Noach - What Makes a Tzaddick

Following the flood, the survivors, Noach and his family,  are redeemed and in the midst of recovering from this trauma, their fears are put to rest. G-d makes clear that this will not occur again.

And the L-rd smelled the pleasant aroma, and the Lord said to Himself, "I will no longer curse the earth because of man, for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will no longer destroy all living things as I have done.

וַיָּרַח ה' אֶת רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל לִבּוֹ לֹא אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּר הָאָדָם כִּי יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע מִנְּעֻרָיו וְלֹא אֹסִף עוֹד לְהַכּוֹת אֶת כָּל חַי כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי 

Breisheit 8:21

The commentators have a lot to say around this verse verse.
What does it mean that man's heart is evil? Does that mean that man is beyond redemption?
Why make this declaration now, after the flood, doesn't this undermine the significance of having carried out the flood?

Rashi says about "from his youth":

This is written: מִנְעֻרָיו [without a“vav”] [implying that] from the time that he [the embryo] shakes himself [נִנְעָר] to emerge from his mother’s womb, the evil inclination is placed in him. — [from Breisheit Rabbah 34:10] 

Rashi says this shows the very essence of human nature. Rashi is saying that our eternal enemy, the Yetzer Hara, hounds us from birth. This seems to mean that we are at a disadvantage in life, starting out with a heart of evil.

Divine Regret?
Says the Slonimer Rebbe in the Netivot Shalom that this leaves us to conclude that the cause of the flood is the essential evil in man's heart, as shown earlier, when Hashem initially declares his intentions to destroy mankind in a flood:

And the L-rd saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every inclination of his heart was only evil all the time.

וַיַּרְא ה' כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וְכָל יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל הַיּוֹם 

Breisheit 6:5

This is the verse set in motion the events of the flood, seeming to show that the flood was the result of  the evil in man's heart. Yet as we just saw, this is the very reason given for why Hashem promised not to flood the world again.

The Slonimer Rebbe reconciles these two verses by taking Rashi's explanation, saying that man is not evil to the core. Rather, from birth man has an evil inclination embedded within, which gives man the capacity for evil. In contrast, the inclination for good is a quality that needs to be developed and nurtured.

The Slonimer Rebbe emphasizes the subtle and fundamental differences between man before and after the flood.

• Before the flood: every inclination of his heart was only evil all the time
• After the flood: the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth

Man in the post-flood world is more mature, and only has the capacity for evil, rather than the man of the pre-flood time, whose every move, all the time, was dedicated to evil.

Youth Is Not Bad
 Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch is very disturbed by this position. He finds this so difficult to take in, that he practically restructures the verse, for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth:

"for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth," has been completely erroneously taken to be the cause of this new determination of destiny… The words, "for the inclination, etc.," are in parenthesis, and should be read as: [if] the inclination of man's heart should be evil [again], [even] in his youth, so that the only way of saving him would be to destroy the generation, [nevertheless] I will no longer destroy all living things as I have done. 

Youth are neither righteous nor evil. Woe unto them that take the average child or adolescent nature to be evil! Whoever has really observed children say: No, it is not true that youth are bad, the inclination of man's heart is not evil from his youth. It is not in youth that man sets evil as his ideal. Rather, on average, one finds more adults than adolescents whose hearts and minds are directed to evil.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, commentary to Bereishit 8:21

The Prayers of Hershele
I recently heard on the radio a tape of Reb Shlomo Carlebach telling a story. He told the story in the 1970's after the Yom Kippur war, and Israeli Prisoners of War returned from Egypt, to describe the holiness that these individuals had achieved. So tells Reb Shlomo...

Once there was a  village in Russia and they were confronted with a terrible decree. The villages in the area must all close down a relocate to the larger city centers, which could be hundreds of kilometers away. The villagers did not just worry about the move, but that this relocation could mean the death of hundreds of Jews forced to make this terrible journey. So they went to their beloved rabbi for help.

They begged their holy rabbi, Rav Dovid, to pray and influence the heavens to turn this terrible decree. But their rabbi sadly responded, that he didn't have the power to counteract a decree this strong. They would have to turn to a person far more holier than him.
"Who?" the people asked, "who should we go and see?"
"A holy yid that lives far from here, Reb Herschel. You need to find Reb Hershel. Only Reb Hershel is filled with enough holiness that his prayers can have this much influence."

The people of the village traveled far to the town their rabbi had spoke of. When they reached the town they looked around and asked people: where do we find the holy Reb Hershel?
However the locals shook their heads. "There is no Reb Hershel."
"What?" they replied, "but our rabbi sent us here to get a blessing from Reb Hershel."
"There's no Reb Hershel here. The only Hershel here, is Hershel the drunk."
"Hershel the drunk?"
"Yes and he is where is always is, lying down on the street."
The tired village people trusted their rabbi and sought at Hershel the drunk. Just as they were told, there was Hershel the drunk, a disheveled figure sitting on the street with his back up against the wall.
"Are you Hershel?"
"Yeah I'm Hershel," he yelled back.
"We have come from a far away village. Our rabbi sent us here to find you. We have a terrible situation. A horrible decree has been issued forcing the entire village to be abandoned and everyone move to the large cities. He needs a blessing to overturn this decree."
"So what do ya want from me?" asked Hershel, somewhat inebriated.
"Our rabbi said that you could pray for us."
With this, Hershel began to laugh. "Me?!" he said, "you want me to pray for you?" He laughed some more.
They didn't know what to think. This was who their rabbi sent them so far to see? Their rabbi wouldn't play a joke on them, especially under the circumstances. They turned back to Hershel.
"Please, we've come so far and as unusual as it may sound, our holy rabbi said that only your tefila is strong enough to break this decree. Please pray for us."
Hershel stopped laughing. He turned his head towards the heavens, and said, "Nu? Creator of the Universe! You gonna help them already!" Hershel lifted up a nearby bottle, and took a swig.
The village people thanked him, and bid him farewell, still confused and not really absorbing what went on through this encounter, and to what value all this was for.

When they returned to their village, they went to their rabbi.
He asked, quite matter-of-fact, if they had seen Reb Hershel.
They responded that they did.
The rabbi asked, if Reb Hershel had prayed on their behalf.
They responded that he did.
Yet now they were more confused than ever. "Rebbe!" they cried, "we have the utmost respect for you, and trust your every word. But we don't understand. Why send us so far to someone like Hershel. He wasn't the holy man that we were expecting."
The rabbi closed his eyes and nodded his head. "Yes, I will explain."

"Hershel has come to a bad situation, but he wasn't always like this. Once many years ago, Hershel heard about the big city. Someone told him that if he works and saves his money, then he can go to St. Petersburg and stay in the nicest hotel, have the best food, and be waited on like a king. Hershel was determined to make this happen. He worked and saved, scrimping together every last ounce of savings. For ten years he labored, never squandering, always saving. Then after 10 years, he had the funds he needed for his experience in the big city. He had saved 500 rubles.
He used part of his funds to get a train ticket, and he traveled to St. Petersburg. As he got off the train, he came to the main square. Then he was confronted with a shocking scene. One man was beating an older man. The older man was being beaten terribly, while his attacker yelled, "I'll kill you!"
"Stop," yelled Hershel, intervening, "what's going on, why are you attacking this man?"
"He owes me money, and I'm going to get it."
"Money?" said Hershel, "how much money does he owe you?"
"500 rubles."
Without even thinking, Reb Hershel reached into his pocket and took at the money he had been saving for 10 years, and handed it to the beater. He took the money and went away.
"You saved me," said the older man that was being beaten.
Then with no money left, and just the return ticket for the train, Hershel left the city and went back to his town.
The rabbi turned to his followers. "You see I strive for one kind of holiness - kind treatment, fear of heavens, fulfilling the mitzvot. But Hershel achieved another. Without even thinking, and for a complete stranger that he would never see again, he gave up all the money he had earned over 10 years. He threw out his dreams of the big city. He even overturned his whole life, ending up as the town drunk.

"This powerful sense of sacrifice, willing to rise to the occasion of helping his fellow man without coercion or pressure, this was a level far beyond me. And that, that is why I sent you to Reb Hershel. His tefillah, the blessings of Reb Hershel are much more powerful than mine, and can break through the outer shells of heaven and arouse heavenly mercy."

Jewish Guilt
Says the Slonimer Rebbe,  Hashem gave a gift to Jews to have a heavy conscious (or as some would say Jewish Guilt). This powerful feeling plagues us when we are lax in our behavior. Even when transgressing, in every Jew there is always a little bit of good that can save him. This doesn't mean that we are fundamentally evil, but rather our Yetzer overpowers us. The challenge is that even when we do fail to not let that moment overcome us. How? Our connection with Hashem. Says the Slonimer Rebbe quoting the Gemarrah in Shabbat, anyone that keeps Shabbat even an idol worshiper from the generation of Enosh will be forgiven.

This means that Shabbat is a readily available opportunity to connect with Hashem. Shabbat serves as a regularly occurring sign that we still have a connection with the holy, and evil has not consumed us.

Breisheit - To Work and Protect

Now the Lord God took the man, and He placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.

Breisheit 2:15

The Or HaChaim Hakodosh  notes an interesting language in the verse, that it says "to work it and to guard it." This commentator raises several questions.

• Why would the Garden of Eden needed to be guarded, after all there were no thieves?
• What is this 'work' that the Garden of Eden needs? If it needed to be worked, then who worked the Garden of Eden all these years since the banishment from there?

Vayelech/Nitzavim - Life or Goodness, Which Takes Precedence?

The Siege of Leningrad
I heard a report recently on the BBC. A researcher was writing a report on the Siege of Leningrad in World War 2. The siege was romanticized by the Russians as a time of triumph and bravery shown by the Russian people. The siege of Leningrad was the most lethal siege in world history, resulting in the deaths of up to 1,500,000 soldiers and civilians. The Red Army established a route for bringing a constant flow of supplies into Leningrad. This lifeline did bring military and food supplies in and took civilians and wounded soldiers out, allowing the city to continue resisting the enemy. Civilians in the city suffered from extreme starvation, where at one point the only food available to a citizen was 125 grams of bread, of which 50–60% consisted of sawdust and other inedible admixtures.

Reports of cannibalism appeared in the winter of 1941–1942, after all birds, rats and pets had been eaten by survivors. Hungry gangs attacked and ate defenceless people.

Against these circumstances, the researcher discovered an interesting fact. Early on in the siege, amongst the flow of supplies, there was an apportionment to the zoo animals. This was reported in the UK's Daily Mail "Only the zoo preserved its star attractions, like ‘Beauty’ the hippopotamus, with special rations of hay."

The researcher was shocked by this action. How could the Russians, in the face of such devastating horrors still apportion food to zoo animals? The researcher turned to her Russian translating assistant and said.

"They should have slaughtered the zoo animals immediately and fed them to the starving women and children!"
The Russian assistant turned to her and said, "What? And if they were cold should they have burned the violins?"

Life and Good
There is an interesting verse in the middle of Parshat Netzavim

Behold, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil,

Dvarim 30:15

Why does the verse put 'life' before 'good'? isn't 'good' referring to Torah and Mitzvot? Shouldn't 'good' be put as the higher value, preceding the reference to 'life'?

The Kli Yakar raises this question and provides an insightful response for the structure of this verse. The Kli Yakar first proposes that "if life is what you request, then look to goodness, and do good in the eyes of Hashem."

Doing Good
Based on this desire, the Kli Yakar suggests this verse comes to address this request, saying "that you shouldn't do good in the eyes of Hashem in order to gain life, rather you should live in order to do good."  Had the verse presented been presented as "set before you good and life" then you may have been lead to believe that doing good is the path to gaining life, making doing good only a 'means' with the 'end' to gain life.

So, the Kli Yakar continues, the phrasing of this verse can be seen as a warning. It is warning to not look for ways to extract demands from Hashem, that you shouldn't look at doing good as the giving you a way to expect to be rewarded.  Rather you should live, in order to do good.

Material Life
You should not look at material life as your main focus in this world. The Kli Yakar explains that you shouldn't request material life from Hashem since if you request life. Though if you do request material life, then it should be to dedicate more time to the service of Hashem, as noted in Tehilim "Who is the man who desires life, who loves days to see goodness?".

Living Life for Hashem
The Kli Yakar concludes, based on the quoted verse in Tehilim, that we should love the days of our life so that we can see in them the goodness of Hashem. What is goodness? Torah and Mitzvot.

It is like it says next to "to love Hashem your G-d and stick to Him, since He is your life." This means that this is the purpose of your life. Since there is no other reason that G-d gives you life except for this reason.

Using Our Time to the Fullest
As we see here, there is no formula to extend life, only at the mercy of G-d. No one knows how long they have, but we all do know that we are all limited to 24 hours in a day. It is up to each of us to use that time to the fullest to enhance our connection to Hashem.

I was shocked and impressed by the BBC report, where material items were the focus and highly valued while lives were considered to be secondary. It made me think and contemplate how dear life is.

We are all just as limited with the time remaining to us before the onset of Yom Kippur. We should merit to use this time to better ourselves, and continue to strive to grow spiritually and become close to Hashem.

Ki Tavo - Mitzvah Brings On More Mitzvot

The Parshah ends with a profound conclusion and promise.

If you observe the words of this covenant and keep them,  you will be successful in all that you do.

Dvarim 29:8

There is a seeming repetition in this wording. Why does the verse need to state "observe" and "keep" the covenant?

Isn't observing the covenant actually keeping the covenant? When one is observing mitzvot, he is doing them, isn't he?

The Kli Yakar addresses this question with a novel approach.

A Mitzvah Causes A Mitzvah
The Kli Yakar brings the famous Mishnah in Pirkeh Avot.

Ben Azzai said: Be eager to fulfill the smallest duty and flee from transgression; for one mitzvah induces another and one transgression induces another transgression. The reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah, the reward of one transgression is another transgression.

Avot 4:2

How does this Mishnah clarify the verse?

The Kli Yakar applies the teaching of this Mishnah directly to the words of the verse, saying "One mitzvah causes that 'you will be successful in all that you do.'"

This line of thought comes out of the Mishnah itself, "for one mitzvah induces another" - where each mitzvah brings on the possibility to do another mitzvah in turn. 

How does the Mishnah Reveal Success?

The verse in Dvarim promises that keeping mitzvot will ensure success in life. The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot offers that "the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah". How does this provide success? Isn't success a new home? a promotion at work? a new car?

These are the elements, are measures, that we take to rate worldly success, or in other words 'this-worldly' success. But the mitzvot are the unique spiritual opportunities in our lives for binding and enhancing our relationship Hashem, making another mitzvah a true reward and paving the way for our spiritual success.

Repetitive Wording?

What about the seeming repetitive wording? The phrase "If you observe the words of this covenant and keep them" serves to mirror the wording of the Mishnah. The Kli Yakar explains that "observing will bring you to keeping [mitzvot], and the reward is keeping [mitzvot]. "   

The Kli Yakar concludes his explanation by elucidating the final words of the verse, by saying: "you will be successful (to bring more) in all that you do." Where your doing the mitzvot creates a seemingly perpetual success, producing more mitzvot - and therefore more success.

Shoftim - Fighting the Real Battle

When you go out to war against your enemies, and you see horse and chariot, a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them, for the L-rd, your G-d is with you Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

כִּי תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ וְרָאִיתָ סוּס וָרֶכֶב עַם רַב מִמְּךָ לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם כִּי ה קלֹקיךָ עִמָּךְ הַמַּעַלְךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם

Devarim 20:1

• What war is the Torah referring to in this verse?
• Why does it say "When you go out..." and not "When you go to fight..."
• Why does it start in the singular "Taytzai" and when the intention is for the entire group (should be plural)?

Vaethanan - Making It Stick

The Kli Yakar provides some fascinating insights into a verse in this parshah.

But beware and watch yourself very well, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw, and lest these things depart from your heart, all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your children and to your children's children.

Devarim 4:9

The Kli Yakar first notes that this verse serves as the basis for a mishnah in Pirkei Avot.

Rabbi Dostai ben Yannai said in the name of Rabbi Meir: He who forgets one word of his study, Scripture regards him as though he was liable for his life; for it is written (Deuteronomy 4:9) "But beware and watch yourself very well, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw." Could this apply even if a man's study was too hard for him? Scripture says (ibid.): "lest these things depart from your heart, all the days of your life" Thus a person is not guilty unless he deliberately puts those lessons away from his heart.

Pirkei Avot 3:10

The Power of Forgetting
What is inherent in this verse that makes it serve as such a powerful warning for forgetting what we have learned?

The Kli Yakar explains that the mishnah in Pirkei Avot brings a harsh warning for when we forget our learning, so G-d will forget us. As it says in the verse:

My people were silenced for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being a priest to me; seeing that you have forgotten the Torah of your God, I, too, will forget your children.

Hosea 4:6

Just One Makes All the DifferenceFurther support in this direction comes from the statements of our sages. The Kli Yakar brings a gemarah describing the discussion between Hillel and Bar He He.

Bar He-He said to Hillel: "And you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who has not served Him." (Malachi 3:18)
‘the righteous’ is the same as ‘he that serves God’,
‘the wicked’ is the same as ‘him who has not served Him.’!
He [Hillel] answered him: ‘he that serves God’ and ‘him who has not served Him’ both refer to the perfectly righteous;
But he that repeated his learning a hundred times is not to be compared with him who repeated it a hundred and one times.
Said [Bar He-He] to him: And because of [just] one he is called ‘him who has not served Him’?

Hagiga 9b (Soncino Translation)

Bar He-He asks a good question to Hillel. How does one (1) make the difference for who is more righteous and serves G-d better?

Gematria Reveals
Literally the gematria (the numerical value) of the words show the difference.

 וְשַׁבְתֶּם, וּרְאִיתֶם, בֵּין צַדִּיק, לְרָשָׁע--בֵּין עֹבֵד אֱלֹקים, לַאֲשֶׁר לֹא עֲבָדוֹ

The first letters of the words עֹבֵד אֱלֹקים לאֲשֶׁר
‘he that serves God’
These letters amount to 101
Ayin=70
Aleph=1
Lamed=30

The first letters of the words    לֹא עֲבָדוֹ
‘him who has not served Him’
These amount to 100
Lamed=30
Ayin=70

The verse intrinsically conveys the power of the extra one, that one who repeats his learning 101 times, that is truly called serving G-d.

The Presence of 101
The Kli Yakar offers additional references to 101 in other places. He compares the Hebrew words for 'forget' and 'remember'
שכח
זכר

Forget is made up of the gematria
Shin: 300
Kaf: 20
Chet: 8

Remember is made up of the gematria
Zayin: 7
Kaf: 20
Reish: 200

The difference between these two words is: 101

The Kli Yakar brings the essential message from this outcome as, if you want to nullify the power of forgetting then you have to go back and repeat what you have learned 101 times.

The Angels
The Kli Yakar adds that the angel designated for memory has powers amounting to 227.
While the angel designated for forgetting has powers amounting to 328. Since the angel of forgetting is 101 units more powerful than the angel of remembering, it is up to man to be diligent and repeat his learning 101 times to strengthen his memory. Thereby for each repetition he reduces the power of the angel of forgetting, till by 101 times, he has brought himself to be under the dominion of the angel of remembering so that he will no longer forget what he has learned.

Intrinsically Hidden
Our verse from our parshah also intrinsically has this message as well.

 רַק הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ וּשְׁמֹר נַפְשְׁךָ מְאֹד פֶּן תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ וּפֶן יָסוּרוּ מִלְּבָבְךָ כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ וְהוֹדַעְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ וְלִבְנֵי בָנֶיךָ

The following letters in these words are key: הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ וּשְׁמֹר נַפְשְׁךָ מְאֹד
Hey: 5
Vav: 6
Nun: 50
Mem: 40
This amounts to 101

This means "But beware and watch (yourself) very well"


The first letter of the remaining word from this statement: לְךָ

Lamed can allude to the concept of Limud, which is learning.

So the intrinsic message of our verse is Beware and watch yourself (your learning) very well (by repeating it 101 times).

Devarim - Taking Every Word Seriously

אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בַּמִּדְבָּר בָּעֲרָבָה מוֹל סוּף בֵּין פָּארָן וּבֵין תֹּפֶל וְלָבָן וַחֲצֵרֹת וְדִי זָהָב

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on that side of the Jordan in the desert, in the plain opposite the Red Sea, between Paran and Tofel and Lavan and Hazeroth and Di Zahav.

Devarim 1:1

Implicit Language
The language presents a simple, banality and seemingly straightforward description of events. But Rashi brings an added dimension to this narrative, explaining:

These [language] are words of rebuke, noting all of the locations that they angered G-d, so that the places are mentioned implicitly [without stating explicitly the low depths and rebellious actions of Am Yisrael] out of respect for Israel's honor.

The  nature of implicit language for rebuking the Jewish People starts right at the beginning of this parshah, from the very first word. This is the twilight time of the leadership of Moshe and he is setting the foundation for how the infrastructure for Jewish society should move forward. There is a statement by Ch'azal saying that the initials from the first word of the parshah form an implicit warning, and guidance for behavior.

The word is אֵלֶּה, representing the words אבק לשון הרע (Avak Lashon Harah)