Today's Learning Bava Metzia 32 Yerushalmi-- Pesachim 46 Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz PARASHAT VA'ETCHANAN Vol. VIII, No. 41 (376), 15 Av 5754, July 23, 1994 In this week's parasha we find the Aseret haDibrot (the so-called "Ten Commandments") repeated. Chazal say that these Commandments were miraculously engraved on the luchot (tablets) in such a way that the writing penetrated all the way through the stone, yet it could be read from whichever side one viewed the luchot. Also, because the engraving penetrated the luchot, another miracle was required to make the centers of some letters (e.g., the samech) float in the air. What do these miracles teach us? Rav S.R. Hirsch zatz'l explains that the writing penetrated the luchot to teach us that we must make the Torah penetrate to our innermost beings. It should not be superficial. The writing could be read from either side to teach that our dedication to Torah must be seen from all sides. We should not be Jewish when we go to certain activities and not to others. Finally, the floating stone centers of the letters remind us that the G-d who gives "life-force" to these letters gives it to us as well. (Collected Writings Vol. I, p.281) ************************************ "But you who cling to Hashem, your G-d, you are alive today." (4:4) Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato ("Ramchal") zatz'l writes that all the rewards for the commandments are essentially of one type. This is what the prophets expressed (Yishayah 58:14; Tehilim 37:4), "Find pleasure in Hashem." All the soul wants is to cling to its Cause (i.e., its Creator), and when it clings to Him to the maximum extent possible, that is its greatest joy. And when this clinging is permanent, that is eternal life, as is written, "But you who cling to Hashem, your G-d, you are alive today." There also are intermediate levels before one reaches this ultimate level, and these are the different levels of reward that exist. Because the soul's clinging to Hashem must be complete, therefore there are 613 commandments, paralleling the 613 limbs and organs of the body, and the soul also has 613 spiritual "limbs and organs." It also follows that even physical rewards are an outgrowth of this clinging. (Da'at Tevunot II, 12-14) ************************************ "And you shall repeat them to your sons and speak of them, when you sit in your homes. . . ." (5:7) Rav Daniel Movshovitz writes in a letter that the reference here to the home does not refer to the wood and stone structure. It refers to the family. The beginning of a person's judgement in Heaven will address whether he set aside times for Torah study and, in particular, whether he dedicated times to study Torah and discuss the subjects of faith and trust in G-d with his family. It doesn't matter so much what one learns at these times. Rav Yerucham (a great teacher of mussar) used to read the Tze'enah u'Re'enah (a Yiddish translation and commentary on the Torah) at meals. This is because the simple lessons of faith contained in that work often make a more long-lasting impression than do complicated discourses. (Kitvei haSaba miKelm v'Talmidav p. 610) ************************************ Abarbanel's Autobiographical Note: continued from last week In the ninth year [of his service to the King and Queen, i.e. 1492], the year whose gematria equals [=252, of the sixth millennium], which means "He disperses," the King of Spain conquered Granada and the metropolis of the same name. At that time, he said to himself, "How can I show gratitude to the G-d who strengthened me in battle?" He decided to show his gratitude by gathering all the people of his realm into his own religion, and especially the Jews who, in his own eyes, walked in the dark. Any Jew who refused to obey this edict would be banished from the land, never to set foot in his kingdom again. All this was the decree which went out from the King's court, expelling the Jews from all the provinces of Spain and from the islands of Sicily, Majorica, and Sardinia in three months time. [Abarbanel continues:] I, being in the King's court, became hoarse from appearing before the King and beseeching him to reverse this edict. "Decree upon us taxes and fines, and every Jew will gladly pay to support his land." I called upon my friends, the nobles, to beseech on behalf of my people, and they assembled before the King to speak on my behalf. The King, however, with the Queen inciting him, turned a deaf ear to their pleas. I did not rest, and I was not quieted, but the evil came, nevertheless. Wherever the Jews lived, there was great mourning, for never before was there a mass exile to this extent and of this magnitude. The Jews all said to each other, "Let us be strong and remain in our faith. If they will kill us, we will die; if they let us live, then we shall live. Let us go, in the name of G-d." The picked up and left Spain, 300,000 strong, men women, children, and the elderly, on one day, from all the provinces of the King. Some went to Portugal, and some to Navarre, two neighboring kingdoms. They endured great suffering, hunger, and poverty. Some set out in ships, and they, too, suffered greatly for some were captured by pirates and sold as slaves, while others drowned in the sea. In the end, G-d's will was fulfilled: those who were to be felled by the sword, were felled by the sword. Those who were to fall by hunger, did. And so it was, may G-d's name be blessed. I, too, chose this latter way, and set sail across the sea. I arrived with my family and my household in Naples [Italy], a glorious city, whose kings are kind and benevolent, and I remain here now. Finally, this year, whose gematria equals "strangers in a foreign land" [i.e. 5253/1493], I said to myself, "Let me fulfill my vow to write a commentary on the book of Melachim. This will serve the purpose of commemorating the great destruction which befell us, just as the destruction of the Temple is related in the Book of Melachim. In this way, I have done the opposite of Chiel of Bet El, for he began to build at the expense of his eldest son, and finished with the youngest. I, however, who saw great suffering, began my works with the smallest of troubles, i.e. my personal exile from Portugal, and I completed my work on these four books after the greatest of all exiles, this banishment from Spain. May all who hear of this find salvation for the suffering of their ears. ************************************ DONATIONS TO HAMAAYAN ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE