whose tzelem was man created in?

וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹקים אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹקים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם:

The word צַלְמ֔וֹ is possessive - his tzelem.

Whose?

Is it the tzelem Elokim? That would make the entire next clause, בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹקים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ, redundant.

R' Aharon Soloveitchik in his sefer on chumash explains (see Ibn Ezra and Ohr haChaim) that the tzelem of בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ means the tzelem of man himself. Tzelem is the purpose for which every individual is created. It's not by chance that you were put in the world in a particular time and a particular place and given particular abilities. Hashem put you there and gave you the talents you have because that is exactly what you need to fulfill your purpose in creation -- to live up to your tzelem.

Rav Kook makes the same point on the words we said in viduy: עד שלא נוצרתי איני כדאי, ועכשיו שנוצרתי כאלו לא נוצרתי. Before this time and place in history, איני כדאי, there was no need for your neshoma or my neshoma to come into the world.  Now that we are here, עכשיו שנוצרתי, we say viduy and bemoan the fact that in this particular moment in time and space that beckons for our creation and which gives out life purpose, כאלו לא נוצרתי, we fail to live up to who we should be, to the tzelem for which we are created.

If you have the time for it there is a wonderful talk from R' Mordechai Greenberg of Kerem b'Yavneh which captures this idea, among others:

the mystery of the last 8 pesukim, Moshe's seat 8 rows back in the shiur of R' Akiva, and Shmini Atzeret

Menachos 29 relates that Moshe asked Hashem why he was putting crowns on the letters of the Torah.  Hashem answered that in the future there will be a Rabbi Akiva who will darshen halachos from the crowns atop the letters.  Moshe asked to see him, and so Hashem dropped him into R' Akiva's shiur in the 8th row from the front.  Moshe couldn't understand the shiur and was upset until he heard someone ask R' Akiva the source for a din and R' Akiva answered that it is halacha l'Moshe m'Sinai.

Why was Moshe placed davka in the 8th row?

R' Noson Gestetner suggests that this is an allusion to the gemara that speaks about the last 8 pesukim of the Torah.  How could Moshe have written about his own death?  According to one opinion he wrote it "b'dema."  Some interpret that word to mean that he wrote it in tears, but the GR"A interprets it to mean a mixture, like the word dmai.  Ramban writes in his intro to chumash that the Torah in its original, pristine form in shamayim is a code of letters that spell the shem Hashem.  Hashem took those letters and put them in an order to spell the words that we read in olam ha'zeh.  When it came to the last 8 pesukim, Hashem could not leave the Torah incomplete, so he gave those pesukim to Moshe, but he only revealed it to him in the encoded form as Torah appears in shamayimm, but not the actual words that describe Moshe's olam ha'zeh death.  It is those jumbled letters that Moshe wrote. 

The same is true of the torah of R' Akiva.  Moshe was given everything at Sinai, including the halachos R' Akiva taught, but the source was a jumble, it was something he could not make sense of through the prism through which he saw Torah.  He was in the 8th row of the shiur, meaning that for Moshe, the torah of R' Akiva was like those last 8 pesukim.  R' Akiva saw Torah through his own prism and was able to unravel the code.

Everything in the world is contained in Torah.  What happened Shmini Atzeret 2 years ago is somehow also a part of Torah; it's the number 8 like the 8 pesukim that are a jumble that we cannot make sense of, it's like those 8 pesukim written b'dema in the other sense of the word, meaning tears.  We may not be able to unravel the jumble, but that we know contains within it shem Hashem, His presence.   

As I write these words the entire Jewish word is awaiting v'shavu banim l'gevulam, we are awaiting Hashem saying, "kashe alaei p'reidaschem," the seperation of the hostages is too much to bear already and they will return home.  We pray as well that Hashem this year will declare "kashe alai p'reidaschem," the seperation of all of us from Hashem, from our nation, from our homeland, in this galus has gone on too long already. 

the 955 pesukim of Devarim and the 955 gates of Heaven

רְא֣וּ עַתָּ֗ה כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י אֲנִי֙ ה֔וּא וְאֵ֥ין אֱלֹקים עִמָּדִ֑י אֲנִ֧י אָמִ֣ית וַאֲחַיֶּ֗ה מָחַ֙צְתִּי֙ וַאֲנִ֣י אֶרְפָּ֔א וְאֵ֥ין מִיָּדִ֖י מַצִּֽיל

What exactly did Moshe see at this moment beyond the miracles of the 40 years in the desert that triggered this reaction?

R' Yosef Shaul Nathanson writes as follows:

ְThe Midrash in last week's parsha teaches that when Hashem told Moshe הן קרבו ימיך למות, Moshe responded and said, "How can you say that to me when I used that very word to proclaim הן לה׳ אלקיך השמים?" (Devarim 10:14) Hashem answered that this is the fate of all man from the time of the cheit of Adam, because הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע ועתה פן ישלח ידו ולקח גם מעץ החיים ואכל וחי לעלם.

What's the magic of the word הן that led Moshe to think that just because he used that word in connection to praising Hashem, Hashem therefore cannot use that word to tell him he is going to die ?

The AR"I has a teaching as follows: There are 955 levels in the heavens, corresponding to the gematriya of שמים (final letters continue the hundreds count after ת=400, so final chaf = 500, final mem = 600, etc). Of those 955, 900 have angels appointed over them, but the last 55 are filled with Hashem's presence alone and no angels may enter. This is the meaning of הן לה׳ אלקיך השמים, i.e. הן = 55 levels of the 955 = השמים belong to Hashem alone.

By coincidence (not), there are 955 pesukim in sefer Devarim. With every pasuk that Moshe recited, he opened another gate in heaven.

With every gate that Moshe opened, he tried to appeal the gezeirah against himself.

The malachim were all sworn not to help Moshe, and so for each of the first 900 gates that Moshe knocked on, so to speak, the malach in charge refused to carry Moshe's tefilos to Hashem and he was turned away.

When do you do when you get bounced from customer service agent to agent and can't get help? You ask for the manager, of course. Finally, after 900 pesukim, after being turned away by 900 angels, Moshe stood at the levels of heaven, the gates of prayer, that even angels had no power over -- only Hashem himself was there.  He could now take his appeal directly to the top.

Pasuk 900 is that pasuk of רְא֣וּ עַתָּ֗ה כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י אֲנִי֙ ה֔וּא וְאֵ֥ין אֱלֹקים עִמָּדִ֑י אֲנִ֧י אָמִ֣ית וַאֲחַיֶּ֗ה מָחַ֙צְתִּי֙ וַאֲנִ֣י אֶרְפָּ֔א וְאֵ֥ין מִיָּדִ֖י מַצִּֽיל

Moshe Rabeinu now said to Hashem, b'shlama until now, it was angels turning me away, but I recognize that you Hashem have control over these 55 higher levels, הן לה׳ אלקיך השמים. Why then are You slamming the door in my face? Why even on these highest 55=הן levels do I deserve the same message of קרבו ימיך למות?

And the answer is that as great as Moshe is, הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו, no human can access those upper 55 levels lest man turn himself into a deity, as Chazal darshan כאחד ממנו refers to the "Yechido shel olam."

ain ma'avirin al ha'mitzvos - Avnei Nezer's chiddush in when to build your sukkah

The against (Meg 6b) writes that when there is a double Adar, according to R' Eliezer bar Yosi the megillah is read in the first Adar because of the principle of  דְּאֵין מַעֲבִירִין עַל הַמִּצְוֹת.  When you have one continuous block of time and can do the mitzvah earlier or later within that same block, there is a din of zerizus to do it earlier, but that's not a game breaker.  In his case, it's not a contiguous block of time.  There are days in between 14 Adar I and 14 Adar II when the megillah cannot be read.  Therefore, we come on to the principle of אֵין מַעֲבִירִין עַל הַמִּצְוֹת. 

Based on this gemara the Avnei Nezer (OC 459)  has a chiddush din that when there is a shabbos in between Y"K and Sukkos, a person must build his sukkah before shabbos.  You cannot build the sukkah on shabbos, so we treat the days before shabbos and days after as two separate time periods and apply the rule of אֵין מַעֲבִירִין עַל הַמִּצְוֹת.

Is that really true?  The gemara (MK 9a) writes that Shlomo haMelech made a celebration for chanukas Beis haMikdash before Sukkot so as to avoid the problem of מְעָרְבִין שִׂמְחָה בְּשִׂמְחָה.  That year they did not fast on Y"K because of this party for chanukas ha'Bays. The gemara asks: maybe Shlomo just happened to complete the job before Sukkos and that's why he made the celebration then?  How do we know it's because of the issue of מְעָרְבִין שִׂמְחָה בְּשִׂמְחָה?  Answers the gemara: if מְעָרְבִין שִׂמְחָה בְּשִׂמְחָה was not an issue Shlomo would have left a small part unfinished and timed the completion for Sukkos rather than schedule the celebration on Y"K.  (This topic comes up with regards to whether one dan delay a siyum until the 9 days.)

 

According to the Avnei Nezer, if in theory the Mikdash could have been completed either before Y"K or after Y"K, and obviously it could not be built on Y"K itself, wouldn't delaying the completion until after Y"K be a problem of ְאֵין מַעֲבִירִין עַל הַמִּצְוֹת, just like delaying building the sukkah? 

 

See more here.  The more more fundamental argument against the Avnei Nezer is that not reading megillah in the intervening days between Adar I and Adar II is a din in megillah; not building sukkah on shabbos is not a din in sukkah, it's just an extraneous problem of melacha on shabbos that gets in the way.

make your requests l'shem Shamayim

The Tiferes Shlomo comments on our parsha:

ונתנם ה' לפניכם ועשיתם להם ככל המצוה אשר צוויתי אתכם. הידוע מספרים הקדושים שכל מצוה מתרי"ג מצות אם האדם עושה אותה רק לשם שמים ליחד קוב"ה ושכינתי' פורחת לעילא ומצוה כזאת גוררת מצוה אחרת אבל אם האדם עושה המצוה להנאת עצמו אף שיש בו מצוה לא פרחית לעילא. וע"ד שכ' הר"ן בנדרים בענין מצות לא להנות ניתנו אם יש לו הנאת הגוף בהדי מצוה לא אמרינן מצוה לא להנות ניתנו הה"ד בכל המצות. ובזה אמרתי הטעם מה שמצינו במלחמת ישראל שהחרימו את ערי עובדי כוכבים ושללם בפ' חוקת וישמע הכנעני וילחם בישראל וידר ישראל נדר לד' ויאמר אם נתון תתן את העם הזה בידי והחרמתי את עריהם ופרש"י אקדיש שללם. הנ"ל ב"ה שזה הי' הכוונה כדי שילחמו לשם שמים ולא להנאת עצמם כלל:

This is the theme of aseres ymei teshuvah that can bring us success on the ymei ha'din. If you are looking for bracha for your own sake, then good luck with being zocheh to it. But if you are doing things for Hashem's sake and ask Him for help and success, then nothing will be withheld.

We see this idea in the bakashot we add in shmoneh esrei. The Meshech Chochma (in Zos haBracha) quotes a Chazal that before speaking about ourselves, we have to give shevach to Hashem. וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה אֲשֶׁר בֵּרַךְ מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹקים אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי מוֹתוֹ actually does not begin with a bracha to Bn"Y, but rather speaks about Hashem coming down to Sinai to give the Torah ה׳ מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמוֹ הוֹפִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ מִימִינוֹ אֵשׁ דָּת לָמוֹ. If so, asks Meshech Chochma, why do we stick זכרנו לחיים in the first bracha of shmoneh esrei? Shouldn't it belong later, after the first three brachos that are birchos ha'shevach to Hashem?  Tos already asks this question, but the M.C. gives his own spin on things.

The M.C. answers that zochreinu is not a bakasha for our sake. "Ain Melech b'lo am." Our existence is a testimony to Hashem's hashgacha. The fact that Klal Yisrael has survived and thrived proves that Hashem is in charge. זכרנו לחיים... למענך אלקים חיים. We ask Hashem to grant us life for His sake kavyachol, as a testimony to his greatness.  

This explains why we ask "zochreinu l'chaim" in this opening bracha, but later in shmoneh esrei we ask, "ksov l'chaim tovim..."  When we are asking for ourselves, we don't just want a job -- we want a good job.  We don't just want a house -- we want a nice house.  Chaim alone is not enough -- we ask for 'chaim tovim."  The first bracha, however, is not about us.  For Hashem's hashgacha and majesty to prove themselves, it's enough that we simply continue exist through history.  Chaim, even if not chaim tovim, is sufficient (Mishne Berura quotes a different hesber for the difference in bakashos.)

There is a chassidishe vort that sharpens the idea further  Most of us read the bakasha like this:

זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בּחיים וכתבנו בּספר החיים

comma

למענך אלקים חיים

But you can also read it like this:

זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בּחיים וכתבנו בּספר

comma. 

What sefer do we want to be inscribed into? We say to Hashem that the book to put us in is the book of

החיים למענך, אלקים חיים

We want to be put together with to those people who dedicate their lives l'shem Shamayim, who are החיים למענך and not for their own sake.

Chazal give us a little behind the scenes in the story of the haftarah of the first day of Rosh haShana. Chana brought Shmuel to the Mishkan at age two. This little child noticed that people were waiting around, delaying offering a korban. They all thought a kohen was needed to do shechita, and so they were waiting for one to be available. Shmuel stuck in his two cents and told them that it was not required. Shechita is OK if done by a zar. Everyone is learning zevachim now in the daf yomi and so mistmama people know this halacha, but at the time, this was a chiddush gadol and not the accepted norm. Eli wanted to punish Shmuel and get rid of him for this sin of being moreh halacha b'fnei rabo. This is where you have Chana's plea to Eli:

אֶל הַנַּעַר הַזֶּה הִתְפַּלָּלְתִּי וַיִּתֵּן ה׳ לִי אֶת שְׁאֵלָתִי אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵעִמּוֹ

וְגַם אָנֹכִי הִשְׁאִלְתִּהוּ לַה׳ כׇּל הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה הוּא שָׁאוּל לַה׳ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ שָׁם לַה׳

Shmuel was just 3 years old. Why was Eli such a stickler? Why couldn't he let things go? He couldn't overlook a mistake of a little 3 year old?!

I saw in the Chashukei Chemed of R' Zilberstein the following answer: Rashi in parshas Korach tells us that Korach thought he would be a success because his great-great-descendent was Shmuel haNavi. Eli knew that Shmuel had the DNA of Korach in him. Korach was the original "moreh halacha b'fnei rabbo," undermining the authority of Moshe Rabeinu. In that episode even the children were punished. The threat of Klal Yisrael being torn apart by machlokes, by different leaders/people pulling in different directions, is so great that the normal rules of mercy don't apply. Eli saw the tremendous kochos ha'nefesh of little Shmuel and his lack of fear to challenge authority that he feared another Korach was in the making. Therefore, he applied the same principle of showing no mercy even to a child.

If so, what was Chana's counterargument? What did she say that convinced Eli otherwise?

R' Zilberstein answered that Chana declared that her tefilos to have this child Shmuel were completely l'shem Shamayim. She did not want a child for her own sake, but for the sake of serving Hashem, and that is why Shmuel was given over to serve in the Mishkan. About a decade ago I posed the diyuk of R' Chaim Volozhiner on the pasuk וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל עַל ה׳ (1:10). Why עַל ה׳ and not אל ה׳? Chana was not davening TO Hashem for her sake, but rather ABOUT Hashem, meaning for the sake of kvod Shamayim. She said that if she has a child, there would be greater kvod Shamayim in the world and Hashem's greatness would be increased. When your tefilos are purely for the sake of kvod Shamayim, when your life is dedicated completely to kvod Shamayim, then your tefilos are answered, and nothing untoward will happen because of them.

the lesson we can learn from the confusion of the satan; the shofar's echo into the future

1) We do a lot of things before R"H with the intent of confusing the satan.  Some explain that the reason we don't bentch rosh chodesh Tishrei is in order to confuse the satan so he doesn't know that Rosh haShana is upon us.  The gemara (R"H 16) also talks about blowing tekiyos d'meyushav in order to confuse the satan (see Rashi and Tos for different explanations of what that means).   We don't blow tekiyos on erev R"H to confuse the satan and make him thing he missed the holiday (if the reason was simply to separate the tekiyos d'orasysa of the chag from the tekiyos of the month of Elul which are only a minhag, then it would be enough to skip blowing during the daylight hours before yom tov; the additional reason of trying to confuse the satan precludes blowing even during the night of erev Y"T).  My wife commented on shabbos that the satan must not be the sharpest crayon in the box.  Every year we do the same things to confuse him, and every year he falls for it! 

I think this is exactly the Chazal want to ellicit in order to make a point.  The gemara tells us that the satan= the yetzer ha'ra.  Every year we ask for mechila and slicha and promise to do better, yet every year the yetzer ha'ra appeals to us with the same tricks as the year before and every year we fall for it again!  If you laugh at the yetzer ha'ra for falling for the little rouse we pull, the jokes on you for falling for his even simpler tricks.  

2) Almost all Yamim Tovim celebrate something that happened -- leaving Egypt, sitting in sukkot in the desert, being saved from Haman, the victory of the Chashmonaim.  The holiday of R"H is בַּכֵּסֶה לְיוֹם חַגֵּנוּ.  We are celebrating the creation of the world, an event long past, but we are also celebrating something that hasn't happened yet, something that is still concealed and hidden from us.  R' Tzadok haKohen writes (Divrei Chalomos #14):

ומצות שׁופר בּר"ה אין הקדושׁה מתגלית בּלב עדיין והוא בּכּסה רק אח"ך היא פּועלת בּהתגלות לבּו

כל מחשבות של יראת שׁמים הבּאים ללב האדם בּכל ימות השׁנה הכּל מקיום מצות שׁופר בּר״ה 

We don't necessarily feel the full effect the shofar has upon on us R"H, but as the year goes on, it's sound echoes within us inspires.  Shofar is not just about the past, but it heralds the future, as we look forward to בּיום ההוא יתקע בּשׁופר גדול.

what a difference a day can make

פֶּן־יֵ֣שׁ בָּ֠כֶ֠ם אִ֣ישׁ אֽוֹ־אִשָּׁ֞ה א֧וֹ מִשְׁפָּחָ֣ה אוֹ־שֵׁ֗בֶט אֲשֶׁר֩ לְבָב֨וֹ פֹנֶ֤ה הַיּוֹם֙ מֵעִם֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקינוּ לָלֶ֣כֶת לַעֲבֹ֔ד אֶת־אֱלֹהֵ֖י הַגּוֹיִ֣ם הָהֵ֑ם פֶּן־יֵ֣שׁ בָּכֶ֗ם שֹׁ֛רֶשׁ פֹּרֶ֥ה רֹ֖אשׁ וְלַעֲנָֽה׃

וְהָיָ֡ה בְּשׇׁמְעוֹ֩ אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֨י הָאָלָ֜ה הַזֹּ֗את וְהִתְבָּרֵ֨ךְ בִּלְבָב֤וֹ לֵאמֹר֙ שָׁל֣וֹם יִֽהְיֶה־לִּ֔י כִּ֛י בִּשְׁרִר֥וּת לִבִּ֖י אֵלֵ֑ךְ לְמַ֛עַן סְפ֥וֹת הָרָוָ֖ה אֶת־הַצְּמֵאָֽה׃

לֹא יֹאבֶה ה׳ סְלֹחַ לוֹ כִּי אָז יֶעְשַׁן אַף יְהֹוָה וְקִנְאָתוֹ בָּאִישׁ הַהוּא וְרָבְצָה בּוֹ כׇּל הָאָלָה הַכְּתוּבָה בַּסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה וּמָחָה ה׳ אֶת שְׁמוֹ מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם.

How can a person hear the tochacha and react so cavalierly כִּ֛י בִּשְׁרִר֥וּת לִבִּ֖י אֵלֵ֑ךְ?

If you want to say that the pasuk is talking about someone who is not a maamin, then, as the Nesivoas asks in his sefer on chumash Nachalas Yaakov, the continuation doesn’t make sense. What good is threatening such a person וְרָבְצָה בּוֹ כׇּל הָאָלָה הַכְּתוּבָה בַּסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה? If he didn’t believe in the theats of the tochacha, then why would this threat be any more believable? The pasuk must be addressing itself to someone who does take the threat of punishment seriously, and nonetheless, feels like he is immune to the danger.

The sefer Tiferes Banim (the son of the Bnei Yisaschar) has a nice psychological insight here. The yetzer ha'ra is not dumb. Were he to try to convince a person to take a 180 degree turn and go from shemiras hamitzvos to kefira, it likely will never work. You find even non observant Jew who, when they are threatened and pushed to renounce their yahadut, will find the strength to be moseir nefesh. So what does the yetzer ha'ra do? He creeps up on a person one degree at a time. It's not a 180 degree turn in the opposite direction, but it's just a small turn, putting things a little off kilter. An example: A frum guy goes to work, comes home at the end of the day, and goes out to learn the daf yomi. He does it every day -- it's daf yomi after al! But tonight is the superbowl and his home team is in it (obviously not a NYer). Tonight is the world series. So the yetzer ha'ra says, "You are not giving up night seder. Chas v'shalom! This is just a one off, a minor exception. Just for tonight, you can take a break and enjoy the game." This, says the Tiferes Banim, is what the pasuk is describing, אֲשֶׁר֩ לְבָב֨וֹ פֹנֶ֤ה הַיּוֹם֙ מֵעִם֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקינוּ The person hears the tochacha and says, "That's not talking about me! I'm just making an exception this one day -- הַיּוֹם֙ -- and that's it." It's not a 180, it's just one degree! But the truth is אם תעזבני יום יומים אעזבך.

I would just add 2 small cents. What we say about a midah ra'ah is true even more so about a midah tovah. How can you defeat the yetzer ha'ra?  If you try to do a 180 degree turn and change your life completely, he will fight you tooth and nail.  But if you turn just one small degree, you can slip things by him.  An example: A guy never goes to daf yomi.  One night in Elul he says to himself, "There is nothing good on Netflix tonight anyway, football is still in preseason, the shul has free cholent on Thurs, so maybe I'll go to the shiur tonight."  No promises about the future, no promises even about tomorrow.  He will tell you that he is still not a daf yomi guy, but for that night, he's there.  He changed one degree.  אַתֶּ֨ם נִצָּבִ֤ים הַיּוֹם֙ כֻּלְּכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֖י ה׳ אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם  It's just one day -- הַיּוֹם֙!  But if turning one degree in the wrong direction and thinking that it won't make a difference can lead to disaster, then turning one degree in the right direction, with the intent that it will make a positive difference, will inevitably lead to better things.  More good days will follow.

We say in our davening on R"H that היום הרת עולם. Why speak about hirayon? Since the world came into being, why not speak about "ha'yom leidas olam," or something like that?

The Mishna at the end of Brachos has a din that one is not permitted to pray for something that already happened and is fixed in place. The example Chazal give is praying that your pregnant wife should have a boy. It's a done deal; the sex of the baby in her womb is already determined, so there is no point to asking Hashem to do something about it. The gemara, however, raises a question. The Bavli presents the question is as follows:

מֵתִיב רַב יוֹסֵף: ״וְאַחַר יָלְדָה בַּת וַתִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמָהּ דִּינָה״: מַאי ״וְאַחַר״? אָמַר רַב: לְאַחַר שֶׁדָּנָה לֵאָה דִּין בְּעַצְמָהּ וְאָמְרָה: שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר שְׁבָטִים עֲתִידִין לָצֵאת מִיַּעֲקֹב, שִׁשָּׁה יָצְאוּ מִמֶּנִּי וְאַרְבָּעָה מִן הַשְּׁפָחוֹת, הֲרֵי עֲשָׂרָה. אִם זֶה זָכָר, לֹא תְּהֵא אֲחוֹתִי רָחֵל כְּאַחַת הַשְּׁפָחוֹת, מִיָּד נֶהֶפְכָה לְבַת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וַתִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמָהּ דִּינָה״

Leah knew that there were going to be only 12 shevatim. She was carrying a boy but petitioned Hashem to change the sex of the child so that she would have one less boy and Rachel one more. By doing so Rachel could be zocheh to bring into the world at least as many shevatim as Bilha or Zilpa.

How could Leah's prayers work when she was already pregnant and the sex of the child was already determined?

The gemara gives two answers: 1) it was a miracle, and we are not on the level of the Imahos to ask for such a thing; 2) she petitioned Hashem early enough in her pregnant before the sex of the baby was determined.

The Yerushalmi (Brachos 9:3) and Midrashim present the story a bit differently.

דְּבֵית יַנַּאי אָמַר בְּיוֹשֶׁבֶת עַל הַמַּשְׁבֵּר. הָא קוֹדֶם כֵּן יַצְלִי. עַל שֵׁם הִנֵּה כַחוֹמֶר בְּיַד הַיּוֹצֵר. רִבִּי בְּשֵם דְּבֵית יַנַּאי עִיקָּר עִיבּוּרָהּ שֶׁל דִּינָה זָכָר הָיָה. מֵאַחַר שֶׁנִּתְפַּלְלָה רָחֵל נַעֲשִית נְקֵיבָה. הֲדָא הִיא וְאַחַר יָלְדָה בַת וַתִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמָהּ דִּינָה. מֵאַחַר שֶׁנִּתְפַּלְלָה רָחֵל נַעֲשִית נְקֵיבָה.

According to the Yerushalmi, prayer is effective up until the moment the women is about to deliver the baby. Leah is not an exception to the rule – anyone can do the same. The Yerushalmi quotes words that we are also very familiar with from our tefilos on Yamim Noraim: הִנֵּה כַחוֹמֶר בְּיַד הַיּוֹצֵר. We are clay in Hashem's hands, and he can transform us in an instant.

This is why, says R' Chaim Kanievsky (Taama d'Kra), we say "היום הרת עולם." It may be R"H already, but don't give up. We are still "expecting," the delivery is not yet complete. There is still time for tefilah, there is still time for change.

I don’t know that היום need apply only to R"H. We can say about every day and every moment that it is היום הרת עולם, pregnant with potential to be the moment of that first step, that turn in the right direction. Carpe diem! Just like אֲשֶׁר֩ לְבָב֨וֹ פֹנֶ֤ה הַיּוֹם֙ מֵעִם֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקינוּ means frittering away one day, one moment, can thereby throw someone off track, every day is the day, the moment, where one can get back on track.

One cannot do a 180 in a day, even a great day like R"H or Y"K. Change happens in small degrees. But even a change of one degree, a change of one day, can set a person on the path to improvement.

why no nechama after the tochacha -- my 2 cents

I want to add something to what I wrote last post. To review, Shu"T Radbaz (2:769) gives three reason why there are no pesukei nechama at the end of the toachaha in this week's parsha:

A)First answer is that there is nechama. His example is the pasuk גַּ֤ם כׇּל־חֳלִי֙ וְכׇל־מַכָּ֔ה אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א כָת֔וּב בְּסֵ֖פֶר הַתּוֹרָ֣ה הַזֹּ֑את יַעְלֵ֤ם ה׳ עָלֶ֔יךָ עַ֖ד הִשָּׁמְדָֽךְ׃ Although Rashi interprets יעלם – לשון עלייה, the Zohar interprets it as העלמה, i.e. Hashem will turn aside and ignore the punishments that might be deserved. As Radbaz notes, the pshat is certainly like Rashi (see Sifsei Chachamim who explains grammatically why Rashi is correct), but at least derech remez, we see that behind the scenes there is something positive going on.

B) It is the shem Havaya, the shem of rachamim, that appears throughout the tochacha. The fact that everything done is b'hashgachas Hashem and for our benefit in the nechama. The Chida similarly writes that the total # of letters that appear in the tochacha (I'll take his word for it) is 676, gematriya of רעות. The shem Havaya appears 26 times. 26x26=676. This is what tempers the effect of the tochacha.

C) The bris of the tochacha concludes not in our parsha, but continues in Netzavim. It is there that the pesukei nechama which conclude the discussion of the bris appear. This helps answer the question of why, even though there is a takana to read the tochacha at the end of the year because tachel shana v'kililoseha, we actually read it one shabbos before the end of the year and read Nitzavim next week. R' Tzadok haKohen explains that the blessings of the upcoming week come down to the world on the previous shabbos. Had we ended the year with tochacha, it is tochacha which would come down to the world for the week of Rosh haShana. We therefore insert a break, so that we have a shabbos in which bracha can come into the world for the upcoming week when we will celebrate R"H. According to Radbaz, the question is moot. Ki Tavo goes hand in hand with Nitzavim -- it is one kri'ah spread over two weeks.

On shaboos I saw that the Ohr haChaim also asks this same question as Radbaz and answers that the tochacha in Behukosai is written in the plural and directed at the community, the tzibur. Klal Yisrael as a whole is guaranteed nechama. Our parsha in written (mostly) in the singluar and is directed at the individual. There is no promise that any individual will in fact be granted nechama.

I would like to suggest my own answer to the Radbaz's question. Rashi alludes to Chazal's statement that the tochacha in Bechukosai was given directly by Hashem; the tochacha of Ki Tavo was given by Moshe himself. What Chazal mean by this requires explanation. Sefer Devarim was said by Moshe, but surely Moshe was giving over what was told to him by G-d. Whatever Chazal meant, bottom line is there is that difference.  The Dvar Hashem "digested" through Moshe is not the same as what is given in the other books.

I think this is why there is no nechama in our parsha. We read in the haftarah a few weeks ago (of Shoftim, Yeshyahu 51:12) אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם. Only Hashem can provide true consolation to the suffering endured by the Jewish people. As great as Moshe Rabeinu was, he was just a human being (a very holy human being, but still, a human being). He can be the conduit for tochacha, but he cannot give us true nechama. For that, we wait for Hashem alone.

Klal Yisrael has had enough tochacha the past two years. אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם. We are eagerly awaiting, and hope to see it this year.