Dear Friends;
This year’s Parshiyot Re’eh vort is being sponsored by Benyamin and Tracy Skriloff of Ramat Beit Shemesh dedicated Lilui Nishmas Benyamin’s Mother, Chana bat Benyamin and for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all remaining hostages and their return home without experiencing any further harm, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Skriloff family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
Skype: mark.burt3
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Halfway through our Parshat Re’eh, Torah informs us not to emulate the ways of nations who previously occupied the Land. The Sapirstein Edition, “The Torah With Rashi’s Commentary” specifies following “in the way that the Amorites do.” (Rashi on Sefer Devarim, Perek 14, posuk 1, page 150)
Sefer Shem Mishmuel (Selections on the weekly parshiyot and festivals by Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, the Rebbe of Sochaczev, rendered to English by Rabbi Zvi Belovski, page 396) :
“You are the children of the Lord your G’d. Do not slash yourselves nor make a bald patch between your eyes for the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your G’d…” (Sefer Devarim, Perek 14, posukim 1 – 2 rendered to English in Sefer Shem Mishmuel)
…This verse seems to provide a straightforward message. Whenever someone dies, his relatives should not mutilate themselves because of their loss.
Chazal, however, deliver a message critical to Am Yisrael in our times. The Sochaczever Rebbe notes (ibid, page
396) :
But Chazal see another, completely different Halacha in this verse: “Do not slash yourselves” — do not form factions. (Sefer Shem Mishmuel citing Yevamos 13b)
Shem Mishmuel now provides commentary (pages 397 – 398) :
Let us consider the other law which Chazal have derived from our verse — the prohibition of forming factions within the Halachic system. This error stems from dispute and a lack of unity, where each person or group tries to assert his viewpoint to the exclusion of others. However, we are supposed to realize that at some level the souls of every member of Klal Yisrael are from the same root: we are all part of one spiritual entity. It is only the physical characteristics of our existence which differ from person to person. These physical differences give rise to diverse attitudes and needs, which can manifest themselves as dispute and factionalization. It should be clear that when one focuses inappropriately on the physical side of existence, the differences between people are emphasized and this leads to factionalization. In contrast, if one focuses on the spiritual side of things, the one will gain a growing appreciation of the similarities between people and their very substantial common ground, This will automatically lead to unity.
It is fundamental to thought in Judaism that life continues on a higher plane after death and that the soul lives on in a higher realm. Self-mutilation reveals a level of grief which [mistakenly] indicates that one feels that the deceased is completely gone and that no trace of him remains at any level. The bereaved who slashes himself actually mutilates his body, indicating his feeling of loss for his relative’s physical body.
When someone dies, the soul no longer needs the body and it [the soul] returns to Hashem, while the body is buried. Excessive mourning, expressed by slashing oneself over the loss of the body, indicates a misunderstanding… The bereaved has the role of the body out of focus, mourning it as though it had a purpose of its own.
…Chazal did not arbitrarily connect the traditional prohibition of forming factions to the verse forbidding self-mutilation. These two issues are closely linked, as they both stem from the same basic flaw. If we focus on the physical aspects of life, this may lead to self-mutilation at the time of bereavement and to factionalization in the legal system. Conversely, focusing on the spiritual aims of life will help us put bereavement in its proper perspective and to avoid the pitfalls of a divided legal system.
We learn earlier in Torah about the diversity of skills and attributes among the Sh’vatim, and even within an individual Shavet, as well as Halachot geared toward Kohanim, Levi’im, men, women. But it seems to this author that this discussion of Halachic prohibition of factions within Am Yisrael relates to groups who foster disunity by way of forming factions which run counter to Halachot regarding Eretz Yisrael and counter to effective checks and balances of the branches of governance.
For example, as this author views governance in Israel as having the appearance of being a parliamentary democracy where, ideally, each of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of governance would be held accountable by the governed by way of voting in an election or, in the case of a judicial system, appointments to fill judicial vacancies by the party or coalition currently governing, with approval of each appointee by a majority of members of Knesset, as representatives of the people being governed. As we know, judges at all levels through to supreme court justices, are currently appointed and approved by attorneys organizations which are in no way responsible to or representative of the members of any governing coalition, and thus have no connection to the voting governed. Therefore the current judicial system, and the opponents of judicial reform seem an example of factions of disunity needing reform in order to bring about true national unity.
Similarly, the glass ceiling created in the Israeli military high command preventing certain segments of Israel’s Chayalim from advancing to senior high command general-ships seems another example of factionalization resulting in national disunity, possible tactical and strategic blunders, as seen both at the outbreak of war on Simchat Torah and conduct of the war, and thus jeopardizing Israel’s security. diplomacy and military credibility.
May it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of their high command, emerge totally victorious — eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, their terrorist buddies and the so-called “innocent civilians” of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds, that the Chayalim return home whole — physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fourth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5784, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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