Parshas Masei

Parshas Masei notes the 42 encampments that the Jews took on their 40 year journey through the wilderness until going into Eretz Yisroel. The boundaries of the land of Israel are also defined, and cities of refuge are established for unintentional murderers, and we conclude the book of Bamidbar/ Numbers.

I saw in the Sfas Emes that the journeys can be counted either to sum to 49 or 50 based on how many times the Yidden returned to certain places. Each journey was a tikun for some other midah that needed to be fixed... for the places correspond to the 49 levels of tumah that the Yidden merited to be mesaken by leaving Egypt. As we know, aveiros can be turned into mitzvos with Teshuva, and that was the purpose of the travels, to do a hagala of sorts before entering Ha'Aretz.

The journey through the wilderness is one which offers many opportunities for insight into the trials and travails that the Jews had to endure before meriting to enter the Land of IsraelWe see that the posuk at the beginning of Parshas Masei states, “These are the journeys of Bnei Yisroel who went out of Mitzrayim in organized groups under the
leadership of Moshe and Aharon.” It is true that the journeys of Klal Yisroel began after their redemption from Mitzrayim, but why is it necessary once again to remind us of this
fact? Theoretically, the posuk should have simply said that these were the journeys of the Bnei Yisroel. It what way could we somewhat understand what the reference to Mitzrayim is revealing to us?

R’ Ahron Rapps starts a great exposition of this question by having us first look to the mishnah in the 2nd perek of Pirkei Avos which lists the results of having certain thigns in excess- some positive (more we study- more wisdom we acquire) , some negative (more wives, the more witchcraft will be prevalent)...

Rashi in Maseches Sanhedrin cites the Yerushalmi which discusses that Shimon ben Shetach was successful in killing eighty witches by having them all picked up off the ground. The powers of tumah which are the source of the witches’ evil ability are grounded on the earth of Olam Hazeh. When a witch isn’t standing on the ground, the machshefa can’t sap the tumah to be able to manifest its abilities. In the ideal framework, the isha relates to the physical world, enabling it to be elevated by the ish. In the imperfect state, she simply relates to the physical and becomes a natural part of the process of the machshefa. Further, the Maharal (in Derech Chaim) explains that the more wives a person has, the more chance there is that the balance and relationship won’t be ideal. Thus, more witchcraft could develop. The Sfas Emes explains that, essentially, this idea can be found with the journeys of the Bnei Yisroel. The Sfas Emes says that as long as a person is connected to and bound in the physical gashmius of Olam Hazeh, he can’t soar towards Olam Haba. Just as a witch can only do her earthly craft when she is anchored on earth, so too, the nefesh can’t find its true address until it is freed and allowed to fly.

We know that Mitzrayim was the most immoral nation of its day. The Mitzriyim lived their lives relying totally on the Nile River and the idea of G-d never played a role in their existence. They were totally connected to the physical world of Olam Hazeh. When Klal Yisroel was redeemed from their midst, the Yidden were released from such an identity and given the ability to develop spiritually to be able to dwell in the holy land of Eretz Yisroel. Klal Yisroel couldn’t possibly go directly into the Holy Land, directly after leaving the tumah of Mitzrayim.

Leaving Mitzrayim enabled the Bnei Yisroel to be removed from the physical realm, and through their journeys in the midbar, they were able to advance in a positive sense towards kedusha. As such, we can strive, learning out from this week’s Parsha, to always look for the Olam Ha Ba elements of daily life and yearn to allow our neshamos the ability to soar above the mundane and into the profound teshuka of heavenly actions and thoughts.

A gitte.

Chizuk from the Shomrei Emunim

I saw in the Sefer "Shomer Emunim" (hereafter the S"E) this past Shabbos a nice quick vort on Emunah that is relevant to this tekufa. The pasuk on Amalek says that we must remember that the fight against Amalek, and everything he stand for, is in every generation. The lashon is l'dor dor, and the dor is chaser, it is missing a Vov. The S"E says that the gematria of Dor is 2x the Gematria of Emunah. What this teaches us is that Amalek attacks us on two separate levels of Emunah- a simple level and a more sophisticated level. For the person who only has simple Emunah, Emunah Peshuta, Amalek offers Shtussim and simple distractions that try to distract that individual from keeping on the derech yeshara. These vicissitudes do, unfortunately, ensnare some, and are relatively easy to discern. However, the more refined person, with a more thorough developed sense of Emunah, is attacked by Amalek not through simple ta'avos, such as, eat Treif or be mechalel Shabbos, which this kind of individual would not succumb to. For this individual, Amalek manifests his nature of kerirus, or trying to make us become more 'cold', to our mitzvos- not davening with as much kavuna or rushing through that Berocha.

The S"E concludes that it is especially important for Bnei Toira to recognize the influence of Amalek as it appears to them, for the ways are different than they are for hamon am. In the summer months, we must be vigilant to not let our standards fall in what we consider acceptable behavior...

Parshas Pinchas

Good Shabbos and welcome to Parshas Pinchas. This Parsha describes Pinchas as the recipient of the ‘Bris Shalom’- or covenant of peace, as well as discussing a new national census by tribe giving us a 601,730 person strong nation at this point, laws of inheritance (sparked by the sharp questions of Zelophehad’s daughters), the inauguration of Joshua as the successor to Moshe Rabeinu, and finally, a description of the offerings and proscriptions for our many festivals and holidays- Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, Pesach, Shavuos, Rosh HaShuna, Yom Kippur, Succos, and Shemini Atzeres.

To narrow our focus a bit, I would like to focus on the eponymous protagonist of this week, Pinchas, who received the gift of the Priesthood for his zealotry in spearing the Israelite man cohabiting with the goyishe seductress, the daughter of a prince, no less. Now, this ‘earning’ the priesthood as the Midrash tells us, is slightly different from the way that Aharon got the priesthood, namely, as a gift: “The service is a gift that I have given with your priesthood”. There are many levels on which to understand this distinction: on the most basic level, a gift represents kindness. The concept of earning a gift was in fact introduced by Avraham Avinu. The Midrash tells us that Shem the son of Noach received the priesthood. The Midrash makes it clear that he was not chosen to receive the priesthood as a reward. When Shem died, Avraham Avinu received the priesthood. The Midrash states clearly that he was chosen because of his righteousness. Avraham Avinu developed, cultivated and perfected his strength to achieve anything God asked of him. He passed the ultimate test when he went to sacrifice his son Yitzchak. As a result he was granted the highest level of love of God, the characteristic by which he is known as the pasuk states “Avraham ohavi/Avraham, the one who loves me… and in turn, was able to get the closest through this ‘priesthood’.

The Sfas Emes quotes the Zohar in saying that the priesthood is a channel for drawing Hashem’s lovingkindness into the world. God granted the priesthood as a gift. This represents God’s love. The priests, too, whose work in the Beis HaMikdash brings us closer to God and is done on our behalf, represent love and kindness. On another level, we need look no further than R’ Shneur Zalman of Liadi in his book, the Tanya, who according to R’ Tokayer, writes that there is a level of love for God which cannot be reached directly. Rather by working on developing awe of God, achieving the highest level we possibly can, each of us according to our individual potential, we are granted a commensurate level of love for God. This level of love is a gift that is granted involving no prior direct effort or preparation. The terms awe and love as used by the author of the Tanya and by the Sfas Emes imply serving God and coming close to Him respectively. We cannot work to experience God directly. However, we can work on serving Him. As a reward, He allows us to experience closeness to Him. Rav Shneur Zalman is teaching us that God’s love – the experience of closeness – is a gift that can be earned. In this sense, Pinchas, too, was granted the priesthood, an aspect of love and kindness, as a gift for acting zealously on behalf of the nation. His total focus on the nation’s behalf was in fact a basis of the Gemara in Kiddushin in comparing the concept of completeness coinciding with closeness to God: The Gemara states that a priest who is physically disfigured may not serve as a priest. The Gemara learns this from the pasuk describing Pinchas’s reward, the covenant of peace.

So in the coming weeks leading up to Rosh Chodesh Av, while we are bein HaMetzarim, it is our duty to serve Hashem with a full heart because we learn out from Pinchas, that only by being shaleim, whole, in our service, can we ultimately come close to Him. Good Shabbos!