‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Devorim
“How can I alone bear your contentiousness, burdens, and your quarrels?” (Devorim 1:12)
Ramban explains that ‘burdens’ refers to prayer. Moshe Rabbeinu was lamenting the fact that he was unable to daven for all of Klal Yisroel.
Why is tefillah referred to as a burden?
Rav Simcha Broide zt’l (Sam Derech) explains that when one davens for another he should empathize with his pain. The gemara (Berachos 12b) states that when a talmid chochom davens for someone he has to feel sick for the person he is davening for.
When Moshe Rabbeinu davened for others he truly felt their pain, and therefore, he could not bear the responsibility of davening for the entire nation.
People would often approach Rav Pam zt’l after Shacharis for advice and b’rachos regarding their difficulties and challenges. Rabbi Yisroel Reisman related that Rebbezin Pam a’h once told him that when Rav Pam would arrive home after Shacharis he could not eat breakfast right away. He needed time to calm down because he was so aggravated from all the pain he heard.
That is the ‘burden’ of davening for others; to truly think about and feel their pain.
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“You shall not provoke them… for as an inheritance to Eisav I have given Har Seir.” (Devorim 2:5)
In the haggadah we quote the pasuk (Yehoshua 24:4) “I have given to Eisav the Har Seir as an inheritance, while Yaakov and his sons descended to Egypt.”
What is the connection between Eisav’s inheritance of Har Seir and Yaakov’s descent to Egypt?
Rav Aharon Bakst zt’l noted that while most animals fully mature within a relatively short time, humans take far longer. It takes months before a baby can even hold itself up. Even after it has slowly learned to walk and talk it takes years until a human is self-sufficient.
Why should mankind – the purpose of creation – take the longest to develop? The answer is that the greater something is the longer it takes to mature. An animal, which does not possess a specific destiny in life, requires a short time to reach maturity. A human however, who has a divine mission which only he can fulfill, takes far longer to mature.
The same holds true vis-à-vis Klal Yisroel. Eisav’s children were not fated to become the Chosen People, therefore they were immediately granted their inheritance on Har Eisav. Yaakov however, possessed a manifest destiny to become ‘a Kingdom of Kohanim and a holy Nation’, therefore he needed to endure two centuries in the ‘Iron Furnace’ of Mitzrayim. To become the eternal bearers of the Torah, the road is not paved with roses.
On Tisha B’av we recall all the pain and tears of exile. But in that deep sadness is the comfort of knowing that it’s par for the course of greatness.
Eisav has no Tisha B’av but Eisav also has no Pesach, Shavuos, or Succos. Perhaps that is part of the reason why the Seder always falls out on the same night of the week as Tisha B’av. The night of redemption was the beginning of our march towards greatness, and that greatness comes with the price tag of Tisha B’av.
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“When you come to appear before Me – who sought this from your hand, to trample My courtyards?” (Haftorah Shabbos Chazon; Yeshaya 1:12)
What does Hashem mean; did He not command us to make a tri-annual pilgrimage to the Bais Hamikdash each festival?
Dubner Maggid relates a mashal about a store-owner who had a dear friend from his youth who was a successful merchant. The merchant had business dealings with all the owner’s competitors except with him. Trying to think of a way to develop a working relationship with his old friend, the owner asked his old friend to join him each morning in his store for coffee.
After a few weeks of such ‘meetings’ the merchant still made no mention of any business dealings with the store-owner. The owner told him that he was no longer welcome. The merchant was surprised, “Didn’t you invite me?” The owner explained, “Indeed I invited you, but that was because I desired to have a business relationship with you. But if you are not interested than I have no need to host you each morning.”
Hashem beckons to us to come to the Bais Hamikdash each Yom Tov in order to be uplifted and inspired. But if we bring the requisite korbanos by rote, we have missed the point.
Avodas Hashem must foster closeness with Hashem!
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Sources: Rabbi Reisman –Devorim 5771; Dubner Maggid – quoted in Umasok Ha’or