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In this week’s Parashat Bamidbar the Torah states in 4:19/20 “V’Zos Asu Lahem V’Chayu Valor Yamoosoo BGishtamEs Kodesh HaKadashim…..V’Lo YavouLiros Es HakodeshVameisu”. “Thus, shall you do for them so that they shall live and not die: when they approach the Holy of Holies, Aharon and his sons shall come and assign them, every man over his work and to his burden. But they shall not come and look as the holy is inserted, lest they die”.

The Chasam Sofer explains the verses through the words of the sages from Tractate Tamid 32a in a manner of Drush. (Drush is the contextual and non-contextual, moral and philosophical explanations of a passage). The Mishna in Tamid states: “What should a person do in order to live? The answer is to kill himself. What should a person do in order to kill himself? The answer is he needs to give life to himself”. These answers seem a bit puzzling as the answers are the opposite of what we apparently are trying to accomplish. Rabbi Moshe Sofer explains the Mishna from a different perspective of life and death and this world and the next.

A person who wants to live ‘for’ the next world (Olam Habbah) needs to ‘kill’ himself in this world in his service to God. Through this constant effort he will live an eternal life forever and ever in the world to come. But the opposite is also true. If a person lives in the current world (Olam Hazeh) by living and taking advantage of every pleasure and desire this world has to offer, then he will be living it up here but will be killing his opportunity to live in the next world.

Unfortunately, many people believe that by virtue of the fact someone lives an observant lifestyle he will have to give up many of the pleasures of life literally depriving himself of basic joys and benefits in this world.

To the contrary, this is the furthest thing from the truth. Of course, every individual must fulfill and observe every Mitzva in its proper time, but one should not suffer through that experience. In fact, if a person tortures himself in order to do the Mitzva, he has abused a sacred vessel in the process. That vessel or Keli is his very own body.

Now we can look again and more clearly understand the sequence of the words in these two pesukim. “This is what you should do… and you will live but will not die. Don’t be so harsh that you punish yourself and ultimately die. That is not the purpose. A person is not obligated to ‘kill’ himself in this world as he approaches the Holy of Holies and performs the commandments. Rather, when a person approaches the task of doing Mitzvot and approaches the Holy of Holies, he should only do that which he is able to do and not more.

The last words of the Parashat “But they shall not come and look as the Holy is inserted lest they die now” is understood differently. If a person makes himself crazy and gets his holy body all swallowed up in areas of Mitzvot and service to Hashem, he has done something wrong. A person is not obligated to kill himself for the sake of heaven. When things become overwhelming, he should step back a little and just ‘live’ and he will not die.

One of the greatest and most difficult challenges facing the Hebrew world is the idea of ’normality’. What actually is considered normal or extreme? Everyone has a different definition. With proper guidance every man, woman, and child, every family and every community needs to figure out what is ‘normal’ vis a vis their Avodas Hashem. The annual evaluation of the historical moment of when we received the Torah is almost here. As the Yom Tov of Shavuot approaches, we look to cultivate the observance of Mitzvot and the fulfillment of the Torah. Perhaps we should strive to nurture a culture of Torah learning and observance and bring opportunity to the greater Montreal Hebrew community to develop a true appreciation and deep-seeded love of Torah of the living God.

Remember Torah is all about relationship NOT religion!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!

This story was said by rabbi A. Bogopulsky. There was a man who owned a dry goods store in Radun. This individual made a decent to above average living for the time. One day, someone opened a store across the street from his store which caused him deep concern. (There was absolutely no issue of Hasagas Gevul – economic competition - in this case). Every day after opening his store, he would peek out of his window to see who was going into the competitor’s store. Were any of his regular patrons going to shop there? As the weeks went by, he felt that the support he had received from many of his long-time customers was slowly ebbing away. At one point he felt that he was making only half the profit he had been accustomed to earning before the other individual opened his store. As his paranoia grew, he stood outside his store watching, staring down anyone who entered the store across the street. He would even stop people walking past his own store, questioning them about what they were buying across the street and what were the prices compared to his own?

Finally, he decided to visit the saintly Chofetz Chaim and ask what he could possibly do in this situation because it was driving him crazy. Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan listened carefully and intently to the man’s issue. After a few minutes the Chofetz Chaim told this person what the problem was and what the solution is to be. The Chofetz Chaim said, “Before the other store opened, you made a living because you only had to mind one store or business. Now you are constantly worrying and watching over the other store as well. Since you are now watching and ‘working’ two businesses, your store is only producing half the amount!” The moral of the story is to mind your own business. The reflection of someone minding his own business and not looking elsewhere demonstrates faith and emunah in Hashem. Deep down, we know we are to receive exactly what we need to live on for the year. We waste so much time and effort trying to control the ‘other’ and neglect our basic work ethic. On top of the monetary loss, a person loses years of life due to self-inflicted anxiety. God can make both businesses not only survive but thrive. In order to develop the understanding and acceptance that Hashem controls everything, we must learn mussar to train our thinking.

The first parsha of this week is replete with Mitzvots that completely rely on having emumah and bitachon - faith and security in Hashem. The challenge to many of the following Mitzvots is that they go against nature and our normal way of thinking. Here are just a few Mitzvots which emphasize that we totally rely on HaShem so that we will be rewarded in greater ways not only in the next world but even immediately in this world: 1. Not to perform work on the land during Shemita; 2. Not to perform work on the vineyard during Shemita; 3. Not to harvest the products during Shemita as normally done in other years. 4. Not to harvest the grapes of one’s vineyard as normally done in other years, but rather to treat the vineyard like Hefker – as though it is ownerless; 5. Not to work the land during Yovel – the Jubilee; 6. Not to harvest the products during Yovel, as normally done in other years, but rather to treat like Hefker, as though it were ownerless; 7. Not to harvest the fruits of one’s orchard during Yovel as normally done in other years; 8. Not to cheat someone in business; 9. Not to sell a field in Eretz Yisrael forever; 10. Not to change the zones/allotments of the outskirts of the Levite cities; and 11. Not to lend money with interest.

The common thread among all these Mitzvot is that a person feels he worked for it, he earned it, and he shouldn’t have to give it away. Towards the end of the section the Torah warns in 25:18: ‘Keep my decrees and safeguard My laws. If you keep these decrees, you will live in the land securely.’ But as Rashi clearly indicates because of transgressing the laws of the rest of year Israel is exiled. As it states later in Vayikra 26:34: ‘Then shall the land be paid her Sabbaths….and repay her Sabbaths.’ The seventy years of the Babylonian exile correspond to the seventy rest years which were not observed. But no matter how bad God’s children may act, our Father in Heaven figures out a way to rejoin His children and never abandon them, as can be realized from the following elucidation.

In the first of this week’s two parshios Behar/Bechukosai, the Torah states in Vayikra 25:29 “V’Ish Ki Yimkor Beis Moshav Ir Chomah, V’Haysa Geulaso Ad Tome Shnas Mimaro, Yamim T’hiyeh Geulaso”: “When a man sells a residential house in a walled city, he shall be able to redeem it until the end of one year after he has sold it. He has one full year to the day to redeem it”. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh explains this verse, referring to the ultimate redemption and not merely the redemption of an individual’s home. Through Remez/hint of the words the passuk is broken up into three parts. The word ‘V’Ish/the Man means God as He is referred in Az Yashir: ‘Hashem Ish Milchama. The next section of selling a house denotes the place where Hashem dwells speak of the Beis HaMikdash. The Ir Chomah, a walled city, signifies Yerushalayim, which according to the Midrash was already walled when Yehoshua first conquered the land. Why or what is the significance of this interpretation? The reason is so that later in history it can be redeemed. As Chazal explained, God took out His fury on the wood and the stones of the Temple for if He took His fury out against the people, no Jew would have survived. Logically, if there are no Israel left then there is no need for a Beis HaMikdash or the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, this was the redemption of Am Yisrael - the Hebrew people - and as a result the need for the rebuilding of the second Beis HaMikdash and resettling of Yerushalayim.

This all took place after the first Beis HaMikdash and for almost two thousand years we are still waiting for the return of the Third Temple which the Lord will bring down from above. However, nineteen years after Eretz Yisrael was returned to the Hebrew people, we had access to half the city of Jerusalem. Only nineteen years later the entire city was unified under our sovereignty. Now, since the reunification of the city of Jerusalem it once again sparkling as the city of Gold. The unrighteousness in the city of Yerushalayim must be stop , we thank Hashem for all His mercy and kindness so far and pray for the last piece of the trio: for the Mashiach to return in our day speedily, Amen!!!

Remember Torah is all about relationship NOT religion!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!