Today's Learning Pesachim 9:10-11 O.C. 38:10-12 Sponsored by Bava Metzia 53 the Meth family Yerushalmi-- in honor of Nachum's birthday Pesachim 66 Ida Wildman and family for a Refuah Shleimah to Howard Wildman (Zvi Yisrael ben Chaya Yentel) Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz PARASHAT SHOFTIM Vol. VIII, No. 44 (379), 6 Elul 5754, August 13, 1994 This parasha deals with the appointment of judges, kings, and prophets whose task is to enforce the mitzvot and rebuke Bnei Yisrael for their failings. Additionally, the parasha discusses many of the laws that come into play when the nation goes out to war. All of these may be interpreted not only literally ("p'shat"), but on the level of "drush" (allegory), where they are related to the month of Elul, in which this parasha is always read. Besides the many physical wars which the Jewish people have been forced to wage, every Jew wages a constant spiritual war against the "yetzer hara" (evil inclination). But never is this war more heated than during Elul, when, in preparation for the Day of Judgement on Rosh haShana, each person takes stock of his actions and looks for ways in which to improve himself. These spiritual wars share strategy with our physical battles. For example, just as the Torah commands that in time of war we blow the shofar to awaken us to pray for G-d's mercy (see beMidbar 10:9 and Ibn Ezra there), so during Elul we blow the shofar to awaken ourselves from our spiritual slumber. The prophets and judges referred to in this parasha also can help us awaken. (see Ohr Gedalyahu) ************************************ "Do not pervert judgment." (16:19) Rav Shalom of Belz zatz'l notes that there are several warnings for judges here. First, there is the literal warning, i.e., not to twist the law to favor one party. Second, the letters of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet which precede the word pervert spell out the word bribery. This, too, is prohibited for it perverts judgment. Third, the letters which precede those letters spell out "þþþ" (grudge). One should not judge a party against whom he bears a grudge, for then judgment will be perverted. Fourth, the set of letters before that are whose gematria equals 108, the same as the gematria of "gehinom." A judge should always picture that gehinom is open before him if he perverts judgment. Fifth, the letters before that spell waste. This is what awaits one who perverts judgment. (Sefer Maharash) ************************************ "Portion for portion they shall eat, except what was sold by the families." (18:9) This verse has been translated according to the Kli Yakar. He explains that if a kohen cannot eat his entire portion of the sacrifices, he may sell it. He is not required to give it away to a poor kohen. Why not? Because it was "sold by the families." Eretz Yisrael was divided up amongst the tribes based upon the census taken by Moshe, and it was never re-divided and re-allocated even if the relative sizes of the tribes changed. So, too, the early kohanim established shifts and family-groups for the purposes of working in the Bet haMikdash and receiving shares of the sacrifices. Thus, the families of kohanim "sold" their rights to each other--much as the families of the tribes "sold" their rights to all of Eretz Yisrael (outside of their own tribal boundaries) to each other. (Rav Ephraim of Lunschitz: Kli Yakar) ************************************ In this parasha we find the laws pertaining to one who kills unintentionally. Although such an accident can occur in many different ways, the Torah presents the laws in a setting of one who is felling trees and loses control of his ax. Rav Joseph Soloveitchik zatz'l explains this choice as a warning that accidental deaths occur when man views the world as a forest to be felled. When nothing is important other than moving from one tree to the next and conquering it, i.e., moving from one material conquest to the another, that is when life becomes so devalued that manslaughter is inevitable. (Yemei Zikaron p.118) ************************************ "There shall not be found amongst you . . . one who practices divinations, an astrologer, one who reads omens, a sorcerer; or an animal charmer, one who acquires of Ov or Yidoni, or one who consults the dead. . . . You shall be wholehearted with Hashem, your G-d." (18:10-11, 13) The Gemara (Sanhedrin 65b) explains that consulting the dead refers to fasting and then sleeping in a cemetery so that forces of impurity will rest upon oneself. The Gemara continues: Rabbi Akiva used to cry when he came to this verse. [He said,] "If fasting for the purpose of bringing impurity on oneself can succeed, how much more so can fasting in order to bring purity on oneself succeed!" Rav Avraham Yoffen zatz'l explained Rabbi Akiva's message: The complete man learns to ascend from the very source from which the evil man draws sin. And the evil man seeks out evil in the source of the good. The Navi relates that when Eliyahu brought fire down from Heaven on Mount Carmel, he prayed, "Answer me. Answer me." The first time he prayed that Hashem should answer him by sending fire. The second time, Chazal explain, he prayed that people should not accuse him of sorcery. This was necessary because Divine revelation itself can be twisted for an evil purpose. (quoted in the ArtScroll Mussar Haggadah p.76) ************************************ Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch zatz'l taught (in the name of his father) that just as a stone is not a complete building and a hand is not a complete person, so a complete person is not yet a complete Jew. What makes a Jew complete? Being wholeheartedly devoted to G-d. What does this have to do with the prohibition on telling the future found the in the adjacent verses? All of the above practices are the behavior of those who find the present dark and meaningless. Their only hope is in the future. Not so one who is wholeheartedly devoted to G-d. His present is filled with satisfaction and happiness. (Shiurei Da'at p.35) ************************************ DAN born 9 Elul 2193 - died 9 Elul 2318 Dan was the fifth son born to Yaakov, the first son of Yaakov's wife Bilhah. He had only one son, Chushim, but by the time of the Exodus, the tribe of Dan was the second largest (after Yehuda). Ohaliav ben Achisamach from the tribe of Dan was the assistant architect of the mishkan. The tribe of Dan was the "Me'asef l'chol hamachanot"--it followed- -literally "gathered"--all of the camps. Commentaries explain that the tribe of Dan travelled last in the desert and was tasked with gathering the members of the other tribes who had been rejected by the Clouds of Glory. Many members of Dan were themselves on a lower spiritual level, so that when they rose, they had a greater potential to raise others with them. (See Michtav m'Eliyahu II p.266) In later times, the best known member of the tribe of Dan was Shimshon (Samson). Chazal say that Yaakov had thought that Shimshon would be mashiach, but then he saw that Shimshon would die. This is why Yaakov prayed (B'reishit 49:18), "I long for Your salvation, Hashem." Dan's original territory in Eretz Yisrael was in the area of present day Tel Aviv and to the south, including Gaza. Because the Plishtim who inhabited that region were too powerful to be conquered, some members of Dan migrated northward to the Golan Heights. The northern-most boundary of Eretz Yisrael for a long time was near the present day Kibbutz Dan. ************************************ DONATIONS TO HAMAAYAN ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE