She'elat Etgar

Question What mitzva can you keep in chutz la'aretz even though it's תלויה בראץ and in our times  even though it requires the בית המקדש? Answer A man of Gd We need to start this week with some background. It's very common in navi for a pasuk not to refer to a navi by name. Instead, it will use the title "איש האלוקים" - "man of Gd". Why? To answer that we need to understand what it means to be a navi of Hashem. Consider the gemara the mesilas yesharim quotes in his introduction מכאן אמר רבי פנחס בן יאיר:   תורה מביאה לידי זהירות, זהירות מביאה לידי זריזות, זריזות מביאה לידי נקיות, נקיות מביאה לידי פרישות, פרישות מביאה לידי טהרה, טהרה מביאה לידי חסידות, חסידות מביאה לידי ענוה, ענוה מביאה לידי יראת חטא, יראת חטא מביאה לידי קדשה, קדשה מביאה לידי רוח הקדש , רוח הקדש מביאה לידי תחית המתים. From here, Rebbe Pinchas ben Yair learned: learning Torah causes a person to be careful with aveiros, being careful with aveiros causes a person to run to do mitzvos, runnin...

Question What command does Hashem give that's physically impossible to fulfill? Answer Hashem gives a lot of commands that are hard  to fulfill. In fact, the מצוות are so hard to fulfill that Shlomo Hamelech said כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא For there is no righteous person (tzadik) in the world who does only good and does not sin Koheles 7:20 And again similarly in Mishlei כי שבע יפול צדיק וקם  A righteous person (tzadik) falls seven times and gets up   Mishlei 24:16 The gemara even tells us that yiras shomayim is so rare and so precious to Hashem that he considers it to be his greatest treasure! א"ר חנינא משום ר' שמעון בן יוחי אין לו להקב"ה בבית גנזיו אלא אוצר של יראת שמים שנאמר יראת ה' היא אוצרו R' Chanina said in the name of R' Shimon Ben Yochai, "Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not keep anything in his treasure house except for yiros shomayim, as it says, 'Yiros Hashem is his treasure'" Berachos 33:2 But while those are all dif...

Question Why are we careful to always read Ki Savo before  Rosh Hashana? What other parsha has a similar time rule for a similar reason? Answer Parshas Ki Savo is home to the curses Moshe Rabeinu said to the Jews if they wouldn't follow Hashem and his mitzvos. Those curses describe the immense suffering and punishment Hashem would chas v'shalom bring on us. I don't just mean, "if you don't listen, Hashem will punish you." The Torah describes great calamities that will befall us. Consider for example ידבק ד' בך את הדבר עד כלתו אתך מעל האדמה אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה Hashem will cast a plague upon you until you perish from the land that you had come to inherit   Devarim 28:21 Or והיתה נבלתך למאכל לכל עוף השמים ולבהמת הארץ Your corpse shall become food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the field Devarim 28:26 These curses serve a critical purpose for a Jew. They remind us that Hashem created a world filled with שכר / schar (reward) and עונש / onesh (...

Question Why is קריאת התורה this week sometimes דאורייתא and sometimes דרבנן?  Answer  כי תצא ends with פרשת זכור - the commandment to remember how Amalek attacked us as we left Egypt. We make a special reading of that parsha once a year to fulfill the commandment. The mitzvah to remember what Amalek did is דאורייתא, so the special קריאה is also דאורייתא. You might think that's the entire answer. When we read the words of פרשת זכור as part of the weekly reading in כי תצא, it's דרבנן, but when we make a special reading it's דאורייתא. That's true. But, there's a better answer. There are actually times when reading כי תצא itself is דאורייתא! Understanding the answer starts by understanding what exactly we're commanded. The Torah tells us זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים Remember what Amalek did to you on your way as you left Egypt Devarim 25:17 We need to remember  what Amalek. But there are a lot of other mitzvos to remember. For example, we're told ...

Question What word does the Torah use to describe רבית (interest)? Why?  Answer  In most places, the Torah uses the word רבית for interest. רבית comes from the word להרבות, meaning "to increase". In other words, רבית is when the amount of money you pay back increased  above the amount you borrowed. There's an exception in כי תצא. When the Torah prohibits from charging interest from our fellow Jews, it uses the word "bite" to refer to the interest itself! לא תשיך לאחיך נשך כסף נשך אכל נשך כל דבר אשר ישך Do not bite your brothers the bite of money , the bite of food, or the bite of anything that can bite Devarim 23:20 Chaza"l teach us the Torah uses this word to highlight a similarity between interest and a snake bite. When a snake bites a person, it injects venom into a very small wound. The immediate impact is limited to the area where the bite occurred. Over time, however, the venom spreads throughout the body. It grows and spreads until the entire body is...

Question What excuse does the Torah give בעלי עבירה so they don't have to admit to their עבירות? Why was it important for the Torah to give it? Answer Who leads a nation in war? Is it our bravest soldiers? Or perhaps our smartest generals? Maybe the strongest or fastest? Or legions upon legions of troops? None of those is right for the Jewish nation. We know our success isn't connected to how good our strategy is or how strong or smart our soldiers are. Our success is 100% dependent on Hashem. והיה כקרבכם אל-המלחמה ונגש הכהן ודבר אל העם. ואמר אלהם שמע ישראל אתם קרבים היום למלחמה על-איביכם אל-ירך לבבכם אל-תיראו ואל-תחפזו ואל תערצו מפניהם. כי ד' אלקיבם ההולך עמכם להלכם לכם עם-איביכם להושיע אתכם. And when you will come to war, the Kohen will approach and will speak to the nation. And he shall say to them "Listen, Israel, today you are close to a war upon your enemies. Do not let your heart grow soft; do not fear them. For Hashem your Gd is going with you to fight for you ...