the masterpieces of earlier artists. He also said that since, in the past, the city was unable to be at peace with any of its Rabbis: not with a great scholar (Rav Chaim's father-in-law, Rav Baruch Frankel), not with a chassidic rebbe, and not with a Rabbi who was both, perhaps it would be happy with him, who was neither. In fact, while in Vishnitza, Rav Shlomo did begin to serve a chassidic rebbe. In 1892, he moved to Bobov, and it is for that town that his dynasty is named. As a rebbe, Rav Shlomo devoted his energies particularly to the education of the young. Rav Shlomo's son and successor, Rav Ben-Zion, was killed in the Holocaust. Rav Shlomo's grandson and namesake is the Bobover Rebbe and Rav in Brooklyn. ************************************ DONATIONS TO HAMAAYAN ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE