HaRav Nebenzahl asks that his Divrei Torah are not read during Tefillah or the Rabbi's sermon
"PERSONAL CROSSROADS"
REBUKE OF REUVEN
Yaakov Avinu says to Reuven: "Reuven, you are my firstborn, my strength and my initial vigor, foremost in rank and foremost in power" (Bereishit 49:3). As the first born you were worthy of receiving a greater share than your brothers - the kehuna and the kingdom, but because of your "water-like impetuosity, you cannot be foremost" (ibid. 4). Your acting in haste was responsible for that additional share being taken from you and granted to others (the kehuna to Levi and the kingdom to Yehuda). Where do we find your impetuosity? "Because you mounted your father's bed" (ibid.), referring to the incident related in Parshat Vayishlach: "Reuven went and lay with Bilha, his father's concubine" (Bereishit 35:22).
Pertaining to Moshe's chastisement of the Jewish people immediately before his death Rashi asks: "from whom did he learn to do this? From Yaakov Avinu who did not rebuke his sons except immediately before his death. He said: 'Reuven my son, I am telling you: why I did not rebuke you all of these years, it was so that you should not leave me and go join up with Esav, my brother'" (Rashi Devarim 1:3). How are we to understand this? Do we really believe that a rebuke would cause a tzaddik as great as Reuven to leave the fold and join the wicked Esav? Do Chazal not tell us that Leah named her son Reuven because she said "'Reu' - See the difference between 'beni' - my son (Reuven) and the son of my father-in-law (Esav), for regarding Esav, the son of my father-in-law, even though he voluntarily sold his right of the firstborn, as it is written 'and he sold his birthright to Yaakov' (Bereishit 25:33), see what is written about Esav 'and Esav harbored hatred towards Yaakov' (Bereishit 27:41), however, in regard to my son, Reuven, even though Yoseph took the right of the firstborn from Reuven against his will, as it is written 'and when he defiled his father's bed his right of the firstborn was given to the sons of Yoseph' (Divrei Hayamim I 5:1), even so Reuven was not jealous of Yoseph, as it is written 'Reuven heard, and he rescued him from their hand' (Bereishit 37:21)" (Brachot 7b)?
Furthermore Chazal tell us that Reuven accepted responsibility for his actions "Reuven confessed and was not embarrassed" (Sotah 7b) he confessed his sin with Bilha and sought forgiveness for his acts. Can we really assume that such a person would leave the fold and join Esav? The Gemara asks "why was it so necessary for Reuven to confess his sin in public, did not Rav Sheishet say: 'I view as audacious one who specifies his transgressions in public!'". The Gemara then responds "so that his brothers should not be suspected by their father Yaakov of committing the sin of moving Yaakov's bed" (Sotah 7b). We see that when it came to this incident, Reuven's actions were that of a great tzaddik, can we really suspect him of joining Esav?
There are many more sources we can cite from Chazal proving just how righteous Reuven was. The Gemara asks "why did Reuven merit that Betzer, the city of refuge that was in his territory, be mentioned first in regard to rescue? Because he was the first to pursue rescue in the case of Yoseph, as it is stated: 'and Reuven heard and he saved him from their hands' (Bereishit 37:21)" (Makkot 10a). Furthermore, the pasuk states: "Reuven returned to the pit, and behold! Yoseph was not in the pit!" (Bereishit 37:29). Where did Reuven return from, why was he not present when Yoseph was sold? Chazal tell us "he was occupied with his sack-cloth and fast in penitence for having disturbed his father's couch" (Rashi on Bereishit 37:29). The Midrash adds that Hashem said to Reuven: "you opened with repentance first, your descendant is destined to be the one to bring the Jewish people to repent and who is that? It is Hoshea son of Be-eri" (Midrash Agada Bereishit 37). Would we think for a moment that such a person would join the ranks of Esav?
CROSSROADS
Perhaps this does not refer to Reuven actually joining Esav's side but that he would pity himself for being born to the house of Yaakov, for in the house of Esav they would never treat him like this. Even if he does not actually leave, the thought may enter his mind, rendering his piety lukewarm. That minor slide can, G-d forbid, continue until it leads to a great fall. He may be a great tzaddik now but should he think that life is better in the house of Esav this will propel him lower and lower. My esteemed teacher HaRav Dessler zt"l used to explain that a person constantly finds himself at a crossroad in life for each person the choice to make is individual. Someone brought up by the Cossacks does not have the choice of whether to learn R' Akiva Eiger or R' Shimon Shkop. His choice is rather whether he should murder the victim he is stealing from or should he steal without murdering. If he chooses the path of the tzaddik and only steals then he has risen to a higher level. Such a person has the potential to rise higher and higher until eventually he can become a talmid chacham. The Vilna Gaon, however, was not faced with the choice of whether or not to desecrate the Shabbat but whether to learn twenty-two hours that day or only twenty one hours and fifty nine minutes. If he were to make the wrong choice, he would then fall to a lower level and G-d forbid perhaps fall lower and lower. A person always has a choice of good or bad before him. If he chooses the good path he raises himself to a higher level and his choices are then on a higher level. If he makes the wrong choice, then he may, G-d forbid, descend to a lower level of choice.
SMALL SINS, GRAVE CONSEQUENCES
Even if such an attitude would not result in Reuven himself descending to a lower level, perhaps it would have a detrimental effect on his children this may have been what Yaakov Avinu feared. Chazal ask 'for what reason was our father Avraham punished that his children were enslaved in Egypt for two hundred and ten years? Shmuel said because he presumed to ask for confirmation concerning the decrees of G-d, as it is stated: 'My L-rd Hashem, Whereby shall I know that I am to inherit it' (Bereishit 15:8)" (Nedarim 32a). Avraham sincerely wished to know whether he had the merit to inherit Eretz Yisrael. His intentions were noble, but his choice of words may lead someone to think that he doubted whether Hashem would keep His word. Because of this Klal Yisrael descended lower and lower until they reached the level where in the words of the Rambam "It almost came to pass that the great tree that Avraham Avinu had planted was uprooted and the sons of Yaakov would have returned to their wanderings and aimlessness and the errors of the world ..." (Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 1:3). The Jewish people almost forgot that there was a Creator who guides the world. It begins with small sins but the consequences can be very grave.
We are still affected by some of the infractions of our forefathers. Reuven's sin with Bilha, for example, led to his tribe forfeiting the kehuna and the kingdom for eternity. By the same token, the mitzvoth of our forefathers hold us in good stead. We constantly mention the merit of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and the fact that Yitzchak was willing to sacrifice himself upon the altar. The descendants of Aharon are the only ones who may serve in the Beit HaMikdash because of the exalted status of their ancestor which they inherited, while the right to the kingdom belongs exclusively to the descendants of David HaMelech.
SPIRITUAL LEGACIES
Each of the tribes has their own spiritual characteristics passed down as a legacy from father to son. Just as each of us has a spiritual inheritance passed down to us from Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, so too members of different tribes have their own spiritual characteristics passed down to them from the head of their tribe. The Talmud records examples of this: "there was this man who would always say 'judge my case in court'". He would never agree to compromise and insisted on bringing every matter to court. Our Sages therefore said: "learn from it that he comes from the tribe of Dan, as it is written 'Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel' (Bereishit 49:16)" (Pesachim 4a). The man refused to compromise on anything - everything had to go to court. Given that Dan was imbued with the tendency to judge, there was a very good chance that the man descended from Dan. Similarly, "There was this man who would go around saying 'on the shore of the sea I will establish a palace', they investigated and found out that he came from the tribe of Zevulun that which is written 'Zevulun shall dwell by the seashores' (Bereishit 49:13)" (Pesachim 4a). (This can explain why when the prophet Yonah decided to "flee" from Hashem, to go from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz la'Aretz where there is less Hashgacha Pratit (see Rashi Yonah 1:3), he fled to the sea. Why did he choose the sea rather than a different part of Eretz Yisrael? Because he belonged to the tribe of Zevulun (see Yerushalmi Sukkah Perek 5, Halacha 1) and "Zevulun shall dwell by the seashores", and when he fled, his tendency was to run away to the sea). These are but a few small illustrations of how each tribe has its own specific spiritual makeup that is passed down from generation to generation.
Even if Reuven himself would never leave Yaakov for Esav, any slight sympathy towards Esav would be passed down to future generations and may possibly mean spiritual destruction for his later descendants, G-d forbid.
ETERNAL LIFE
We must be aware that when it comes to spirituality, any upward climb means life while any lower descent spells death. Chazal tell us "he who learns from his fellowman a single chapter, a single halacha, a single verse, a single Torah statement, or even a single letter, must treat him with honor" (Avot 6:3). He has given you new life! You are now a greater talmid chacham than you were before! The Torah is chaye olam eternal life. Every Rashi and Tosafot we learn, even those we do not remember gives us new life, for it raises us to a higher level. At a siyum we recite "we toil and receive reward and they toil and do not receive reward" (see Brachot 28b). Do others really work without compensation? Does everyone not get paid for their work? The difference is that they get paid when they produce results. Even were they to get paid before showing any results, without eventually producing results they would be fired. We, however, are rewarded for the work and toil itself even if we are as of yet unable to fully understand and retain that which we have learned. When it comes to the written Torah it is sufficient to simply read the pasuk, how much greater is the reward for one who works hard and succeeds in understanding the words of the Torah.
Ben Azzai who was one of the greatest scholars of his time said "all the Sages of Israel are in my estimation like a garlic peel except for this bald one (R' Akiva)" (Bechorot 58a). Ben Azzai said about himself: "a pity on you Ben Azzai that you did not study under R' Akiva" (Nedarim 74b) what a pity that you did not learn Torah from R' Akiva, because every word you learn is new life. In this world a person is either alive or G-d forbid, no longer alive. In the Next World a person's soul is divided into billions of micro units. Each separate unit can either be alive or dead. The Gemara tells us "each and every one will be burned by his fellow's canopy" (Baba Batra 75a). This may not refer to people on the level of Moshe Rabenu, but regarding ordinary tzaddikim, each will get burned by the honor his fellow tzaddik will receive in the Next World. He will think to himself "look at how much Gemara he learned in his lifetime why did I not learn as much as he did", another may say "look at the way he honored his parents and performed other acts of chesed", and so forth.
CONTRADICTIONS?
A talmid chacham once asked me is this life in the Next World? Do we not believe that the Next World will be filled with joy? What joy is there in getting burned in a fire? Sounds more like Gehinom to me! I answered him with an analogy we can relate to in this world. On the first night of Pesach we have a beautiful Seder. It is a Yom Tov with delicious food. We recall Hashem's taking us out from Egypt with great miracles while giving the Egyptians what they deserve. We drink four cups of wine to celebrate. All in all we are in very good spirits. Yet, in the midst of all this joy we feel sadness that we are not able to offer the Korban Pesach and Chagiga. Is it a contradiction to feel both joy and sadness? No! A person is able to feel joy on the one hand and sadness on the other. Similarly, the halacha states that one who lost his father and receives an inheritance recites two brachot: "Dayan HaEmet" on his loss and "hatov vehameitiv" for the inheritance. It is possible to feel the two things together I would hope that the loss of the father has more impact on him then his newfound wealth, but a certain sense of good feeling he cannot deny.
A person's soul contains parts which are good and portions which are dead for not having fulfilled their expectations. Regarding damage caused by a pit in a public domain, the Torah tells us "and the carcass shall be his" damage is paid only for things that can die. There is a discussion as to whether one pays for broken vessels that fall into a pit. The Gemara asks: "are utensils subject to death?" To which the Gemara responds "their breakage is their death" (Baba Kamma 54a). The pieces of the vessel remain but if they cannot function as they did before they are considered dead. When a human being rises to a higher level he gains more life, but when he descends, in comparison to the level he was on before it is as if he is dead. He may have other virtues, but that part of him that could have been higher is now dead, relatively speaking.
MAKING EVERY DAY COUNT
The pasuk states "A path of life waits above for the intelligent one, so that his soul will turn away from the grave below" (Mishle 15:24) the intelligent person understands that he must rise higher in order not to fall. In this world terms we can remain stagnant, the soul, however, cannot remain in one place it either rises or descends. The Torah tells us: "now Avraham and Sarah were old, 'ba-im bayamim' well on in years" (Bereishit 24:1). "Ba-im bayamim" can also mean that they arrived with their days - at the end of their lives they arrived equipped with their full days - not a moment of their life was spent in vain. A person who wastes time can spend one hundred and twenty years in this world and arrive at the next world with only twenty or thirty years of "life" - the rest of his years were wasted. Our goal must be to enter the Next World with all of our days - no time should be wasted on nonsense. There are people whose entire days are spent doing mitzvoth, making a Kiddush Hashem, and bringing people closer to the Kingdom of Heaven they arrive with their days full. Many people, however, arrive in the Next World empty what did he do on this day? He played, he slept. Before he knows it the day is gone.
The midrash relates how R' Akiva was once in the midst of a shiur when he noticed that some of the participants fell asleep. He said to them: "How was it that Esther merited ruling over one hundred and twenty seven nations? Rather Hashem said, let Esther the daughter of Sarah who lived one hundred and twenty seven years come and rule over one hundred and twenty seven nations" (Esther Rabba Parsha 1:8). R' Akiva did not simply find the number one hundred and twenty seven written twice in Tanach. It is not mere coincidence that the number of years Sarah lived and the nations Esther ruled over are the same.
We may ask - why did R' Akiva see this as a way of waking the people from their slumber? Secondly, why does Sarah deserve to be rewarded for having lived that number of years? A person should be rewarded for giving life not for having lived it.
The midrash is trying to tell us that Sarah's life was lived to the fullest. If she lived for one hundred and twenty seven years, she utilized every possible moment. She deserves to be rewarded for having lived her life the way she did. R' Akiva was telling the people in the shiur that they should not be wasting their time. There is a time to sleep, however, the middle of R' Akiva's shiur is not the time to do it! Sarah having lived every minute to the fullest not only resulted in Esther ruling over such a vast area but allowed her to save her people. Had it not been for Esther's reign "relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place" (Esther 4:14). Thus in the merit of Sarah's having lived her life to the fullest, Esther was able to save the Jewish people.
There is an expression people use today to "kill time". Time cannot be killed, when you waste time then you are G-d forbid killing yourself! You have only one hundred and twenty years on this earth, when you waste it you have killed a part of yourself.
The Talmud teaches "if a disciple was exiled to a city of refuge, an 'Ir Miklat', they exile his teacher with him, for it says 'and he shall live', which implies providing him with arrangements that will enable him to live" (Makkot 10a) - the student cannot survive without the one who teaches him Torah. Similarly "if a teacher is exiled, his academy is exiled with him" (ibid.). The talmid chacham cannot survive without his Yeshiva. There is no life without the Torah. One who did not study Torah in his own town, can survive in the Ir Miklat without it. For those who do learn, learning is their life and thus we must insure that they will be able to continue to do so in the city of refuge. The punishment for accidental murder is exile, not death! Taking away their Torah is tantamount to sentencing them to capital punishment.
THE TENTH OF TEVET
This week we observed the fast of the Tenth of Tevet, referred to by the prophet as "the fast of the Tenth Month" (Zecharia 8:19). The prophet tells us that the fast is observed because "the king of Bavel has reached Yerushalayim on this day" (Yechezkel 24:2) this was the beginning of the siege on Yerushalayim. The actual destruction took place only a year and a half later, for we are informed that the siege took place on Tevet of the Ninth year of Tzidkiyahu's reign and the wall was broken through in Tammuz of the eleventh year, with the destruction taking place three weeks later. The Tanach tells us that the siege around Yerushalayim did not remain in effect during this entire time, for the Egyptians came to the aid of the Jewish people and Nebuchadnezzar's army had to be diverted to fight off the Egyptians. It was Hashem's will that the Egyptians saw something that resembled the bodies of their forefathers at sea and they returned home claiming "the Jews did this to our forefathers, how can we go help?" Should we not rather observe the final siege that led to the destruction? Perhaps we can explain that Nebuchadnezzar's initial siege was a time for the Jewish nation to repent and rise to a higher level. After believing all the false prophets who claimed that Nebuchadnezzar would not come, and recognizing the truth in the words of prophets such as Yirmiyahu and Tzfania, should they not have repented and come closer to Hashem? By not doing so they in fact fell to a lower level it is this death that we commemorate on the Tenth of Tevet.
The Rambam tells us that these fasts we observe today are not only in commemoration of the sins of our forefathers. The fact that the Beit HaMikdash has not yet been rebuilt signifies that we are no better and the fast day is a time to repent. The pasuk states "He will heal us after two days; on the third day He will raise us up and we will live before Him" (Hoshea 6:2) - we have died twice - we hope Hashem will bring us life once again. May the words of the prophet that the "fast of the tenth month will be to the house of Judah for joy and for gladness" (Zecharia 8:19) come true speedily in our day. Amen.
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