In this week’s parshah, it says that somebody from the nation of Amon or Moav cannot become part of the Jewish nation. Even after ten generations they can’t come bekahal Hashem forever. Why not? Because of the matter that they didn’t present you with bread and water on the road when you were leaving Mitzrayim. Now, this is an amazing thing.
Today is the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul. A person has to be aware that when Elul comes, he has to get his mind ready. He has to prepare himself for Elul. If you just let Elul come and flow over you, you will not get any benefits from Elul. There are some things that you could experience while you’re sleeping and still derive benefits from them. For example, taking an x-ray or having an MRI done.
Moshe Rabbeinu is talking, and he’s says, “See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse…” Rashi translates “asher” to mean al manas, on condition. Rashi says it’s a brachah al manas asher tishmau. Now, you have to understand that Moshe Rabbeinu is talking about a specific event.
In this week’s parshah, we have the Parshas HaMann. Most people have heard about the mann, but they think that the mann only fell when the Yidden were in the desert and that really doesn’t have any shaychus to us today. Because of that, they miss tremendous lessons. They miss a tremendous wellspring, a ma’ayan, that could serve a person’s parnasah. You have to know that the mann is an eternal lesson. How do you know that? Because Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu…
Welcome everybody to this evening shiur. We want to express our thanks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for enabling us to teach about His wonderful Torah, about His wonderful ways to His children, and we hope to raise the level of our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, our commitment to Him, and our appreciation of who we are, what we are, and where we are heading.
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.
