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Beit Midrash
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The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Asher Ben Haim
Many mitzvot bring us great, palpable, spiritual elevation, in addition to the virtue of following a Divine imperative. But there are some mitzvot, which are all right and just, but they also contain elements that are spiritually difficult or even dangerous. They must be carried out diligently, but we should try to ensure that it is the Divine commandment and the positive elements that are highlighted, not the regrettable, albeit necessary, elements. At a joyous brit milah, we make a point of leaving out the words "shehasimcha bim’ono" to note that the child, who had the z’chut to enter the covenant of Avraham Avinu, is also in pain. R. Yehuda Hanasi was punished for not relating to the pain of an animal that was being taken to the mitzva of shechita (Bava Metzia 85a). And we even feel the regrettable element of the drowning of the evil Egyptians when we withhold the mitzva of full Hallel during most of Pesach.
Hashem told Moshe that Midian deserved punishment for what they had done to Bnei Yisrael and that Bnei Yisrael had His blessing (and command) to carry out the revenge. Yet Moshe felt that the gains of such a harsh action would be more complete and pure if Bnei Yisrael concentrated on the ills the Midianites had caused the Divine and focused less on their national right for revenge. He did not argue, Heaven forbid, with Hashem’s portrayal of the action but desired to channel it in a manner that would lessen the spiritually dangerous elements of war.
(It is possible that Moshe employed unusual rules of war to get his point across. According to Rashi’s version of the Sifrei, the Levi’im took part in the battle. This exception to the rule (see last week’s Hemdat Yamim) may have served as a sign that the battle had a specific nature of "revenge of Hashem," in which the Levi’im had a history of participation (see Shemot 32:26)).
Igrot Hare’aya Improving New Yishuv More Practical than Alternatives
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook #107
Rabbis in Midrash
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Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part II
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
Parashat Hashavua Happiness for the Right Reasons
[With painful longing, we share these divrei Torah from our co-Rosh Kollel for close to 40 years, Harav Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l.]
