Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShavua, Nitzavim-Vayeilech is being sponsored by Benyamin and Tracy Skriloff of Ramat Beit Shemesh Lilui Nishmas Benyamin’s Mother, Chana bat Benyamin and dedicated 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 and good wishes
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You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring (or as the case may be, co-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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There are two posukim, one in Parshat Nitzavim and one in Parshat Vayeilech which speak to this author regarding the ongoing War of Simchat Torah — 7 October.
This author views these posukim as speaking to disparate (adjective: distinct in kind; essentially different; dissimilar) factions of Am Yisrael, Israel’s governance as well as to the IDF military high command.
The first of two posukim, this one from Parshat Nitzavim, will have a lead-on posuk for context:
“Perhaps there is among you a man or a woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from being with Hashem, Keilokim, to go and serve the gods of those nations; perhaps there is among you a root flourishing with gall and wormwood. And it will be that when he hears the words of this imprecation [noun: a curse; malediction], he will bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit’ — thereby adding the watered upon the thirsty.'” (Sefer Devarim, Perek 29, posukim 17 – 18 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash provides commentary on these posukim (pages 1088 – 1089) :
Posuk 17: “A root flourishing…” Curiosity is like a root that grows and grows. It begins with desire to learn about the abominations of Canaan, but the root will flourish and produce heresies that are as bitter and harmful as gall and wormwood.
Posuk 18: “Peace will be with me.” This is the source of disaster: the delusion that “peace will be with me, so I can do as I wish without fear. calamities can only befall other people.” The Chofetz Chaim used to say that many seem to base their lives on the foolish notion that certain kinds of people are prone to die, but not them — they are immune from physical or spiritual death.
In his sefer,”Growth Through Torah, “Rabbi Zelig Pliskin highlights posuk 18 as follows and provides commentary (pages 451 – 452) :
Do not justify wrong behavior by claiming it is your philosophy or policy.
Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman used to quote his Rebbe, the Chofetz Chaim, that this refers to someone who doesn’t just do an improper act because of an impulse. Rather, he makes an entire ideology out of cruelty and the right to harm others. As we read in posuk 19, this is a most serious offense. [“Hashem will not… forgive him, for Hashem’s anger… will smoke against that man, and the entire curse written in this book will come down upon him, and Hashem will erase his name from under Heaven.” (Sefer Devarim, Perek 29, posuk 19 excerpted from The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)] It is not that the person just happened to do something wrong. Rather, he makes a whole new set of rules for himself that are diametrically opposed to Torah principles. (Rabbi Pliskin citing Kovetz Maamorim, page 85)
The second of the two posukim, this from Parshat Vayeilech
“Moshe summoned Yehoshua and said to him before the eyes of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall come with this people to the Land that Hashem swore to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.'” (Perek 31, posuk 7 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash provides commentary on this posuk (page 1095) :
Moshe charges Yehoshua. To add to Yehoshua’s prestige, Moshe charged him in the presence of the nation, telling him that he would lead them. Moshe urged him to be courageous… “For you shall come with this people.” By saying that Yehoshua would come with the people, Moshe implied that Yehoshua should be first among equals. meaning that Yehoshua would share the leadership with the elders, and defer to them. In verse 23, however, Hashem said otherwise. He instructed Yehoshua to bring the nation into the Land, meaning that he [Yehoshua] must be a strong and decisive commander, for a generation cannot have more than one leader. (The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Rashi) … Or HaChaim clarifies… [Moshe’s] statement could have been interpreted to diminish Yehoshua’s authority over the elders. Hashem clarified that he [Yehoshua] would be the supreme temporal authority.
On Perek 31, posuk 7 in Parshat Vayeilech, Rabbi Pliskin writes (page 458) :
Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen wrote that this verse, “Before the eyes of all Israel,” can be interpreted that Moshe told Yehoshua to be strong and powerful whenever he was in the presence of the people. Yehoshua was going to take over the leadership of the Jews and a king is commanded in the Torah not to be arrogant. But a leader must be humble in private. As regards dealing with the people, a king has no right to forego his honor. Moshe, the paragon of humility, told his disciple and successor, Yehoshua, that he could not be submissive in his position of authority. Rather, he must be tough as iron for the benefit of the nation. (Rabbi Pliskin citing Meshech Chochmah)
Humility is an awareness of one’s small stature in relation to the entire universe and the infinite greatness of the Almighty. But every trait has its time and place. When in a position of authority, one must insure that one’s commands will be followed. The ideal is for a person [in a leadership position] to have humility in his personal relationships with others, but to be strong and powerful in his position of authority. This strength will be for the greater good of those who are dependent upon him and this renders the trait a virtue.
What speaks to this author regarding Perek 29, posuk 18 and how it relates to the catastrophic war on multiple fronts is, as Rabbi Pliskin citing Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman who often quoted the Chofetz Chaim as saying that one doesn’t act improperly on impulse, but rather his actions are based on an entire ideology of cruelty and the right to harm others. Consider how factions of Am Yisrael acted, often violently, against legislation which aimed at judicial reforms, such as certain reservists who threatened to ignore call-up orders and certain air force pilots who threatened not to fly. These reforms would have, for example, resulted in the judiciary being accountable to the people through such legislation which would bring about governmental appointment of judges at all levels, rather than the current reality where committees of attorneys appoint the judiciary. This divisive ideology of this factions exposed national disunity for all of our enemies, and the whole world, to see thus jeopardizing our security and military credibility.
Also, consider the arrogance of the military high command in first ignoring, and then threatening and intimidating border observers, who saw Hamas’ preparations for imminent attacks into Israel, with court martial and other legal proceedings.
Perek 31, posuk 7 speaks to this author regarding strength and power, rather than the equivocation of current Israeli governance in terms of it’s apparent acquiescence to the incompetence of the current military high command in strategy and tactics, thus keeping our chayalim from fighting a war to WIN, as well as continued reliance upon an unreliable so-called “super power” for much of our military weaponry, rather than having developed home-grown military weaponry, munitions and jet fighter industries.
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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