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community, to unite them together as a tzibbur. This concept also explains why the entire generation was wiped out after the meraglim but only 3000 perished in the aftermath of the eigel at the time of the eigel, individuals separated themselves from the tzibbur, but when it came to the meraglim the entire sinned. Similarly, on Purim, when Homon persuaded Achashveirosh to annihilate the Jews, he described them as, - a dispersed, fragmented people our communities were broken down and in that state of avairah, Hashem allowed the decree to be signed. The of the Purim story comes when (Esther 9:15), ' when the people gathered themselves together. Hence, on Purim we have the two mitzvos of Matonos Loevyonim and Mishloach Monos to strengthen our communities. Finally, this is vital from "teaches us the importance of davening in a minyan. The Zohar writes that if as individuals we were to daven before Hashem, we probably wouldnt merit whatever we asked for. However, when we daven with a minyan, are tefillos go as one prayer, from a community and our requests are no longer judged based on our own individual merits, but as a member of a wider community. This is encapsulated by the phrase we utter thrice daily in the brocho of - : Bless us Our Father when we are all as one before the light of Your face. It is only when we join together as one, then are deserving of blessing.

The Hasmonean High School Weekly Sedra Sheet

Dvar Torah

Living Torah
Issue No: Shabbos In: Shabbos Out:

" 30th June 2012

405 21:06 22:35

"Hillel said, do not separate from the community, do not trust yourself till the day you die, do not judge your fellow until you reach his place, do not make a statement which cannot be understood which will [only] later be understood, and do not say when I have free time I will learn, lest you not have free time." At the beginning of Parshas Vayakhel the Torah brings four posukim which detail part of the laws of Shabbos. Three questions need to be asked regarding them: Firstly, why in this instance does the Torah use the word - and he gathered is it not that every time Moshe spoke to the people he gathered them? Secondly, why are the laws of Shabbos placed right between the episode of the Eigel and the Mishkan what is the connection? Thirdly why does the posuk say that Moshe should command the Bnei Yisroel ' to do the mitzvah of Shabbos, and then go on to list the things not to do on Shabbos would fit better?

Rummikub and the porah adumah

The mitzvah of is introduced by the Torah as a .The of the Torah. A is a mitzvah for which we have no reason. ''on then goes into great detail to show how the was exactly parallel to the . Just like a child makes a mess and the mother cleans up, so too the golden calf caused trouble and the mother (red) cow can bring atonement. Every part of the processing of the has some significance in connection with the golden calf. What seems puzzling is that if the is a for which we have no reason, why does ''based on go to such pains to explain the significance of every detail? The explains by asking another question. How could , just days after the revelation at ,stoop so low as to create a lifeless idol and then say these are your gods ? The answer is, that in the same way as there is a physical system in the world, that which we call the laws of nature and science, there is also a spiritual system. Every mitzvah actually has an effect in the spiritual world. Although we dont see anything happen when we shake a ,in fact, we have completed a circuit in the spiritual world. Shaking a broomstick and lemon just wont have the same effect even if it looks and feels exactly the same! The Jewish people had caught a glimpse of this system at . They understood that there were physical actions that can be done which have great effect in the spiritual realm. When they thought that had gone forever and they needed another way of connecting to the Divine source, they used their knowledge of the system to try to recreate an object that would help them to communicate with Hashem. They were not entirely wrong either. Their mistake was that they didnt realise that however logical something seems, without Hashems guidance and instructions, it is all meaningless and possibly even dangerous. It ended in idol worship and tragedy. The point of the was to teach something that they couldnt possibly understand, and through that, to realise that they didnt really understand the whole system properly anyway and could not rely on their own intellect without divine guidance. Its like a game of Rummikub when you move everything around in a massive shuffle and then youre still left with a red 2. You think about it for ten minutes but then you come to the realisation that its just not going to work and you have to put everything back. The was like that red 2. It was there to teach that unless you have divine guidance you cannot really understand anything, because it just doesnt seem to fit into any logical framework. This explains the comparison of with the . ''isnt explaining the reason for the at all. The mistake of the was that thought that they could rely on their own understanding and intellect. The taught them that without Divine input, nothing makes sense. The helped them to correct their mistake and ensure that there would never be an again.

The Nesivos Sholom answers with a yesod from the Noam Elimelech, that the notion of a person sinning is the notion of moving away from the tzibbur, from the community, and similarly, a mitzvah is the notion of joining the community. Thus, continues the Slonimer Rebbe, that the avairah of the Eigel was the detachMay we all strive to strengthen and bring our commument from the tzibbur ( - about 300 nities closer together and be zoche to receive this men connoting individuals). The two mitzvos that brocho of . Moshe gives to the Bnei Yisroel afterwards are the remedy for this dissolution of community; Shabbos the day when families and communities join together, and the mishkan, whereby everyone gave their equal to build the mishkan. Thus this is also why the Torah uses the word . Moshe gathered them together, not meaning to do the mitzvah of Shabbos but to make them, to fashion them into a
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Story

Dvar Torah

The living torah

This is the Torah of when a man shall die in a tent he could walk 4 amos to fulfil the quota of walking. Bamidbar 19:14 After receiving the cane, R Zelmele walked the 4 amos, returned to his bed, and not long after laying In Gemara Shabbos, Rabbi Yochanan states: down returned his soul to his maker in Heaven. Even just before ones death one must not stop This is the Torah of when a man shall die in a tent. learning Torah. The message is clear: The Torah remains the Torah, It was the year 5557, the year that the Vilna Gaon, R even during ones last moments. Eliyahu Kramer, passed away. In his last few weeks R Zelmele of Vilna was on his death-bed; visitors in this world, his family wanted him to get checked flocked to see him one last time. He was lying down out by a doctor. They tried to convince him but he in his bed, reading a book of Tehillim in a beautiful, refused to allow it. However, after he saw how sweet voice. His visitors begged him not to strain upset everyone was when he refused to see a dochimself too much; he was already extremely frail. tor, he resented and R Yaakov Libeshitz, the best He answered them: The Torah tells us a man who doctor in Vilna, came to visit the Gaon. will die in a tent and R Yochanan states specifiAfter the Doctor finished his examination of the cally that this refers to ones Torah learning immedisaintly sage and exited his room, the Gaons family ately before his passing from this world into the asked the Doctor about their beloved Gaons world of truth. Maybe I was put into this world just health: Where is he holding?, expecting his medifor this very moment? cal evaluation. All those present were on the verge of tears at this Hes holding in Maseches Keilim answered the tragic moment. He then gave them one last Shiur Doctor. that would last a lifetime: When the Doctor had put his ear to the mouth of In the Gemara in Kesubos, our Sages tell us that a the Gaon to check out breathing patterns, he heard person should not sit too much because it puts too the Gaons frail voice reviewing his Torah learning. much strain on his body; a person shouldnt stand too much because it isnt healthy for his heart; and The Torah never departed from his lips, up to his one shouldnt walk too much, for this is bad for the very last moment on earth. eyes. Therefore we should sit a third of the time, stand a third of the time, and walk a third of the time. After R Zelmele finished quoting the Gemara, he sat himself up in the bed, then he got up and stood erect, and then asked those present for a cane so

A special opening
In the Parsha of the Poro Adumo, the Possuk says; This is the Torah (law,) when a person dies in a tent... and any open vessel, which does not have a lid tightly fastened to it, is Tomei, which is a halocho regarding the laws of Tumo. The Baal Haturim points out that the word open posuach only appears in Tanach four times. One time is here, one is in Iyov; my roots will be open to water, one is in Tehillim; their throats are an open grave, and one is in Yirmiyohu; his bow (ashpo) is an open grave. We know that when one speaks Loshon Horo, besides doing an Aveiro, one draws the powers of Tumo upon his mouth, so that all the Divrei Kedusho uttered afterwards will be repressed by this power of Tumo, an idea brought in the Zohar. The Birkas Avrohom says that this idea is hinted to in these Pesukim as well: if the mouth is an open vessel, which speaks without any restraints, without a lid fastened to it, will be forced to be Tomei. We have to guard our tongues against speaking Loshon Horo and all things that are Ossur, as the Gemoro in Chulin says one should act like a mute person, but should speak righteous words the words of Torah. The fact that we must speak words of Torah is hinted to in the Possuk in Iyov; my roots will be open to water, water referring to Torah; we must speak words of righteousness and then we will have mouths that are Tahor, and we will be able to truly praise Hashem, as the Possuk says; for every mouth will praise you. The Possuk in Tehillim says mekimi meofor dol...He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the pauper from the garbage (ashpo,) to seat them with the princes, the princes of His people. The Birkas Avrohom uses these Pesukim to hint to the importance of Shemiras Haloshon: Mekimi Meofor Dol has the Roshei Teivos of speech, actions, and thoughts- the Possuk is teaching us that to reach purity of actions, words and thoughts, we have to raise ourselves from the ashpo. This ashpo refers to the ashpo mentioned in the Possuk in Yirmiyohu; his bow (Ashpo) is an open grave, referring to a lack of Shemiras Haloshon. If we do this, Hashem will seat us with the princes of His people, who are the Tzadikim in every generation, as we see in the Song of the Beer, that the princes of the Bnei Yisroel in the Midbor were Moshe and Aharon. If we make an effort to guard our tongues, Hashem will send Tzadikim from all generations to help us in our struggle to become Tahor. The Chofetz Chaim writes that one of the main reasons why our Golus has extended so long is because of the Aveiro of Loshon Horo this was the Aveiro that caused the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdosh, and it will delay the building of the third Beis Hamikdosh. As we come to the three weeks, the period when we particularly focus on the coming of Moshiach and the building of the Beis Hamikdosh, we should make an extra effort to work on Shemiras Haloshon against all words that are Ossur. We should make some effort, whether by learning the halochos of Shemiras Haloshon, or by accepting a small amount of time each day to be extra careful in this, and Hashem will help us achieve our goal, as it says; Hashem says, make a small opening for Me, and I will open for you an entrance as great as the entrance of the Heichal.

This can also explain why the Possuk starts this is the Torah, because the Avodah of making our mouths Tahor is the foundation of the Torah, as this will lead to the purity of the mind as well, and the purpose is that our actions, words and thoughts should all be Tahor. We can see this idea in the Rashi that talks about Poro Adumo; it (Birkas Avrohom.) is a Gezeiro (decree) from before me, and you have no permission to think about it, which can be explained to mean that if we accept the command to purify our mouths the Gezeiro from before Hashem- then we will have no ability to think thoughts that are Tomei either!

Gematria:
In this week sedroh Moshe sent Malochim to Edom with a message asking to go through their lands. Moshe said "atta yada'ata kol hat'la'ah ha'zos", "you know all this trouble". Rav Dovid Feinstein explains that the gematriah of hatla'ah is 441. Ya'akov and Eisav both knew that whoever got Eretz Yisroel would have to be in golus for 400 years. Eisav didn't want that and he gave away his right to Eretz Yisroel when he sold his birthright. In reality the B'nei Yisroel were in golus for 441 years beacuse they spent an extra 40 years in the midbar (although they only spent 210 years in Mitzrayim it was as if they spent 400 years there). This was the message to Edom-"you know we were in golus for 441 years and now we have come to get Eretz Yisroel".

Riddle:
Of which two people in the Torah can it be said that their names spelled backwards are words used by the Torah to describe them?

Answer to Last Weeks Riddle:

Which holiday addition to Birchas Hamazon is it that most people do not say and hope they never have to? Ya'aleh Veyavo for Yom Kippur. If a sick person needs to eat on Yom Kippur, he adds the ya'aleh veyavo insertion into the 'grace after meals' and mentions Yom Kippur. (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 618:10)