Parshas Re’eh 5773
‘Parsha Growth Spurts’[1]
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Re’eh 5773
“See that I have placed before you today, a blessing and a curse.” (Devorim 11:26)
Rav Shlomo Levinstein shlita (Umasok Ha’or) quotes Rav Moshe Pollak who explained that Moshe was teaching Klal Yisroel here that everything in the world contains potential blessing or curse, depending how it is utilized. Torah itself is the ultimate blessing, but if one who uses Torah as a source of hubris or to denigrate others, he transforms his Torah study into deadly poison (see Yoma 72a).
The gemara (Berachos 40b) rules that a beracha that does not contain “malchus” – mention of Hashem’s Kingship – is not considered a beracha. Rav Levinstein explained homiletically that any blessing, which one does not recognize as being a gift from Hashem and does not utilize to fulfill the Will of Hashem, is not a beracha at all.
Similarly, wealth can be a blessing or a source of terrible destruction. Rav Aharon Leib Steinman shlita noted that a person of means can accomplish great things and garner tremendous merit. But, along with the gift of wealth, Hashem removes the wealthy person’s clarity of thinking, so that wealth becomes a great test if it will be used properly.
Rav Meir Shapiro zt’l once went to visit a wealthy miser in an effort to solicit funds for a worthy cause. The wealthy man told the Rav he must have the wrong address, because he did not donate charity. Rav Shapiro countered that he had not come to collect tzedakah, but rather to fulfill the mitzvah of bikur cholim. The wealthy man replied that if so the Rav surely had the wrong address, because he was perfectly healthy.
Rav Shapiro smiled and quoted the pasuk in Koheles (5:12) which states “There is a sickly evil which I have seen under the sun: riches hoarded by their owner to his misfortune.” “Therefore,” explained the Rav, “According to Koheles you are a very sick man.”
The wealthy man wasn’t impressed. “Even so, there are many ill people. If the Rav wanted to fulfill the mitzvah of bikur cholim, he could have gone to the hospital.” Rav Shapiro replied, “Chazal state that when one visits a sick person, he takes one sixtieth of the sickness with him when he leaves. I don’t need a sixtieth of those people’s sicknesses. But I definitely could benefit from a sixtieth of your sickness. Therefore, I came to visit you.”
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“You are children of Hashem, your G-d” (Devorim 14:1)
The Mishna (Avos 3:18) states “Yisroel is beloved, because they are called children of the Omnipresent. It is indicative of even greater love that it was made known to them that they are called children of the Omnipresent, as it is said, “You are children of Hashem, your G-d.””
What is added by the second clause that there is an ever greater love expressed by the aforementioned pasuk?
Tosefes Beracha explains that it is common for a person to refer to a young man he feels an affinity to as ‘my son’. There are numerous verses in Tanach which demonstrate this. Therefore, if one hears someone refer to another as ‘my son’ it is not conclusive that the young man is really his biological son.
However, if one asks another ‘who is that person?’ and he replies that he is the son of so-and-so, that is a clear indication that the young man is the man’s biological son.
In parshas Shemos when Hashem declared “My son, my firstborn, Yisroel” that may have been a mere designation of love and affection. But when Moshe declared emphatically “You are sons to Hashem, your G-d” that means we are literally the children of Hashem. To say we are called sons demonstrates that we are beloved to Hashem, but to say that we are called sons of Hashem is proof positive that we are the true sons of Hashem, as the sole Chosen Nation.
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“You shall not cut yourselves.” (Devorim 14:1)
Chazal explain that this prohibition has two meanings: That we may not injure ourselves as a sign of mourning, and that we may not polarize different groups within our communities by forming partisan groups.
Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l (Darash Moshe II) noted that these two meanings mirror each other. If a group feels marginalized, it will hamper the spirituality of the community. Just as mutilation causes a person to look hideous, so does divisiveness mutilate the spirituality of a community.
As the children of Hashem, we have the responsibility to remain, not only physically complete, but also spiritually complete, as a cohesive unified group.
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Rabbi Staum can be reached at stamtorah@gmail.com.
[1] This series was originally written for, and published in Hamodia.