Purim 5782 – An Unspoken Topic of Purim
In Honor of our Parents Alfred & Esther Harary by their Children & Grandchildren
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Shiur presented in 5777
In Honor of our Parents Alfred & Esther Harary by their Children & Grandchildren
Visit YTATorah.org
Shiur presented in 5777
Rav Chatzkel Levenstein, the mashgiach of Mir Yeshiva, once came into the beis medrash of Mir and went over to two bochurim who were learning and asked them what day in Elul it was. They didn’t know right away, so they started to make a cheshbon, trying to remember when Rosh Chodesh Elul was. One of them turned to the other and asked, “Nu, what day of Elul is it?” His chavrusa said, “It’s either the 9th or 10th of Elul.” When Rav Chatzkel heard this, he gave a shrei and said, “Bochurim! You don’t know what day it is in Elul?!
The Torah tells us a story about a person in the midbar who cursed Hashem and they put him in prison. That was a very rare occurrence. The prison system wasn’t common. It wasn’t common at all in Klal Yisrael. They put him in prison until it would be clear what his din was. When they found out that he was supposed to get sekilah, everybody subjected him to sekeilah.
Pinchas rose to the occasion and performed an act of zealotry to stand up for the honor of Hashem. Because of this great action of his, he was zocheh to be gebentched with the greatest of brachos. The passuk says: “behold, I have given him a covenant of peace”. The Seforno explains that since Pinchas struggled My struggle in that zechus, he received bris shalom. What is bris shalom? I will save him from all antagonism to his way of life. Pinchas will be saved from all antagonism toward him and he will be a man who will live in peace.
The story of Korach is an amazing story of how an individual who was of the greatest of the great fell. To say someone is great is nice, but to be great among greats is a much more difficult challenge. The Torah says: “And Korach…took for himself, along with Dasan and Aviram…descendants of Reuven.” Rashi says that because shevet Reuven were neighbors to Kehas and his children they joined Korach in the machlokes: “woe on to the rasha and woe on his neighbor.”
In the gemara (Bava Kamma 92) there is a gantze sugya about the source for certain sayings that the world says. Mei heicha teisi you have to find a mekor in Torah for sayings that people say? הפך בה והפך בה דכולה בה – turn it over and over, for all is therein (Avos 5:22). So in the medical field, we find a concept of American Heart Awareness Month or American Heart Day.
May Hashem’s positive accounting of Klal Yisroel merit Moshiach’s immediate coming! Visit YTATorah.org Shiur presented in 5778