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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Savo

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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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Savo

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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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Savo

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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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Seitzei

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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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Seitzei

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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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Seitzei

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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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Seitzei

כי יקרא קן צפור לפניך ... שלח תשלח את האם והבנים תקח לך

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Seitzei, 5784

When a bird’s nest happens to be before you on the road… you shall surely send away the mother and take the young for yourself. (22:6,7)

This mitzvah (shiluach ha’kein) is an extension of the mitzvah not to slaughter oso v’es b’no b’yom echad, not to slaughter an ox or a sheep and its offspring on the same day. On the surface, the Torah seeks to teach us to be compassionate even to the feelings of an animal. Chazal (Berachos 33a) teach that one silences the individual who says, Al kan tzipor yagiu rachamecha, “Your mercy extends even to a bird’s nest,’ because he insinuates that the attributes of Hashem are exclusively mercy, when, in fact, they are exclusively decrees. Hashem did not enact decrees, such…

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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Seitzei

כי תבנה בית חדש ועשית מעקה לגגך

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Seitzei, 5784

If you build a new house, you shall make a fence for your roof. (22:8)

Noting the juxtaposition of the law of maakeh, fence for a roof, upon the previous law of shiluach ha’kein, Rashi comments, “If you fulfilled the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird from the nest, your end will be to (merit to) build a new house and will fulfill the mitzvah of maakeh, for mitzvah goreres mitzvah, a mitzvah engenders another mitzvah after it.” One wonders: Is it possible to live without a house? Obviously not. If so, why does Rashi emphasize that the house is the result of mitzvas shiluach ha’kein, which will now engender the mitzvah of maakeh?…

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Home -> 5784 -> Shoftim

והיתה עמו וקרא בו כל ימי חייו

Sruly Schnair
In Shoftim, 5784

It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life. (17:19)

The Torah enjoins the Melech Yisrael, Jewish King, to write two copies of the Torah for himself: one to keep in his treasury; and the other to keep with him at all times. The imperative that the Torah be a constant part of his life will serve as a reminder that, although he publicly holds an august position, he is a servant of Hashem. As such, he must adhere to all 613 mitzvos in the same manner as every Jew. He should not fall prey to the allure of power, wealth and fame. His position obligates him to take greater…

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Home -> 5784 -> Shoftim

נביא מקרבך מאחיך כמני יקים לך ד' אלקים תשמעון

Sruly Schnair
In Shoftim, 5784

A prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like me, shall Hashem, your G-d, establish for you – to him shall you listen. (18:15)

The Navi is obviously very special, since Hashem has chosen him for this function. How are we to know if he is truly Hashem’s choice? Apparently, the credentials of this tzaddik, righteous person, are impeccable, characterized by positive attributes and virtues to which everyone agrees. Nonetheless, everyone has his personal opinion and his own litmus test. What passes muster for one person does not necessarily pass muster for another. Is there a clear- cut criteria which define a righteous leader? Rashi comments that he must be mumchah hu lach, proven to you, to be a tzaddik gamur, such as Eliyahu…

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