Masei

I learned a very important lesson this past Shabbos.

Shabbos morning while I was in shul, a great cry rang out in our house. My wife saw a large cockroach in our room. My seven-year-old son ran in with the broom, risking his life, trying to catch it and sweep it up, but alas, he was unsuccessful, and the cockroach escaped.

That afternoon my wife was contemplating whether she should take a nap upstairs since the cockroach was still on the loose. I joked that the worst that could happen is that the cockroach would walk all over her while she was asleep. She went ahead anyhow, and the cockroach did not make his appearance.

That night, around 2 a.m., as I was asleep, I felt something crawling on me. Somehow, I knew what it was, and I woke up brushing myself and my bed. I turned on the light and . . . I saw nothing! Phew! Only a dream . . . until I saw the cockroach on the floor, right where I threw him. He was executed shortly afterwards.

Lesson learned: be careful with your words!
Before we begin, I would like to welcome everybody living outside of Eretz Yisroel, back. Since Shavous, you folks have been a week behind us in the Torah reading. Finally, you decided to catch up! Which will save my proofreader and me a lot of confusion.

“And the Almighty spoke to Moshe at Arvos Moav by the Jordan at Yericho saying . . .” (Bamidbar 33:50)

For forty years, the Jewish nation wandered in the desert and now is finally receiving the command to go into Eretz Yisroel. But, before that, they are given the explicit warning that ALL forms of idol worship found in Eretz Yisroel are to be destroyed. Failure in this commandment, will ultimately lead to the Jewish nation's following such practices (as it eventually did).

Rav Zelig Pliskin writes that we learn the importance of removing temptation from one's environment as early as possible. When a family needs to move to a new community, they first check out possible communities to live in. They weigh the good and the bad, and if they decide to move, they make whatever necessary arrangements to make sure that the bad does not affect them.

When we moved up north, there were several concerns. As one rebbetzin said to my wife, “So . . . you turn your home into a spiritual fortress.” There are certain children we need to keep ours away from, and there are certain things we need to keep them away from. It’s not easy. Nor is “where is the boundary?” However, provisions must be made to keep certain influences out of their lives and to keep any taste of “idolatry” out of their systems.

By being complacent about things that will eventually lead us down the wrong path, we are already beginning down that path without even knowing it. And in the end, it will be much harder to say, “how did this happen?”

May we have the ability to see stumbling blocks down the road and the strength to take the proper actions to prevent them.

Have a great Shabbos!

Michael Winner

It’s very hard to put feelings into words.

I guess that the best word is pachad, which is commonly translated as trepidation. It’s not so much fear of missiles raining down on us, nor the Arabs creating another intifada. Nor is it a fear for the lives of the soldiers who have been in constant engagement.

How best to put this….

My wife, yesterday, spoke with a girl she knows from Yerushaliyim. She used to be a babysitter of ours, and is now married, with a child, living in Ofakim. Okfakim is currently being used as a staging base for combat soldiers going in and out of Gaza, due to its close proximity. They are constantly under rocket attack from Gaza and are in the midst of everything. Her husband goes to Beer Sheva, which is close by, to learn in a kollel there. When the war began he decided to not go to kollel and learn locally to be closer to his wife and child. However, when he saw the soldiers in Ofakim coming from and going to combat, he thought to himself… Here we have soldiers, away from their families, risking their lives so I can live and learn Torah… how can I possibly be home, when it’s MY job to protect them! It turns out that every other member of the kollel who went, at first, to safer ground thought as well. Now, despite the danger zone that they are in, they all meet at the kollel and learn throughout the day non-stop to do their part in the war. She said that their learning and davening have been like no other time.

This girl’s brother, who is ‘partnered up’ with a soldier, started to fall asleep in his learning. As he caught himself, he thought, at this moment, “my soldier” could be in Gaza and he certainly cannot afford to fall asleep, so if I fall asleep, what will become of him? He continued to learn without a break.

She told my wife, “You have no idea what miracles we have seen here and the amount of chesed and growth we’ve experienced! WE ARE BRINGING MOSHIACH!”

When you learn Navi (Prophets), especially the ones dealing with the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, one of the common themes that is brought up is that of Hashem's telling the Jewish nation, “How many times have I sent signs to you for you to do teshuvah? And how many times have you hardened your hearts?”

Similarly, we see that Noach is criticized as being a believer and a non-believer. On one hand he believed that Hashem was going to bring the flood. But, when it actually was about to happen, he had to be "pushed" into the ark, because he thought that Hashem would change His mind last minute.

I don’t know what Americans are seeing or hearing. From what I understand, there seems to be a pretty big disconnect, which is understandable. However, we are living in very interesting times. We all know soldiers in combat or at least know their families and feel a certain level of trepidation for them. We have seen many miracles and have certainly been receiving many messages. For those who have an open eye and an open heart (even if you’re not under the rain of rockets), it’s an unbelievable experience. My wife best described it as “Yom Kippur every day.”

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch gave a talk this week and said, “The Midrash relates that during the Jewish war against Midian (Bamidbar, chapter 31), every soldier that went out to battle had another person designated to daven and study Torah for him.

"If the Almighty shows us miracles and we do not respond by strengthening ourselves spiritually… then we are handed over to the forces of natural law and the missiles inexplicably will begin to hit their targets with greater frequency. That means the lives of our fellow Jews – our brothers and sisters living in Israel – are in mortal danger.

"That is why we must raise our level of consciousness of God’s Presence, to the point where we become worthy of supernatural treatment.”

We have a choice. We can continue to keep our eyes closed and say, “G-d willing everything will turn out okay,” or we can open our eyes to the situation and DO something to reverse the situation.

My friend made an excellent point the other day. When we left Egypt, only (around) 5 percent of the Jewish population left, since 95 percent of them died during the Darkness because they did not open their eyes and see what was going on. What would happen if Moshiach would come as a result of the current situation? What would you tell your children right before you became one of those 95 percent who did not want to make something of your life?

Each day there are more and more miracles occurring. However, if we refuse to recognize them as such, and refuse to recognize that Hashem is giving us a very clear sign that we need to do teshuvah and change our ways, then, G-d forbid, things will only spiral downward at an accelerated rate, just as they did in the past. G-d forbid a person should, after 120 years, go up and be charged with suicide and murder because he did not act as a spiritual shield for himself and others as he was supposed to.

May we all merit making seeing and feeling the current times for what they are and making appropriate changes in our lives to help strengthen our soldiers, the civilians in the south, and ourselves.

Have a wonderful and meaningful Shabbos.

Michael Winner

*This Dvar Torah has been dedicated to Yishai Chaim ben Shoshana, a husband and father, who is currently in combat in Gaza. May he and all the other soldiers and civilians return to their homes safely and soon*

This past week, I had to go to the hospital to donate a pint of blood. A friend who’s fighting cancer, is now undergoing a month long treatment to help cure him, and needs platelets. So I got over my “needle-phobia” and went to get tested (just found out that I’m a match). As I’m sitting there for my 10 minute stint, allowing the vampires to drain me of all my blood, I’m watching the big screen television they have set up, tuned to the National Geographic channel (there’s such a thing?). As the segment ends (the poor fish was caught and eaten), it displays something for another show scheduled for “5pm, Yom Shabbat”.

Last week, I had to go to Haifa for a few hours (don’t ask), and as the bus was driving through, companies proudly displayed their ads describing how they are open specifically on Shabbos.

It’s funny how sensitive you become to these things. In all these cases, you have Jews, not just NOT keeping Shabbos, but advertising it blatantly that they are desecrating it. It really felt weird inside to see those words, “OPEN ON SHABBOS”. At the same time, it felt a little good, that I’ve become sensitive to such things.

Okay, on to Torah!
Please learn this in honour of Moshe Aaron ben Leah Tzipporah.

One of the best purchases I made this past two months was the set of dvrei torah from Rav Shimshon Pincus on the parsha. Relatively easy Hebrew, modern, and very deep and kabbalistic.

“Aaron HaKohen climbed Hor Mountain at G-d’s command, and he died there on the first day of the fifth month, in the 40th year of the Jews exodus from Egypt” (Bamidbar 33:38)

Rav Pincus notes that out of all the “fathers” of the Jewish people, only Aaron HaKohen has the day of his death mentioned: Rosh Chodesh Av, the first day of the month of Av (this Sunday night/Monday). Even though, we tend to stay away from fasting on Rosh Chodesh, since it is a happier day, the Tur writes that righteous people are allowed to fast in honour of Aaron HaKohen’s yartzeit.

We also know that when the month of Av begins, we are to decrease our simchas and begin a more stringent mode of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem, culminating on Tisha B’av (the ninth day of Av).

So… obviously, there is something special with Aaron HaKohen.

The mishnah in Pirkei Avos states: “Be like the students of Aaron, love peace and pursue peace” (Avos 1:12). Aaron was greatly known as a “peace maker”. He wanted nothing more than to see peace between Jews and between Jews and Hashem.

The nation was not a fan of Moshe, because Moshe’s role was that of a leader and had to take stands contrary to the will of the nation. However, Aaron HaKohen was certainly loved. He was the “Peace Rabbi”.

Rav Pincus notes that people need a teacher and role model on how to seek and make peace, because peace is quite contrary to human nature. People, by nature, love controversy and a good fight. When there is peace, people are bored; when there is controversy, people get excited, they want to know both sides of the story, see who is saying what about who, watch the combatants at play… what do you think half the internet is based off of?

What about peace? It’s not in our nature. We need to teach ourselves that macholokos (arguments) are not healthy and that peace is.

Rav Pincus gives a parable of a young boy walking down the street and walking by a scene of a large fire. He stops and watches the firemen race in with the red engines, lights flaring, sirens wailing. The ladder goes up and firemen climb and, risking their lives, save the trapped children. Other firemen below are fighting viciously to quench the fire. The ambulance races by to pick up those in need, the police keep the public away.

The boy is loving it all.

Where’s the danger? This young boy might just go home and start his own little fire to re-enact the exciting scene that he just witnesses, not understanding the dangerous involved.

So too is macholokos. Its fun, it’s exciting, it’s dangerous.

It’s what brought about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beis HaMikdash, and it can only be remedied by changing our natures and being like the students of Aaron by loving peace and pursuing peace.

Have a great Shabbos!

"And the Almighty spoke to Moshe at Arvos Moav by the Jordan at Yericho (Jericho) saying…" (Bamidbar 33:50)

It's neat.

I live due west of this location. On a clear night, we can easily see the lights of Jericho out in the desert. We can also see the lights of Jordan on the mountain tops further behind. Just on the other side of those mountains is where this parsha, several previous parshas, and the entire book of Dvarim takes place. Nothing like living with history.
In this week's parsha, the Torah lists all the places that Bnei Yisroel travelled in the past forty years. Now, we are given the commandment to entire Eretz Yisroel. Right beforehand though, we are commanded to rid the entire land of all idolatry. The Hebrew word, kol, meaning "all", is used four times in the pasuk. This signifies the importance of not allowing one trace of idolatry to remain. If the nation is lax in this mitzvah, that small trace of idolatry can quickly grow back.

Many times you will hear secular or even somewhat religious Jews, attach the religious community for being so insular. One of their main arguments that I've heard over the years is "Obviously you and your children are not as religious as you think you are, because if you were, the ‘real’ world wouldn't scare you".

Nothing like the Torah itself to straighten out such silly arguments.

KOL. ALL forms of idolatry.

Even the smallest amount can infect the Jewish soul and turn anybody away. We see this summed up in Pirkei Avos that one should not trust himself until the day of his death.

When we build our lives, our homes, our communities, we want to build it in a Torah environment. We want to create the home as a place of Torah, free of any "idolatry", things that can lead us astray.

Just as we are careful that our children do not play with dangerous objects, so too, should we be careful with theirs, and our, souls, which are just as susceptible to dangers. We need to be careful of what we and our children see and hear, trying to keep it both positive and growth-oriented. When we read or hear material that is anti-Torah, such as loshon horah, magazines and books with immodest pictures or stories, and any other thing that helps fuel our Yetzer horah, we might not notice at first, but it creates a growing cancer on our souls.
Of course, every home has to know where they are holding and where they are going in life. But they should also keep in mind that the Torah warns us that any trace of idolatry can lead one away from Torah, and the danger must not be taken lightly.

With that, I wish you a great Shabbos!

My summer break from yeshiva starts right after Tisha B'Av. With a couple of her friends going to the US (how they / their parents can afford it, I have no clue) Rochel Leah asked if we were going as well (thankfully, I burned all our passports to a crisp, lest anybody got any strange ideas). My wife responded with a 'no', but said that we might rent a car for a few days and go to different parks and places. With this she became very excited and made a counter suggestion: "Maybe we can rent a BUS!!"

"And whose going to drive it?" my wife asked.

"Abba!"

Great. Abba the Bus Driver. In Israel. Yeah... no problem.

Okay, on to Torah!
"And the Almighty spoke to Moshe at Arvos Moav by the Jordan at Yericho saying... You must destroy all their carved stones and demolish all their cast metal idols and high altars. Clear out the land and live in it, since it is to you that I am giving the land to occupy." (Bamidbar 33:50-53)

The Torah listed all of the encampments the Jewish nation made before coming to Eretz Yisroel. Right before receiving the commandment to enter Eretz Yisroel, Hashem commanded us to destroy all (kol) forms of idolatry.

The Torah was specific with this command. Kol, ALL, forms of idolatry must be eliminated before moving in. If you fail to do so, you will be leaving stumbling blocks for future problems.

A person who has to move to Yerushaliyim, for example, will do their best not to move to the eastern part of the city. Why? Because, they like the idea of waking up the next morning.

We'll be very careful of our physical safety when we select a place to live, but what of our spiritual lives? Do we take in account the spiritual dangers in our homes? Are we careful with things we allow in our homes that direct us away from Torah? If not us, what of our children?

When building a home, the spiritual landscape should be just as important as the physical landscape.

With that, I bid you a great Shabbos!

It's strange how a child's language develops.

Rochel Leah walked by the garbage in the kitchen this morning, sniffed the air, crinkled her face, and said, "Who smells?"

I guess when you hear that question a lot in your pre-school full of non-toilet-trained children, it becomes part of your lexicon.
"Cities of refuge they shall be for you, and the murderer who killed someone unintentionally shall flee there" (Bamidbar 35:1)

Back in the day, when a person accidentally killed another, he was sent to live his life in a "city of refuge" and was not allowed out until the death of the Cohen Gadol.

The Torah takes life very seriously and a person is held accountable for even accidently killing another.

I continuously wonder when looking around society, unfortunately including our own society as well, at how little we agree with the Torah in this regard.

Too many times do I see people driving in the streets, young or old, with no real consideration for the children around, flying at top speeds, because they want to get to their destination quickly.

Last year I was in an apartment, when suddenly loud crashing sounds were heard from the front window. Looking out and above, I saw the upstairs tenants (four flights up) throwing some old furniture and other pieces out of his window, so he wouldn't have to expend the energy carrying them down. A child could have run out of the building at the time and we could have easily had a medical emergency. Imagine…a grown man was doing this!

Recently a mother wrote in to the Hamodia about how her five year old child was killed by crossing a major street when the light was red. The child saw the adult next to her cross and assumed it was safe. So while the adult ran across the street, the child walked, and was struck and killed. Another letter was written the next week by a woman saying that while she did not want to minimize the grief the mother went through, and certainly this grown up was not acting properly in front of a child, but ... what was a five year old doing crossing a major street by himself?

There are too many examples to cite where we see the outright incompetence of people who call themselves "adults", who cannot think about the consequences of their actions such as driving fast or recklessly, allowing their children to play in the streets for hours on end without supervision (Shabbos is a great time for that problem), or who act in public without regard to what children will learn from their behaviour.

One of my rabbeim was once at a shiva where a child died due to a serious lack of supervision from his parents. The mother sighed and consoled herself by saying, "Hashem's will". A rav who heard this either said it to my rav, "It wasn't Hashem's will, it was her stupidity". (Not a direct quote, it's been a while since I heard the story)

The point is that we must look into our lives and see where we a failing in the importance of human life. Are we driving properly? Are we watching our children? Are we educating them properly? Are we doing something dangerous in front of children so they learn from us? In my humble opinion this problem stems from two character defects: laziness and a serious subconscious belief that life isn’t really that important.

If we really did believe every life is precious, it wouldn't be a question! It's worth being five minutes late so you don't hit a child crossing the street! It’s worth investing the extra bit of energy into education your children properly.

The Torah demands the every action we do is for Hashem. While it’s obviously impossible for most of us to take on at once; it's certainly worth thinking about the actions we do that could, G-d forbid, lead to harming or killing a fellow person.

With that, I wish everybody a safe Shabbos!

Whenever our neighbors take their kids around the city to different places, the children always ask: "Is this also part of Yerushaliyim (Jerusalem)?"

To which their mother would answer: "Yes, this is part of Yerushaliyim, Ir HaKodesh (the Holy City)"

The other day, she took them to a nice park with large slides in the Ezras Torah neighborhood. When they asked their standard question, she gave her standard reply. To which the eldest, looking at the huge slide in front of him responded: "Now THIS is Kodesh (holy)!!"

Everybody appreciates Eretz Yisroel on their own levels I guess.
"When you cross the Jordan to the Land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you; and you shall destroy all their temples; all their molten images shall you destroy; and all their high places shall you demolish. You shall rid the land and you shall settle in it, for you have I given the land to possess it...... But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those of them whom you leave shall be as pins in your eyes and as thorns at your sides, and they will harass you upon the land in which you dwell. And it shall be that what I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you" (Bamidbar 33:52-55)

There is no doubt in the world that Eretz Yisroel is the spiritually the best place for a Jew to grow. A person's 100% outside of Eretz Yisroel would only be 75% inside. The spiritual potential here is far greater.

However, in order to live and utilize the Land properly, there is a price that must be paid. Just as a King is far more sever and thorough with those who live inside the palace than those who live outside, so too is Hashem with those who have chosen to live inside His palace.

There's an interesting Rashi connected with the above pasukim, "Moshe told them as follows: When you go across the Jordan on dry land, cross with this understanding (that you will drive out and destroy the idols and worshippers), but if not, the water will come and wash you away."

My Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Asher Rubenstein, says that this is a very powerful Rashi. From here we learn that the intention of those who wish to live in Eretz Yisroel MUST be to destroy anything that is not Torah and to raise Eretz Yisroel spiritually by living to the dictates of the Torah.

He said that there is no heter, permission, to come to Israel in order to make a 'homeland', where Jews can be just like the rest of the world, just in their own land. Eretz Yisroel isn't just a land where one can come to settle down. It is a land that we are commanded to spiritually raise. This means those who wish to settle it, must do so by leaving all their 'molten images' behind. All the 'isms' that they have collected over the years, need to be replaced by one thing: Torah.

The Pnei Yehoshua writes: "'Whoever lives in Eretz Yisroel lives without sin' (Kesubos 111a). It would appear that this is true only if the person lives there solely to fulfill the commandment of settling the land of Israel which is a holy place and in order to be protected from sin by the merit of Israel that he shouldn't come to sin. If he meets these conditions then even if he occasionally sins - even intentionally - there is no doubt that he will repent because he lives in such a holy place. In contrast, someone who only lives on a transient basis or because he was born there or because it is a nice place to live and surely one who despises the holiness of Israel the Torah is not describing. In fact when historically when our ancestors greatly sinned they were exiled from Israel and the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed"

The Pnei Yehoshua vividly describes the greatness of Eretz Yisroel and the price that is paid when one doesn't use it properly.

My Rosh Yeshiva said that the Brisker Rav in was once asked how the early Zionist leaders were successful in their fight for independence. What merit could they possibly have to warrant such open miracles in their favour? (These 'leaders' had a long history of bloodshed against all stripes of Jews on their hands and were actively attacking religious Jews, trying to force them away from Torah)

The Brisker Rav answered that we shouldn't think for a moment that the miracles of the '48 War came in their merit. It was only in the merit of those learning and living Torah that this country was saved.

Very few can make such bold comments; the Brisker Rav was one of them.

The safety of Eretz Yisroel does not depend on who's the Prime Minister, who the President of the United States is, or other political considerations. When Torah is up, the security is kept. When it's down, G-d forbid, anything can happen. Just as the potential for growth is unlimited, so is the opposite, if used inappropriately.

Now, we can have a better appreciation for such a land, and have a better understanding on the importance of Torah thriving in it.

May we merit soon the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash, of Jerusalem, and all of Eretz Yisroel shortly in our days. Have a great Shabbos!

Well, as we all know the Gaza pullout will be commencing shortly. It's never a good thing to see Jews being kicked out of their homes and communities that they built from scratch. Especially by other Jews. We must all daven that things go smoothly and further Jewish lives are not lost. For those living in the States who don't have a proper view on who and what is being destroyed, there is an excellent streaming video (for high-speed connections) on the subject. I would say 'enjoy', but there is not much about it to enjoy:

http://www.machonmeir.org.il/leumi/sakin_balev_english_300.wmv

Okay, on to Torah!

"And you shall designate cities for yourselves, cities of refuge shall they be for you" (Bamidbar 35:11)

The Torah commands us to set aside a group of cities for an inadvertent killer to run to as a safe haven. That being, a person accidentally kills another. Rav Mordechai Gifter notes that the Torah does not use the term "zimun", 'to prepare'; rather "hikrisem", which is related to the word "mikreh", which alludes to an event occurring by chance.

Rav Gifter believes that the Torah is passing on a very important lesson for us. Violence in the Jewish world is thankfully, not so heard of. Not that there are no cases of violence, we all know that, but in general the Jewish people don't get involved which violent crimes. In fact, the truth is, when Jews unfortunately do crimes, it tends to be more in the realm of the financial world, not street crime. So we see that violence isn't a general thing found amongst the Jewish people. Therefore, when there is a case of violence, we need to look at it as an unplanned incident, which is not part of the Torah culture.

On the other hand, when we look at society around us, we find the complete opposite. On the television, radio, internet, video games, books, newspapers... everywhere we turn, there is violence. Most of the time it is glamorized. There is no doubt that this works both ways. The more violence is glorified the more violent society becomes, and the more violent society becomes, the more violence is glorified.

When we allow our children to come into contact with this part of society, we are allowing them to be influenced in such a way. Perhaps naturally, they are not violent people; but with societal pressure and glamorization, they have little protection.

After being bombarded day after day with violence, a person can become insensitive towards other people. After that, they will become lax regarding other people's safety, and after that, G-d forbid, they end up running to one of the cities of refuge.

We see an important lesson. There is no need to harp on the fact that a violent society can help turn a person violent. BUT, it is equally important to understand that even a good, caring, person can be influenced. Perhaps, they themselves might not turn into killers, but their outlook concerning the lives of other's might be influenced. With this, we should be extra careful in what media our children come in contact with, and be successful in raising a violence-free home. Have a great Shabbos!

A few Shabbosim ago, I went to a settlement called Maalei Amos. Now, Maalei Amos is located in the middle of the Judean desert, somewhere in between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, next to a rock and a Bedouin and his wife. It's 20 years old and is home to approximately 40 families, all "Ultra-orthodox". Whatever that means.

On the way to Maalei Amos, I had a first hand glimpse of the Evil, Imperialistic, Apartheid Security Wall, being built by the Evil, Imperialistic, Apartheid Jooooos, as they destroy innocent Palestinian children. Who says the Evil, Imperialistic, Apartheid Jooooos have a right to defend themselves against the Peaceful Palestinian Freedom-Fighters (tm)? Anyhow, on the highway, I noticed large cement walls on the left-hand side, where there is a peaceful Palestinian village. The point of these walls is to stop the bullets from the Peaceful Palestinian Freedom-Fighters, against the Evil, Imperialistic, Apartheid Jooooos.

The real nice thing about Maalei Amos, is that they have more guns then children. Everybody knows how to use a weapon if necessary, because one never knows when the Peaceful Palestinian Freedom-Fighters might try to peacefully wipe out every Evil, Imperialistic, Apartheid Jooowish man, woman, and child.

In all seriousness though, there was one thing that stood out. On Shabbos, there are several soldiers posted to guard duty in full gear. Most of the time, they are completely non-religious. After davening on Shabbos night, it was nice seeing two of them, who were off duty, getting invited over for a Shabbos meal. There was never a problem because they were not religious. They were fellow Jews who are putting their lives on the line. These two soldiers, who probably never had a real Shabbos meal in their life, joined their host, M-16s and all. Who says we can't get along?

A special thank you to today's guest editor: Moshe Hammelburger, Maker of The Thursday Night Chullent. Over the past few weeks, I've relied on some of the guys to edit the dvar torah to catch mistakes. Yeah, I know, yeshiva guys editing English is probably as useful as monkeys writing Shakespeare, but at 11:30 pm, I'll take anything...

"Three cities shall you designate on the other side of the Jordan and three cities shall you designate in the land of Canaan - they shall be cities of refuge (35:14)

Among other things, this week's parsha deals with Arei Miklat, otherwise known as Cities of Refuge. In today's world, if you do something like... oh.... accidentally kill a person; you get arrested, and held in a lovely place, like Cook County Prison, where you spend some quality time with fellow inmates, until you get your trial. This is somewhat similar, yet somewhat different.

If a person ACCIDENTLY kills a person, he can run to one of these six arei miklat and find refuge in the city. Now, the qualification is not so simple. Basically, a person needs to commit manslaughter in order to get in. It could be accidental, but not completely accidental. If it was completely accidental, he is a free man. If it was accidental, but could have been avoided if the person was more careful, he can run to one of the arei miklat. If it was on purpose...well, we believe in capital punishment.

An interesting question arises concerning the placement of the six arei miklat. For those who read this week's parsha, you will remember that the tribe of Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe requested to build their homes on the eastern side of the Jordan River, allowing the other nine and a half tribes to settle the western side. Now, here's the fun part. According to the pasuk above, there are three cities for the 9 1/2 tribes on the western side of the Jordan, and three cities for the 2 1/2 tribes on the eastern side. Now, thankfully, I have a Bachelors of Science and I took Advance Calculus, rendering me completely helpless in doing anything with mathematics, unless I have a calculator, which thankfully came with this laptop. Now ...let's see here ... Divide this number by that number ... take that number and press this button ... press M+ a couple of times... and bingo! According to my calculations, the eastern side contained 79.1666666% of the tribes, and received 50% of the cities, while 20.833333% of the tribes received 50% of the cities. Does something seem a little off to you? Why do the tribes of Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe receive half of the arei miklat?

The Gemara answers that murders were more common in the tribes on the western side of the river, hence they needed more cities for their population.

I hope you were not satisfied with that answer! If you were paying any attention, you would notice that people who committed murder are NOT ALLOWED IN! So, how in the world does the Gemara answer our question?

Thankfully, Rav Avrohom Pam has an answer for us. The Maharal writes that the high murder rate in the eastern side of the Jordan, created a lax attitude for human life. Through that, people were less careful in their dealings, and that resulted in a high rate of manslaughter amongst the population.

The Maharal just made a very powerful statement, which is certainly applicable to today. We are surrounded by violence. Wherever we go, whether it be the television, newspapers, internet, or right outside our doors, we are steeped in a violent world. Many times, such as in the case of television or movies, we can control how much violence comes into our world. Sometimes though, violence comes to us, via terrorism, war or crime. Unfortunately, we are so steeped in it, that we have barely recognized the effects it has on us.

A small example. Years back, a friend gave me this small game called "Roads of Madness", "Roads of Mayhem"... or something like that. Either way, the whole point of the game was to drive your car around the city at top speeds, smashing into cars, and getting chased by the police. There was no shooting, no running over people, no "real" violence...just being chased by the police. Rather harmless compared to what's out there. All I know is this. After playing this for a bit, I began to notice my driving was becoming a little more offensive. Maybe the whole "trying to arm my car with Sidewinder Missiles" made me think twice about the effects of the game. One thing that I did find interesting though, was how my heart started to beat faster when I saw a police car. It was a very strange feeling. The game was starting to affect my life. Needless to say, I got home and took it off.

Another example just happened this week. As some of you might know, there was another bombing in Tel Aviv this week, killing a 19 year old girl. When I mentioned this to one of the guys, his response was, "Thank G-d". Thank G-d? Obviously, he was thanking G-d that there was only one casualty, when it could have easily been more. I'm certainly not attacking him, since we all have that feeling. Think about it though: a human life has been taken by a murderer. She has a family. She has friends. She was brutally murdered by people supported by many governments in the world, yet all we can think of is, "Could have been worse".

I guess the point of this dvar torah is really two points.

1) Its bad enough that our children are exposed to violence in this world; but do we need to encourage it by allowing them certain shows, movies, and video games into our homes?

2) We should try our best to never allow this violent world to change our perspective on the value of human life. The loss of one human being should be enough to outrage us. It shouldn't take 3,000 people to ignite our flames of vengeance.

When we begin to look at every human life as important as our own, we will begin to purge the violence from our minds and our hearts. With this continual purging, we will be able to increase the amount of love, chesed and kindness we perform for others. Have a great Shabbos!

Part I - 42 & 6

Very kabalistic parsha this week. At the end of the parsha, the Torah brings up the subject of the Arey Miklat (cities of refuge). As we all know, all the tribes received a portion of the land of Israel, except for Levi (the Leviim), instead they lived in forty-two cities throughout the country. Along with these forty-two cities, they administered six other special cities. All forty-eight cities are considered these cities of refuge, where a person must go if he accidentally kills another person. And he's stuck there until the death of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). If he leaves the city, the victim’s family can knock him off. Inside the city, he's safe. Where in the Torah do we see this?

"The cities which you shall give to the Leviim: the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the murderer to flee there, and on top of those you shall give forty-two cities" (Bamidbar 35:6)

It's interesting to note that they are not referred to as 48 cities, rather 6 cities & 42 cities, separately. Why is this? It seems that there are a couple differences between the 42 & 6. If a murderer (accidental, of course) arrives at any of the six cities, whether he knows it or not, he is safe from the victim's family. If he arrives at one of the 42 cities, if he doesn't know he's in one of the special cities, he can be knocked off, but if he does know, he is safe. Don't ask how we know whether or not a person knows....it's a long story.

Part II - Love & Unity

Let's take a look at the Shema. If you count the number of words of the first paragraph of Shema (from Shema to Echad), you get 6. If you count the number of words in the second paragraph (from Ve'ahavta to U'visharecha), you get 42. Coincidence??? I think not. Take a look at the first paragraph of the Shema again, Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokainu Hashem Echad, (Hear Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One). What's the theme? Hashem's UNITY. What's the theme of the second paragraph? Without translating everything, I'll give you the answer: LOVE for Hashem. Okay, so somehow we have some connection here.

Part III

When somebody accidentally kills another, he puts his spiritual life in jeopardy and moves farther away from Hashem. In order to return, he must take one of two paths to bring the relationship closer. One way is by understanding Hashem's one-ness in the universe, and how EVERYTHING that happens in this world comes from Hashem. By contemplating this UNITY, we are able to recognize Hashem everywhere and become closer to Him. Another path is to take the path of the Leviim, who lived in the 42 cities. It was their job to play instruments and sing praises to Hashem in the Beis HaMikdash. It was through this, they achieved LOVE for Hashem. We can also become closer to Hashem by working on our love for Him, and everything that he has done for us.

Love for Hashem is derived from considering His greatness. Contemplating unity on the other hand can be achieved only through the human intellect, that everything in this world is Hashem, from the beginning of time to the end of time. Although we believe in unity, it's impossible to intellectually comprehend what it truly is. Remember, we see things only on the physical level, not on the spiritual level. So how can we comprehend unity, if we are only seeing a fraction of reality? Make sense?

This is where the differences of the 42 cities and 6 cities come out. The 42 cities correspond to the 42 words of the Shema, which correspond to the LOVE that we have for Hashem. Love can be achieved only through knowledge of Hashem's world and His maintenance of it. Without this knowledge, you don't have love. Without this knowledge, you're not protected in the 42 cities. The 6 cities correspond to the first 6 words of the Shema which in turn correspond to Hashem's UNITY, which we could believe in, but not have complete knowledge about. That is why the 6 cities, will protect you whether or not you have complete knowledge that it was one of the six protective cities. Have a great Shabbos!