One Hundred Words on the Parshah
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One Hundred Words on the Parshah
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Yidden! Return to Hashem because you have stumbled over your Aveiros.
When a person is experiencing great difficulties, he often feels like giving up. The opening pasuk in this week’s haftarah teaches us that when one is suffering because of his sins, it is davka a most opportune time to take stock and do teshuva. When one’s aveiros are causing him pain, it is an excellent time to ditch them!
There is a Possuk in Mishlei that says "watch over your heart more than anything else."
We know that the esrog is compared ot the heart. Just as the heart need the most watching, so too the esrog needs more watching than the other Daled Minim. It is very delicate and can easily become possul.
May our hearts and esrogim always be protected.
Let this Torah be a witness that ה' warned us in advance that if we did not keep the תורה, we would suffer the punishments spoken about in these פרשיות.
Similarly, we can explain the famous first פסוק of the הפטורה of שבת שובה.
"שובה ישראל עד ה' אלוקיך"
The word עד (ahd) can be read as עד (aid), and then the explanation can be “Return Jews to ה' because He is a witness.” In other words, because ה' saw what we did, we can’t deny it, and therefore, we must repent.
May our תשובה be accepted and may we merit a שנה טובה ומתוקה.
A mashal is told about a princess who married a commoner. The simple husband did not appreciate her royalty and didn't treat her properly. One day, her father, the king, came for a visit. While the king was there, the husband treated her royally. When the king was getting ready to leave, the princess began to cry. She said, "as soon as you leave, he will stop treating me well."
The moral of the story is that on the Yomin Noraim, there is a religious conscience, but it quickly fades. May the inspiration stay with us for the long term.
There was a fire in an ancient village. A visitor noticed the village people banging on drums. Soon the fire was out. The visitor went back to his own village and told them about this trick. Sure enough, at the next fire, the villagers banged the drums. However, their fire did not go out. Someone explained to the villagers that it's not the drums that extinguish the flames. The noise notifies the people to put out the fire.
The Maggid of Dubna (Lithuania, circa 1800) used this mashal to promote feelings of Teshuva during the Yomin Noraim. It is not enough to beat your chest while saying the prayers asking for forgiveness for sins, rather feelings of repentance are paramount.
“How many will pass away…. Who will live and who will die.”
(U’Nesaneh Tokef from mussaf of Yamim Noraim)
Rav Itzaleh Blazer interpret as follows: “How many will pass away” means a general number of people. “Who will live and who will die” refers to specific people. He compares this to a draft where initially a number of people are decided as necessary for the army. Afterward specific individuals are chosen to fill the draft.
May we all be inscribed in the book of the living.
“On the first day of Adar announcements are made for everyone to donate the annual shkulim(money) to the beis hamikdush. Hashem knew that Haman would offer 10,000 shkulim to Achashvarosh as a bribe to kill the yidden so Hashem gave a prior commandment to the yidden to donate shkulim to the beis hamidush. That is what we are taught in the above quote.
The Mishna points out that the mitzva of shkulim is stated explicitly in the torah and the posok could have been quoted by the gemara instead of a directive from chazal?
Someone suggested an explanation as follows; Haman offer the money to achashvarosh turned it down he was happy to kill the yidden even without receiving money similarly the gemara quotes the Mishna that teaches about announcing the requirement for the donations as opposed to the posuk requiring actual donations.
The posuk is saying to do the action, the Mishna is saying to talk about it.
It’s nice to see the good trumping the bad. The mayhem coming on heels of Coronavirus and lockdown, caused so many aimless young people to riot.
קהלת : והאלוקים עשה שיראו מלפניו
There seems to be a turnaround; the group which represents law and order and has a favorable attitude toward Jews and Israel is becoming the majority. The polls are changing. It gives us encouragement to stay with the good. Perfect timing in אלול with the ימים נוראים around the corner. רמח"ל talks about the bad being allowed to run its course but then ה' steps in to turn things around. Now what’s left for us to do is to shape up.
The ספר החינוך explains the מצוה of writing a ספר תורה as follows. People need preparation in order to keep the מצוות and have יראת שמים. By having many ספרי תורה available, people will learn from them and be prepared to keep the מצוות properly. Similarly, סליחות and אלול are times of preparation. If someone comes into ראש השנה unprepared, he will not do as well.
May we be properly prepared and our תפילות and תשובה be accepted. כתיבה וחתימה טובה
Simchas Torah comes out immediately after Succos. The reading of the Torah has always been completed at the end of this yom tov, going back all the way to the time of Chazal. In fact, there were communities in which the Torah was completed only once in three years, and even they finished the reading on Shmini Atzeres. Apparently, this is the time meant for completing the Torah, perhaps because at the end of the cycle of the yamim tovim (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kipur, Succos, Shimi Atzres) we reach a climax which is ripe for a siyum on the Torah.
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