Parshas Mishpatim



This in the merit that my grandmother, Esther bat Mazal, will have a speedy and complete recovery.



I want to apologize that this devar Torah is not as complete as it normally would be, my parents will be in Israel.





Judaism, Animals, and People



This is not intended to be a thorough survey of how Judaism views animals and people; such a discussion is completely beyond my ability. However, I just want to give a few notes about the subject.



In this week's parshah, it says:



"If you see the donkey of someone you hate lying under its load, you might want to refrain from helping him, but [instead] you must make every effort to help him [unload it]" (Exodus 23:5).



On this, the Orchos Tzaddikim (Gate of Cruelty), cites our Sages (Bava Metzia 32b) who say that causing pain to animals is a violation of a Biblical prohibition. We must be kind even to animals.



However, this kindness only goes so far. The Torah says:



"If a man performs a sexual act with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal shall also be killed. If a woman presents herself to an animal and allows it to mate with her, you shall kill both the woman and the animal. They shall be put to death by stoning" (Leviticus 20:15-16).



Our Sages (Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:4) ask why is the animal killed and one of their answers is "so the animal should not pass in the market place and [people] will say 'This is the [animal] that So-and-so was stoned because [he had relations with] her'" and the Gemara interprets this to refer to G-d not wanting to disgrace the dead. In other words, we kill an animal in order that a dead sinner not be embarrassed!



Thus, we must be kind to animals but an animal's importance cannot even come close to being compared to that of a human.





Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshas Beshalach







This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.





In last week's devar Torah about addiction, I was not referring to medical addictions such as alcoholism or smoking; such people can never return to any middle and must always stay away from their addiction. Rather, I was referring to unbalanced character traits such as being too generous or too stingy.





Question:



"The Israelites saw the great power that God had unleashed against Egypt, and the people were in awe of God. They trusted in God and in his servant Moses" (Exodus 14:31).



Why does awe precede trust?





Serving Faithfully



"They moved on from Elim, and the entire community of Israel came to the Sin Desert, between Elim and Sinai. It was the 15th of the second month after they had left Egypt.

There in the desert, the entire Israelite community began to complain against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites said to them, 'If only we had died by God's hand in Egypt! There at least we could sit by pots of meat and eat our fill of bread! But you had to bring us out to this desert, to kill the entire community by starvation!'

God said to Moses, 'I will make bread rain down to you from the sky. The people will go out and gather enough for each day. I will test them to see whether or not they will keep My Torah" (Exodus 16:1-4).



In the middle of the desert, the Jews ran out of food and complained. It may seem hard to imagine how people who had witnessed such miracles could complain in such a manner but let us not forget that the adults were also concerned about their children's survival. This idea I heard from Emes L'Yaakov.



Regardless, I have two questions:

1. Had the Jews not complained, what would have happened? There seems to be no indication that had they kept silent, they would have been provided for.
2. In verse 4, what exact was the test?



It seems to me that G-d did not want the Jews to simply stay silent despite the fact they had no food. Rather, G-d expected them to pray. Unlike in Egypt, where despite their oppression, all physical needs were taken care of ("There at least we could sit by pots of meat and eat our fill of bread"), G-d expects us to work. The Jews were right to react to their lack of food but they should have reacted radically differently. Perhaps something like 'G-d, we trust you, please give us food' rather than "If only we had died by God's hand in Egypt!" Even if the Jews had received prophecy that G-d would be starving them to death, the Jews should have responded with teshuva (because decrees can always be changed) while accepting the fact that G-d is just.



Once the Jews need to work for themselves, they now need to learn not to trust in their own labors and efforts. Rashi says one component of the test was that each day, the Jews gather only what they needed for that day and no more. They needed to trust that if G-d deems it proper, there will be more food for them the next day, and the day after that, and so on. In effect, G-d was saying that the Jews should work but ultimately realize that sustenance comes from G-d, if He wants the Jews to be fed, they will be fed and if He doesn't, they won't be fed. It is not up to us. [[See 16:28]]



Finally, I think another component of the test was to 'gather only what they needed for one day and keep the Torah,' meaning that they would not even worry about the next day, they would not get stressed out, panic, and abandon spiritual pursuits. [[This might be what the Rashbam is saying. See also Rashi on 16:32]]



I think this idea is expressed in Psalm 78 where the Psalmist discusses G-d's miracles, especially those related to the Exodus from Egypt and in the desert:



"We shall not hide from their sons; to the last generation they will recite the praises of the Lord, and His might and His wonders, which He performed. And He established testimony in Jacob, and He set down a Torah in Israel, which He commanded our forefathers to make them known to their sons. In order that the last generation might know, sons who will be born should tell their sons. So they should put their unshakeable trust in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. And they should not be as their forefathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, who did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God" (Psalm 78:4-8).





Food for thought and discussion:



We don't have prophecy these days. While we must always say that G-d will do what He knows is best, how much effort must we devote to tasks?



Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshas Yisro



This is in the merit of my grandmother, Esther bat Mazal. May she have speedy and complete recovery.



Question:



According to the Rambam, the Ten Commandments (referred to by the Torah as the Ten Statements in Deuteronomy 4:13) actually contain 14 commandments. Why then call them ten?





A Servant of Others





"The next day, Moses sat to judge the people. They stood around Moses from morning to evening" (Exodus 18:13).



At this point in time, whenever anybody had a question, they went to Moses and he spent the entire day answering questions. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, thought this would wear Moses out so he advised Moses to set up a court system:



"'But you must [also] seek out from among all the people capable, God-fearing men - men of truth, who hate injustice. You must then appoint them over [the people] as leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. Let them administer justice for the people on a regular basis. Of course, they will have to bring every major case to you, but they can judge the minor cases by themselves. They will then share the burden, making things easier for you'" (Exodus 18:21-22).



Moses listened to Jethro's advise:



"He chose capable men from all Israel, and he appointed them as administrators over the people, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. They administered justice on a regular basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses, and judging the simple cases by themselves" (Exodus 18:25-26).



There is one difference I would like to point out:



Jethro's advice:

they will have to bring every major case to you, but they can judge the minor cases by themselves



Moses' fulfillment of the advice:

bringing the difficult cases to Moses, and judging the simple cases by themselves





What is the significance of this change?



I don't remember where I heard this but the answer is that a leader is a servant of the people, both the community and also every individual, and thus a leader wants to help his or her people. Thus, no question is too trivial.



Moses changed the system because he would wear out, not because he didn't want to serve the Jewish people.



In his later years, when one would ask Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky (who lived for 90 years), why he merited such a long life, he answered, "My feeling is that Hashem has granted me these extra years as a gift to use for others" (259). He never had a shammos, a secretary, of any kind deciding who would get to speak to him and who would not, either he or his wife would answer the phone (279). Additionally, he wouldn't let the phone be taken off the hook, not even during naps, out of fear that somebody needed to speak with him (259) and Reb Yaakov couldn't talk to a caller, he would still personally explain to the caller that he was involved in something else (251). Although eventually Reb Yaakov and his wife needed somebody to answer the phone for them, it was not to prevent people from speaking with them (279).



All citations are from the Artscroll biography of Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky.





Food for Further Thought and Discussion



How do we balance devoting ourselves to our families and to others? Obviously, we must help others and our family and friends must come first. But what is the balance?



Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshas Bo







This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.







Question:



In Exodus 13:1-2, G-d gives a command to Moses. Compare the short command to what Moses does in 13:3-16. Why did Moses need to add so much?





Curing Pharaoh


I need to reexamine these ideas.

This idea is largely based on a devar Torah I heard at Yeshivas Medrish Shmuel last week.



One student there asked the question, whatever it means that G-d is hardening Pharaoh's heart, why could Pharaoh simply not remember that each time he agrees to free the Jews and changes his mind, more plagues come on Egypt? This student answered that it was as if Pharaoh had an addiction and people who are addicted can't break their addiction by simply saying 'next time I'll do better.' Such rationalizations deny the core problem and prevent a solution from being found.



How does one cure such a problem?



The Rambam establishes that we are to balance our character traits:



"The way of the upright is [to adopt] the intermediate characteristic of each and every temperament that people have. This is the characteristic that is equidistant from the two extremes of the temperament of which it is a characteristic, and is not closer to either of the extremes. Therefore, the first Sages commanded that one's temperaments should always be such, and that one should postulate on them and direct them along the middle way, in order that one will have a perfect body. How is this done ? One should not be of an angry disposition and be easily angered, nor should one be like a dead person who does not feel, but one should be in the middle - one should not get angry except over a big matter about which it is fitting to get angry, so that one will not act similarly again. Likewise, one should not have lust except for those things which the body needs and without which cannot survive, as it is written, "The righteous eat to satisfy his soul". Similarly, one should not labor at one's business, but one should obtain what one needs on an hourly basis, as it is written, "A little that a righteous man has is better, et cetera". Nor should one be miserly or wasteful with one's money, but one should give charity according to what one can spare, and lend as fitting to whoever needs. One should not be [excessively] praised or merry, and nor should one be sorrowful or miserable, but one should be happy for all one's days in satisfaction and with a pleasant expression on one's face. One should apply a similar principle to the other temperaments - this is the way of the wise" (Laws of Character Temperaments 1:4)



However, regarding how to cure a character flaw, he writes:



"They tell someone who is of an angry disposition to establish himself, and that if he is hit or cursed he should not react, and he should follow this way until his angry disposition has left him. If he was haughty, he should subject himself to a lot of disgrace and sit low down, and should dress in torn rags which are a discredit to normal clothes, and do similar things until his haughtiness has left him and he returns to the middle way, which is the good way. Once he has returned to the middle way he should follow it for the rest of his life. Other temperaments should be treated in this manner - if one was far over to one extreme, one should move oneself to the other extreme and accustom oneself to it for a long time, until one has returned to the good way, which is the intermediate characteristic that each and every temperament has " (Ibid 2:2).



We move to the extreme to reach the middle.





Food for thought and discussion:



The Rambam (Ibid 1:7) says that regarding a trait that needs improvement but is not extreme, one can simply accustom oneself to acting properly and need not first move to the other extreme.



How do we draw the line between an extreme trait which requires extreme measures to fix and a problematic trait which requires less effort to fix?



Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai