From: Weekly Torah To: parsha@torahzone.com Subject: Weekly Dvar Torah B"H "Path Markers" Naso: By: Yaacov Silverstein e@mail: hm16@popeye.cc.biu.ac.il HomePage: http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~hm16/ Year: 5762 This Years Parsha Series is prepared in the memory and merit of my grandfathers: Rav Yitzchak Zev Ben Yisroel Mordechai Hakohen Solomon Z"L Rav Chaim Meir Ben Yakov Silverstein Z"L *****^^^^^^^***** Did you tell your friend or relative how to subscribe to this Parsha List?? It's simple, just tell him to send a blank E-mail to: parsha-subscribe@torahzone.com And it is and always will be (B"H) FREE!! Purchase discounted Seforim online at: http://www.artscroll.com/torahzone Download the free DafYomi Calendar - http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~hm16/downloads Pasuk: (6:2) "Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: A man or woman who shall dissociate himself by taking a Nazarite vow of abstinence for the sake of Hashem. The holiday of Shevuous is an "important" day, yet it is different than Yom Kippur which is called "Yom ha'Nora" (awesome day). On the day of Yom Kippur, we try to reach the level of a Baal Teshuvah., while on Shevuous we can reach the level of a Tzaddik Gamur (completely righteous). In order to reach such a level, we need the days that start on Pesach and end on Shevuous. These days between Pesach and Shevuous, when we count the Omer, are days of preparation for the festival of Shevuous. We know that the three festivals that occur during the year - Pesach, Shevuous, Succos are all represented by our Forefathers: Pesach - Avraham (represented by Chesed, kindness) Shevuous - Yitzchak (represented by Gevurah, might, fear of G-d) Succos - Yakov (represented by Tifferes, splendor, harmony between Chesed & Gevurah) Pesach is represented by Chesed, for on this day we received from Hashem, without having to do anything on our side. This is when the Jewish Nation was born. We are to take this gift which was given on Pesach and work on it for 49 days of the Omer to reach the festival of Shevuous. These 7 weeks between Pesach and Shevuous, are days during which we are to build up our spiritual side. Each week of the Sefirah represents another Midah till we reach Shevuous. They are - Chesed, Gevurah, Tifferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchus. These Midos are divided into two main levels. The first level contains the first three Midos; Chesed, Gevurah, and Tifferes. These first three represent the "feeling" of doing such proper acts. Like when one feels in himself a great urge to help others or to Daven with great intent, or when one wants to use all that he has in this world for spiritual beauty. There is yet a second level, where one takes these three powers and uses them. Not only does one "feel" these Midos, one also is to place these feelings into "action". There are people who want to do kindness to others, yet when it comes to action, they are to lazy, "I will go visit the sick tomorrow". They push the act of kindness off for another day. We see that feelings and action are two separate parts of a Midah. We therefor have Midos of action and Midos of feelings. The second level of "action" contains: Netzach - Moshe (represented by Moshe giving us the Torah from Hashem). Hod - Aharon (represented by the service of Hashem with fear, for Aharon was a Cohen). Yesod - Yosef (represented by his living in Egypt and yet he was still fearing Hashem). During the days of the Sefirah, we build up our innerself and attain an inner "feeling" in ourselves, yet we still need the "action", this we merit on Shevuous by learning the holy Torah on this day. How do we merit the "action" on Shevuous? First we need to have the inner will which comes first from one's thoughts. It is like a person who decides that he wants to build a nice house for himself. First one has to plan the house, this planning is first done in ones mind. Yet this plan only exists because one had the "will" to build a house. Without this will, there is no planning. When one tells himself that on this Shevuous he is going to spend more time learning Torah, one needs the inner will to take his thoughts and translate them into action. This first must be started by the person himself, he has to take himself and open a Sefer to learn, only then will such a person end with a present from Hashem and the learning will come without needing to push himself. On this special day, we attain both the inner will and action to learn Torah with greater feeling of closeness to Hashem. By the time we reach Shevuous, we are prepared spiritually to receive the Torah. Since the main purpose of this day is the gift of the Torah, there is no need for a special Mitzvah (i.e. Succah, Matzoh...) on this day. The festival of Shevuous occurs in the month of Sivan, which is represented by the zodiac sign of "twins". Twins are not merely two people - they are two people who match, who are complementary. One's inner self is to be complemented by his outer actions. One can not say that "I am a good Jew in my heart", this is not enough. One can also not say the opposite, that "I can be a good Jew, with only laws and rituals, without any ethical dimension". A good Jew is one with thought and action, you can't have one without the other. Therefor, when we received the Torah at Har Sinai, we said, "All that Hashem has said we will obey and we will hear." By accepting the Torah anew on Shevuous, you need both Naase (action) and Nishma (hear - thought). We can also tie the lessons that we learn on Shevuous into this week's Parsha, Naso. The Torah gives the laws of the Nazirite immediately after those of the Sotah, the wayward wife of the previous chapter. The Sages derive from this, that one who sees a Sotah in her state of degradation should prohibit wine to himself by taking a Nazarite vow. A Sotah is a person who opted to follow her sensual passions and let her heart overpower her mind, her pursuit of pleasure to overpower her responsibility to G-d. Man is comprised of two spiritual parts. One part is the Yetzer ha'Tov, which fuels a person with a desire to do good. The other part is that of the Yetzer ha'Rah, which is an animalistic instinct which pushes a person to sin. When a person witnesses the punishment of a Sotah, he feels two things. His Yetzer ha'Tov sees what happens to a sinner and therefor encourages him not to sin. Yet the Yetzer ha'Rah concentrates on the illicit act, which caused the punishment. With new fuel, the Yetzer ha'Rah renews its efforts and tries to make him sin. We see that at times to help prevent one from committing a sin, it is not enough that he saw and took to heart what happens to a sinner. One also needs to do more than just the "feeling" of what happens when one sins. At times one needs to do "action", to make sure that he wont reach a similar state as the sinner. We can sum up this Dvar Torah in one sentence: "It is not enough to have the feelings, one must also do the action!" This applies to doing kindness, doing Mitzvos and staying away from sin. (Adapted from - Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pincus z"tl, Rav Shimon Schwab, Seasons of Life, Ask The Rabbi - Vol 9 No 26, Artscroll Chumash, Pirkei Torah ) --------***********-------- A special Thank You to my mother for checking & correcting the first DT draft. A special Thank You to Project Genesis - http://www.torah.org for hosting this list. If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list send a blank email to the following address: --------***********--------