Today's Learning Shevuot 7:8-8:1 Sponsored by O.C. 336:10-12 Rabbi and Mrs. Menachot 56 Barry Greengart Yerushalmi-- on the forthcoming marriage of Bava Kamma 32 Avi to Leah Sokoloff Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Chukat-Balak Vol. X, No. 35 (472), 12 Tamuz 5756, June 29, 1996 Siddur Avodat Yisrael writes that there is a chapter of Tehilim which corresponds to each parashah. This week's psalms are 95 (for Parashat Chukat) and 79 (for Parashat Balak). Psalm 95 is the first paragraph of Kabbalat Shabbat. It is connected to Parashat Chukat by verse 8: "Do not harden your hearts as at Merivah." This refers to the place where Bnei Yisrael demanded water and Moshe to hit the rock, as described in this week's parashah. (Metzudat David) Psalm 79 begins, "A song of Assaf: Elokim! The nations have entered into Your estate; they defiled the sanctuary of Your holiness." The midrash observes that we call the Temple "G-d's estate" in order to remind Him, so-to-speak, that He is better able to fight our battles than we are. One clear example of this is Bilam's attempt to curse the Jewish people--our ancestors were not even aware of the attack, but Hashem was busy thwarting it. This psalm also is timely because its mournful nature is an appropriate introduction to the "Three Weeks," which usually begin during the week following Parashat Balak. But why does this psalm begin, "A song of Assaf," rather than, "A lamentation of Assaf"? Because we are grateful that Hashem vented His anger on the sticks and stones of the Temple, rather than on us. (Midrash Shocher Tov) Note that in Israel, only Parashat Balak is read this week. Communities in the Diaspora were one week behind in the Torah reading because the second day of Shavuot (which is not observed in Israel) fell on Shabbat, requiring a special Torah reading. ************************************ The verses and commentaries on this page relate to the chapter of Tehilim associated with our parashah (see page 1). "Repay our neighbors sevenfold ... for their disgrace with which they have disgraced You." (79:12) Rabbenu Bachya writes in Chovot Halevavot (Shaar Hacheniah, ch.7): Many people will come to the Day of Judgment, and when they are shown the ledger with their good deeds, they will say, "We did not do all of those things." They will be told, "Those are the good deeds of those who spoke derogatorily about you." When these same people notice that some of their good deeds are not listed on their ledgers, they will ask about this and will be told, "You lost them when you spoke about so-and-so." Similarly, people will see on their ledgers bad deeds which they did not do. "These," they will be told, "were added to you because you spoke about so-and-so, as it is written, 'Repay our neighbors sevenfold ... for their disgrace with which they have disgraced You'." Rav Eliyahu Dessler z"l explains this as follows: It is appropriate that the speaker of lashon hara should lose his mitzvot and they should be assigned to the subject of his lashon hara. This is because the speaker's reputation as one who has done many mitzvot probably helped him gather and retain his audience. However, the converse is not true. The subject's misdeeds are not transferred to the speaker (contrary to popular belief). Rather, it is those misdeeds which the speaker attributed to the subject which are recorded as actual misdeeds of the speaker. The reason for this is that one only sees those fault's in others which are present to some degree in the first person himself. Thus, whatever misdeed the speaker attributes to the subject is something which is present (in some degree, perhaps only in potential) in the speaker himself. This is the meaning of our verse, "Repay our neighbors sevenfold ... for their disgrace with which they have disgraced You." (Michtav M'eliyahu III, p.214) ************************************ "Aharon will be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the Land that I have given to Bnei Yisrael, because you defied My word at the waters of strife. Take Aharon. . ." (20:24-25) The Midrash Tanchuma comments on the words, "Take Aharon," as follows: Hashem said to Moshe, "Do Me a favor and tell Aharon that his time has come, for I am embarassed to tell him." What does it mean that Hashem is embarassed to tell Aharon? What could Moshe tell Aharon that Hashem could not? Rav Elazar M. Shach shlita explains: We read in the Pesach Haggadah, "If He had brought us before Har Sinai and not given us the Torah, that would have been sufficient [to make us indebted to Him]." What would be the purpose of coming to Har Sinai and not receiving the Torah? Chazal teach (Bava Batra 12a) that a sage is greater than a prophet. Rav Shach explains that Torah is a greater revelation than prophecy. Hashem enables us to see things through the eyes of Torah that even a prophet cannot see. Thus we are indebted to Hashem -- first, for bringing us to Har Sinai where we reached great levels of prophecy, and, second, for giving us the Torah through which we can see even more. Throughout the ages, commentaries have struggled with the question: what sin caused Aharon's death? Whatever sin it was was so minute that it is imperceptible to us; only on the hair-splitting level at which Hashem judges the most pious was it a sin. Had Hashem Himself told Aharon why he had to die, Aharon's prophetic abilities would not have sufficed to comprehend the reason. Only Moshe, the consummate teacher of Torah could make Aharon understand. The interpretation is borne out by the midrash, says Rav Shach. The midrash teaches that Moshe came to Aharon early in the morning and said, "I was thinking about a question at night and I don't know what is was." Aharon responded, "Let's study together until it comes back to you." They started reading at the beginning of the Torah, and after each section Aharon said, "Hashem created a perfect world." They learned until the creation of Adam, and Moshe said, "What can we say about Adam, who brought death to the world?" Aharon answered, "What is there to say except that we accept Hashem's decree?" Only then, concludes Rav Shach, after Moshe reminded Aharon of the perfection of Torah, was Moshe able to say to Aharon, "Are you ready to die?" (Haggadah Shel Pesach Avi Ezri p.158) ************************************ Rav Aharon Bakst hy"d ("Reb Archik") born 5629 (1869) - died 15 Tamuz 5701 (1941) Reb Archik was born in a suburb of Vilna. At age 14, he joined the yeshiva in Volozhin, and later he studied in Rav Yitzchak Blazer's yeshiva in Slobodka. However, the person that Reb Archik considered to be his true mentor was Rav Simcha Zissel, the "Alter mi-Kelm." This teacher held Reb Archik in equally high esteem, saying that Reb Archik was the most suited of his students to carry the mussar movement to another generation. The essence of mussar (character improvement), according to Reb Archik (as reported by his son), is to not be a hypocrite. Mussar also teaches us how to understand Chazal's teachings, as opposed to "finding" our own ideas in Chazal's words. Along these lines, Reb Archik objected to those who invented new approaches to mussar, saying that these were products of the ego, not genuine mussar. After his marriage, Reb Archik briefly engaged in business (at his father-in-law's insistence), but he knew that his real calling was the Torah. His first rabbinic position was in a small, but difficult, town. His opponents there, actually opponents of the mussar movement, even took to the newspapers to vilify him. In 1895, Reb Archik was invited to serve as rabbi of a distant Russian town. When he asked how they knew of him, they cited the newspaper articles mentioned above. Reb Archik later served as rabbi and rosh yeshiva in other towns, including Shadova, Suvalk, and Lomza. His last position was in Shavli, where he served until he was murdered by the Nazis. Only a small portion of Reb Archik's written legacy survives. He turned down a chance to send his writings to London at the outset of World War II because he felt that they required additional editing. A halachic work, Torat Aharon, has been published, as has Lev Aharon, a volume containing mussar discourses. ************************************ http://acoast.com/~sehc/hamaayan/ send mail to: ajb@acm.org Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible