Matot - Masei
TORAH NOT UP FOR NEGOTIATIONS
“Take revenge for the B’nei Yisroel against the Midianites; afterwards you will be gathered to your people. So, Moshe spoke to the people” (31:2-3). Rashi: Although he heard that his death depended on the matter, he did it joyfully, without delay.
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When the secular authorities expressed their desire to support yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel in order to gain a foothold and have a say in the running of those yeshivos, some Roshei Yeshivos agreed to this proposal, since the financial status of the yeshivos was dire at the time. However, the Brisker Rav was adamantly opposed, stating that the Torah was not the property of staff in the yeshivos, and one was obligated to oppose their consent. The Torah is not our property; it is not subject to negotiations in which we sell parts of it for the sake of profit elsewhere.
COUNTERBALANCING TUMOH WITH TORAH
Why was Moshe’s death connected to the war against Midian? Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld explained this on the basis of the principle that “Hashem has made this corresponding to that” (Koheles 7:14). Whenever the forces of tumah increase in the world, Hashem makes sure to counterbalance them with corresponding forces of kedushah, so that the side of kedushah should be as strong as the side of tumah.
The only reason the world was capable of tolerating Bilaam’s power of tumah was because of the corresponding power of kedushah of Moshe Rabbeinu. Therefore, as long as Bilaam was still alive it would not be possible for Moshe Rabbeinu to pass away, because he was needed to counterbalance Bilaam.
In our times too, the forces of tumah and heresy are more intense than they have been at any time since we became a nation. On the other hand, Hashem in His great mercy has orchestrated events in such a manner that we have an unprecedented explosion of Torah with yeshivos and kollelim in every town. The Jewish nation can thereby continue to exist with the increased kedushah counterbalancing the forces of tumah. Our duty is to endeavor to increase the side of kedushah in response to the tumah so prevalent everywhere
SHMIRAS HABRIS IN OUR GENERATION
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A bachur once came to see Rav Sternbuch complaining that he did not enjoy learning and asking for advice about how he could acquire a taste for learning. Rav Sternbuch took the boy’s hands and stroked them several times. “I can see that you are a good boy”, he told him.
The boy then complained that he had already been thrown out of several yeshivos, he did not enjoy learning, and the yeshiva he was in now also wanted to expel him. Rav Sternbuch told him that if he did not enjoy Gemara he should start learning Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. “Come to me in a little while and tell me what you are learning, and what progress you have made”.
At that stage the boy burst out crying and said, “I need a bracha to be saved from the Internet”. Rav Sternbuch comforted the boy and told him that once he would acquire a taste for learning Torah, he would no longer be faced with the trial of being drawn towards the Internet. He told him to start learning Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, and his situation would gradually improve. He also referred him to educational advisers who would help him by offering practical measures for dealing with his addiction.
Nowadays, the forces of tumah are prevalent not just in the street, but just about everywhere. In our times, especially, we have to guard [shomer] the bris. Anyone who ensures that his eyes do not see forbidden sights becomes elevated immeasurably, in addition to which Rav Shimon Shkop notes that it is a great method for remembering one’s Torah. In the merit of guarding our eyes they will be holy and pure enough to witness the restoration of the divine presence to Tzion when our “eyes will behold Your return in mercy to Tzion”.
FLATTERING THE WICKED
And you shall not corrupt the land in which you live … (35:33).
Some Rishonim rule that someone who flatters a wicked person transgresses the prohibition of “corrupting the land”. Since the pasuk refers to the land “in which you live”, i.e. to Eretz Yisroel, it would appear that someone who flatters wicked people in Eretz Yisroel commits an especially serious sin, because, in addition to the actual sin of flattery, he is also an accomplice to the desecration of the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel committed by the wicked people whom he flatters. By flattering them, he himself is considered, in addition to having flattered the wicked, also to have polluted Eretz Yisroel.
In this context, Rav Sternbuch always denounces in the strongest terms the phenomenon of senior irreligious politicians being invited to weddings of religious politicians, where they are welcomed and embraced, and then sometimes feted and sung to by local religious residents. As the Chofetz Chaim pointed out, if we are unable to prevent the actions of the wicked, the very least we can do is not to fawn to them.
CHILLUL SHABBOS AND THE THREE WEEKS
During his hesped on the occasion of Rav Elchonon Wasserman’s Yahrzeit several years ago, Rav Sternbuch - who knew Rav Elchonon personally - mentioned that the late Sadigurer Rebbe, Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Friedman, told Rav Sternbuch that he met Rav Elchonon Wasserman at the Knessiah Gedolah in Marienbad, and told him that he was about to move to Eretz Yisroel and was going to settle in Tel Aviv.
Rav Elchonon became alarmed, and responded that he would never be able to live in Tel Aviv, because if he would witness the chillul Shabbos taking place there, he would not be able to cope with the pain of seeing Shabbos being desecrated in the sanctuary of the King. How is it possible, he concluded, to be in the King’s palace and remain quiet about chillul Shabbos?
Rav Sternbuch noted that nowadays we have unfortunately reached the stage in Eretz Yisroel where chillul Shabbos has become so prevalent, be it in the form of public transportation, government-sponsored activities or shops that are open, that the situation can be described as an uprooting of Shabbos r”l.
In truth, the destruction of Shabbos is a more severe matter even than the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash: keeping Shabbos overrides the construction of the Beis Hamikdash (Yevamos 6a), and if Shabbos is more important than the construction of the Beis Hamikdash, it stands to reason that the opposite is also true, namely that its destruction is a more severe matter than the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.
This is because Shabbos is the covenant connecting the Jewish nation to Hashem, and by uprooting it, we sever our connection to Hashem. We do not have prophets to arouse the nation, nor do we have personalities such as Rav Elchonon to vociferously bewail the public desecration of Shabbos, but we are nevertheless duty-bound to raise a tremendous voice of protest for the sake of Shabbos
