Behukosai 5782 – Embracing the Yoke of Avodas Hashem
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Shiur presented in 5778
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Shiur presented in 5778
Rav Yisrael Salanter is known as the father of the mussar movement. What was the nekudah that Rav Yisrael introduced to the world? What was he trying to accomplish? Was he trying to be mechazek people in a certain area of kiyum hamitzvos? The Chafez Chaim was famous for his sefer Shemiras Halashon.But his intention was not just that people should learn hilchos shemiras halashon. He was trying to get people to strengthen themselves in the fulfillment of the laws of shemiras halashon.
The Ramchal writes, in Derech Hashem, about the concept of gilgulei neshamos, how a person could come back in different forms. As a matter of fact, one person can even have a number of neshamos. There are many people who don’t understand what motivates them and where they get their koach from. The gemara tells us, for example, that Rabbi Yochanan said: “I come from the offspring of Yosef.”
We are in the Three Weeks now, together with the whole world, and we are trying to think about this period. Today’s shiur is going to focus a bit on understanding the three weeks from a psychological standpoint. The Chafetz Chaim, in his sefer Ahavas Yisrael, discusses the reasons why people don’t like each other. Now, the first thing you have to understand is that human psychology is at work overtime whenever we have social interaction. When we encounter people, whether face to face or from a distance, or even through somebody else introducing me to that person, the human being always establishes a platform: do I like that person, or do I not like that person…
Today’s shiur is dedicated l’ilui nishmas isha hagedola, Sara Ita bas R’ Avraham Avigdor. Today was her yom hakvura. She was an outstanding person who lived day in and day out fulfilling her tafkid in life, working on her tafkid of being em b’yisroel.
In this week’s parshah we encounter an episode of unimaginable proportions. It’s a ma’aseh that we can’t imagine doing. We can’t even fathom it. But we all descend from the person who is the ba’alas hama’aseh.
We live in a generation where the darkness is such a darkness and people have accustomed themselves to the darkness that they actually perceive as light. The passuk says, “Hashem placed the world under choshech and it became night” (Tehillim 104:20).