Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

22 Adar II 5760 - March 29, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

 

Sponsored by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Produced and housed by
Jencom

Opinion & Comment
Yishmeru Daas

The following are excerpts from Yishmeru Daas a sefer of explanations, essays, and mussar on the parshiyos hashavua and Yomim Tovim by HaRav Dovid Povarsky zt'l whose first yahrtzeit was 6 Adar.

You Did Not Believe Me That They Made an Eigel

This was said in a shmuess on leil Shabbos parshas Vayakheil, 5757.

"Moshe turned and went down from the mountain . . . It came to pass, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the eigel and the dancing: and Moshe's anger burned, and he threw the luchos out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain" (Shemos 32:15, 19).

Moshe Rabbenu's breaking the luchos was considered a matter of great importance, something he was congratulated for doing and was even given a yashar koach straight from HaKodosh Boruch Hu. "I will write upon these luchos the words that were on the first luchos, which you broke (asher shibarta)" (Shemos 34:1). Chazal (Shabbos 87a) infer, "Yashar kochacho sheshibarta" (You should be commended for breaking them).

Nonetheless, Chazal (Devorim Rabbah 3:11, Yalkut Ki Siso 392) write: "HaKodosh Boruch Hu said to him, `Moshe, You did not believe Me that they made an eigel,' as is written, `They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them' (Shemos 32:8). To some extent Hashem criticized Moshe Rabbenu, indicating that some realization was added to him when he actually saw the eigel. HaKodosh Boruch Hu had already told Moshe that bnei Yisroel made the eigel and it should have bothered him to hear about this from Hashem as much as it did to really see it. However, what did happen was that only after he tangibly saw the eigel was he so disturbed that he broke the luchos.

Haftorah of Ki Siso:

Said on Shabbos, Parshas Behar, 5757

"Let it be known this day that you are Elokim in Yisroel and that I am your servant" (I Melachim 18:35).

We see that Eliyahu Hanovi performed great miracles -- "Answer us as You answered Eliyahu Hanovi on Mount Carmel" (Selichos). This was a tremendous miracle and it was done publicly. Elisha too did tremendous miracles, such as with the flask of oil and techiyas hameisim for the Shunamis woman. Nonetheless, we do not find that the nevi'im who lived in Yerushalayim did any nissim. It is not mentioned in the Tanach that Yeshaya and Yirmiyahu did any nissim. Can it possibly be that the nevi'im of Yerushalayim were lesser than the others and could not perform any miracles?

It seems to me that it was not because they were on a lower level, but on the contrary, the nevi'im outside of Yerushalayim had a greater need to show nissim to Klal Yisroel. Those in Yerushalayim did not need to do so, since people saw the daily miracles in the Beis Hamikdosh. "The rains did not extinguish the fire on the altar, the wind did not disperse the vertical column of smoke from the altar, no disqualification was found in the Omer, or in the Shtei HaLechem, or in the Lechem HaPonim . . ." (Yoma 21a, Ovos 5:5). Each person was able to see the nissim himself.

The Great Danger of a Kula

Leil Shabbos, Parshas Vayakheil, 5757

"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Shabbos of rest to Hashem . . ." (Shemos 35:2).

Rashi explains that Hashem "placed the azhoroh (warning) about Shabbos before the command to build the Mishkan, to teach us that [building the Mishkan] does not override Shabbos." This needs to be understood. If the only reason Shabbos is mentioned here is to reveal to us that building the Mishkan does not override Shabbos observance, the parsha should have started with the building of the Mishkan, which is its main aim, and afterwards indicate that this does not defer Shabbos. Why did the Torah start by telling us the melochos of Shabbos?

[We indeed see that when HaKodosh Boruch Hu actually commanded Moshe, first He instructed him to make the Mishkan and only at the end, in parshas Ki Siso (31:13), Hashem said, "Verily My Shabbossos shall you keep," since building the Mishkan does not defer observing Shabbos.]

I thought it possible to say the following: We see that without a gezeiras hakosuv we would have initially thought that building the Mishkan overrides the Shabbos. If the Torah had not first written the warning to observe Shabbos, for a short while we would have thought that we can be lenient about hilchos Shabbos. Although afterwards we would understand that building the Mishkan cannot defer Shabbos, the immediate impression would have been that there is some kula, some leniency, in our Shabbos observance. Every kula makes an impression and great harm can emerge from it.

Noach too was mistaken when after leaving the teivah he immediately planted a grape vine. For him this was considered a kula, and by means of it he was transformed from a person who was a tzaddik into an am ha'aretz (see Bereishis Rabbah 36:3, Yalkut Bereishis 8:61, Yalkut Devorim 33:951).

The same is true concerning the eigel. A kula involving their request to appoint a leader instead of Moshe, who was a "man of Elokim," caused bnei Yisroel later to "prostrate themselves to [the eigel] and sacrifice to it."

With Avrohom Ovinu we see the opposite: he always remained firm in his emunah. Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 42:8, Yalkut Bereishis 14:73) write that "the whole world was on one side and he was on the other side." Nothing in the world could move him even one inch from his faith. Not only was he not lenient for himself [i.e., he was not influenced by the whole world that stood on the other side], on the contrary, he continued to build himself more and more until he reached his lofty level.

The same is true about R' Avrohom ben Avrohom, the ger tzedek of Vilna. Before he was taken to be burned, his mother came and tried to convince him to reject his pure emunah. He did not move an inch. It is told that the Vilna Gaon informed him that he could free him from jail and save him. The Gaon had such a power. The ger tzedek, however, refused and said he did not want to be saved. He did not let anyone influence him at all. This is the reason why only one ger tzedek has remained famous as being the ger tzedek, after Avrohom Ovinu who was also a ger tzedek.

This is the difference between Noach and Avrohom Ovinu. Noach was warned but was lenient for himself. Avrohom, however, did not allow any kula for himself even when the whole world was against him and threatened to burn him.

All aveiros start off with some kula. The kula is what drags after it every aveira.

This mussar is extremely relevant to us. For instance, when we are sitting and studying Torah and it happens that someone is embarrassed because another person pointed out that he made a mistake in his studies, we tend not to impart any significance to that. After all, we say, it only happened in the midst of studying. This is incorrect. It is proper to think before starting to study that the Torah does not defer the issur of embarrassing another person, or any aveira. It is not necessary to sit several minutes thinking about this, but this thought, that studying Torah does not free us from any obligations, should precede our studying Torah!

This is why Moshe Rabbenu first warned bnei Yisroel about the Shabbos before he mentioned building the Mishkan.

HaRav Dovid Povarsky zt'l was the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ponevezh in Bnei Brak.


All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.