lessons from Avraham's war

I think it's inevitable that people will look to the story of war in our parsha and try to draw lessons and parallels to our current situation, so here are a few ideas that I jotted down (I deliberately avoided themes that are further removed from the plain meaning of the text):

1)  וַיְהִי בִּימֵי אַמְרָפֶל מֶלֶךְ שִׁנְעָר אַרְיוֹךְ מֶלֶךְ אֶלָּסָר כְּדׇרְלָעֹמֶר מֶלֶךְ עֵילָם וְתִדְעָל מֶלֶךְ גּוֹיִם

 עָשׂוּ מִלְחָמָה אֶת בֶּרַע מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם וְאֶת בִּרְשַׁע מֶלֶךְ עֲמֹרָה שִׁנְאָב מֶלֶךְ אַדְמָה וְשֶׁמְאֵבֶר מֶלֶךְ צְבֹיִים וּמֶלֶךְ בֶּלַע הִיא צֹעַר.

The Tanchuma comments:

 דָּבָר אַחֵר, חֶרֶב פָּתְחוּ רְשָׁעִים, אֵלּוּ אַרְבָּעָה מְלָכִים אַמְרָפֶל וַחֲבֵרָיו, שֶׁעֲדַיִן לֹא הָיְתָה מִלְחָמָה בָעוֹלָם בָּאוּ אֵלּוּ וּפָתְחוּ בַּחֶרֶב וְעָשׂוּ מִלְחָמָה. אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, אַתֶּם פְּתַחְתֶּם בַּחֶרֶב לְהַפִּיל עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן, חַרְבָּם תָּבֹא בְלִבָּם. עָמַד אַבְרָהָם וַהֲרָגָם.

War requires a casus belli, whether it is a dispute over territory, trade, or ideology.  Not so the war described in our parsha.  R' Amiel in his Higyonot el Ami writes that בָּאוּ אֵלּוּ וּפָתְחוּ בַּחֶרֶב means that the war was the petach, was the reason for itself. It was war l'shem war and no other reason.  

There are people who need to reason or justification for waging war other than the desire to shed blood and fight.

2) עָשׂוּ מִלְחָמָה  Agra d'Kallah is medayek: הוה ליה למימר נלחמו עם מלך וכו.  In light of R' Amiel's explanation the pshat here is that they created a pretext for war where none existed.  

Agra d'Kallah writes that these nations created the whole concept of war:

אך הוא להורות שהם הם אשר עשו המלחמה בכל יושבי תבל, ומהם למדו להתיר המון שפיכת דמים על ידי המלחמה, כי מימות עולם היו גדורים בזה. והנה תמצא שהפרשה הקודמת מסיימת "ויבן "שם "מזבח "לד' (בראשית יג יח), ר"ת שלו"ם. להורות כי עד הזמן ההוא היה שלום בעולם, והם התחילו מלחמה

I see this expression עָשׂוּ מִלְחָמָה as a contrast to the expression used earlier in the parsha in connection with Avraham, אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ בְחָרָן .  

 Avraham made נפשׁות; these nations made war.  

3)    וַיִּקְחוּ אֶת כׇּל רְכֻשׁ סְדֹם וַעֲמֹרָה וְאֶת כׇּל אׇכְלָם וַיֵּלֵכוּ

וַיִּקְחוּ אֶת לוֹט וְאֶת רְכֻשׁוֹ בֶּן אֲחִי אַבְרָם וַיֵּלֵכוּ וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב בִּסְדֹם

The fact that the Torah puts Lot in the spotlight, giving the story of his being captured its own pasuk, shows that seizing him was the aim of the attack.  וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב בִּסְדֹם - Lot was not part of the war and was an innocent bystander.  There was no reason to target him. So why did they do so?

We already know that Lot is בֶּן אֲחִי אַבְרָם.  The Torah mentions the fact to bring out, writes Tzror haMor, that it was the relationship to Avraham that was the cause of Lot being a target.  Attacking him was a way to attack Avraham. 

Why not go after Avraham directly?  Contrast what we are told about where Lot lives, וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב בִּסְדֹם, with the description in the next pasuk of where Avraham was: וְהוּא שֹׁכֵן בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא הָאֱמֹרִי אֲחִי אֶשְׁכֹּל וַאֲחִי עָנֵר וְהֵם בַּעֲלֵי בְרִית אַבְרָם.  Avraham is not just a יֹשֵׁב, he is שֹׁכֵן, like the word for neighbors, שׁכנים.  And indeed, Avraham has friends who are בַּעֲלֵי בְרִית אַבְרָם.  This of course is on top אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ בְחָרָן and the slaves who Avraham was given by Pharoah.  By going after Lot the enemy thought they were going after the weak link -- someone who was not part of a community, someone with no friends and neighbors for support, someone who had no one to call upon for help.

4) וַיָּבֹא הַפָּלִיט וַיַּגֵּד לְאַבְרָם הָעִבְרִי וְהוּא שֹׁכֵן בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא הָאֱמֹרִי אֲחִי אֶשְׁכֹּל וַאֲחִי עָנֵר וְהֵם בַּעֲלֵי בְרִית אַבְרָם

Avraham has friends who he can call on to back him up, but as we see in the next pasuk, וַיָּרֶק אֶת⁠ חֲנִיכָיו יְלִידֵי בֵיתוֹ שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת, Avraham only calls on his household to participate.  This is our fight.  The support is welcome, but it is not something we will demand of others.

Tzror haMor adds:

ולזה נתכוונו רז״ל באומרם שלא הוליך עמו אלא אליעזר שעולה שי״ח. להורות שהוא לא בטח ברוב חיל אלא בחסד ה׳ ולכן לא הוליך עמו אלא אליעזר לרמוז שבטח בחסד האל ולא בחיל ולא בכח

Avraham knows that it is not the number of soldiers or the might of the army that can guarantee victory.  Victory is b'yad Hashem.  He therefore takes a minimum of dedicated soldiers to make his hishtadlus while having the bitachon that Hashem will do the rest. 

5) Why does the פָּלִיט run davka to Avraham and why is he called הָעִבְרִי here?  Ksav v'Kabbalah writes:

בשאר מקומות לא הוזכר רק שם אברם לבדו וכאן צירף גם שם יחוסו שהוא עברי, כי רק מבחינה זו התעורר הפליט להגיד הדבר אליו, להיותו עברי, שהתעורר להחזיק באמונת אחדות אלהות הפך דעת אמרפל שהוא נמרוד, מן המנצחים במלחמה זו, ואשר מסבתו הוכרח אברם לעזוב ארץ מולדתו, וזה יהי׳ סבה גדולה לעורר את אברם שונאו לעמוד נגדו וליקח את נקמתו ממנו.

Avraham's ideology was the antithesis of those waging war, and Avraham had put his neck on the line before to stand in opposition to Nimrod.  Therefore, the פָּלִיט knew that Avraham would stick his neck out again here.

It's interesting that the Torah does not say וַיָּבֹא הַפָּלִיט וַיַּגֵּד לְאַבְרָם אחי לוט or something similar.  Apparently, as Seforno explains, Avraham was motivated to fight not just because Lot was his relative.  Avraham understood that there was more at stake than that.  There was a clash of ideologies here.

Netziv adds:

 לא שהלך להודיע צער ולבשר רעה בלי תועלת, אלא משום שהיה ״העברי״, וידוע היה שיש תקוה ממנו לשנות את הדבר גם בדרך נס.

Avraham was someone who could do something about what happened, even if a miracle was required. 

6) וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָם כִּי נִשְׁבָּה אָחִיו וַיָּרֶק אֶת חֲנִיכָיו יְלִידֵי בֵיתוֹ שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת וַיִּרְדֹּף עַד דָּן

Even though just a few pesukim earlier Lot is described as  בֶּן אֲחִי אַבְרָם, here is is called  אָחִיו.  For all of us who have been saying אחינו כל בית ישׂראל this needs no explanation.

7)  וַיֵּחָלֵק עֲלֵיהֶם לַיְלָה הוּא וַעֲבָדָיו וַיַּכֵּם וַיִּרְדְּפֵם עַד חוֹבָה אֲשֶׁר מִשְּׂמֹאל לְדַמָּשֶׂק.

Avraham pursued the enemy and battled them even in the dark of night.  Netziv comments:

בדן נחו מעט ארבעה מלכים אלו כשהיה בערב, כסבורים שישבות גם אברם מלהלחם בלילה, אבל אברם נתחלק הוא בפני עצמו ועבדיו בפני עצמם ויכם, אחר שהיו נחים וישנים בלילה.

The enemy stopped to rest at night, thinking that Avraham too would pause and would need a cease fire to regroup and rest.  Avraham, however, was relentless in his pursuit and did not let up.

I wish this came from a parody account

I ask you: Is today, or this week, really the time and place to write something like this?  It's beyond tone deaf.  

UPDATE (in case you thought it couldn't get worse) --  transcript from today's press briefing:

REPORTER: What is Biden's level of concern right now about a potential rise of antisemitism in light of everything that's going on in Israel?

JEAN-PIERRE: So a couple of things. Um, look, we have no seen any credible threats. I know there's been always questions about credible threats and so, I just want to make sure that's out there. 

But look, Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks, and certainly, President Biden understands that many of our Muslim, Arab, Arab-American, and Palestinian-American loved ones are worried about the hate being directed at their communities, and that is something you heard the president speak to in his address just last Thursday. 

And so, one of the things that the president has done is directed his team, Homeland Security team to prioritize prevention and disruption of any emerging threats that could hurt the Jewish, the Muslim, Arab Americans, or any other communities, and that is something the president has sought to do since day one. As you know, the president ran on, on, you know, bringing, protecting communities but also bringing communities together, protecting the soul of the nation. And so, that is something the president takes very, very seriously, and we're going to continue to denounce any sort of hate toward any American here, and that's what we're going to continue to be steadfast on.

in a different world

Rashi comments: קץ כל בשר בא לפני – כל מקום שאתה מוצא זנות, אנדרולמוסיא בא לעולם והורגת טובים ורעים.  Taz (in Divrei David) points out that Rashi seems to be a stira minei u'bei, self-contradictory. If the evils of the pre-flood world dictated a response of  אנדרולמוסיא that kills טובים ורעים, good and evil folks alike, then how is it that Noach himself was spared?  Doesn't the fact that he survived and was spared prove that in fact it was not an indiscriminate punishment, that  טובים were not killed alongside רעים?

Rashi writes in Braishis that the world was created with the letter 'hey' because  כה״י זה שסתום מכל צדדין ופתוח מלמטה לרדת דרך שם.  Last week I mentioned the question of Shem m'Shmuel: Why did Hashem not create the world with a letter that has a big opening on top so that the tzadikim could go up to shamayim?  The elevator goes in both directions, doesn't it?  

Shem m'Shmuel answers that olam ha'zeh can only bring a person down.  There is no upside.  The very word טבע, the laws of nature, is based on the same root as as used in the expression ספינה טובעת בּים, a boat sinking in the sea.  Olam ha'zeh is the quicksand that will sink you into places that are hard to get out of.  The way out is by rising above it, by choosing to live למעלה מין הטבע.

Taz uses a similar yesod to explain our Rashi.  He writes that if you read the pesukim carefully, you see that the command to build the ark, pesukim 14-16, precedes Hashem telling Noach that he is going to bring a flood, pasuk 17.  Why would Hashem tell Noach to make an ark before telling him that there is going to be a flood?  Taz answers that  אנדרולמוסיא בא לעולם effects everyone, טובים ורעים, in that עולם.  What the ark did is isolate Noach from the world.  Hashem showed Noach that even when the world of טבע warrants destruction, he has a place of refuge outside it.

Sefas Emes and others see "teivah" as an allusion to words of Torah and tefillah.  These are our places of refuge למעלה מין הטבע that can take us outside whatever is going on in the world.

This is not just a nice derasha, but it's lomdus that unlocks a Tosfos.  The gemara (San 59) has a principle that  ליכא מידעם דלישראל שרי ולעובד כוכבים אסור.  You cannot have a case where dinei Yisrael is more lenient than dinei bnei Noach.  Tosfos comments that even though a ben Noach who keeps shabbos is chayav misa but we obviously are not, that does not count because the Torah specifically gives us a mitzvah to observe shabbos.  בדבר שהוא מצוה לישראל לא אמרינן הכי העובד כוכבים ששבת חייב ולישראל מצוה  The more difficult question is with respect to other days of the week.  There is no mitzvah for us to keep shabbos on Monday, for example, but the halacha is that an aku"m that keeps a day of shabbos on Monday is chayav while we are not.  Why is that not an exception?  Tosfos cryptically writes מ"מ יש עליו מצות שביתת שבת.  

R' Yosef Engel (Ben Porat 4) explains as follows: you only say ליכא מידעם דלישראל שרי ולעובד כוכבים אסור when talking about the same cheftza, in this case the same day of the week.  You have to compare apples to apples.  The reason why an aku"m that keeps shabbos is chayav but we are not is because these are in effect apples and oranges.  For us, there is a day of shabbos.  For an aku"m, it's Saturday.  Those are totally different worlds, totally different units of time.  We live in a world where the seventh day of the week has kedusha, where we come in contact with olam ha'ba.  They have no access to such a thing.

R' Yosef Engel then goes on to say an even bigger chiddush: the same thing applies to Monday.  For us, it's "yom sheni b'shabbos."  Every day of the week connects either to the previous shabbos or the upcoming shabbos and draws from its kedusha.  For an aku"m, it's just another day of the week.  Again, apples and oranges.

We look like we are in same world, going through the same days of the week, leading the same life, as our neighbors, as everyone else.  In reality, it's not the same at all.  We are למעלה מין הטבע , למעלה מין הזמן as it exists for them.     

thanks, but... a review of how we got here

Of course we should be thankful for the arms that Biden has given Israel.  However, we should not lose sight of how we got to the point that these arms are needed.  While it's pointless to play hypothetical games and ask what could have been had Trump or someone else been in the White House, it's certainly fair game to take a look at the policy changes that the Biden administration has implemented viz a viz Iran and the Palestinians and ask ourselves whether they have contributed to or hindered Israel's security.  Here's just a sample and judge for yourselves:

1) "Just six days after taking office, the Biden administration took a sharp turn in U.S. policy in the Middle East, announcing it will resume contact with Palestinian leaders and restore U.S. contributions to the U.N. agency which provides aid to Palestinians...The remarks signaled a rejection of then-President Donald Trump's policy of the past four years, which overwhelmingly favored the interests of Israel's right-wing government. The Trump administration closed the Washington, D.C., office of the Palestine Liberation Organization; halted contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees and their descendants; moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing the city as Israel's capital; recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights; and presented a peace proposal which left all Israeli West Bank settlements in place."  (link)

2) "President Biden will also announce new contributions totaling $316 million to support the Palestinian people. This is on top of the more than half a billion dollars the United States has provided to the Palestinian people since the Biden Administration restored much needed funding to the Palestinians."  (taken from the White House's own statement)

3) "The Biden administration has funneled more than $730 million to a United Nations organization for refugee assistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that harbored personnel who have incited violence against the Jewish people, The Post has learned." 

4) "The Biden administration has sent more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to a Palestinian relief organization that has previously been accused of providing safe harbor to terrorists in Gaza, drawing increased scrutiny amid Hamas' attacks on Israel." (link)

5) "A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday evening ordered the discovery phase of a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of knowingly providing funds that benefited Palestinian terrorists get underway.  America First Legal (AFL) first filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken resumed payments to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that former President Trump ended in order to be in compliance with the Taylor Force Act — a federal law that prohibits the government from sending American taxpayer dollars to the PA until it stops supporting terrorism." (link)

6) "The US government will stop funding and participating in research, development, and scientific cooperation projects in Judea and Samaria, three years after Trump approved the cooperation." (link) 

7) "President Biden would not commit to inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, a split from previous president’s who have long welcomed the country’s longest serving prime minister." (link)

8) “Because the Biden administration has been eagerly pursuing a nuclear agreement with Tehran, White House officials admitted to Bloomberg News that they have relaxed sanctions on Iran. The impact of that idiocy has been that Iran’s oil exports, which languished at less than 800,000 barrels per day under President Trump, soared to around 1.7 million b/d in August. (Some put the figure even higher, at 2 mb/d.) According to one estimate, that means Iran raked in $30-$40 billion in extra revenues this past year. Forget the $6 billion held by Qatar that Biden’s team recently unfroze; the jump in oil revenues was more than enough to fund the malevolent activities of Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror proxies." (link)

9) “President Biden stressed in a speech after his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Friday that a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines with agreed upon land swaps is the best way to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.... Biden's address — the first time as president he laid out parameters for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — was seen as a win for the Palestinians, who were hoping to get a diplomatic achievement from the president's visit in the form of a more detailed U.S. public position on the conflict.  His comments brought the U.S. position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back to the pre-Trump era and close to the position of the Obama administration." (link)

In summation, Biden presidency policy has 1) allowed Iran access to $, which are then used to fund terror; 2) directed the transfer of funds to the Palestinians; 3) funded UN agencies that are hostile to Israeli interests; 4) cut off cooperation with those in Yehuda and Shomron; 5) rebuffed Netanyahu; 6) advocated for a return to pre-1967 borders.  

But the other guy did... The other party believes...  

Well, ask yourself one question: is whatever he/they did that you disagree with worth your casting your lot in with a person/party that supports these policies?

issur of chatzi shiur on eating eitz ha'daas

I saw a diyun regarding whether there was an issur of chatzi shiur on the eitz ha'daas.  Rashi comments on  וַתִּתֵּן גַּם לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ וַיֹּאכַל (3:6) that גם – לרבות בהמה וחיה. Chavah fed the fruit to all the animals as well as Adam.  How big was this fruit?  If she broke off pieces to distribute, odds are there was less than the shiur left for Adam to eat.  Does the concept of shiur for issurim even apply when speaking about issurei ben Noach, or are they chayav for any amount?   

I don't think you need any fancy lomdus to answer this question.  When Hashem told Adam not to eat from eitz ha'daas the pasuk says  וּמֵעֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע לֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ (2:17)  The word  מִמֶּנּוּ in the pasuk seems extraneous.  Ibn Ezra comments: או טעמו: אפילו מעט ממנו  Black on white that the shiur here is any amount.

"Do you have family in Israel?"; Kayin and Hevel and inyana d'yoma; Joe Biden's worst lie yet

1)"Do you have family in Israel?"   

This is the first question I am always asked by my well meaning non-Jewish coworkers who see the war news and want to know if my family is safe.  This one question highlights the fundamental difference between the way the non-Jewish world looks at the news and events in the world and the way we look at them.  In their mind if a close relative is in danger that's one thing, but if not, then the concern is muted, you have less to be worried about, you are not losing sleep every night.

A family member in Israel recently (before the war) was talking about needing help for something, and they were not overly concerned because, in their words, "We are all family here."  If that was the feeling two weeks ago, kal v'chomer that is the feeling now, and it extends not just to those in Israel, but even to those of us living in chu"l.  

Even if you don't have a brother or sister in Israel, a parent or aunt or uncle, or even a first, second, or even third cousin, each and every one of us feels like we have family there; we are personally invested in everything that is happening in a way that only family is invested.

2) I was made aware of this Yalkut Shimoni thanks to a talk I saw by R' Oury Cherki.  

 וַיָּקׇם קַיִן אֶל הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיַּהַרְגֵהוּ

The word וַיָּקׇם implies that Kayin was lying down or sitting down and then got up.  What was going on in this encounter?  The Yalkut writes:

אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן, הֶבֶל הָיָה גִבּוֹר מִקַּיִן, שֶׁאֵין תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר וַיָּקָם אֶלָא מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָיָה נָתוּן תַּחְתָּיו אָמַר לֵיהּ שְׁנֵינוּ בָּעוֹלָם, מָה אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ וְאוֹמֵר לְאַבָּא, נִתְמַלֵּא עָלָיו רַחֲמִים, מִיַּד עָמַד עָלָיו וַהֲרָגוֹ. מִן תַּמָן אִנּוּן אָמְרִין טָב לְבִישׁ לֹא תַּעֲבִיד וְכוּ׳.

I don't need to elaborate on the application to iyana d'yoma.  Hevel assumed Kayin had the same moral rule book that he did, which was a mistake.  

3) The biggest lie of all the big lies Joe Biden has told is his statement on Sunday that, "...A significant portion of Palestinian people do not share the views of Hamas and Hezbollah."

Is there a shred of evidence that would support such an assertion?  Did the Palestinian media last Saturday and Sunday condemn the atrocities that occurred?  Was social media filled with Arab voices declaring that Hamas did not act in their name?  Have the people of Gaza when polled declared themselves sick of Hamas' ruling their territory?  Do they teach their children in school to love peace?   

No.  These barbarians celebrated what happened.  These barbarians have held multiple demonstrations in support of Hamas.  

Ask yourself this: Has there been a SINGLE demonstration in the Arab world protesting against Hamas?

Just another one of Joe's lies.  One that we will pay the price for.

thoughts on the situation at hand - Gan Eden, the letter hey and human nature, Hashem's mourning, and what our job is

A friend asked me why I have not written anything about what is going on.  The answer in short is כּשׁם שׁמקבּלים שׂכר על הדרישׁה כך מקבּלים שׂכר על הפּרישׁה.  It is sometimes too challenging to not go negative, so better to spend the time doing other things.  Still, it's before shabbos, a new parsha, so here comes a disaster of a post.

Someone at work who asked about my family in Israel asked whether we could get a flight to bring my daughter, who lives in Yerushalayim, home.  The answer to that question, which I think I managed to explain in a way that even this gentile understood, is that my daughter IS home -- it is we who are displaced.  

That is the message that we in the diaspora need to absorb and internalize and teach to out young people.

Are we really doing that?

When you sign up for a cruise, you get a choice of a first class cabin with all the luxuries, or a second class berth, etc. down the line.  When you are in a lifeboat in an emergency, there is no first class.  You do the bare minimum for survival and try your best to get someplace better.  Galus is a lifeboat.  Sometimes the lifeboat is a leaky wreck, sometimes the lifeboat is comfortable, almost as good as a real ship.  But only a fool makes himself at home on the lifeboat.  

Things are difficult now, but that doesn't mean we should make ourselves at home in the lifeboat.  It means we need to work harder at repairing what needs to be fixed in our real home.  

I have a kashe on myself that I can't answer, but I'll share it with you just in case you want to think about the same kashe.

Rashi comments on  וַיִּקַּח ה׳ אֱלֹקים אֶת הָאָדָם וַיַּנִּחֵהוּ בְגַן עֵדֶן לְעׇבְדָהּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָהּ (2:18) that ויקח – לקחו בדברים נאים ופתהו ליכנס.  Hashem had to entice and seduce Adam to get him to enter Gan Eden.

How does that make sense?  Gan Eden is the best place imaginable.  Why should Hashem have to seduce Adam to get him to go there?  

Good question, isn't it?  

 כִּי נִחַם ה׳ צִיּוֹן נִחַם כׇּל חׇרְבֹתֶיהָ וַיָּשֶׂם מִדְבָּרָהּ כְּעֵדֶן וְעַרְבָתָהּ כְּגַן ה׳ שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה יִמָּצֵא בָהּ תּוֹדָה וְקוֹל זִמְרָה.

And yet we expect Hashem to twist our arm to get us to even think about moving. 

This is not kashya.  It's teiuvta.  Game, set, match.  I don't have an answer.  

What saddens me is that so many people are not even bothered by the question.

At the end of the parsha we read וַיִּנָּחֶם ה׳ כִּי עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל לִבּוֹ.  The Midrash comments that אֵין עֲצִיבָה אֶלָא אֲבֵלוּת.  Netziv asks why Hashem was in aveilus here.  The mabul had not yet started, so what was He mourning over?  

Netziv answers:

אלא הענין, דבכל משך מאה ועשרים שנה מתו כמה צדיקים שהיו בעולם והמה מכונים בשם ׳לב הבריאה׳, כי הוא תכליתו,... והנה בכל דור ודור הצדיק נאסף אל עמיו וזרח צדיק אחר, אבל במשך מאה ועשרים שנה אלו מי שמת לא הניח תמורתו וממלא מקומו, משום הכי שייך לומר ויתעצב אל לבו שהתאבל על מות הצדיקים, שאין עוד אדם שיהא ראוי לקיים העולם לצוות לו.

People die all the time, even under tragic circumstances, and people are born every day too.  But sometimes a death is so tragic that it's like your heart has been ripped out.  Something irreplaceable has been taken.  That was this past week.

I think many people lost their naivete and had their illusions shattered as they discovered this past week just how horrible college campus hatred against Jews is, as they hear the deafening silence of corporate America so willing to stake a stand on so many issues except the slaughter of Jews, etc.

  אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ בְּהִבָּרְאָם.  Rashi comments לימדך כאן שהעולם הזה נברא בה״י. רמז שירדו למטה לראות שחת, כה״י זה שסתום מכל צדדין ופתוח מלמטה לרדת דרך שם  The world was created with the letter 'hey' because it has a big opening on the bottom for the evildoers to fall out of down to where they belong.  

Shem m'Shmuel asks: Why did Hashem not create the world with a letter that has a big opening on top so that the tzadikim could go up to shamayim?  The elevator goes in both directions, doesn't it?

What the pasuk is telling us is that olam ha'zeh by its very nature is cruel and barbaric, Tennyson's "nature red in tooth and claw."  Left unchecked, what comes out is the worst in man, not the best.  Don't be fooled and think that because we live in the year 2023/5754 things are any different.  Rashi in his ruach ha'kodesh had in mind most of what you read about Jews on Twitter when he wrote that comment.  

Of course there is a way up, but that way is למעלה מן הטבע.  Chazal darshen that בְּהִבָּרְאָם is the same letters as Avraham, for whom the world was created.  The 10 tests that Avraham faced proved that a human being can rise above his nature, the nature of olam ha'zeh, to reach amazing heights.

We have seen a lot of that this past week too.  Unbelievable heroism, unbelievable chessed.  Our nation lives למעלה מן הטבע, the very fact that we continue to exist is למעלה מן הטבע.

Even small things can restore your belief in the power of mankind in general to rise above its nature.  It is something you will rarely see if you spend too much time in the cesspool of online social media.  I was sitting outside at lunchtime one day this week in a small park near my office when a total stranger came over and said to me, "I hope if you have family in Israel that they are doing alright.  I just want to let you know that."

Don't completely lose hope.  There are still sane people left in the world out there.  

The Midrash writes (42:4, in Lech Lecha) אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בַּר אֲבִינָא אִם רָאִיתָ מַלְכֻיּוֹת מִתְגָּרוֹת אֵלּוּ בְּאֵלּוּ צַפֵּה לְרַגְלוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ  The Imrei Emes explained (not exactly in these words : ) that when there is war, your job is not to check every arutz station for updates all day, or monitor social media, or to discuss who is to blame, or to map out strategy of what the gvt should do next just in case you get the call to be Defense Minister tomorrow.  Instead of looking at all those things, רָאִיתָ..., instead of looking at every crumb of news and commentary about the fighting and what is going on, what you should look at is צַפֵּה לְרַגְלוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ.  What can I learn, what can I daven for, what chessed can I do, to help bring mashiach closer.

Today happens to be my mother-in-law's yahrzeit.  Years ago she did a video interview, along with one of my wife's uncles, for the Chabad group that collects stories that have to do with the Rebbe, in which she recounts how the Rebbe's bracha brought a yeshu'a for one of her siblings as a baby.  Here is a link if you want the whole story, but I just want to focus on one detail.  When my wife's grandfather called the Rebbe to say his baby was basically at death's door, the Rebbe said to him, "You're a Rav.  The job of a Rav is to make sure the standards of kashrus are upheld, the standard of chinuch where you live is good.  You do you job, and Hashem will do His job.  The baby will be OK."  Today this aunt baruch Hashem has many, many children and grandchildren of her own.  

צַפֵּה לְרַגְלוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ.  We each have a job to do.  Some folks are doing it on the front lines of Gaza.  Some have a job to do in the beis medrash.  Some do it in chessed programs.

Let's do our job, and Hashem will do His. 

R' Aharon Lichtenstein: mitzvos that we happen to do on a chag vs mitzvos that establish the character of the chag

 Y"T fast approaches, but wanted to get this in quickly.  The gemara (Suk 48a) says the Shmini Atzeret is רגל בפני עצמו לענין פז״ר קש״ב  Rashi on the spot comments רגל בפני עצמו  שאין יושבין בסוכה.  

Ramban raises a number of questions on Rashi, among them:

עוד שאינו נקרא רגל בפני עצמו בשביל שאינו בכל מצות הרגל שלו שהרי לולב נוהג בראשון ואינו בשאר הימים בגבולין ורגל פסח נמי חלוק במצה ומרור כדאיתמר לעיל.

How is the absence of mitzvas sukkah proof that Shmini Atzeret is its own regel?  You don't take lulav on the second day of Sukkot onward (mi'doraysa), but it is still the same holiday of Sukkos.  What's the difference between the two?

Rav Zolti in his Mishnas Yaavetz (here) has a defense of Rashi, but I would like to propose answering at least this question with a yesod R' Aharon Lichtenstein has here (parenthetically, the Asif site is really one worth putting on your radar.)  R' Aharon suggests (not enough time to go through his proofs here, so ayen sham!) that there are two types of mitzvos that we do on Yom Tov: 1) there are mitzvos that have a set time in which they have to be performed, and that time just happens to be on a specific chag; 2) there are mitzvos that define the character and nature of the chag.  

For example, R' Aharon writes that blowing shofar is not something that you do on 1 Tishrei that you could just as well do on 3 Tishrei or 5 Tishrei or any other day.  Blowing shofar is what makes 1 Tishrei into "Yom Teru'a."  It defines the day.  Without shofar, you don't have a holiday that is missing a mitzvah -- take away shofar and in effect you no longer have a holiday.  

I would suggest that the same is true of sukkah.  It's not called "Chag ha'Lulav."  It's called "Chag ha'Sukkos."  The reason is not simply because the former is done only for one day and the latter for seven.  The difference is because the former mitzvah defines the nature of the day, the character of the chag.  The latter does not -- it's just a mitzvah that happens to fall out on that particular date.  

This is why according to Rashi שאין יושבין בסוכה is proof that we are dealing with a day that has a completely different character, but the fact that mi'doraysa we don't take lulav during chol ha'moed is not indicative of anything. 

chassan torah

וַיֹּאמַר ה׳ מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמוֹ הוֹפִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ מִימִינוֹ אֵשׁ דָּת לָמוֹ  

The pshat in the pasuk is that it is describing Hashem's revelation on Sinai to give the Torah.  Rashbam: מסיני בא – ונראה לישראל ונתן להם תורתו   Shouldn't it therefore say that Hashem came לסיני, not מִסִּינַי?  

The simple answer is that מלאה הארץ כּבודו and so you cannot say that Hashem comes anywhere.  He is there already.  Like the Uncle Moishy song says, "Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere..."  

Rashi already anticipated this quesrtion on the pasuk as well and quotes from Chazal מסיני בא – ויצא לקראתם כשבאו להתייצב תחת ההר כחתן היוצא להקביל פני כלה.  Sefas Emes (in the Likutim) explains this analogy:

"יצא ממה שׁהי׳ נסתר מקודם ונתגלה כּבודו"

I think in this case the nimshal teaches us something with respect to the mashal and not just the other way around. Just like at mattan Torah Hashem drew Himself out kavyachol and revealed what had previously been hidden, so too, the lesson for us is that when a person who comes to teach Torah, to learn Torah, they need to draw out their latent kochos and bring them to the table. You cannot sit back and expect to passively absorb Torah; you have to push yourself to be engaged and stretch your mind to meet the text halfway.   

Every one of us on Simchas Torah and year round can be a chassan -- a chassan Torah.  But you have to reach out beyond yourself and take the first step.

אידך פּירושׁא זיל גמור

צא ולמד

כחתן היוצא להקביל פני כלה