5784 – Peninim on the Torah

הנסתרות לד' אלקינו

The hidden things are for Hashem, our G-d. (29:28)

People sin. This is a fact of life. Some sin publicly, such as the fellow who has the temerity to show his disregard for the Torah and mitzvos. Some sin privately, often the result of spiritual lapses, personal and internal conflict. Public sins affect society, creating a chillul Hashem, desecration of Hashem’s Name. Such sin requires public repentance in order to expiate the assault on the spiritual, moral compass of the community. Private acts of spiritual betrayal are no different than societal betrayal. We have an obligation to serve Hashem by upholding His mitzvos. To violate our Heavenly trust indicates…

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אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים משם יקבצך ד' אלקיך ומשם יקחך

Sruly Schnair In Nitzavim, 5784

If your dispersed will be at the ends of the Heavens, from there Hashem, your G-d, will gather you in, and from there He will take you. (30:4)

Simply, the Torah is teaching us that, regardless of how entrenched the people are in their false beliefs and practices, if they repent, Hashem will welcome them home. Indeed, He will return them to the fold. Alternatively, the Torah is teaching us that, if a Jew’s relationship with his religion is even so minimal that he is barely hanging on to the ends of Heaven, Hashem will take him back. He has not completely revoked his relationship with the religion of his forebears. Every Jew has that pintele Yid, spark of the Divine, the Yiddishe neshamah within him, that regardless…

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וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל

Sruly Schnair In 5784, Vayeilech

Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Yisrael. (31:1)

Moshe Rabbeinu first sealed the new covenant with all of Klal Yisrael. Then, he went from tribe to tribe to bid farewell to each of them. Ramban teaches that it was more than a mere “good-bye.” He came to console them regarding his imminent death. It was critical that their sadness concerning his departure from this mortal world not becloud the inherent joy accompanying the sealing of the covenant. Let us attempt to grasp the depth of our quintessential leader’s actions on the last day of his mortal life. This was the day that the punishment resulting from the mei…

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ולקחת מראשית פרי האדמה... והלכת אל המקום אשר יבחר ד' אלקיך שמו שם

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5784

And you shall take the first of every fruit of the ground… and go to the place that Hashem, your G-d, will choose to make His Name rest there. (26:2)

The mitzvah of Bikkurim, offering the first fruits, is a mitzvah which teaches us the importance of hakoras hatov, recognizing and paying gratitude to Hashem, and, by extension, to everyone and anyone from whom we have benefited. Parashas Ki Savo, which commences with the laws of Bikkurim, begins with the concept of gratitude to Hashem for the wonderful crop we have been fortunate to yield. We most often read this parshah on the Shabbos preceding the last week of the year, as a portent that Tichleh shanah v’kilelosehah v’tacheil shanah u’birkosehah, “Let the past year with its curses come to…

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ושמעת בקול ד' אלקיך ועשית את מצותיו ואת חקיו

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5784

You shall listen to the Voice of Hashem, your G-d, and you shall perform all His commandments and decrees. (27:10)

The command to listen to Hashem’s mitzvos follows on the heels of Moshe Rabbeinu’s declaration, Ha’yom nihiyeisa l’am, “Today you became a people.” Today you have indicated that you have reached the level of maturity critical for becoming a nation. Now that you are a card-carrying member of Am Hashem, the nation of G-d, Hashem expects you to act appropriately for someone of this caliber. Sadly, we are influenced by the society in which we live, and we often view ourselves through the lens of the secular, immoral society which surrounds us. As a result, we become victim to the…

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ברוך אתה בבאיך וברוך אתה בצאתך

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5784

Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. (28:6)

Chazal (Devarim Rabbah 7:5) explain that one should leave this world as free of sin as when he entered the world at birth. Rabbi Berachyah says, “Shlomo Hamelech says in Koheles (3:2), Eis laledes v’eis lamus, ‘There is a time to be born and a time to die.’ Do we not know this? Everyone is born and we will all one day leave this world. (What is Shlomo Hamelech teaching us?) Fortunate is he whose moment of death is like his moment of birth – innocent, pure of sin.” Is the sole purpose of man to leave this world as…

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ברוך אתה בבואך וברוך אתה בצאתך

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5784

Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. (28:6)

Chazal (Devarim Rabbah 7:5) interpret this pasuk as a guide to Jewish living. One should strive to leave this world (after 120) as pure and free of sin as when he entered this world as an infant. It is seemingly a tall order. Life is filled with challenges which can be viewed as impenetrable obstacles or as speedbumps which only slow us down. In any event, if one works at it, he can maintain the spiritual integrity of his life, thereby giving it meaning. The Ksav Sofer explains that this pasuk is based upon a well-known debate among the Tannaim,…

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כי תצא למלחמה על אויביך

Sruly Schnair In Ki Seitzei, 5784

When you will go out to war against your enemies. (21:10)

Rashi comments that the Torah is speaking about a milchemes reshus, discretionary war. With regard to milchemes mitzvah, a war which we are commanded to wage, such as against the sheva umos, seven pagan nations that inhabited Eretz Yisrael, we are enjoined not to take prisoners. Thus, the subsequent law regarding the yefas to’ar, beautiful captive, would not apply. The Baal Shem Tov also applies this pasuk as a metaphor for the never-ending battle we must wage against our internal enemy: the yetzer hora, evil inclination. We have no shortcuts in this battle. It is constant, so that it demands…

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כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שמע בקול אביו ואימו

Sruly Schnair In Ki Seitzei, 5784

If a man has a wayward and rebellious son, who does not obey his father or his mother. (21:18)

In the list of potential familial tragedies, the ben sorer u’moreh, wayward and rebellious son, is certainly in the upper stratum. This is clearly a tragedy, given that parents do so much and give all of themselves to raise their children along the proper and straight course. It happens, however, for various reasons or just because Hashem wills it. In other words, parents can do everything right, follow all the guidebooks and sefarim on chinuch, even daven and recite Tehillim, and Hashem can still decree upon them to have a ben sorer u’moreh. I would like to address the circumvention…

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ותפשו בו אביו ואמו והוציאו אותו אל זקני עירו

Sruly Schnair In Ki Seitzei, 5784

Then his father and mother shall grasp him and take him out to the elders of his city. (21:19)

What is the source for the responsibility of parents to bring their wayward son to bais din? Simply, the Torah explains that they are the ones bringing the complaint against their son. He does not listen to them, and he has stolen from them. Since they are the ones who are primarily affected, they are able to absolve him of punishment. Horav Eliyahu Baruch Finkel, zl, offers a powerful insight into the parents’ responsibility and why it is specifically they who are to bring him to bais din. The ben sorer u’moreh is executed because of how he will one…

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הנסתרות לד' אלקינו

The hidden things are for Hashem, our G-d. (29:28)

אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים משם יקבצך ד' אלקיך ומשם יקחך

If your dispersed will be at the ends of the Heavens, from there Hashem, your G-d, will gather you in, and from there He will take you. (30:4)

וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל

Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Yisrael. (31:1)

ולקחת מראשית פרי האדמה... והלכת אל המקום אשר יבחר ד' אלקיך שמו שם

And you shall take the first of every fruit of the ground… and go to the place that Hashem, your G-d, will choose to make His Name rest there. (26:2)

ושמעת בקול ד' אלקיך ועשית את מצותיו ואת חקיו

You shall listen to the Voice of Hashem, your G-d, and you shall perform all His commandments and decrees. (27:10)

ברוך אתה בבאיך וברוך אתה בצאתך

Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. (28:6)

ברוך אתה בבואך וברוך אתה בצאתך

Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. (28:6)

כי תצא למלחמה על אויביך

When you will go out to war against your enemies. (21:10)

כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שמע בקול אביו ואימו

If a man has a wayward and rebellious son, who does not obey his father or his mother. (21:18)

ותפשו בו אביו ואמו והוציאו אותו אל זקני עירו

Then his father and mother shall grasp him and take him out to the elders of his city. (21:19)

YEARS

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