The Weekly Shtikle - Korach

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my dear Zadie and Bubbie, HaRav Chaim Yaakov ben Yitzchak and Yehudis bas Reuven Pinchas.

    We are taught in Pirkei Avos (5:20) "Every controversy which is for the sake of Heaven will ultimately endure, but any controversy that is not for the sake of Heaven will ultimately not endure." The Mishnah then proceeds to give examples. The example of a "machlokes l'sheim Shomayim," the controversy for the sake of Heaven, is that of Hillel and Shamai. The example of the controversy that was not for the sake of Heaven is Korach and his entourage.

    There is a glaring incongruity between the two examples given by the Mishnah. The first, Hillel and Shamai, deals with the two sides of the controversy or dispute. The second, Korach and his entourage, strangely, deals with only one side of the of the dispute. The dispute was in fact between Korach, his entourage and Moshe. HaRav Kulefsky zt"l gives the following answer in the name of the Nachlas Dovid: The Mishnah is zeroing in on a specific attribute in each dispute. Hillel and Shamai argued "l'sheim Shomayim." That is, that although they constantly took contrary views, they always had a common goal - to establish the proper halachah. It was never a showdown of man vs. man, or school vs. school. Rather, it was a matter of what was the proper way. Thus, a common objective endured throughout and indeed, whenever Beis Hillel and Beis Shamai disagree in the Mishnah, even though we follow Beis Hillel primarily, we are always given both sides.

    Korach, on the other hand, lacked this very commonality of purpose within his own group. Although they appeared to be on the same side, they really did not share a common goal. Each member of the rebellion had his own selfish motives for joining the cause. It was each man for himself, not for each other. In the end, they were not fighting for what they felt was right but rather for what they felt they had coming to them. This was the argument of the righteous wife of On ben Peles who persuaded her husband to withdraw himself from the foolish uprising because there was simply nothing he would get out of it, as recounted by the gemara. The Mishnah teaches us that due to this lack of unity and sincerity of cause, not only did the dispute itself disintegrate, but Korach's entire company disintegrated as well.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka

EzBulka@hotmail.com

http://weeklyshtikle.blogspot.com

The Weekly Shtikle - Shelach

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my dear Zadie and Bubbie, HaRav Chaim Yaakov ben Yitzchak and Yehudis bas Reuven Pinchas.

This week's shtikle is dedicated to my dear son, Efrayim Zalman, with Mazal Tov wishes upon his Upsherin earlier today.

    I did have a speech planned for the Upsherin proceedings this afternoon but time and extreme heat made it impractical. But here is what I was going to say:

 

    Surely, there is no mention in the Torah of an Upsherin. There isn't even any mention of the significance of the three-year milestone that I know of. However, we were lucky enough that Efrayim was born the week of Parshas Shelach, the end of which discusses the mitzvah of Tzitzis. Many children begin to wear Tzitzis when they turn three years old. Nevertheless, to connect the parsha of Tzitzis with today's festivities, I had to roll back to the beginning of the parsha.

 

    Before sending the spies out to survey Eretz Yisroel, Moshe Rabbeinu changes the name of Hoshei'a bin Nun to Yehoshua. Rashi (13:16) explains that Moshe prayed for Yehoshua that he be saved from the evil plot of the other spies (excluding Caleiv, of course.) The spies were the leaders of their tribes, as stated clearly in the pasuk, but Moshe, through his superior prophecy, knew what was to transpire. Yehoshua was his prized disciple. Yet, Moshe was not overconfident of the level Yehoshua had reached through his guidance. He knew that no matter how great he was, he would need Divine guidance to pull through.

 

    No one has or will reach Moshe's level of prophecy. Nevertheless, there is a great lesson to be learned from Moshe's prayers. Moshe anticipated a challenge that no one else could have forseen. But we, as parents, are, or at least should be, fully aware of the society and the environment in which we will be bringing up our children and the challenges they will pose. We need not be prophets. We need only pay attention to the world around us and arm ourselves with the proper weapons to overcome the challenges that we will ultimately face. [One need not look any further than the "festivities" currently going on here in Toronto this week for an example of a serious societal challenge. The rainbow, which was used has HaShem's sign that He will not bring another mabul, is now being used to represent the very lifestyle that brought the mabul in the first place!]

 

    But Moshe also teaches us that no amount of training, education or guidance is sufficient. If Moshe could not rely on his own training of Yehoshua and sought Divine support, surely we must put prayer on the front lines of this battle.

 

    This brings us to the mitzvah of Tzitzis - the most valuable "utility" in this battle. The uniqueness of Tzitzis is that it is the one physical mitzvah which we perform daily and carry with us all day. Even tefillin, which are ideally to be donned for the duration of the day, are only to be worn in a clean environment and must be removed when one enters a bathroom. This is not the case with Tzitzis. It is the one mitzvah that follows us around wherever we may go and serves as a constant reminder that we are Jews and we are different. Perhaps it is for this reason that Tzitzis is meant to remind us of all of the mitzvos as the pasuk (15:39) states. And perhaps it is for this reason that it is customary for Jewish boys to get a specific head start with this mitzvah at the early age of three.

 

    It is certainly our wish and our prayer that our Efrayim use the mitzvah of Tzitzis as a stepping stone to a life full of Torah and mitzvos.

 

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka
EzBulka@hotmail.com
3306A Clarks Ln
Baltimore, MD 21215
410-764-9115

The Weekly Shtikle - Beha'alosecha

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my dear Zadie and Bubbie, HaRav Chaim Yaakov ben Yitzchak and Yehudis bas Reuven Pinchas.

A special Mazal Tov dedication to my brother-in-law, Yisroel Yeres, for his aufruf this Shabbos and ensuing marriage to Hindy Meisels of Toronto next week. Mazal Tov to the ganse mishpacha!

    We are commanded to remember the episode with Miriam that appears in this week's parsha. Part of this remembrance is being careful not to speak Loshon Hora, which was why Miriam was punished. However, if we look at the pasuk, when HaShem rebukes Miriam and Aharon He says (12:8) "Madua lo yaraisem ledaber b'avdi beMoshe", How could you not be fearful of talking badly about my servant Moshe?! R' Yaakov Weinberg, zt"l, points out that this pasuk insinuates that the main issue with Miriam and Aharon was that they had spoken about Moshe, but if it were about someone else it would not have been so serious. But we know this not to be true for it is forbidden to say Lashon Hara about anyone.

 

    R' Weinberg explains that this gives us an important insight into what Lashon Hora is all about. The principal mistake that one makes when he speaks LH is that he fails to realize the virtues of the person about whom he is speaking. Miriam and Aharon's error was to a more grave degree. It was their failure to recognize Moshe's greatness that allowed them to speak badly about him. Had they realized the greatness of Moshe, they never would have done so. It is this specific aspect of their misjudgement that HaShem focussed on in His rebuke. Likewise, every Jew has his own inherent greatness. Anyone who speaks LH about his fellow Jew fails to realize the true greatness of that person, at whatever level it may be, and therefore speaks badly about them.

 

    I heard this from R' Weinberg at a kiddush for the aufruf of a cousin. It is at this auspicious time when the chosson and kallah embark on the starting of a new life together in which they will realize their true potential greatness together. It is our berachah that the chosson and kallah due indeed realize and actualize this potential together as they build their Bayis Ne'eman b(/l)'Yisroel.

 

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka
EzBulka@hotmail.com
3306A Clarks Ln
Baltimore, MD 21215
410-764-9115

The Weekly Shtikle - Naso

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my dear Zadie and Bubbie, HaRav Chaim Yaakov ben Yitzchak and Yehudis bas Reuven Pinchas.

A very special Mazal Tov to my cousin Yona Seliger and his wife, Libby and the ganse mishpachah on the birth of a not-so-little baby boy early Monday morning. May they be zochim lehachniso laBris, leTorah ulChupah ulMa'asim Tovim.

   The connection between the birth of a child and this week's parsha isn't entirely obvious. Perhaps the strongest connection is to the haftarah and the joyous birth of Shimshon to Manoach and his wife. However, there is a more subtle connection.

    The obvious connection between the parsha and the haftarah is that the haftarah speaks of Shimshon who was a nazir and the nazir is discussed in this week's parsha. However, there are some other connections that lie beneath the surface. The Sotah process is discussed in this week's parsha. Chazal tell us that the purpose of the Sotah process is to eventually instill peace between man and his wife by resolving the existing conflict. Peace is so important that HaShem has His name erased in the water for it. In the haftarah we also see the importance of peace between a man and his wife. The Midrash recounts that when Manoach and his wife were not able to have children, they were fighting over whose fault it was that they were not having kids. Therefore, the angel informed Manoach's wife that she was in fact the "akarah." R' Chaim Kunyevsky writes that from here we learn a very important lesson regarding Shalom. If you know that one party in an argument is correct, it is proper to go over to the one who is in the wrong and inform them so that they may confess for in that way you will preserve peace. If you inform the one who was correct he is likely to bear more resentment towards his counterpart and the conflict will only continue. That is why the mal'ach went directly to Manoach's wife rather than Manoach.

    The Shalom Zachar which follows the birth of a boy is a rather intriguing custom with a number of explanations. However, the explanation which best accounts for the name is the connection to the gemara (Niddah 31:2) which states, in the name of Rebbi Ami, "Keivan sheba zachar ba'olam, ba shalom ba'olam." In some way, as is asserted by Rebbi Ami and supported by a pasuk in Yeshayah, the birth of a baby boy brings peace to the world. This forges a strong connection with the themes of peace found in both the parsha and the haftarah. May this new baby boy be a source of nachas as well as a source of peace. 

Have a good Shabbos and Chodesh Tov.

Eliezer Bulka

EzBulka@hotmail.com

http://weeklyshtikle.blogspot.com

The Weekly Shtikle - Shavuos

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my dear Zadie and Bubbie, HaRav Chaim Yaakov ben Yitzchak and Yehudis bas Reuven Pinchas.

 

    The holiday of Shavuos has a unique name. All of the other holidays that adorn our calendar are aptly named for something to do with the chag itself. We sit in sukkos on Sukkos, for example. Rosh HaShanah is the beginning of the year. Our upcoming chag, however, is not called Chag HaTorah, not even Chag HaCheesecake. Rather, it is called Shavuos, referring to the weeks that proceed it. Why is this chag so differently named.

 

    It would seem that the naming of Shavuos is meant to send us a message. We are not meant to view the time between Pesach and Shavuos as a mere lead-up to Shavuos. Rather, these days are an integral part of the chag itself. B'nei Yisroel could not have merited being given the Torah if they had not gone through the seven-week period of spiritual cleansing. Likewise, we must use this period as a preparation for Shavuos just as they did. The preparation is the essence of the chag. Indeed, Nachalas Yaakov writes that the reason why there is no Chol HaMoeid for Shavuos is because Shavuos is connected to Pesach as one unit and the period of Sefiras HaOmer is the Chol HaMoeid between the two.

 

    On that note, I heard a wonderful thought from my cousin, Dr. Yoel Jakobovits. Indeed, the name "Sefiras HaOmer" is rather strange. We are not counting the Omer. We are counting from the bringing of the "Omer." But so what? Why is that the defining characteristic? Would it not have been more appropriate to call it something simpler yet more succinct like "Sefiras HaYamim?"

 

    HaKesav veHaKabbalah offers a fascinating insight into this name. In the episode of the Yefas To'ar (Devarim 21:14), if the woman is no longer desired, she is sent away. The pasuk says, "Lo sis'ameir bah," you shall not enslave her. Rashi comments that imra'ah is a Persian word denoting servitude and utilization. This is the same root as omer. "Sefiras HaOmer," therefore, is not meant to remind us of the Korban Omer. Rather, it is the period which leads up to Shavuos, when we established our ultimate servitude to HaShem and His Torah. Each year, we devote seven weeks towards the reaffirming of that servitude. This understanding gives much more meaning to Sefiras HaOmer and what it is meant to accomplish.

 

Have a Chag Samei'ach and Good Shabbos!

 

Eliezer Bulka
EzBulka@hotmail.com

http://weeklyshtikle.blogspot.com