In this week’s parshah Moshe Rabeinu is on the last day of his life and he calls Klal Yisrael together and says אתם נצבים היום – you stand this day (Devarim 29:9). Rashi says מלמד, this teaches us, שכנסם משה לפני הקב”ה ביום מותו להכניסם בברית – that Moshe assembled them in the presence of Hashem on the day of his death in order to initiate them into a covenant with Him.
In this week’s parshah, the Torah teaches us about the mitzvah of bikurim. The Torah tells us that when you plant fruit trees in Eretz Yisrael, you’re supposed to bring the first of the growth to the Beis Hamikdash, to be given to the kohanim. These first fruits are unique because they’re brought to the kohen in the Beis Hamikdash, but they’re not offered on the mizbeach. They’re given to the kohen. The Torah tells us the very great procedure that we have to do. There’s a whole meseches Bikurim that talks about the process of how you have to tie a string around the first fruit that emerge, and when they ripen you have to put them in a basket and then you have to march to Yerushalayim with pomp. A most tremendous mitzvah!
The month of Elul is a month for introspection and becoming aware of what one’s challenges are in this world. Do you know what our biggest challenge is? The biggest challenge that everybody has in this world is the same one. I share the same challenge as all of you. We both share a common enemy, and that enemy’s name is yeitzer hara or as the chassidim say yaitzer hurah or as the Sefardim say yeitzer ha-rah. But whatever the name is, however you pronounce it, it’s all the same thing, it’s the same enemy.
Tonight’s subject be’eizer Hashem,is to figure out the purpose of our lives in this world, for each one of us. One of the most fundamental principles of Judaism is that there is no creature that exists, that was created for no reason, or by chance. Every single one of the creatures in the universe has a specific purpose. That’s a mind-boggling concept. Every blade of grass, every ant, and every fly has a purpose in Hashem’s creation. That’s principle number one.
In this week’s parshah, we encounter the mitzvah of tzedakah. Tzedakah is something that everybody is familiar with. In all the shuls, people are collecting tzedakah. It is collected everywhere; on the streets, in newspapers, by phone, and through many other mediums and venues.
Today we will begin with our first shiur for this tekufah on the subject of bitachon. We spoke numerous times about emunah, but bitachon is where the power begins. Emunah is the seed or the tree, while bitachon is the fruit.[i] Emunah is the study of the halachah, whereas bitachon, in the words of the Chazon Ish zichrono levrachah, is the halachah lema’aseh.[ii]People don’t realize that the Torah teaches us how to behave in every situation.
In the beginning of Parshas Vayeitzei, the Torah tells us about Yaakov Avinu. The Medrash Rabbah (68:2) comments on the first pasuk, ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע, as follows. The medrash says that Yaakov Avinu began saying some Tehillim. You know which Tehillim he said? The Tehillim that he said was שיר למעלות אשא עיני אל ההרים, I lift up my eyes to the harim (Tehillim 121:1).
Tisha Ba’av is a day on which we have an appointed meeting, a moed, with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Tisha Ba’av is a day of special tefillah, called kinnos. The way the moed is expressed is through the kinnos and by yearning for the Beis Hamikdash, and yearning to be taken out of galus. We have to analyze and understand that not all requests are uniform. Different requests require different formats. What is the format for asking for the geulah?
The passuk in Parshas Ma’asei says: אלה מסעי בני ישראל אשר יצאו מארץ מצרים לצבאתם ביד משה ואהרן – These were the marches of the Bnei Yisroel who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moshe and Aaron. One of the subjects of training that the Klal Yisrael experienced in the midbar was the parshah of masaos. It’s very interesting to take note of that.
The Torah relates an episode that took place in the midbar where a nasi of Shevet Shimon faced a tremendous challenge and he publicly did an act that shouldn’t have been done. We have to understand that he did it with a cheshbon. It wasn’t that he just fell into a ta’avah. You have to know this man, Zimri, was 250 years old. He was past the ta’avah stage. But Pinchas came along and took his life. Pinchas performed a ma’aseh kanaus, an act of zealotry and he speared them both with a spear.
