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Tuesday 2 Cheshvan 5787

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A Lesson for the RoadShorts AreaFemale LessonParashat HashavuaSeriesLibraryPiskei Din (Hebrew)Test Yourself
[We saw last time that it is difficult for people busy with daily life in a moshav to make a cheshbon (moral accounting) when they do not feel like they control their own destiny.] The mistake [of the one who is reluctant to make a cheshbon] is that he switches the cause and the effect. He does not realize that the reason it seems difficult to make cheshbonot is that he is not used to making them and that if he made one, it would beneficially impact his life. He is like the person who is afraid and has a weak heart (in the face of battle); he does not realize that it is not because of his uncertainty of his prospects of winning that he has a weak heart (i.e., fear). Rather it is because of the fear that he indeed will not be and cannot be victorious. This is like the story of the tailor, whose parents argued when he was a child whether he should become a shoemaker or a tailor. He was thankful to Hashem that he listened to his mother and became a tailor, because he would have been penniless as a shoemaker. The proof – during his decades of working, no one ever brought him shoes to be fixed. In this very way, we get confused between the cause and the effect, and forget that we cannot fix things because we do not think we can. If we leave behind the thought of fear and a weak heart and decide we will win, then we surely will. The Rabbis commented on the pasuk, “Hashem is your shadow” (Tehillim 121:5) – Just like a shadow, when you show it a hand, it shows you a hand, so too Hashem is your shadow. If we do not see the kindness of Hashem, it is because we do not believe in Hashem’s kindness. Someone who honestly and truly wants to see Hashem’s kindness and believes that there is what to see, will indeed see it. One who does not believe in it, will not see it. That’s how things work. When Bnei Yisrael entered the sea, they entered totally based on belief in and reliance on Hashem. When R. Chanina ben Dosa lit oil, it is because he would say: “He who told the oil to light will tell the vinegar to light” (Taanit 25a). Someone should not say: How can I rely on Hashem, as the only way I received things from Him is by toiling greatly, so that if I do not toil, I will not receive.” One who says that forgets that to the contrary, feeling the need to toil is responsible for not receiving it more easily. It is as the Chovot Halevavot states (section 4) – one who relies upon anything other than Hashem will not receive Hashem’s help. This is as the pasuk says: “Blessed is the one who relies on Hashem” (Yirmiyahu 17:7), which triggers the continuation of the pasuk, “… and Hashem will be his reliable One.” In practice, the whole idea of Zionism and pioneering is based on a rebellion against the situation that existed before, which had been based on belief, that everything is in the Hands of Hashem. We reject that rebellion. We know that “If Hashem does not build a house, its builders toiled on it for naught” (Tehillim 127:1). We do know that “Everything is in the Hands of Heaven except fear of Heaven” (Berachot 33b). If we receive everything that we can from Heaven, then we have Hashem as our shadow. Then everything is again in our hands. We do this in a different way than the secular way of thinking, that everything depends on one’s willpower. That is a total mistake! Our rivals also have willpower, so how can we know whose desire will win out. We believe in our desires working through “pipes” in which the desires of our rivals do not have any power. Our belief in our abilities should give us freedom to be powerful people who make cheshbonot properly and change our personal way of life significantly. This belief should also be a building block of our life in the moshav. This is the only way our whole nation can make a cheshbon and set our path in life.
Moreshet Shaul (51)
Various Rabbis
48 - I Will Bring You Back Up – part II
49 - Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
50 - Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
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Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt"l

Rosh Yeshiva of "Mercaz Harav", Rosh Kollel of "Eretz Hemda" and a member of Beit Din Hagadol in Yerushalaim.
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