Av 9, 5772 ~ July 28, 2012
by Yosef & Benyamin Helwani
Our parasha this week begin
with the words “ele hadevarim” – “and these are the words” that Moshe spoke to
the people of Israel. However, the
actual meaning of the word “devarim” should be “objects” or “things” and not
words. Moshe was about to rebuke the B’nai Israel, but he realized that to
rebuke a nation is not that simple.
Therefore, he looked at how leaders among the tribes behaved and rebuked
him and how they were punished, like Korach, the son of Kehat and Zimri ben Salu,
one of the chief leaders of the tribe of Shimon.
Moshe realized that he needed
to ask the B’nai Israel for forgiveness before he could admonish them, so he
speaks to them in a soft and gentle manner, reminding them of their travels,
and as he speaks to them he reminds them of the sins that they committed. A question came to my mind. Is Moshe rebuking the people out of
frustration because he was not allowed to enter the land, or to let them know
that he will not be able to speak on their behalf when they anger Hashem once
they enter the land of Canaan?
The rabbis tell us that Moshe was a loyal
shepherd and watched over the people just as a shepherd, who is responsible for
his flock, watches over them so that no harm shall come to them. In the book of
Shemot when the Erev Rav committed the sin of the golden calf, Hashem says to
Moshe: “Go down because the nation that you took out of Mitzrayim sinned”. How
is it possible that all of a sudden it’s Moshe’s people and not Hashem’s? Because Hashem knew that Moshe cared for
every single Jew just as if he or she were his own child. No father wants his child to stray away, so
he talks to them in a gentle and soft manner and tells them that when they are
punished it is out of love and not out of anger.
Anger sometime takes the best out of us. A
story is told of the great Hasidic rebbe the Holy Jew of Peshiskha who invited
his prized student rabbi Simcha Bunim to a meal. As
they sat at the table the rebbe’s wife started to talk loudly to her husband
and then yelled at him. The rebbe just
sat there, not even saying a word. A few minutes later he got up, walked into
the kitchen, yelled at his wife and then went back to the dining room to
continue his meal with his student. A few
minutes went by. The rebbe looked at his
student and said: “I know you are trying
to figure out what just happened. My wife got angry at me because I have a
great responsibility to my people, and sometime she feels that I neglect
her. When she yelled at me I held myself
from getting angry but I later realized how sad she was when I did not answer
her. So I went back into the kitchen and
yelled at her to let her know that I still love and care for her.”
In Proverbs 15:13 King Solomon
said: “An ear that listens to the admonishment will be blessed among the sages”. The one who accepts admonishment deserves to
be called wise.
We
live in times that we forget that one day we need to give an accounting for our
sins on the Day of Judgment. We are told
that one of the first questions a person is asked on that day is whether he
dealt honestly with people around him. The fast of Tisha b’Av is a punishment for
baseless hatred amongst the Jews. We should learn and be cautious about how to
behave with each other. It is very easy
to criticize the people who brought this fast day upon us. Instead, we should learn what to do and what
not to do. Just because Hashem loves and
forgives does not give us a free pass. That just because Hashem forgives us, we cannot take things
for granted.
Ahavat Israel is the way to
bring Mashiah speedily in our days.
Shabbat Shalom
