Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

Category

Back to Home -> Nitzavim -> 5776


כי הוא חייך ואורך ימיך

For He is your life and the length of your days. (30:20)

A Jew is defined by his relationship with Hashem. Nothing else is considered living. A person who truly cares about – and values – his life devotes his time to Torah study or to strengthening his relationship with Hashem. Some of us pass through time, not realizing that the greatest Heavenly gift is slipping by with each passing minute. The gift of life is immutable – once it is gone, it is gone forever. Thus, the defining outlook of a Jew is, “How do I value my spiritual life? Is it my primary objective, or does it place a far…

Continue Reading

ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע... ובחרת בחיים

See – I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil… and you shall choose life. (30:15,19)

The pasuk teaches us that Hashem wants us to choose life. By not choosing the path of life, we, by default, choose evil. This is something that everyone understands. When two options contrast one another, choosing one means negating the other. The pasuk, however, is teaching us something else. Horav Michel Feinstein, zl, understands that there exists the entity of good and the entity of evil. The fact that the Torah refers to each entity individually compels us to acknowledge that ra, evil, is much more than a lack of good. It is a separate free-standing entity which exists as…

Continue Reading

כי המצוה הזאת... לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחוקה היא

For this mitzvah… it is not hidden from you and it is not distant. (30:11)

The Ramban writes that “this mitzvah” refers to the mitzvah of teshuvah, repentance. The sinner conjures up a wealth of lame excuses for not repenting. For the most part, the primary hurdle is believing that one can successfully navigate the teshuvah process and return to pre-sin status – both in the eyes of the community and in the eyes of the sinner. The offender has convinced himself that he has gone too far, offended too many, hurt so many close family and friends, so why bother? We are at the gates of Rosh Hashanah, and each and every one of…

Continue Reading

ואמרו כל הגוים... וישלכם אל ארץ אחרת כיום הזה

And all the nations will say… and He cast them to another land, as this very day! (29:23,27)

Horav Chaim Shaul Kaufman, zl, Rosh Yeshivas Tiferes Yaakov (London) gleans from this statement the stark difference between the attitude of the gentile during a period of Heavenly concealment and the Jewish perspective on adversity. The gentile “believes” in G-d (according to his limited understanding of this term). When a moment of hester panim, Divine concealment, occurs in his life, he feels that G-d has forsaken him, cast him off (perhaps even deservedly) to the point that, whatever adversity and challenge he confronts, it will not provide a lesson for him from which he can learn and change. Whatever happens…

Continue Reading

והיה בשמעו את דברי האלה הזאת והתברך בלבבו לאמר שלום יהיה לי כי בשררת לבי אלך... לא יאבה ד' סלח לו

And it will be that when he hears the words of this imprecation, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, “Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit…” Hashem will not be willing to forgive him. (29:18, 19)

We hear it all of the time, “It is not me… True, bad things do happen, but – to others – not to me.” We have convinced ourselves that we are immune from punishment; disasters happen to others; tragedies are events that we read about – but they do not happen to us. It is almost as if we have sprayed ourselves with Teflon, preventing anything bad from happening directly to us. Ibn Ezra offers a rationale for this delusion: “Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit.” I will live in the merit of…

Continue Reading

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

You have Successfully Subscribed!