Thursday, August 30, 2012
LOOKING AT OURSELVES
10:37 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By
Rav Moshe Sternbuch
Looking at ourselves
“See, I
set before you today day a blessing and a curse" (11:26).
Re’eh –
“See”
is in the singular: the possuk is addressing each individual,
telling them not to look around to see what level others are on, and thus find
solace in the fact that they are on a higher level than those around them.
Instead, we should look only at ourselves to determine whether we are
fulfilling our own specific potential.
Sometimes
a person feels satisfied after learning for several hours, even though his specific
talents and constitution allow him to learn more than his friend who learns as
much as him but is endowed with less talents or stamina. We should only compare
ourselves to those around us whose level of avodas Hashem surpasses
ours.
I - you must be aware that
Hashem is the Creator, who runs the world, and life and death, and good and bad
in general, are dependent on his Will.
Set
before you - in
the present tense: we should not feel as if the Torah was given to us thousands
of years ago in the wilderness, but as if it is being given to us here and now.
Today
– do not tell
yourself that yesterday I exhausted myself learning, I gave a lot of Tzedaka
and performed other mitzvahs, today I need to relax a bit, and tomorrow I will
get back to my routine. Instead, our task each day is to determine how we can
best fulfill the will of Hashem during the coming day. Sometimes this
will indeed consist in resting or relaxing, but we have to be honest with
ourselves. If we are fully aware that each and every day presents unique and
irreplaceable opportunities for grabbing more Torah and mitzvos and
acquiring eternal life, any urge to rest will be more likely to stem from a
proper desire to strengthen ourselves for our avodas Hashem than from
mere laziness.
Mitzvos
“The
blessing, that you will heed the commandments of Hashem” (11:27)
According
to the plain meaning, this phrase teaches us that the believing person who
keeps the mitzvos feels content. He accepts everything that happens to
him as the Will of Hashem, and is blessed with peace of mind, unlike the person
who does not keep mitzvahs, who becomes frustrated and disgruntled whenever
things do not turn out the way he would like them to.
Furthermore,
the very fact that we are serving Hashem and keeping mitzvos instead of
leading an animalistic existence pursuing vanities is a blessing in and of
itself, even without the expectation of any other recompense.
Meisis
“Neither
shall you pity him, have mercy upon him, nor shield him” (13:9)
Normally, in the Torah’s criminal
law, we have to go out of our way to find something extenuating to save a
defendant's life, but in the case of the meisis
the opposite is the case: we do not look for any merits, nor give him the
benefit of the doubt.
The most dangerous type of meisis pretends to be religious, but
secretly incites others towards heresy (not necessarily idle worship), because
such people constitute a threat to the very existence of the Torah.
Kashrus
“You
shall not eat any carcass… for you are a holy nation to Hashem” (14:21)
A member of a holy nation is concerned with maintaining the highest
levels of kashrus, wherever one may find oneself, be it in a restaurant or a
foreign business trip. The possuk
warns us not to make do with declarations or kashrus certificates, which are of
an insufficiently high standard.
TZEDOKO
“You shall
not close your hand from your needy brother” (15:7)
The Vilna Gaon zt”l explains that when we
clench our hands together all the fingers appear to be identical in size.
Someone who gives the same amount of charity to every person who requests it,
without examining the genuine requirements of the specific individual, is
transgressing this admonition not to close one’s hand. We cannot assume that
each potential recipient requires the same amount from us.
On the
other hand, it is true that every applicant should receive something, and, in
the merit of not turning anybody away, Hashem will reward us by not checking
whether we are indeed "poor" and worthy when we ask Him for help.
“You
shall surely give him” (15:10)
A person
giving charity should feel as if he is becoming a partner with Hashem, and that
the recipient is obtaining what is actually his. Someone who genuinely feels
this will give always give tzedoko with joy, regardless of the amount
with which he is parting.
Every
man shall bring as much as he can afford, according to the blessing of Hashem,
your G-d, which He has given you (16:17)
Rav
Sternbuch once knew a diamond merchant who admitted that during certain periods
he earned almost one million dollars a month, but when Rav Sternbuch asked him
for a donation he said that he was not earning so much at the moment because of
an economic slump, and he refused to give anything. Rav Sternbuch responded
that Hashem had paid him in advance on account, and instead of providing him
with a living in dribs and drabs, He had paid him huge amounts in a short
period from which he could live comfortably also in the future, so that he was
now obliged to pay Hashem back by giving charity out of the funds he had
received in advance - for now.
The
possuk here states that if
someone has been the recipient of a blessing of Hashem “which He has given him”,
i.e. in the past, he must continue to give as he did in the
past, and not claim to be exempt from the commandment of giving tzedoko because he currently has no earnings. Anyone acting in this way would
be showing disrespect and lack of gratitude for Hashem's kindness to him in the
past.
SHEVET LEVI
“And
you shall rejoice before Hashem, your G-d, you… and the Levi who is within your
cities, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are among you” (16:11)
Since the Levi appears in this possuk before the stranger, the orphan
and the widow, he would appear to be more important than them. Why is that so?
When
Rav Sternbuch was a boy in Rav Schneider’s yeshiva during World War II, there
was nothing to eat, and the Rosh Yeshiva sent him to collect money. Some people
gave some donations, but others
refused, saying that the yeshiva bochurim should go out to work like everybody else
and stop being batlonim (idle people).
The Levi has no property of his own,
and is totally dependent on presents from the rest of the nation. In the
rotation of the 24 mishmoros
a Levi worked in the Beis Hamikdosh for one day at a time twice a year,
but he had to remain free and available for avodas Hashem the rest of the time.
The Torah recognizes that people may not appreciate the importance of
supporting levi’im (or full-time Torah learners as the Rambam points out),
and therefore they take priority even over helpless people such as strangers
orphans and widows, because both the spiritual and material existence of the
nation depends on their continued undisturbed avodas Hashem.
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