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LESSONS IN HASHKAFA & HALACHA FROM THE PARSHA In memory of R’ Shmuel Shmelka ben HaRav Moshe Kizelnik z”l

A group of men came to Moshe complaining that they felt left out because they weren't able to bring

the korban Pesach asking with the rest of klal Yisroel because they were tamei and in order to be part of the

korban Pesach, one had to be ritually pure. The gemara tells us that the reason they were unable to purify

themselves before the fourteenth of Nisan was because they were busy transporting the remains of Yosef,

through the desert. From a cursory reading of the pesukim it seems that they complained about losing out

on the mitzvah. If this is the case, then when they complained, ‘lama ni’gara’ (why should we be less), they

meant why should they lose the mitzvah. Yet the medrash tells a different version of their complaint: They

felt excluded from the rest of the nation. This would seem to indicate that they were more concerned about

their overall status as perceived by others than about the actual mitzvah. This is quite difficult, especially

since we are talking about the people who carried Yosef’s coffin, something that Moshe Rabeinu is praised

for having done as they left Mitzrayim the year before.

Dayan Y. Y. Fisher suggests the following approach: When Avraham Avinu expressed concern over

what merits his children would have when they would no longer be able to offer korbanos, Hashem told him

that learning their parhsios and halachos is sufficient. This applies not only to korbanos, but to all mitzvos as

well. There are some mitzvos that for a myriad of reasons, we cannot do, but learning about them connects

us to the essence of that mitzvah. This group knew this and they understood that since they were

preoccupied with the bones of Yosef, they would have to relegate themselves on connecting with korban

Pesach via the Talmud Torah connected with it. Their complaint however was that they felt excluded from

the rest of their brethren. Perhaps they understood, as the Maharal explains, that korban Pesach

represents a unified Jewish people and their inability to participate excluded them from being part of the

nation. This was something that could not be achieve by studying its laws alone. The importance of being

connected to the rest of the Jewish people was so vital to them, that they saw themselves as lacking, for

this reason alone. This is an incredible statement. The loss of the mitzvah didn’t bother them, and although

they understood that their Torah study made up for part of it, it wasn’t quite the same. What bothered them?

Exclusion from the community.

There’s a tremendous lesson here: Very often, we focus on our own growth; the Torah we learn, the

mitzvos we do, and the tefilos we daven. These are important, no doubt. Yet there’s something even greater

about connecting the rest of k’lal Yisroel, even in a small way. We should bear the lesson of Pesach sheni in

mind and find a way to have a small part in something very big. The zechus of being part of a tzibur cannot

be underestimated.

ט“ ת ש ע ב ה ע ל ו ת ך פ ר ש ת

THE COMMUNITY CONNECTION

To download a compilation of past years’ divrei Torah on this (or any) parsha visit: www.torahkollel.com

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Once again, there is a discrepancy

between the parsha read in Eretz

Yisroel and the one read in the rest

of the world. This is due to the fact

that the eighth day of Pesach (for

bnei chutz la’aretz) is an “ordinary”

Shabbos in Eretz Yisroel. Unlike last

year however, this will continue

until parshas Maasei, just before

Tisha b’Av. This is largely due to

the order of the haftarah’s read

during the three weeks. Until that

time, we will be publishing two

separate editions, every week. There

may be variances between the Eretz

Yisroel edition and the Chutz

La’aretz edition, so please read the

right one. (For example, the haftarah

of Acharei Mos in chutz la’aretz and

of Kedoshim in Eretz Yisroel is

Machar Chodesh….)

Thank you to all those who

participated in our matching

campaign to help complete our Sefer

Torah! Much thanks to all those

who participated. If you weren’t

among them, you can still help with

our Sefer Torah project as it draws

to completion. Contact us for details:

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After the 70 zekeinim finished , Eldad and

Meidad continued prophesying and in an attempt to

defend his Moshe’s honor, Yehoshua suggested their

imprisonment. Chazal tell us that in doing so,

Yehoshua violated the prohibition of issuing a

halachic ruling in the presence of his rebbe. The

gemara tells us that even ruling in matters as simple

as the pareve status of an egg is included in this

prohibition. Accordingly, what should one do if he is

asked by a recent ba’al teshuva what beracha to

make on a cup of cola, for example, while your rebbe

is in the room? At what point can one pasken for

himself without asking about every little detail?

Many rishonim (see Meiri for example) rule that

one may not pasken for himself until he attains the

level of a “talmid chaver” (an elevated status of a

student who is somewhat of a colleague), at which

point, the gemara rules, he can issue rulings for

others as well. Many rishonim (Tosfos, Ritva, Mahri

Veil) differentiate between deciding a halacha while

learning the sugya, which is permitted, and paskening

in a real “live” halachic query, which is prohibited.

(See however, Toras Chaim that takes a stricter

approach and only permits one to issue any rulings if

he is far away from his rebbe, AND does so only

‘once in a while’.)

Others, take a much more liberal approach and

in fact encourage students to argue with their

rabbeim. (See the Be’er Sheva who understands the

gemara’s criticism of one who argues with his rebbe

to refer to general issues and not Torah or halacha.)

PASKENING FOR ONESELF & FOR OTHERS

From the desk of

the Rosh Kollel...

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This, argues the Rosh, is the way of Torah - to search

out the truth. As proof, he notes that Rashi was the

greatest of teachers and the baalei haTosfos, many of

who were his own grandchildren, argued with him. Any

talmid, writes the Mahari Bruna, can develop into a

talmid chaver, as this was way of Torah since the times

of the mishna. The Maharashdam furthers this point by

noting that R’ Yochanan saved Reish Lakish from his life

as a gangster and taught him Torah. The latter later

went on to argue with R’ Yochanan throughout the

gemara. It is also worth noting that although the

Maharashal was vehemently against accepting any

personal stringencies in matter of halacha (for reasons

of arrogance) maintained that one who has sufficient

proof is entitled and encourages to disagree with his

rebbe.

Despite the great prohibition of issuing halachic

rulings, many poskim (Maharashdam, Birkei Yosef)

maintain that once halacha was codified in Shulchan

Aruch, one may, and should pasken whenever a

question arises. The Shach asserts that the rulings of

the Mechaber and Rema were Divinely inspired, and

many poskim (Shvus Yaakov, Be’er Moshe, Pnei

Yehoshua) had the custom of checking Shulchan Aruch

each time they issued a ruling. Although the Marasha

(Sotah 22a) cautions against ‘just following Shulchan

Aruch’ without understanding the reasons behind it, this

is possibly because he predated the Taz and Shach who

serve this purpose (K’sav Sofer). One who had a full

understanding of the sugya and the words of Shulchan

Aruch may rely on them as a starting point to issue

halachic rulings.

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“ADDING PROPHET TO YOUR LIFE”

Summing up the lessons

of the weekly haftarah

If you are enjoying reading our

weekly section of the haftarah,

you’ll love it in book form.

Coming soon.

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SAVE THE DATE !

28 AV 5779

(Aug 29 2019)

HACHNASAS

SEFER TORAH

DIVREI HA’NAVI - ADDING PROPHET TO YOUR LIFE

The Navi addresses Yehoshua, the Kohein Gadol, and instructs him to remove his soiled garments

and change into fresh clothes. Then, he will become “one who walks among those who stand”. Chazal

understand this to be a metaphor that since Yehoshua’s sons had married women who were not fit for

kohanim to marry, he was being held back. Based on the simple understanding of the pesukim, it seems

that this prophecy was related as Yehoshua was about to become kohein gadol, or perhaps at some

later point while serving as such. Indeed, many of the meforshim seem to go with this approach.

However, the Zohar, as well as the Abarbanel and a few other meforshim explain that this entire

prophecy was said after Yehoshua passed on from this world, and he was taken to task for not having

adequately protested to his sons’ marriages. The Chasam Sofer and the Gra explain that although once

a person has left this world he can no longer do mitzvos, he can still gain much merits through the

positive actions of his children and talmidim. Their Torah and mitzvos can enable his neshama to

continue growing and climbing higher and higher.

This ties heavily to the end of our parsha, which was the transmission of Torah leadership from

Moshe to Yehoshua and beyond. The unbroken chain of our mesorah doesn’t just enable us to be

linked to a greater source, but also serves as a channel for our mitzvos to impact on the neshama of our

great teachers.

This is somewhat like the menorah at the beginning of our parsha. The Menorah shone throughout

the day, when its light was clearly not needed. This however, was only in the physical realm. The light of

the Menorah cast its spiritual radiance on the entire world. In a similar way, every mitzvah we do may

look physically insignificant, but it can bring merit to generations which have passed on from this

physical world in a very significant way that none of us can see.

There’s one more thing, though. When Eldad and Meidad remained prophesying in the camp,

Yehoshua came running to Moshe in protest. He screamed out “get rid of them” and thereby violated

the prohibition of issuing a halachic decision in the presence of one’s rebbe. For this, Chazal tell us that

Yehoshua was punished with not having any sons. Simply, understood, the problem with paskening in

front of one’s rebbe is that it compromises the honor due to him. So here was Yehoshua, fighting to

defend Moshe’s honor, and he himself violated it in doing so. How wary we must be of this. In the words

of the navi (also this week’s haftarah) ‘the Satan stands to our right (waiting) to attack’.

True, there is a continuous deterioration from one generation to the next, as Chazal tell us that we

must always aim for our actions to come close to those of our fathers, the Oznayim la ’Torah decries

today’s generations who have distanced themselves by light years. Hakadosh Boruch Hu only expects

us to do what we can given our individual circumstances and the generation which we were born into,

yet we must remain vigil that our actions shine nachas and merit on the neshamos of our progenitors

and Torah teachers.

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