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By Rabbi Baruch Lederman The Menorah was fueled by olive oil. Olives produce their wonderful pure oil only after being beaten, pressed and crushed. Similarly, the persecutions and tribulations that the Jewish people have suffered, serve to strengthen and purify us. Difficulties in life actually make us greater, as the following parable illustrates: A little boy is telling his Grandma how "everything" is going wrong. School, family problems, severe health problems, etc.. Meanwhile, Grandma is baking a cake. She asks her grandson if he would like a snack, which, of course, he does. "Here, have some cooking oil." "Yuck" says the boy. "How about a couple raw eggs? " "Gross, Grandma!" "Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?" "Grandma, those are all yucky!" To which Grandma replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! Hashem (G-d) works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But Hashem knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful! Always think about how much Hashem loves us - He gives us a sunrise every morning, a beautiful sunset every evening, a sky full of stars every night, and flowers every spring. D'Var Torah - Parshas Tetzaveh - 5761
The Kohain Gadol wore a pure gold headplate inscribed with the
words "Kodesh L'Hashem." "Holy to G-d." We can learn from here that all our
thoughts should be holy and pure. Changing our attitudes is easier said than
done as the following true story from the Talmud illustrates:
Rebbi Yehudah Hanassi was once walking past a slaughterhouse when
he saw a young calf trying to escape through a hole in the fence. As the Talmud
recounts, he turned the calf around and set it back through the fence and
covered the hole. He said to the calf, "Go, for this is your purpose in the
world."
Immediately thereafter, he was stricken with a terrible pain.
According to some Rabbinic versions he had a toothache, according to some he had
kidney stones. In either case the pain was so severe that no woman had pain in
childbirth during all those years because all that pain was being directed by
heaven to Rebbi.
This lasted for many many years till the following incident. Rebbi's daughter was cleaning the house and she saw a mouse. She began to chase after it with a broom when Rebbi called out to her to stop. "V'rachamav al cal maasav." "His (G-d's) mercy is on all his works." (Psalms 145:9) Immediately thereafter, Rebbi's intense pain was relieved.
Why didn't Rebbi just recite that verse years earlier and avoid all
that pain. The answer is that it was not the mere recitation of the verse but
the feeling behind it. Feelings take a very long time and a lot of work to
change and develop. Needless to say, Rebbi was never a cruel person. He was
always kind and merciful. The change in him was not a drastic turn around. It
was simply an improvement of his already good midos (traits), yet it still took
years of work with a lot of motivation to accomplish. Rabbi Yisroel
Salanter commented that it is easier to master the entire Talmud than to change
one personality trait. D'Var Torah - Parshas Tetzaveh - 5763
The me'il was an atonement for the transgression of lashon hara
(slander, gossip). It was hemmed at the border to symbolize how one who
maligns another should do teshuva. He should refrain from future slander by
surrounding his mouth with a barrier, just as the me'il was hemmed. The
seventy-two pomegranates are a reminder that for the sin of lashon hara,
seventy-two different types of tzara'as (leprosy) exist that are visited upon
a person in punishment. Lashon hara can have a devastating impact on the
listener, speaker and subject as the following story illustrates:
Ari nervously sat across from the prospective employer. The current
economic environment was unusually hard for his field. Even landing
an interview was extremely tough. He needed this job badly as he and his wife
Shifra were expecting their first child. Still, Ari remained composed and
with his solid credentials the meeting was going well. As he stood up to
leave, the boss smiled and said, "You'll be hearing from us soon."
Miriam, the interviewer's sister came by the office later that day to
go out to lunch with her brother. While waiting, she happened to notice Ari's
name. One of her friends had dated Ari some years ago, and was unhappy when
he broke it off. She proceeded to rip into him. She gave such a negative
caricature, that her brother changed his mind about hiring him.
Ari was unable to get another job. Eventually, one thing led to
another and he was out on the street. He had to resort to any means, legal or
illegal just to survive. One day he snatched a purse from a woman passing by
in the street. He removed the small amount of cash and discarded the purse in
a dumpster.
Unbeknownst to Ari, the woman was Miriam, the interviewer's sister.
She and her brother had invested all their money together in precious stones,
all of which were in her purse at the time. She was coming from a big
transaction and was headed for their safe deposit box when Ari grabbed her
purse. Ari never even saw the stones; nor had he ever even met Miriam in his
life.
The next winter, Ari died of pneumonia out in the cold streets.
Miriam and her brother never recovered financially. Lashon hara had ruined
the lives of three people and their families.
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DVAR TORAH: Tetzave “And you shall command the children…” (Ex 27:20) Parshas Tetzave is unique in that it is the only parsha, after the birth of Moshe, in which the name of Moshe is not mentioned.
In 1991, the soul of our three-month-old son Shlomo Moshe Lederman was returned to its Creator during the afternoon of Shabbos Terumah. I remember thinking that on Shabbos Terumah, Hashem took his Terumah (tithe), and on Shabbos Tetzave there was no Moshe (in our home).
The funeral was held at the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in Forest Hills, New York. A microphone and podium was set up in front of the building. Throngs of people poured out for this sad event. A funeral is always a profoundly sad occasion – every funeral. When the deceased is a healthy baby who died suddenly of SIDS, it becomes even more heart wrenching.
The street was blocked off by cars parked perpendicularly across the width of the thoroughfare, as well as with official police barricades, so that participants could stand in the street to listen to the eulogies. The yeshiva was on 69th Avenue, a main street, which had a city bus route that passed by the yeshiva. The bus line was rerouted and the drivers were instructed to detour by turning up the block before and avoiding the yeshiva building.
One bus somehow didn’t make that turn and was now at the barricades. The driver asked the men standing nearby to move their cars, remove the barricade and clear the street so that he could go through.
They replied that he was supposed to turn up the street before and not even be there. He said that at this point it was impossible to maneuver back to where he was supposed to be, so his only alternative was to go through.
They responded that there was a funeral taking place for a three month old baby. They had the city’s permission to hold the funeral in the street and there was no way they were going to disrupt it. The bus would just have to wait.
The bus driver was not willing to accept no for an answer and he continued to argue his point. In the meantime the police officer, who was assigned to the event, came over and listened to both sides.
The officer said that unfortunately, even though the bus driver was in the wrong, he would have to let the bus through. The men were so disappointed to hear this because this would disrupt an extremely emotional funeral. Mind you that 99% of the people there had no idea what was going on. Only the few men talking with the bus driver were aware of the situation.
The men pulled back their cars; the police officer moved the wooden barricade and was about to allow the bus to go through when suddenly the bus wouldn’t start. The driver tried and tried but the bus was completely stalled out. The driver, determined to move this bus through, radioed in to dispatch to send a repairman. When the bus was fixed, he would drive it through as planned – funeral or no funeral. In the mean time he just had to wait.
The repairman arrived about a minute after the funeral was over – and the bus just started by itself.
Rabbi Moshe Labrie and a few other men who had witnessed the whole exchange told me about this the next day while I was sitting shiva. I remembered seeing a bus there during the eulogies, but didn’t give much thought to it, and certainly had no inkling of the whole confrontation.
It made us feel like HaShem was watching out for us. It made us feel that Hashem loved our little baby Shlomo Moshe, and was making sure his funeral was perfect.
Dedicated in honor of Larry Jaffe |
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