Truly Historic

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

There are times that are described as historic, but aren’t. There are times when, in hindsight, it becomes apparent that they were historic turning points. And then there are times such as ours, when it is obvious to all that they are historic. We are living through historic times on so many levels and in so many areas that it is hard to keep track.

We see the world changing before our eyes, but we don’t know where the changes will lead and how they will affect us.

In Eretz Yisroel, we witnessed an embarrassing military and intelligence disaster and a terrible tragedy in which over 1,200 people lost their lives, hundreds were taken hostage, a million people were evicted from their homes, lives were upended, and incomes were destroyed. A nine-month-long war unfolded as a result in Israel’s south, costing many more lives and unleashing an unprecedented torrent of international anti-Semitism. Jews fear for their lives, not only in Israel, but also in Western countries, where it has become accepted to bash Israel and Jews.

As the southern war shows signs of winding down before Israel has successfully completed its goals and achieved victory, a much more ferocious war in the north looms.

In Israel itself, people are deeply divided. The left is engaged in a concerted, multi-pronged effort to unseat the current government, which consists of right-wing parties and is led by Binyomin Netanyahu. As part of their campaign, they are focusing on chareidim, specifically targeting the draft deferment that allows young men studying Torah to decline army service. Stipends to yeshivos are being cut, and a range of financial penalties for bnei yeshivos and kollelim are being planned. Chinuch Atzmai, responsible for the education of many religious children, is also on the chopping block.

The United States, Israel’s ally, is no longer as dependable as it once was. The Democrat Party that controls the White House and Senate is openly anti-Semitic and hostile toward Israel and Jews. It is led by a weak, incompetent leader, who caused inflation to skyrocket, eroded the moral fabric of the country, and opened the borders to millions of unknown and undocumented people from around the world.

Russia battles Ukraine, with the West giving Ukraine just enough aid to keep them afloat, but not enough to win, so the war drags on and people continue to be killed. Russian President Putin visited North Korea last week and announced that he would help them be more of a pariah state and threat to the West.

China stirs the various pots as it prepares for its own war against Taiwan, becoming a greater adversary of the United States.

Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terror, supporting Israel’s enemies on the north and the south, while galloping towards developing nuclear weapons with which to attack Israel and the United States.

Our community is greatly affected by the nation’s economic woes and rising prices, with many families unable to afford basics. The mounting costs of home ownership have placed the dream of owning a home out of the range of affordability for average wage-earners. Tuition affordability has become a rapidly increasing concern, as families struggle to come up with enough money just to make ends meet.

As we watch these varied historical transformations play out, we worry and seek direction.  People grow despondent and become depressed over what is happening. They worry about themselves and their families. They worry about Klal Yisroel. What is the correct approach in times like these?

This week’s parsha of Shelach is one of the most perplexing and tragic parshiyos of the Torah. A group of twelve leaders were selected to check out the land Hakadosh Boruch Hu promised the Jewish people. As Klal Yisroel  approached the Promised Land, the people decided that they had to send a delegation to see the land.

These messengers are known for all time as the meraglim. All of them, Rashi says (13:3), were kesheirim when they departed for their tour. Upon their return, however, Rashi (13:26) says that just as they left b’eitzah ra’ah, with bad advice, they returned with bad intents. We are left wondering whether they were good people or bad people. If they were bad people, why did Moshe send them? And if they were good people, where did they go so wrong?

The Zohar (cited in Mesilas Yeshorim, Middas Hanekius) states that at the root of the sin of the meraglim was their concern that when Klal Yisroel would settle in Eretz Yisroel, they would lose their leadership positions. New situations would arise. A nomadic people would become stationary and no longer stateless; they would have their own country. New times would demand new leaders, and those who were effective in the desert would no longer be viewed as worthy leaders for the new world. The meraglim simply didn’t want to lose their jobs, and thus they viewed everything backwards.

The Zohar doesn’t say whether this fear was a conscious one or a subconscious one, and it is possible that the meraglim did not realize that their inner fears were influencing their judgment of what they were seeing as they marched up and down the land.

In fact, the Alter of Kelm taught that Korach, of whom we will learn in next week’s parsha, believed that he revolted against Moshe “lesheim Shomayim,” for holy reasons.

Subconscious intrusions led them to fail. Without regular study of mussar and steady self-improvement, a person can never be sure of himself and whether he is acting properly.

Twelve leading men of the Bnei Yisroel were given a mission to assess the Promised Land. As they crossed into the land that Hashem had promised their forefathers years before, they should have approached every town with the perspective that they were finally meriting to be in the land of destiny, where Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov had lived. They had the merit of being the first members of the Bnei Yisroel to return to the eternal home of the Jewish people.

With Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s promises repeated so many times, they should have seen everything positively. “Oh, the town is empty! Great, we will be able to move right in. Wow, look at these luscious fruits! It will be so easy for us to provide food for our families. One grapefruit can feed the whole family, with enough left over for the next day.”

Most things that we encounter in life can be perceived positively and negatively. We must not permit our biases to taint our vision and perception. Hakadosh Boruch Hu promised this land to us and vouched for its quality and that we would inherit it, because it was created for us.

Had they not permitted their egos to spoil their vision, they would have seen the realization of Hashem’s promises wherever they went. They would have seen a beautiful land that gave birth to strong people and luscious fruits. Instead, they saw people dying and food that was impractical to carry.

They didn’t hear Hashem’s promises reverberating as they traveled throughout the land. Instead, they found fault in everything they saw. They denied the greatness of the land and they denied the Divine promise. Thus, they were resho’im.

With this, we can understand why Rashi says that at the time they left, they were honorable people, and then he writes that just as they returned with evil advice, they left with that same evil advice. They were honorable people when they left, but their advice was evil because it was tainted by their yeitzer hora and their bad middos, such as gaavah, arrogance.

Chazal wonder about the placement of the account of the meraglim in Parshas Shelach. They ask what the tale of spies dispatched to tour and report on the most splendid country on earth has to do with the story at the end of last week’s parsha pertaining to Miriam.

Chazal explain the connection: “Resho’im halalu ra’u velo lokchu mussar - The wicked ones saw what happened to Miriam but didn’t learn a lesson from it” (Rashi, Bamidbar 13:2, quoting the Tanchuma).

The meraglim were leaders, prominent and sincere people who apparently set out to do good. They returned with graphs, maps and demographic details that were factual and accurate. Their reports regarding the land were correct and were not disputed by Yehoshua and Koleiv.

Miriam had spoken to Aharon and they disagreed with something Moshe had done in his private life.

The Torah comments on their conversation, stating, “Veha’ish Moshe onov me’od mikol ha’adam asher al pnei ha’adamah - And the man Moshe was extremely humble, more than any person on the face of the earth” (Bamidbar 12:3).

The mention of Moshe’s humility seems unrelated to what they were discussing. Why is it here?

The Torah is saying that a person such as Moshe, who is most humble, cannot be accused of acting improperly. Moshe achieved the highest levels attainable by man. The only way he could have done something not in keeping with Hashem’s wishes and commandments would be if his yeitzer hora utilized his unperfected middos to cloud his judgment. A person who has perfected his middos and is fully humble cannot be misled by his ego, for he has none.

Thus, the Torah is informing us that Miriam was wrong for insinuating that Moshe had acted improperly in an interpersonal situation. This is the lesson that the meraglim should have learned from the incident. They should have perceived that in defending Moshe, the Torah discusses his humility, because a person who is humble is not misled by subconscious needs for gratification and power. They should have learned that lesson, but the wickedness in their hearts did not allow them to discern that.

The quintessential shliach for his people was Moshe Rabbeinu, whom the Torah testifies was onov me’od, free of personal ambition and calculations. Perhaps it was this that made him the most effective shliach and leader the Jewish people have ever been blessed with.

The Ramban writes in his famous letter that the attribute of humility, middas ha’anavah, is the greatest quality a person can be blessed with. Anavah leads to yiras Hashem. A person who is humble realizes that everything that he has is from Hashem and everything that exists is because Hashem created it. Therefore, he cannot sin and will not fall prey to subconscious fears of losing out on something, because he knows that whatever position he has, the amount of respect he has, and any power and authority that he possesses is because Hashem decided to give them to him.

The same lesson is applicable to us in our times. When we see and read and hear about historic changes affecting the world and us, we should recognize that these things are not happening because different people randomly got ideas in their heads to act in a certain way.

We should know better. Those people were resho’im, as they didn’t learn mussar, but we have the benefit of being able to learn from their sorry example, taking time once a week to read the Iggeres HaRamban, especially now with the new edition featuring the peirush of Rav Don Segal.

There are many mussar seforim available that are easily approachable and reinforce the messages that we need to remain anovim - humble, good people - who live with proper emunah and bitachon.

When there are wars and threats of wars, we recognize these as warnings from Hakadosh Boruch Hu for us to do teshuvah and improve ourselves. When things don’t go the way we would like them to, we need to turn to the sefer Chovos Halevavos and be reminded that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has a greater purpose in what He does. Those who remain faithful to Him, despite the nisyonos, challenges and hardships, are guaranteed to be helped.

When we see nations of the world realign, when we see Iran get stronger, we know that Hashem is preparing the world for Moshiach. Hakadosh Boruch Hu does His, but we have to do ours. There were times previously when everything was lined up for Moshiach to redeem us, but we weren’t ready. Hashem sends us reminders and wake-up calls, but we need to get the messages.

When we see and experience disconcerting things, we need to remain calm and not lose our equilibrium. Anshei emunah, people of faith, do not lose themselves in the moment, because they know that everything that happens is from Hashem and for a purpose. They remain tranquil in the face of challenges.

I’ve written previously of my grandfather, Rav Eliezer Levin, who learned in the great yeshiva of Kelm for seven years after learning in Radin for seven years. As one who transplanted himself and his family here from Lita during the war years, he went through much change and had many challenges in his life. Yet, he was always calm and disciplined, carrying himself with distinction into his nineties. As rov of a large city, he had many responsibilities, and he bore them with dignity and honor, never getting rattled or losing himself.

When I asked him how he managed that, he told me that every bochur was given a middah to develop when entering the yeshiva. His middah was savlanus, which includes even-tempered patience combined with serenity and humility.

“Zibben yohr hob ich ge’arbet oif der middah.” He explained that he worked on perfecting that middah for seven years while in Kelm and for the rest of his life.

The lessons we learn from these parshiyos of Sefer Bamidbar may seem simple because we have been hearing them since we were toddlers, but acquiring anavah is not simple and cannot be acquired through simple actions and lessons.

We need to pursue excellence to be and remain anoshim gedolim, solid and unshaken by the challenges of the times, not influenced by conscious or subconscious desires and egos. We must strengthen ourselves and our middos tovos so that we do not fall to any temptations, including those for honor and prestige, as they also lead to sin.

We need to learn the lessons of our forefathers, who learned and lived the teachings and messages of the pesukim, so that we can maintain our equilibrium and emunah in these trying and truly historic times, meriting the coming of Moshiach speedily and in our day.

An Eternal Attachment

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

I had the zechus of spending over a week in Eretz Yisroel. The past two weeks were said to be the hottest since Israel began recording weather temperatures. Since we stayed in Geulah and my favorite mode of transportation there is by foot, the heat was more than a nuisance; it was a real hindrance to walk in 100-degree weather. But it didn’t stop us from traveling to a few places.

Two of the places we visited stand out from the rest of the trip. The first was our visit to Be’eri, Kfar Azah, Nova, and other spots in the south of Israel near the Gaza border that were attacked on October 7^th.

It’s one thing to read about what happened on that awful day and another to be where it took place and hear from people who were there. It was surreal to be in a home where Jews were killed for being Jews and to touch a car that was torched with its passengers inside.

To be so close to tragedy and death is a numbing experience.

It may bring comfort to the martyrs to know that people come and pray and care about what befell them. It may be a sign of brotherhood that people travel there to share the grief and be reminded yet again that to be a Yid is not a simple endeavor and that our eternal enemies are always around the corner, plotting against us and preparing to strike yet again.

Even in this civilized, technologically advanced world, our enemies still believe and spout the same lies of worlds gone by. Millions espouse those falsehoods and chant them internationally at rallies and in governmental meetings and intellectual conferences.

You step foot into a small home, and the first thing you notice are the pockmarks on all the walls and ceilings. You imagine the horror of the couple who was sleeping in that tiny home when barbarians burst in, guns blazing and grenades popping. Everything is upside down and inside out, contents strewn about. You try not to think too much and leave.

Another home has breakfast dishes in the kitchen sink, frozen in time, bearing silent testimony to what happened in that house after breakfast was eaten.

House after house was burned, destroyed, and pockmarked, proclaiming that innocent, peace-loving people died between these walls because they were Jews.

One house and then another and another, each one suffering the same fate in the early morning surprise attack.

Some were killed quickly, some put up a fight, and some were taken hostage, some were taken while alive and others dragged away after they had been murdered.

The scene repeated itself in town after town, small peaceful villages and kibbutzim whose residents went about their business, leading simple lives, far from the noise and commotion of large cities.

Most of them were very different from us, and we would never have been there if not for the senseless tragedy.

I wasn’t too excited about the idea of visiting the site of the Nova music festival, but the guide insisted. So many people were killed there and it has become the focal point of what happened that day.

The area is filled with memorials of young people who went down south to celebrate with music and partying. Every couple of steps you take, you are introduced to another face, another name, another brief bio of a victim or their favorite quote. Before you have time to absorb it, another one grabs your attention. And so it goes until you have had enough and wish to quickly leave that place.

Needless to say, these border towns are emptied of their inhabitants. The desolation compounds the destruction. Nobody knows if the people will ever come back and what shape they will be in if they do.

Sderot, which is considerably larger than those other towns, has come back to life by now. It lost 70 people in the Hamas attack and faced continued rocket shelling for days after. A fierce battle raged in its main police station for 24 hours. Twenty policemen were killed and the building itself was blown up and then razed. Today, the ground it stood on remains empty, except for a few memorials to the martyred and signs of a permanent memorial to be erected there.

We stopped where a small bus carrying 15 Russian seniors got a flat. The driver pulled over to change the tire. The terrorists pulled up and shot them all dead. That bus now sits on display at the large yard where hundreds of vehicles that had been attacked on October 7^th have been towed, creating a most gruesome monument to the hundreds of people who were killed in those cars and vans with bullets, RPGs, and fire. Many of the cars and vans were burned to their steel frames, which rust in the elements and cry out for the world to see and acknowledge the carnage wrought by the savages they advocate and march for.

You look at the vehicles of all shapes and sizes and contemplate the horror their passengers experienced. You think of the people who died in them, and those who were gunned down escaping from them, and the ones who were miraculously saved. Each person with their own story.

And that leads us to the flip side of my trip. I met a survivor from the Nova festival. I met him in what we call Kiryat Sefer and Israelis refer to as Modiin Illit, the giant town of Torah. What was he doing there? As strange as it sounds, he was learning Torah.

As depressing as the trip to the south of Israel was, the visit to the country’s center was invigorating and inspiring. You see, I went to participate in Lev L’Achim’s preparation for Kabbolas HaTorah. Eretz Yisroel’s largest kiruv operation centers around learning Torah with unaffiliated Jews. Volunteer yungeleit travel to irreligious towns one night a week and learn Torah with people who have never done so before. The Torah draws them in, and gradually they get interested in learning and knowing more, and mitzvah observance follows.

On the Sunday evening before Shavuos, five hundred pairs of yungeleit and their weekly chavrusos came together at the massive Bais Medrash Ateres Shlomo, which lies at the heart of the town.

As the country’s media and politicians engage in non-stop full-throttle bashing of bnei Torah, five hundred people you would think would have been influenced by them left their homes and towns and traveled to a Torah community to learn Torah.

It was there that I met the survivor of the Nova tragedy. He had a broad smile on his face as he sat engrossed in the sugya with his chavrusa, who was as far removed from Nova and what it represented as possible.

He didn’t want to speak about how he was saved that day, other than that it was miraculous and led him to take a serious look at life and ponder why he was saved. He also shared that he had been learning for a few weeks and that it has changed his life and brings him fulfillment and happiness.

He said that his wife is coming along, but slower. With a smile from ear to ear, he shared, “Last Shabbat was her first. And many more are coming.”

There was another fellow there who providentially met up with Lev L’Achim shortly after he retired. Pointing at the large Gemara on the shtender in front of him, he told me, “Until four years ago, I didn’t even know that this existed. I never heard of the Talmud. I was robbed. Boruch Hashem, four years ago, someone came and asked me if I was interested in learning. I had no idea what he was talking about. In the beginning, I didn’t understand a word. It took a hammer to bang it into my head. Then, slowly, I began getting it, and here I am tonight about to make a siyum with my chavruta.”

Each man there had a story. If you had met many of those people learning that night, you would have no idea that they learn Gemara once a week and are on their way to full shmiras hamitzvos. And then there are others who look as if they are frum from birth. One man I met presented himself as a descendant of Rav Akiva Eiger. “And it is in his zechus that I am here today,” he said.

His story? “Thirty-five years ago, shortly after Rav Uri Zohar had become frum and began speaking at Lev L’Achim rallies, exhorting people to follow his path, do teshuvah, and return to Hashem and Torah, I went to hear him. Then I went again and again. I began keeping some mitzvos and then more… And here I am thirty-five years later.”

With a white beard and peyos, in a black shiny suit and hat, he looked like any other man who has spent his life hunched over seforim in a bais medrash. He introduced me to his son, a fine young man, who had come to learn with his chavrusa who he is introducing to Torah.

The country is in a terrible state, fighting a war on its southern border, while its northern border is under serious attack. The citizens of the northern area have fled and don’t appear to be going back anytime soon. Israel has been fighting this war for eight months already. Soldiers are being hurt and mortally wounded every day, over 100 people are being held hostage by beasts, the economy is in shambles, politicians are battling each other, and Hamas’s global support increases exponentially.

With this as a backdrop and people of goodwill seeking to hold the nation together in unity, at least for the duration of the war, the Left decided that now would be the perfect time to fight the long-simmering, on-and-off-again war over drafting Torah students into the army. The Knesset held a fierce debate last week, and all of the media outlets made certain to fan the tension.

To note that the pre-Shavuos Lev L’Achim learn-a-thon took place with that going on is to appreciate the inner strength of the Jewish people and their eternal attachment to Torah. Having strayed from a life of mitzvos, the bond of Jews to the Torah is stronger than any propaganda and the lies that people are taught and brainwashed with.

It is said that Ben Gurion only agreed to free those who dedicate their lives to Torah study from the army because he and the other secular founding leaders of Israel firmly believed that the religious community would peter out and, in a matter of time, there wouldn’t be any draft-age men forsaking careers to study Torah.

Providentially, Ben Gurion and his friends were proven wrong. The Torah community has expanded greatly since near decimation during the Holocaust. And it continues to grow. So, while the heated debate over the draft and what it will lead to is frightening on one level, on another it is a sign of the Torah community’s triumph that the debate is taking place. And just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu has protected us until now, He will continue protecting and nurturing us so that we can achieve the prophecy which tells of the time when “Umolah ha’aretz dei’ah es Hashem.”

My visit came to an end on Motzoei Shabbos when I flew back to the United States. On the same flight was the Slabodka rosh yeshiva, Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, who was traveling to address the massive Adirei Hatorah event and create awareness for the financial needs of Israeli yeshivos and their yungeleit.

A product of this country, Rav Hirsch learned under Rav Aharon Kotler back when there were but a few dozen talmidim in the Lakewood Yeshiva. At the time, most believed that Shabbos, kashrus, limud haTorah, and shemiras hamitzvos stood no chance in the United States and that there would never again be a market for seforim such as the classic Ketzos Hachoshen.

This week, Rav Hirsch addressed an arena packed with people studying the Ketzos along with sifrei Rishonim v’Acharonim, as well as seforim that weren’t yet written or published when Rav Aharon Kotler opened his yeshiva and was given little chance of success.

Most of those who filled the arena were not alive in those days of little and have not known of the deprivation that was prevalent after the war and the struggles that were necessary to keep Yiddishkeit alive in those years.

Today we live in a new era, with new challenges and tests, but we stand on the shoulders of those who preceded us here and in Eretz Yisroel as well.

We can sit in a stadium and clap and stand and dance and proclaim, “Netzach Yisroel lo yeshaker,” demonstrating it by being there, by leading lives of Torah, by dedicating our lives to Torah and its principles, and always behaving according to the ways of Torah.

As the words of the speakers bounced around the stadium, older people closed their eyes and imagined what the world was like as they were growing up, and the younger people opened their eyes wide and were pumped with pride as to where we have come without compromising on the ideals of our rabbeim who brought the Torah here after the war.

A visionary came up with the idea of Adirei Hatorah, and thanks to him, all of us who were in Philadelphia on Sunday were able to see and appreciate how far we have come, how great we are, how great our community is, and how great we can be in the years to come.

We went from being the poor and downtrodden, who were pitied and written off, to a burgeoning world of many tens of thousands of bnei Torah families, blessed by Hashem with aliyah in Torah and success in business. Zevuluns and Yissochors are motivated each in their own way to grow and to contribute and to give birth to generations who will place Torah uppermost in their lives.

They support Torah, and the Torah shall support them. Every day, we are getting closer to the time the nevi’im spoke of and we daven for, when the world will be filled with Torah and we will merit the final redemption with the arrival of Moshiach, who will answer all of our questions and right all wrongs.

May it be very soon. Amein.

That’s What We’re Here For

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Back at the beginning of the world, when creation was still unsullied by man and his struggles, nothing was guaranteed.

The Gemara in Shabbos (88a) quotes Reish Lakish, who taught that when Hashem finished creating the world, He, so to speak, put everything on hold and conditioned the world’s existence. Hashem told His creations that if the Jewish people would accept the Torah when He would present it to them, everything would continue to exist, but if the Jews would have a negative response, the world would be over and everything would revert to nothingness.

The existence of the world depended on what would happen on the sixth day of Sivan. That day, when the Jews stood at Har Sinai in complete achdus, the Medrash states that Hashem said He would take advantage of their unity to deliver the Torah to them.

When Hashem presented His offer, they responded in unison, “Naaseh v’nishma.”

The Gemara (ibid.) quotes Rav Sima’i, who taught that when the Jewish people proclaimed naaseh v’nishma, six hundred thousand malochim came to each person and tied two crowns on their heads, one for naaseh and one for nishma.

Rabi Elozor taught (see Shabbos ibid.) that a Heavenly voice rang out and declared, “Who taught this secret of the Divine angels to My children?”

What was so special about naaseh v’nishma that those two words created such a Heavenly response?

Seforim such as those of Rav Chaim Vital and the Maharal teach that Hashem created us comprised of two differing entities, chomer and tzurah. Chomer refers to the physical aspects, and tzurah to the spiritual, the abstract, the goal, the direction to be taken through utilizing the chomer. There is a perpetual struggle between the body and the soul, the guf and the neshomah. All throughout our lives, every day, as we make decisions about how to live, the neshomah and the guf, the yeitzer hara and yeitzer tov, are debating. How we proceed is determined by which side wins.

When the Jews proclaimed naaseh v’nishma, they were saying, in effect, that they recognized this steady battle and were committing themselves to follow the word of Hashem and be people of tzurah, not chomer. They were saying that they would work to subjugate the physical to the spiritual.

When we sing on Shavuos, “Naaseh v’nishma omru k’echod,” we are celebrating that promise and renewing the vow.

Naaseh means that we will observe the mitzvos that Hashem will give us, and nishma means that we will study the Torah that teaches us those mitzvos. The greatness of their response was that they weren’t only accepting upon themselves to study Torah so that they would be able to properly obey the mitzvos. They were also stating that they would learn Torah with no ulterior motive other than to study Hashem’s words. It was this that Rav Yosef was referring to (Pesochim 68b) when he addressed the greatness of the Yom Tov of Shavuos and said, “Ih lav hai yoma kama Yosef ika beshuka.” In today’s vernacular, he said, “If not for this day, I would be just another Yosef out there in the street.”

There are many explanations of what Rav Yosef meant, but Rashi is succinct and clear. He writes that Rav Yosef was saying, “If not for this day upon which we were given the Torah, which I studied and which raised me, I would be just a regular person.”

Rav Yosef was referring to Klal Yisroel’s statement that they would study Torah lishmah, for its own sake and not for any other reason. Because he studied Torah purely for the sake of studying Torah, he was raised to a higher level.

The same way Torah raised Rav Yosef, it can raise us if we dedicate ourselves to it and follow the words of Chazal at the beginning of Parshas Bechukosai. Hashem says to us, “Im bechukosai teileichu, if you will follow the ways of My commandments, I will bless you.”

Rashi, however, based on Chazal, explains the word teileichu to mean that if you would work hard to study the Torah, you will earn Hashem’s blessings. Along with those blessings, you will also become a holy person. Torah raises the spiritual levels of those who study it, for when you are learning Torah, you are studying the words of Hashem and connecting to Him.

Chazal teach, “Yisroel v’oraisa v’Kudsha Brich Hu chad hu—Klal Yisroel and Torah and Hashem are one.” The more we learn, the higher we rise and the more connected we become to Hashem. We bring additional pleasure to Hashem as we also fulfill the purpose for which He created the world.

This is conditional on us being connected to the rest of Klal Yisroel, as we shall see.

The Shulchan Aruch (428:4) states that we always read Parshas Bamidbar on the Shabbos prior to Shavuos. The commentators explain that this is based on the Gemara in Megillah (32b) that this was instituted by Ezra. [See the Gemara.] Tosefos and the Levush explain that this is done to separate the curses of Parshas Bechukosai from the Yom Tov of Shavuos. 

Perhaps we can offer another reason for this practice and say that it is because in Parshas Bamidbar, the Jews were counted. The Torah states that if the Jewish people are counted numerically one by one, they will be punished with a plague.

The Torah prescribes that we are to be counted with the machatzis hashekel coin. Every person who is included in the count contributes a half-shekel coin to the Bais Hamikdosh, and the population number is arrived at by adding up the number of coins.

When the people see that everyone is equal and no single person is worth more than another, and they observe that each one on his own is only a half—they need another person to be considered one and whole—this brings unity, achdus. And when there is achdus amongst Klal Yisroel, the Shechinah can dwell in our midst. Where the Shechinah is, there can be no plague.

Therefore, we lain Parshas Bamidbar prior to Shavuos to remind us to be b’achdus as we approach the Yom Tov of Matan Torah.

Achdus on Shavuos is not only a good idea, but a prerequisite to Kabbolas HaTorah. Each year on the sixth day of Sivan—Shavuos—we receive the Torah anew, just as we did on the sixth day of Sivan when we stood at Har Sinai.

This is derived from the posuk which states, referring to the Bnei Yisroel at Har Sinai, “Vayichan shom Yisroel neged hohor,” using the singular form of the words vayichan and Yisroel to teach us that they stood there as one person with one heart, in complete unity. This harmony was necessary for Hashem to deliver them the Torah. The Medrash states that when Hashem saw that the people were united, He said, “This is the time that I will give the Torah to My children.” Had they not been unified b’achdus, they would not have received the Torah.

The Korban Ha’eidah on the Yerushalmi (Rosh Hashanah 4) states that each year, on Shavuos, it is like the day we stood at Har Sinai to receive the Torah. Since we receive the Torah anew each year on the sixth of Sivan, we have to properly prepare ourselves for the annual Kabbolas HaTorah. One of the ways to do that is to be b’achdus.

The Shelah goes further and cites from the sefer Tolaas Yaakov that Shavuos is a Yom Hadin on what share we will have in the Torah.

Therefore, it stands to reason that just as the Jewish people prepared themselves for the original Kabbolas HaTorah, we have to do the same. Through the days of Sefirah from Pesach until Shavuos, we refrain from frivolity and concentrate on raising ourselves day by day through the 48 levels of proper conduct, purity, and holiness required to accept the Torah. As we mourn the death of the talmidim of Rabi Akiva, we work on improving the way we deal with each other. This includes speech and conduct, perfecting our middos and treating everybody the way we want people to treat us, with decency, respect, and love. In light of what we wrote, to be prepared for the din of Shavuos, we must put an extra emphasis on working towards the goal of achdus, which is necessary for Kabbolas HaTorah.

The Shelah writes that just as on the day Hashem created the world He revisits it and examines people and their actions to determine what the next year will be like, so too, on the day of Matan Torah, which is “moreh al chiddush ha’olam,” Hashem wants to examine what is happening in the world as He judges it regarding Torah.

I am perplexed by what the Shelah means when he writes that the day of Matan Torah, namely Shavuos, points to creation. Perhaps we can explain that his intention is to say that, in effect, the act of creation was completed on the sixth day of Sivan at Matan Torah, as we saw from Reish Lakish that the totality of the briah was dependent on whether the Jewish people would accept the Torah.

Thus, the day of Shavuos, when the world began in earnest, is truly a beginning of the world, worthy of a day of judgment, similar to the day of judgment on the first day of Tishrei, the day the world was created, which we refer to as Rosh Hashanah.

We can also say that on the day the Torah was given to the Jewish people, the world entered a new period, for Torah is what gives us life and sustains us. It is the reason Hashem created us and the reason He created the world. Therefore, it is fitting that on this day, He reviews the success of His world and whether it is reaching its purpose. He reviews whether His nation is realizing their purpose in Torah.

Hashem looks down at us and observes us to see if we are toiling in Torah and if we are spending our time immersed in our Torah learning to arrive at its truth, which He meant to be the essence of our life. He looks at our thoughts and actions. He views the way we conduct ourselves and deal with others as He determines what type of Torah year we will have. Will it be a year of serious learning, of understanding what we are learning and remembering it, or will it be a year during which we will have to work extremely hard to understand and retain anything we learn?

Hashem looks to see how we go about our study and observance of Torah. If He sees that we are studying in a lackadaisical and superficial manner, He may not be happy with us and will chas veshalom grant us a year during which it will take superhuman effort to fulfill our purpose in the world.

Additionally, prior to giving the Torah, Hashem told Moshe to tell the Jewish people to make themselves holy and to purify themselves (Shemos 19:10) in order to be able to receive the Torah.

We must do the same. During the period leading up to Shavuos and on Shavuos itself, we must work to sanctify ourselves and our actions and make ourselves holy. We have to raise ourselves from the nonsense we are busy with and rip ourselves away from things that do not lead to holiness or purity. We must examine the things we read and what we speak about, and work to improve ourselves, so that we are not busy with petty things or talking about other people, especially when being judgmental and mocking. We must be uplifted and positive, working to make ourselves and those around us better.

Our society is steeped in too much silliness and shallowness. There are so many causes and so many people suffering. It is so expensive to live these days and we should be trying to find ways to help people and lighten their load. The topic of last week’s Yated Chinuch Roundtable was sad and vital. People of goodwill need to sit down and figure out how regular, normal people in our world can make ends meet. It is nearly impossible today to survive on an average salary, and even on two average salaries.

There are so many poor people desperate for help, but no less desperate are families where both parents work. That itself is not optimal, but that’s a topic for a different time. There isn’t enough money to pay for a mortgage, own a car, have health insurance, and cover tuition. People are crashing and a solution must be found.

We need to work on achdus, which means caring about other people and their situations. It means the little things that we encounter every day. It means that we find a way to get along even with people who are different from us and think differently than we do.

Being a Torah Yid means learning and growing and caring, having high goals and reaching them. It means to be holier and better, nicer and more moral and honest, righteous and spiritual, and committed to excellence. It means to always seek to place tzurah over chomer, to do what the yeitzer tov, not the yeitzer hara, wants. It means saying naaseh v’nishma all day and every day.

We can all do it. That’s what we are here for, pre-Shavuos, on Shavuos, post-Shavuos, and all year round.

May we all be zoche to the wonderful blessings reserved for those who study and follow the Torah.

Have a good Yom Tov.