Pirkei Avos

Joy and torah

man ever finds his host in a similar predicament he must repay the kindness with a meat meal. , , Why? Because the host not only gave him a meal; ; , he made him feel welcome and cared about. The . guest therefore owes him more than the simple return of the beans. Shammai said: Set a fixed time for your study of Torah; say little but do much; receive every person Likewise, a good-morning greeting sends a meswith a friendly countenance" sage to addition to the mere spoke pleasantry. It Rabbi Mordechai Gordon used to say that a sour face is compared to a open pit in a public domain.' Ones negative demeanour can be contagious, causing others to be infected with his germ of depression. The Talmud states figuratively: 'One who shows his friend the white of his teeth [by smiling at him] does more for him then if he would have offered him a drink of milk. A smile is a signal to a person that he cared for.' Often, the emotional need to feel wanted is more than physical hunger or thirst. The importance of such gestures is underscored in the Talmuds account of Moshes ascent to Heaven to receive the Torah. Moshe found G-d placing the crowns on the letters in the Torah, as it were he did not greet G-d and was reprimanded. Is it not customary to offer greetings of peace? It is customary that when a Jew says good morning, the response is good morgen, gut yohr (a good morning a good year); the response adds a blessing to the original greeting. Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld explains that this custom is based on Seffer Chassidim, which states that if one meets a poor, forlorn man in the streets, takes him home and feeds him a meal of beans, if the poor implies, you are important to me I am happy to see you. To pay this gift of recognition, Jews adopted the custom of responding not only good morning, but also good year, thus extending the original blessing and paying back more than was given. In addition, by receiving people with a cheerful countenance, we emulate G-ds attributes. Just as he is described as giving to all so man must enliven all he come in contact. This shows that a smile can make someones day a smile can change your day and its free. "Make your Torah study fixed" This instruction is directed towards the working person as well, even though they fulfill their obligation by learning only one chapter during the day, and one at night. For them, their Torah learning must be fixed in their souls, not just in time. Even when occupied with business matters, each one's intention should be to earn money only so that afterwards he will have the opportunity to occupy himself with Torah, and guide his children in learning and fulfilling mitzvot. ,

The Hasmonean High School Weekly Sedra Sheet

Dvar Torah

Living Torah
Issue No: Shabbos In: Shabbos Out:

3rd March 2012

396 17:28 18:35

Personal investments
Interestingly, this weeks parasha is unique, for it is the only parasha from the time of his birth until the time of his death in which Moshe Rabbeinus name does not appear. Despite there being an amalgamation of different explanations, there is a consensus amongst the Chassidic commentaries over one explanation: It is said that in this weeks parasha Moshe Rabbeinu reaches an unprecedented, existential level of being which is higher than all of the other appearances of Moshe Rabbeinu in the Torah. Thus, as he reaches his ultimate and absolute source, (the origin of his soul- the shoresh of neshama is Ayin) he reaches this state of Ayin, of nothingness, therefore his name does not appear explicitly in the text of the Torah. This weeks Torah portion focuses on Hashems meticulous specifications and requirements given to make the Kohen Gadolss clothing; as this process required immaculate precision and pristine work, Gd insisted that the clothes would be made by all who have a wise heart whom I have invested with a spirit of wisdomthey should make the garments of Aharon to make him holy. Before delving into this notion, what did G-d mean when he proclaimed that those individuals responsible for making the High Priests (Aharon) clothing are the wisehearted whom I have invested with wisdom? The answer is straightforward. Just like, for example, an entrepreneur or a capitalist doesnt merely hope for a return on his investment, but expects it, so too does Hashem expect a return when he makes a priceless, invaluable investment in each and every single one of us. However, when talking about G-ds investments, we dont refer to monetary investments, for we are referring to the different inimitable talents and virtues that He invests in each and every single one us. Ask yourselves this question: would it be prudent to invest all your life savings into a bank which is devoid of any reliability and whose policy was never to pay any interest on the accounts? It is indubitable that every person born to parents with perpetual care and love would have heard that mellifluous phrase: youre unique in your own special way. Whether your passion and talents revolve around science, art, dancing, writing, or mathematics, nevertheless, as youngsters what we accomplish seamlessly brings us the most joy. Have you ever pondered why you can accomplish an errand so naturally and nonchalantly whilst others struggle and have such a hard time? It is because every single person has been divinely allocated their own unique talent that was a gift or an investment from our Creator. The most incalculable mistake that one could make is if a person stops channelling his talent as he gets older and becomes convinced that the invested talent is not really that big of a deal. Every person has been designed for greatness and prosperity; the sole way a person could acquire such greatness is if he utilises his unique talents that G-d has invested in them. Not only do we have the responsibility to give G-d a return on His investment by using our unique talent to the best of our ability, but should we decide to abuse or not use our talents, then we run the risk of having our talents annulled. By making the world in which we inhabit a better place using our talents, then were immediately beginning to pay interest on the investment.

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Food for thought

' Satisfied with this answer, he cut himself another And they will eat the (foods) which cleansed / morsel of bread, but before he could swallow it, he atoned them (Shemos 29:33) rebuked himself in an even harsher tone: Meilech, Meilech! Who is it that you think you are going to A Chassid who was very serious and passionate fool? You really think you are eating just so that you about his Avodas Hashem once visited his Rebbe, R can fully serve your Maker? Just take one look at Elimelech of Lizhensk. yourself! Its all a bunch of lies! Every part of yourself is fraught with the animalistic desire from withR Elimelech immediately sensed that his guest had in; and you just want to swallow it all up as quickly not yet managed to refine his desire for food and as possible! How can you lie and tell yourself that elevate his appetite. He therefore invited the Chas- you are eating for the sake of Heaven? sid to join him for the next meal, which happened to be breakfast the following morning. The Chassid After pausing for a moment to think, R Elimelech felt extremely honoured to receive this prestigious answered himself gently. No, it is not the animalisinvitation and readily accepted. tic desire that is compelling me to eat. But what can I do? I am but a mortal human fashioned of physical After immersing in the Mikveh and Shacharis, the matter, just a creature of flesh and blood. I need to Chassid joined his Rebbe for breakfast. The table pay my dues to this material body, or it wont abide was already set with salt and a breadknife for the to any of my instructions. Therefore, I have to eat rye bread that was awaiting them. They washed some bread as quickly as possible; there isnt anytheir hands and said HaMotzi. thing else I can do. Therefore I will be sure not to eat it for any sensual gratification, but solely for the The Noam Elimelech took a small bite from his slice necessity of keeping myself alive. of bread and hadnt even yet swallowed it when he With this reasoning, he gave himself another slice started complaining to himself, addressing himself of bread. by his common Yiddish nickname; Meilech! Meilech! Just take a look at yourself. Just see how Having overhead his Rebbes muttered monologue youre eating and have in mind what ugly desire you all too clearly, the Chassids heart was truly humhave whilst eating the bread. You actually want to bled within him. He dedicated himself to improving swallow the whole slice whole, youre even worse this aspect of his Divine service, ready to make a than an animal! new start. He then answered his own comments: No, I do not eat with an animalistic desire, but I eat simply to satisfy my hunger. If I do not eat at all, I wont be able to learn Torah or perform the Mitvos and serve the Creator of the Universe! Reb Elimelech rounded off the breakfast by reciting the Grace after Meals, confident that this one breakfast had accomplished its purposing; of truly providing food for thought.

Three ways to greatness

]28:1[ all of the house of Yisrael cried for him for thirty days, in contrast to Moshe where it says that What is meant when the pasuk says the word the Bnei Yisrael cried; firstly by Aharon the ? word all is used as everyone missed his bein adam lchavero and secondly by Moshe it just The Talelei Oros brings down in the name of the says Bnei Yisrael i.e. those men who learned Maharash that this word, meaning in the midst Torah from Moshe, whereas by Aharon it writes of, tells us that even after Aharon became the the house of Yisrael, which includes woman, Kohen Gadol he was still in the midst of Bnei as Aharon instilled peace between everyone Yisrael i.e. he didnt consider himself any higher including between man and wife. than them and he still mingled among them and wasnt too good for them. This shows A third pshat is given by the Oznaim lTorah Aharons extraordinary humility and that he who quotes the posuk in Tehillim (55:12) where didnt let power get to his head. A proof that the word is used as an expression of sheker the word means this is that this same word falsehood. Our posuk is therefore telling us is also used when Shaul became king and hid that Aharon separated himself from the - behind the utensils because he was humbled. the false hashkafa which some of Bnei Yisrael had i.e. those who concentrate on the gashmius The Ksav Sofer explains this in a slightly differof life and see the physical world as the ikar. ent way. It was well known that Aharon was considered to love peace and pursue peace All these three pshatim show different extraorand bring about peace between man and his dinary characteristics of Aharon, be it his humiliwife and man and his friend. In order to achieve ty, his bein adam lchavero, or the discipline and this, Aharon had to constantly be amongst the greatness to limit his enjoyment of the pleaspeople. When Aharon became the Kohen Gadol, ures of the physical world and focus on ruchniwe might have thought that Aharon would no yas. May we be zoche to follow in all these ways longer have had time for others and to be inof Aharon HaKohen and aspire to his greatness! volved with peoples problems because he was busy doing the Avodah and had to constantly Good Shabbos be in a tahor state. Therefore the pasuk stresses that nevertheless, Aharon was still in the midst (Adapted from the Iyunei Chaim By Rav Chaim of the Bnei Yisrael and didnt separate from Schmahl) them even after becoming Kohen Gadol. We see clearly how Aharon was very successful in bein adam lchavero: By his death it writes that

Gematria:
At the beginning of this weeks parsha, Moshe is commanded to speak - ' to all the wise hearted people that Hashem has filled with wisdom. The Gematria of is the same as that of - 'fear (of Hashem). Every morning, we quote the passuk from Tehillim saying " - the beginning of wisdom is fear of Hashem. So in our parsha when Moshe was commanded to speak to wise people to make the priestly garments, these people had to be G-d fearing. R Yochanan in Brochos (55a) says that The Holy One, Blessed is He, gives wisdom only to one who has wisdom. He then brings a passuk in to support his dictum. However many of the Meforshim ask the obvious question If Hashem only gives wisdom to those who are already wise, then how does one acquire this initial wisdom? But we can now answer by saying that this initial wisdom refers to fear of G-d. Indeed this initial wisdom is definitely within a persons own capacity to acquire, as an earlier Gemoro in Brochos (33b) famously teaches ,' - Everything is in the hands of Heaven except for fear of Heaven.' Based on Baal Haturim- (Shemos 28:3)

Riddle:
When can a person be called to the Torah for 3 successive aliyos on the same day?

Answer to Last Weeks Riddle:

The Torah in Parashat Terumah speaks of the components and vessels of the Mishkan. Three of the items are spelled with the same letters, just in different orders. What are these items? The Kapores, Paroches and the Kaftor (of the Menorah).