WHAT'S UP IN AUGUST?
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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Parshat HaShavua Vaetchanan-Shabbos Nachamu
The Dvar Torah that follows is of Vaetchanan.
Reminder: Erev Tzom is Wednesday night and in accordance with Halachot
the Fast of Tisha B'Av lasts until nightfall Thursday night. Please check
with the guide to Halachot of Tisha B'av that was sent last week or your
local Rabbinic authority for more complete information as to custom and law.
Tzom Kal and Shabbat Shalom to all.
בס''ד
Parashas Vaeschanan – Shabbos Nachamu
I. The Effects of a Preconceived Idea
Honor your father and your mother…(Devarim 5:16)
The Talmud (Kiddushin 31a) tells how the gentile world reacted to the Ten
Commandments: When they heard the first two (I am Hashem your God…and you
shall have no other gods…) they felt that Hashem was only concerned with
His own honor and they rejected the commandments. When they heard that
Hashem also demands that we honor our parents, they realized their mistake
and they accepted the Ten Commandments. Rashi (ibid.) explains why the
nations of the world changed their perspective: When they came to the fifth
commandment they reasoned, "If we have to honor our parents then we must
also honor Hashem even more, for He also brought us into being and our life
and death are in His hands.
It is obvious that the nations of the world believed in Hashem and
appreciated His omnipotence, otherwise they would never have deduced the a
fortiori logic described by Rashi. Why, then, did they originally reject
the Ten Commandments? How could they possibly believe that Hashem created
them and is responsible for their well-being, while simultaneously
spuringing His laws?
We see, from this incident, the effects of a negiah – a bias or a
preconceived idea. The yetzer hara within them prejudiced them to reject
the commandments. Because of the negiah deep in their souls that wanted
freedom from demands and responsibility, they could envision the most
ludicrous perversions – that Hashem gave the Ten Commandments for His own
glory – as absolute truth.
What special attribute did the fifth commandment have that helped them
see the truth through their negiah and twisted logic?
Honoring our parents is a mitzvah that our own logic demands we fulfill.
All the nations of the world understood and appreciated the importance of
this obligation. Once they heard that law, a command which they could
easily assimilate, they could expand upon its values and gain a greater
belief in Hashem. This led them to accept even the first two commandments
which they previously could not embrace, due to the prejudice of a negiah.
This Gemara teaches us a useful technique for gaining a better
understanding of emunah – faith – in Hashem and His mitzvos: When we
are faced with a situation in life that tests our emunah or we come upon a
mitzvah that we don't quite see the relevance for, we should search for a
similar incident or mitzvah that we find easier to understand. By expanding
upon our knowledge of that mitzvah or episode, we can get a better insight
into more difficult concepts and more enigmatic mitzvos. For example: When
faced with a tragedy that seems impossible to comprehend, we can gain some
comfort by reminding ourselves of the story of a man who fell seriously ill
just before a planned trip, only to find out that his "misfortune" saved him
from disaster. By utilizing this and similar strategies to maximize our
faith in Hashem, we can grow to ever-higher heights.
Parashas Vaeschanan – Shabbos Nachamu
I. The Effects of a Preconceived Idea
Honor your father and your mother…(Devarim 5:16)
The Talmud (Kiddushin 31a) tells how the gentile world reacted to the Ten
Commandments: When they heard the first two (I am Hashem your God…and you
shall have no other gods…) they felt that Hashem was only concerned with
His own honor and they rejected the commandments. When they heard that
Hashem also demands that we honor our parents, they realized their mistake
and they accepted the Ten Commandments. Rashi (ibid.) explains why the
nations of the world changed their perspective: When they came to the fifth
commandment they reasoned, "If we have to honor our parents then we must
also honor Hashem even more, for He also brought us into being and our life
and death are in His hands.
It is obvious that the nations of the world believed in Hashem and
appreciated His omnipotence, otherwise they would never have deduced the a
fortiori logic described by Rashi. Why, then, did they originally reject
the Ten Commandments? How could they possibly believe that Hashem created
them and is responsible for their well-being, while simultaneously
spuringing His laws?
We see, from this incident, the effects of a negiah – a bias or a
preconceived idea. The yetzer hara within them prejudiced them to reject
the commandments. Because of the negiah deep in their souls that wanted
freedom from demands and responsibility, they could envision the most
ludicrous perversions – that Hashem gave the Ten Commandments for His own
glory – as absolute truth.
What special attribute did the fifth commandment have that helped them
see the truth through their negiah and twisted logic?
Honoring our parents is a mitzvah that our own logic demands we fulfill.
All the nations of the world understood and appreciated the importance of
this obligation. Once they heard that law, a command which they could
easily assimilate, they could expand upon its values and gain a greater
belief in Hashem. This led them to accept even the first two commandments
which they previously could not embrace, due to the prejudice of a negiah.
This Gemara teaches us a useful technique for gaining a better
understanding of emunah – faith – in Hashem and His mitzvos: When we
are faced with a situation in life that tests our emunah or we come upon a
mitzvah that we don't quite see the relevance for, we should search for a
similar incident or mitzvah that we find easier to understand. By expanding
upon our knowledge of that mitzvah or episode, we can get a better insight
into more difficult concepts and more enigmatic mitzvos. For example: When
faced with a tragedy that seems impossible to comprehend, we can gain some
comfort by reminding ourselves of the story of a man who fell seriously ill
just before a planned trip, only to find out that his "misfortune" saved him
from disaster. By utilizing this and similar strategies to maximize our
faith in Hashem, we can grow to ever-higher heights.
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