BS”D

 

(from “Midei Shabbat BeShabbato”)

 

(adapted from Rabbeinu Bachye)

 

            Commenting on the pasuk in ‘Ve’hayah im shomo’a’ “u’le’ovdo be’chol levavchem” (“and to worship Him with all your heart”), Rashi cites the Gemara in Ta’anit (2a), which explains that the avodah that one performs with one’s heart is Tefillah!

 

            R. Bachye cites the Yerushalmi, which queries the pasuk in Daniel (6:17) “Elokoch di ant p’lach leih” (“Your G-d, before whom you worship”).  Now “p’lach”, asks the Yerushalmi, is the Aramaic translation of ‘avodah’, and avodah is a term that is generally confined to korbanot?  And since when was one permitted to bring korbanot in Bavel -- where Daniel lived?  (The Yerushalmi might also have asked that the Beit-Hamikdah was destroyed at that time, and when there is no Beit- Hamikdash, there are no korbanot?)

 

            To be sure, answers the Yerushalmi.  Daniel did not bring korbanot, but he did daven, and avodah is synonymous with Tefillah.  And it quotes the pasuk in Tehillim (141:2), where David requested from G-d “Establish my Tefillah (like) incense before you”.  Incense, take note, is not just a form of korban; it is the most precious of all the korbanot (as Rashi explains in Parshat Korach [16:6]).  That is the significance that David ha’Melech attached to Tefillah!

 

            All of this is encapsulated in Chazal, who say in B’rachot (26b) “Chazal arranged the Tefillot corresponding to the korbanot tamid (the bi-daily communal sacrifice).”

 

            Elaborating on the power of Tefillah, R. Bachye explains how it is so potent that it is able to change nature, to save from a life-threatening situation and to negate a Divine decree.  And he goes on to elaborate, citing an example of each one…

 

            We can learn that Tefillah is able to change nature, he says, from Yitzchak Avinu, who davened to G-d that his wife Rivkah should become pregnant and give birth to a child, even though she was barren, and was incapable of bearing children.  No sooner had he (together with Rivkah herself) terminated his Tefillah, than G-d responded and his wife subsequently gave birth, not to one baby, but two.  Indeed, the Chachamim inform us that the reason that G-d created the Imahot barren was precisely because He knew that this would cause the Avot to daven on their behalf, the author explains, and G-d longs for the Tefillot of Tzaddikim.  And they derive it, the author adds, from this very pasuk, which first describes how Yitzchak davened and only then explains that Rivkah was barren (instead of the other way round).

 

            Interestingly, the power of Tefillah to change nature has its limitations; for, as the Mishnah in the last perek in B’rachot teaches us, somebody who davens retroactively (i.e. if he hears a scream coming from the direction of his house, and prays that it should not be a member of his family), his prayer is futile!  But that does not detract from the far-reaching powers of Tefillah, which in the vast majority of cases does work, provided the necessary specifications are met, as we shall explain shortly.

 

            We can learn that Tefillah is able to save a person from a life-threatening situation, from the pasuk in Tehillim, which describes how sailors, who find themselves in the middle of a raging storm, cry out to G-d.  Even as the churning sea causes their ship to toss and turn like a piece of straw, their prayers pierce the Heavens, the storm abates and the sea becomes calm once more.

 

            And we can learn how Tefillah is able to avert a Divine decree from the episode involving Chizkiyahu ha’Melech and Yeshayah ben Amotz ha’Navi.  When Yeshayah approached Chizkiyahu, informing him that, because, knowing that his son would be a rasha, he refused to marry, he was destined to die, the latter responded sharply ‘Take your prophesy and go!  I have a tradition from my great-grandfather (David ha’Melech) that even if a sword is being held to one’s neck, one should never despair from davening!’, as it is written “Even if He will kill me, I will still yearn for Him!” (Iyov 13:15)

 

            Having said that, Chizkiyahu turned to the wall and proceeded to daven. As a result, he was granted another fifteen years of life!  R. Bachye extrapolates from this incident that prayer is on a higher plane than prophecy.

 

            It goes without saying that extreme circumstances require extreme measures, and that in all of the above cases, it was not a regular Tefillah that achieved the stunning results that they did.  That is why in each case, the pasuk does not make do with the regular word for prayer ‘Tefillah’.  By Yitzchak, the Torah uses the word “vaye’atar” -- an expression of ‘entreating’ (see Rashi in Toldot, 25:21); The pasuk in Tehillim uses the word “va’yitz’aku” (“and they cried out”); whilst in the case of Chizkiyahu, G-d Himself told Chizkiyahu “I have heard your prayers, and seen your tears…” (Yeshayah 35:5).  But is that not how G-d always operates -- His response towards us is a mirror-image of our own actions, either towards Him or, as the Gemara explains in Rosh Hashanah, towards our fellow-man.

 

            Yes, Tefillah is the manner in which we communicate with G -d, and the sincerity and intensity of our Tefillot will inevitably evoke the appropriate response from Him!

 

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Devarim 7:12

 

            R. Bachye cites Rashi’s explanation on the word ‘eikev’ (mitzvot which one treads underfoot).

 

            Based on the same literal interpretation of the word ‘eikev’ (heel), he suggests that the pasuk is hinting at the large cross-section of mitzvot that one observes with one’s feet -- going to shul, and to the Beit ha’Medrash, visiting the sick, accompanying the dead and comforting the mourners.  All of these are mitzvot about which the Navi Hoshei’a writes (11:10) “After Hashem they will go, like a roaring lion.”  And to demonstrate the significance of the actual walking aspect of the mitzvah, the author cites Chazal, who even permit running on Shabbat when going to shul (despite the general prohibition of running on Shabbat).

 

            Conversely, he explains, somebody who fails to perform the mitzvot that entail walking, will have to give a reckoning before the heavenly Court, as the pasuk in Tehillim (49:6) says “The sin of my heels will surround me”.  And so he will if he sins with his feet, as we find with the daughter of R. Chanina ben T’radyon, on whom it was decreed to spend her days in a brothel, for having made a conscious effort to look attractive as she walked past a group of Roman dignitaries.  Indeed, she herself proclaims that the Divine judgment was fair and deserved, when she quoted the pasuk in Yirmiyah (32:19) “Great is the counsel and mighty is the deed; Your eyes are cognizant of all the ways of man…” (i.e. even if the steps that he takes), as the Gemara in Avodah-Zarah (18a) teaches us.

 

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Devarim 7:15

 

            To resolve the double expression used here, R. Bachye explains either that every illness refers to natural sicknesses, and all maladies, to supernatural ones (such as the ten plagues), or that the former refers to external sicknesses, and the latter, to internal ones.

 

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Devarim 7:16

 

            Chazal learn from here that it is only once the gentile nations (with specific reference to the seven nations of Cana’an) have been delivered into your hands that you are permitted to confiscate their property; otherwise not!

 

            From here, says R. Bachye, the Chachamim extrapolate that Gezel Akum (stealing from a gentile) is forbidden.

 

            And what’s more, they say, it is even worse, when it comes to redeeming a Jewish servant from a non-Jewish master without paying for him in full (and the likes) which also involves Chillul Hashem.

 

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Devarim 8:10

 

            The simple explanation, says R. Bachye, is that when you arrive in Eretz Yisrael and are satiated with its fruit and all its goodness, when you then recall your exile in Egypt in all its bitterness, and remember also the afflictions of your travels in the Desert, you will bless the Name of Hashem your G-d.

 

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            Chazal, however, learn from here a mitzvat asei to recite a b’racha after eating bread -- like when the Torah writes “and you shall make a parapet around your roof” and “and you shall make a (korban) Pesach for Hashem…” (i.e. the word “ve’asita” there and “u’verachta” here, both denote a mitzvah).

 

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Devarim 7:25-26

 

            It is from the Torah’s juxtaposition of ‘burning in fire’ to ‘cherem’, says the Ba’al ha’Turim, that Yehoshua took his cue to (partially) punish Achan (for taking from the cherem) with fire.

 

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Devarim 8:8

 

            This pasuk, says the Ba’al ha’Turim, contains ten words, which explains why we place all ten fingers on the bread when reciting the b’rachah of ha’Motzi. Furthermore, he explains, it corresponds to the ten mitzvot that are performed with the bread, starting from its earliest stages: not to plow with an ox and a donkey; not to plant kil’ayim; to leave leket, shichachah and pe’ah; not to muzzle an ox whilst it is threshing; to give terumah, ma’aser rishon, ma’aser sheini and challah to the appropriate recipients.

 

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Devarim 8:15

 

            The phrase “Nachash, saraf, ve’akrav ve’Tzima’on” shares the same gematria as ‘be’Kasdim, be’Paras, be’Makedon u’ve’Se’ir” (incorporating the four nations to whom we have been subservient during our history as a nation).

 

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Devarim 9:17

 

            The word “va’ashlichem” is missing a ‘yud’, a hint, says the Ba’al ha’Turim, that the Ten Commandments had flown away before Moshe threw the luchot down and smashed them.

 

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Devarim 9:26

 

            From the beginning of this pasuk until “and Your outstretched arm” at the end of pasuk 29 (comprising the entire text of Moshe’s current Tefillah) there are fifty-eight (‘chein’) words, since Moshe found favor ‘chein’ in G-d’s eyes, and He answered his prayer.

 

            And fifty-eight is also the gematria of “niv” in the phrase “He creates the speech (niv) of the lips” (Yeshayah 57:19) if we bear in mind that ‘niv” is written there with a ‘vav’ instead of a ‘yud’.

 

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(from “Torat Shimon” -- Divrei Torah of Rabbi Shimon Maryles tz”l)

 

Devarim 8:10

 

            The tzaddik can satisfy himself with a minimum of food, for he eats for the sole purpose of sustaining his soul.  The wicked person, on the other hand, eats in order to gratify his body and thus is never satisfied.  This is the meaning of the verse, “The tzaddik eats to satisfy his soul, while the belly of the wicked always feels lacking” (Mishlei 13:25).  Accordingly, we can interpret our verse to mean that only the tzaddik, who eats to “satisfy his soul”, can truly bless Hashem “for the good land which He granted you” -- the “land” being a metaphor for one’s soul, which Hashem grants to each person in order to cultivate it in accordance with His will.  The wicked one, who neglects his soul altogether, can never properly fulfill this obligation.

 

            (In modern society, there is famous saying that expresses the value system of today’s world: eat, drink and be merry.  The purpose of life, according to this value system, is to attain physical pleasures.  This is one reason why people are so unhappy.  They can never get enough physical pleasure, and their circumstances limit the pleasures they can get.  In contrast, the Torah wants us to experience pleasure, but that is not the purpose of life.  The purpose of life is to perfect ourselves in doing Hashem’s will so that we bring ourselves closer to Him.  When we eat and drink in order to serve Hashem, and when we are merry through zemirot and words of Torah, we not only achieve happiness in this world, but we achieve eternal life in the World-to-Come.)

 

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Devarim 10:12

 

            The Gemara (B’rachot 33b) asks concerning this verse, is it such a small thing to fear Hashem?!  The answer that it gives -- “Yes, for Moshe (whom the verse is quoting) it is easy” -- appears to beg the question, for Moshe is addressing the people and not himself!  Therefore, we must explain that the Gemara is assuming that the people of Yisrael were on the same level as Moshe, which they achieved by attaching themselves to him so as to perfect their faith in Hashem, as is implied by the verse, “And they believed in Hashem, [by way of believing] in Moshe, His servant” (Shemot 14:31).  Hence, the people absorbed Moshe’s capacity for fearing Hashem, and thus, it was considered an easy matter for them!

 

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amikddah, there are no `H

 (from “Vedibarta Bam” by Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky)

Devarim 7:12

            QUESTION:  Instead of the word “eikev” -- “because” -- it could have said “keshetishme’un” -- “when you will listen” -- or “im tishme’un” -- “if you will listen”?

 

            ANSWER:  On Mount Sinai Hashem gave the Jewish people the Ten Commandments, which included the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot of the Torah (see Shemot 24:12, Rashi).  In the version of the Ten Commandments as they are recorded (ibid. 20:2-14), there is a total of one hundred and seventy-two words.  The word “eikev” (‘ayin’ ‘kof’ ‘bet’) has the numerical value of one hundred and seventy-two.  Hence, the Torah is saying, “It shall come to pass, ‘eikev tishme’un’ -- because you will listen, i.e. observe ‘eikev’ -- the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot which are in the one hundred and seventy-two words of the Ten Commandments.  Thus, your G-d will safeguard for you the covenant and kindness that He swore to your forefathers.” 

 

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            Alternatively, the Gemara (Yoma 28b) says that our father Avraham kept the entire Torah, as Scripture states, “eikev asher shama Avraham bekoli” -- “because Avraham hearkened to My voice [kept my charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws]” (Bereishit 26:5).  In the light of the above, the proof that Avraham kept the Torah may be deduced from the word “eikev”, which refers to the one hundred and seventy-two words of the Ten Commandments that contain the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot of the Torah.

 

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            Alternatively, the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 9a) says that the world will exist for six thousand years.  Two thousand of these are utterly void of Torah, two thousand are years of Torah without Mashiach, and the last two thousand years will start the era of Mashiach.  The first two-thousand-year period concluded when Arvraham reached the age of fifty-two and was introduced to Torah.  The second two-thousand-year period ended one hundred and seventy-two years after the destruction of the second Bet Hamikdash, and then the era of Mashiach began (see Rashi).

 

            With the word “eikev”, which has the numerical value of one hundred and seventy-two, the Torah is hinting that “eikev” -- one hundred and seventy-two years after the destruction -- “tishme’un” -- “you will hear” -- the footsteps of Mashiach.

 

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Devarim 8:3

 

            QUESTION:  There is a midrash peliah -- wondrous Midrash -- that says, “From here we can learn that candles must be lit in honor of Shabbat.”  What connection is there between this pasuk and the obligation to light Shabbat candles?

 

            ANSWER:  While eating the manna, the Jew was able to imagine and enjoy any food.  If one wanted a rare delicacy, the manna would assume this taste, and if one wanted a sumptuous dessert, one would taste that.  Why, then, does the verse mention the manna in connection with affliction?

 

            Although the taste of the manna varied according to one’s desire, the Gemara (Yoma 74b) explains that, “You cannot compare one who sees what he eats with one who does not see what he is eating.  This is the reason that blind people glut themselves without becoming satisfied.”  Thus, while it is true that a person would experience any taste imaginable, sine he did not actually see his food, he did not truly enjoy it.

 

            Scripture instructs us, “You shall proclaim the Shabbat ‘oneg’ -- ‘a delight’ ” (Isaiah 58:13), and our sages (Shabbat 118b) explain that the way to experience delight is by eating delicious foods.  Hence, if the home is not lit, regardless of the quality of the food, not only will one not enjoy the food, but, on the contrary, it will be an affliction.  Therefore, one is obligated to light candles to illuminate the Shabbat table, so that everyone sitting at the table will proclaim the Shabbat an “oneg” -- “delight”.

 

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Devarim 8:8

 

            QUESTION:  For the first five species with which the land is praised the pasuk mentions the fruits themselves while for the last two the fruits themselves are not mentioned (olives and dates), but the extracts -- oil and honey.  Why?

 

            ANSWER:  The Gemara (Horiat 13b) says that eating olives can cause one to forget Torah learned over a period of seventy years.  The Gemara (Pesachim 88a) relates that Ulah once came to Pumpedita and he was served a small basket of dates.  He inquired, “How many of these can be purchased for one zuz” (Talmudic currency)?  They told him, “Three [small baskets or one large one] for one zuz.”  In amazement he said, “A basketful of honey can be purchased for one zuz, and yet the Babylonians do not engage in Torah study (with the cost of living so low, surely they have plenty of time to study)?”  At night he became ill and said, “A basketful of poison can be purchased for one zuz, yet the Babylonians study Torah!”

 

            From these two Gemarot, it is evident that olives and dates have a detrimental effect on one’s Torah study.  On the other hand, the Gemara (ibid.) says olive oil can help one remember the Torah which he learned over seventy years, and the Gemara (Yoma 83b) says that honey, “enlightens the eye of man.”

 

            Consequently, the Torah did not praise Eretz Yisrael with fruits (olives and dates) that interfere with learning, but with foods (oil and honey) that benefit man and enhance the study of Torah.

 

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            QUESTION:  Why does the Torah write “eretz” -- “land” -- a second time for “zeit shemen u’devash” -- “olive oil and honey”?

 

            ANSWER:  When the brothers went down to Egypt for the second time, Yaakov told them, “take of the land’s glory and bring it down to the man [Yosef] as a tribute…a bit of honey” (Bereishit 43:11).  When the Jews complained about the wilderness they said, “why did you bring us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place -- not a place of seed or fig or grape or pomegranate?”  (Bamidbar 20:5).

 

            From the fact that Yaakov brought honey to Egypt, and that the Jews did not complain in the wilderness about lacking olive-oil and honey, it is apparent that they also did not have these items in Egypt.  Therefore, to emphasize the excellence of Eretz Yisrael, the Torah separates olive oil and honey from the other items with the word “eretz”, to emphasize that, in this land, the Jews would enjoy something which they did not have previously.

 

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Devarim 11:18-19

 

            QUESTION:  Why, in this pasuk, does it first mention the mitzvah of tefillin followed by the mitzvah of teaching the children, while in the first portion of the Shema (6:6), it says first, “you shall teach them thoroughly to your children” and the mitzvah of tefillin afterward?

 

            ANSWER:  A parent is obligated to teach his child Torah as soon as he is able to speak (11:19, Rashi).  When the child reaches the age of thirteen, he becomes Bar-Mitzvah and is required to wear tefillin.  Many parents take an active interest in their child’s education when he is very young.  However, as he grows older, their participation wanes.

 

            In the first portion of the Shema, the Torah is teaching us that the first obligation of a parent is to teach his child Torah while he is very young, and, when he reaches the age of thirteen, the parents must see to it that he puts on tefillin.  The second portion is teaching us that even when the child is already wearing tefillin, i.e. he has become Bar-Mitzvah, the parent is not free of his obligation to educate his children.  He must continue to teach and always be involved in his children’s Torah learning.

 

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Devarim 11:19

 

            QUESTION:  Why does the Torah have to specify all the conditions under which a parent should teach his children, instead of simply saying, “teach them at all times”?

 

            ANSWER:  Often children, out of respect or fear, fulfill the wishes and desires of their parents.  However, once that motivation no longer exists, the children do as they wish.  For instance, many children observe Torah and mitzvot while their parents are alive in order to please them, but not after their parents’ demise.  True education consists of molding a person’s way of life and thinking so that the principles instilled in him remain imbedded forever.

 

            The Torah is not only instructing us when to teach children, but also specifying the kind of education to give them.  The goal should be to permeate the children with Torah and firmly impress on them the importance of its observance.  Thus, they will study and observe not only when the father is home with them, but even when he “walks on his way” -- when he does not have any further physical contact with them, they will continue to observe Torah and mitzvot on their own.

 

Shabbat Shalom!

 

Sandy Portnoy