Author: Rabbi Milder

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Teruma – Patience with the Process

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This week’s Haftorah for the Torah portion of Teruma discusses the building of the first Beis HaMikdash just as the Torah portion discusses the building of the Mishkan . It begins, “And Hashem gave Shlomo wisdom, as He had promised him, and there was peace between Hiram and Shlomo, and they both made a peace treaty together” (Melachim Alef 5:26). The Ralbag points out that the Navi is telling us that the abundance of wisdom Shlomo possessed was the reason why there was peace between Shlomo and Hiram, for because of his wisdom Hiram loved him. (Click here for Hebrew text.)

This was a wisdom which was a gift from Hashem, which Hashem granted Shlomo in a prophetic dream – to be the wisest person in the world, after Hashem granted Shlomo  one thing, whatever he wanted. Yet with all this wisdom and, as the haftorah goes on to record, using this wisdom for the good, the betterment of mankind and to bring close the relationship between Hashem and His children through the building of the Beis HaMikdash, the palace for the Shechina, The Holy Presence of Hashem – still in all towards the end of the haftorah it writes, “And the word of Hashem came to Shlomo saying” (Melachim Alef 6:11). The Ralbag goes out of his way to emphasize at this juncture that since the Navi states after this “And Hashem appeared to Shlomo a second time as he did in Givon” we learn from there that this prophecy here did not come to Shlomo himself, but rather it came to him through some other prophet while he was building the Holy Temple. The Radak says that prophet was Achiha HaShiloni. (Click Here for Hebrew text.)
Though Shlomo was very young, taking the reigns at the ripe age of 12, he was very mature. So with all his wisdom and righteousness, why couldn’t Shlomo have a consistent line of prophesy with Hashem, especially during this important time of building the Beis HaMikdash, similar to Moshe Rabbeinu?

However, one has to realize the greatness of a prophet and what it takes to reach and stay on such a high spiritual level. It is a process of perfection which isn’t so easy to meet. This process is based on perfecting the levels set down in a gemara in Avoda Zara 20b by Rav Pinchas ben Yair. There are 11 levels before prophesy and to even start, Rebbe Pinchas ben Yair says that it begins with learning Torah. Only after perfecting those levels, the last one being the ability to resurrect the dead, is one able to reach the level of prophesy, but even the Amoraim, the rabbi in the times of the gemara, where there are stories of them resurrecting the dead, were not able to reach the level of prophesy. It is known that if one perfects his character based on the teaching of the Mesilas Yesharim, The Path of the Just, by Rav Moshe Chain Luzzato then one would reach the level of Kedusha, holiness, which is 3 levels off from prophesy. Yet Rav Yechazkel Sarna zt”l, the Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron, explains that the Ramban wrote a letter to his son, the famous Iggeres HaRamban, whose main topic is humility because he had reached the perfection of the level of humility, which is 2 levels below Kedusha. This was in the 1200s. The venerable Vilna Gaon attested about himself in 1700s that he had perfected the level of Prishus, separation, which is 3 levels lower than the level of humility. Nowadays they say that even the greatest of the generation at best can perfect the first two levels, of Zehirus, watchfulness, and Zrizus, alacrity. The reason for such a downslide throughout history is because of the concept of hiskatnus hadoros, the diminishing of the generations. In Judaism, we believe that the pinnacle of mankind was created by Hashem in the beginning with Adam. He was as close as can be to Hashem; physically, spiritually, and mentally, before the sin. The farther away from the source, the weaker we become in every way. Therefore, King Shlomo as wise as he was, a special gift given to him from Hashem, he still didn’t have the consistent level of prophesy as Moshe Rabbeinu had. That is why the Ralbag points out at this juncture that someone else came to him with a message from Hashem and he didn’t receive it himself through his own prophecy.

 It’s a process to reach such great heights, and one must realize it’s not an easy process. Chaza”l teach us “that a person was born to toil” and “according to his efforts is his reward.” There are even times when there are spurts of perfection, which go above and beyond the rule of hiskatnus hadoros, achieved through great diligence and intense discipline. Like by Matan Torah, where Chaza”l say the Jewish people reached the level of Adam before he sinned when they received the Torah.

In a similar vein, the Haftorah also writes, “And it was in the four hundred and eightieth year after the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, in the fourth year, in the month Ziv, which (is) the second month of Solomon’s reign over Israel, that he did [begin to] build the house of Hashem” (Melachim Alef 6:1). This means it took 480 years for the Jewish people to be able to deserve starting to build the Beis HaMikdash! Can one fathom how long that is, almost five lifetimes of centennials!! A people who were at such great heights, living on miracles when they inherited The Land with Yehoshua; yet being ready to build Hashem’s Palace was a process that takes time.

Matters that are important don’t just happen overnight; the Jewish People received the Torah 2,448 years after the creation of the world. That is longer than our current exile! Chaza”l says that this current exile will end with the Final Redemption with the coming of Moshiach. May we merit to have a spurt of spiritual energy to reach this level of perfection speedily in our days. However, it is up to us to speed up the process, to pour all our energy into serving Hashem properly and deserving this illustrious time in world history, through learning Torah in-depth and mussar, books of character development, like Mesilas Yesharim, and at least trying to apply to the best of our abilities lessons from these sefarim, may we merit to have a spurt of perfection and end this long process towards the Final Redemption speedily in our days.

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 10, Halacha 13 footnote 3

The Torah allows someone to share a complete story in detail, even outside of court, if the listener can help you get back what you lost or protect you from future harm, even if it makes the alleged perpetrator look quite bad. This applies to helping yourself or helping others. For example, if you heard someone say, “If I meat Reuvain at the game I am going to start cursing and ranking him out.” If you know this guy is the type of guy who doesn’t just say baseless threats but takes action, you definitely can warn Reuvain if it can protect him from any embarrassment or harm. This is not considered rechilus, telling on others because your intent is just to remove any damage and to hush the fight, so to by lashon hara if the purpose is to protect yourself and other, not to denigrate the perpetrator then it is not lashon hara.

The Gemara in Kiddushin 59a is a perfect proof to this concept. There is a case of miscommunication. Rebbe Gidel was trying to buy a land and Rebbe Abba bought it right under his nose. Rebbe Gidel went to Rebbe Zeira to complain and told him what happened. Rebbe Zeira says he’ll go to Rav Yitzchak Nafcha and tell him. Rav Yitzchak Nafcha waited until the holidays and went over to Rebbe Abba and asked him, “What is the status of a person who grabbed a date cake off the floor while a poor person was running after to get it?” Rebbe Abba said, “That guy is a bad guy.” Rav Yitzchak Nafcha said, “Then why did you essentially do the same thing to Rebbe Gidel?” Rebbe Abba said he didn’t know Rebbe Gidel was trying to buy it.

This case is obviously not a case where Rebbe Gidel went to court ad complained to Rebbe Zeira, acting as a judge, because the halacha is both litigants have to be at the court case to present the case in trial and Rebbr Abba wasn’t there. So why isn’t it lashon hara what Rebbe Gidel told Rebbe Zeira, especially as we see that he got the story all wrong, and how then can Rebbe Zeira go over to Rav Yitzchak Nafcha, who parenthetically was Rebbe Abba’s rebbe, and tell him secondhand knowledge of what happened? It must be that it is not lashon hara to seek out help from someone. Why didn’t Rebbe Zeira just go over to Rebbe Abba himself, Rebbe eira was a great rabbi and surely Rebbe Abba would have listened to him? It must be that Rebbe Zeira knew he was to far away from Rebbe Abba and would see him, so he told Rebbe Abba’s teacher and he dealt with the matter. So even secondhand information can be told for the sake of helping others.

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Mishpatim – “I Was Born That Way” is No Excuse

The events of the revelation at Sinai before and after are split up into 3 sections in the Book of Shemos. The first is in last week’s Torah portion of Yisro, a detailed account leading up to and including the actual giving of the Torah, andthe Ten Commandments. The second is at the end of this week’s portion of Mishpatim, which according to Rashi is an overview of what took place right before the Torah was given, including the famous proclamation by the Jewish people of na’aseh vinishma, “we will do and then we will listen.” The third section is in Ki Sisa, discussing what took place after the Jews received the Torah, specifically concerning the sin of the golden calf.

There is a famous Chaza”l about how Hashem went around to all the nations, giving them a chance to accept the Torah before he came to the Jews and they wholeheartedly said na’aseh vinishma, without even asking what was inside the Torah. There is a very important lesson that could be learnt from the version of the story presented in the Pesiksa Rabasi of Rav Kahana (21:3).
The medrish writes that in the beginning Hashem went to the descendants of Esav. He asked them, will you accept the Torah? They said before Him, “Master of the Universe, what is written inside it?” He said, “Don’t kill” (Shemos 20:13). They said, “The whole essence of our being is that our forefathers guaranteed we will live by the sword, as it says, ‘By your sword you shall live’ (Breishis 27:40), we can’t accept the Torah.” Afterwards Hashem went to the descendants of Ammon and asked them if they will accept the Torah. They said before Him, “Master of the Universe, what is written inside it?” He said to them, “Don’t have incest.” They said to Him, “The whole essence of our being came from incest, as it says ‘Thus, Lot’s two daughters conceived from their father’ (Breishis 19:16), we can’t accept the Torah.” Afterwards Hashem went to the descendants of Yishmael and asked them if they would accept the Torah. They said before Him, “Master of the Universe, what is written inside it?” He said to them, “Don’t steal.” They said to Him, “The whole essence of our being lives off of stealing and burglarizing, as it writes, ‘And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be upon all, and everyone’s hand upon him’ (Breishis 16:12), we can’t accept the Torah.” Afterwards Hashem came to the Jews, and they said na’aseh vinishma, “we will do and then we will listen” (Shemos 24:7). For this reason the Torah writes, “He appeared from Mount Paran and came with some of the holy myriads; from His right hand was a fiery Law for them. Indeed, You showed love for peoples” (Devarim 33:2, 3). (Click here for Hebrew text.)

The Bi’ur on this medrish, explaining why the medrish brings the pasuk of “from His right hand was a fiery Law for them. מִֽימִינ֕וֹ אֵ֥שׁ דָּ֖ת (כתיב אשדת) לָֽמוֹ,” says in Hebrew, “ “ואפשר דדריש מימינו כמו מאמינו  . This means that it is possible to understand the Hebrew term that refers to “from His right hand” to be read as the Hebrew term for believers. The intention being that because of the faith and trust that the Jews entrusted in Hashem, and said, “we will do and then we will listen,” as it says in Gemara Shabbos 88a “About us, who proceed wholeheartedly and with integrity, it is written: “The integrity of the upright will guide them” (Proverbs 11:3), whereas about those people who walk in deceit, it is written at the end of the same verse: ‘And the perverseness of the faithless will destroy them,’” therefore the medrish concludes that they merited to have ‘a fiery law for them.’ (Click here for Hebrew text.)
The other nations seemed to have very valid excuses for why they couldn’t accept the Torah. What could they do, what could you expect from them if it is within their genetic makeup, the way they were born was with a drive to kill, act immodestly, or steal? They even proved it was part of their destiny because of the traditions they had from their progenitors which were even quoted in the Torah. For example the blessing Hagar received for Yishmael her son by an angel, and the blessing that Yitzchak gave to Esav. If that is the case, then why did Hashem pick the hardest mitzvah for them when they asked what was in the Torah? Why doom them from the start?

However, it would seem from Hashem’s response to the Children of Israel that what Hashem was really looking for was a people who truly believed and trusted in Him. So, when the other nations asked what was in the Torah, Hashem gave them the hardest mitzvah for them to observe to test their faith in Hashem and His Torah and obviously they were not willing to be faithful. If they would have been trusting and faithful, they would have realized and believed in the fact that they had the ability to overcome their inborn challenges and that Hashem would not have given them or even created mitzvos they would not be able to adhere to. But the Jewish people showed the ultimate enthusiasm and wholehearted true faith by not even asking what was inside the Torah but by blindly accepting “we will do and then we will listen.” For showing Hashem they were willing and ready to accept whatever Hashem commanded and expected of them they merited to have ‘a fiery law for them,’ they received the Torah, Hashem’s blueprints of creation and the handbook for mankind.

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CITE Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 10 halachos 12, 13

Halacha 12: If it’s not so easy to talk about someone who proactively did something against you, then all the more so to tell people how other didn’t do you a favor, like not lending money, or giving tzedaka, or not inviting you into their house as a guest, or even just not being friendly and going over to you with a smile saying hello. In all these cases and the like you cannot repeat them to other people especially if you are condemning an entire community who might be good kosher Jews who believe in Hashem. For example, to say people in New York are cold and not friendly, they are always in a rush and never say hello to strangers even if I am a guest in shul, that would be lashon hara even if it is true. (This example of New York is not to hint at anything specific. I just chose a location with a high concentration of Torah observant Jews all living in the same area.) However, the one exception would be that if you tell people of authority who will be listened to and they are able to speak out in the town and reprimand or inspire them to be nicer then you can tell them because it’s for a positive purpose, assuming your attitude is to try to help and create a positive outcome and you meet all 7 prerequisites. For example, if a person drove through a town with a Young Israel shul and no one went over to him to say hello. If he tells people in the next town what happened would be lashon hara but if he would go to the Young Israel headquarters and tell them and they have the clout to go over to this shul and speak to them to reprimand or inspire them to change their ways, that would be productive and permissible. (The Young Israel example is only given because it’s an easy example to make of an umbrella organization with many Shuls under its name, I was not trying to send any message across.)

Halacha 13: Now, one is absolutely and totally permitted in monetary cases to tell the authorities or people of influence like relatives of the perpetrator or anyone that can help him get his money whether stolen, damaged, or a bad business deal. He can even tell them of a threat so that they can help him avoid losing money or being hurt, as well as if they can help avoid future problems. A person has every right to protect himself and his money and get it back or compensated if owed to him or her. It is not lashon hara to tell the truth to people who can help you. Even in a nonmonetary situation for example to avoid being embarrassed or cursed at you can tell people, even his own family what happened and why you suspect this guy will go after you and scream at you, if you have a convincing story and they can help you avoid being yelled at and embarrassed then you are allowed to tell them the story so that they can convince the person not to confront you or wrongly speak out against you. This is whether to avoid an anticipated argument or to stop an ensuing argument or any embarrassment you think could be caused to yourself in the future. You can go over to them privately and not in a group of at least 3 because Rabbeinu Yona in Shaarei Teshuva (228) only says you need 3 for the sake of the truth to teach others lessons not to do bad things, if otherwise speaking out in public could be misconstrued as flattery or not convincing of being truthful, but in this case your story of a plea for help, even asked in private should be pretty convincing.

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Yisro – Individual Attention

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This week’s dvar Torah is built upon a shmuz Rav Moshe Chait zt”l, the venerable Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim Yerushalayim, gave over 20 years ago.

Parshas Yisro is one of the most important Torah portions because it discusses kabbalas haTorah, the acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people. The reason why it is so important is because it is one of the foundations of the Jewish people and one of the bases for the future of the Jews.

Chaza”l refer to this event as ma’amad Har Sinai, literally, standing at Mount Sinai. Just standing there was inspirational as we say in Dayeinu in the Haggada on Pesach, “If He had brought us to Mount Sinai and had not given us the Torah it would have been for us sufficient (dayeinu).” Just the fire and the voices heard and seen at Mount Sinai could inspire a person to come close to Hashem.

Everyone was at ma’amad Har Sinai! Everyone heard even future generations!

Why did Hashem begin the Ten Commandments in singular form, I am Hashem your (singular) G-D? In fact the Pesiksa DiRabasi of Rav Kahana (21:14) says there might be a possible defense or excuse for why part of the Jewish people succumbed to the sin of the golden calf, for Hashem said in singular form “I am Hashem your G-D” and perhaps He was only speaking to Moshe, therefore from then after Hashem said “I am Hashem your (plural) G-D,” (as He said in the last pasuk of the paragraph about tzitzis that we say in our shema every day); to be sure everyone felt they were warned. Since Hashem was speaking to the entire Jewish people at Har Sinai, why then was the Torah given in singular form?

To teach us that every single Jew must say Hashem gave the Ten Commandments to me, and I must preserve them. One should not say the Torah was given for everyone else. Hashem had to speak to the Jewish people who were at a level of prophesy to convey the message that Hashem expects me to observe the Torah, and if it is not observed by me then there is no Torah.
One could say, I believe there is a Jewish Nation and a Torah but who needs it. Man’s inclination says he wants someone else to observe the Torah; he doesn’t want responsibility. That attitude will cause destruction to himself and the Torah. It will cause a negative effect to all of creation.

The Pesiksa Rabasi of Rav Kahana (21:6) describes kabbalas haTorah with a parable to a realistic painting of a face; the eyes seem to be looking at you whichever corner of the room you are at. The eyes are looking at every single individual in that room at one time. So too, kaviyachol, Hashem had to speak to every single person at Har Sinai personally “looking at them straight in the eye” to impress upon them the need to observe the Torah. The point is that you must obligate yourself; don’t think it is not for me. The acceptance of the Torah at Mount Sinai is virtually meaningless if not thought of in these terms. A person could understand, review, and even do mussar bihispa’alus, getting an emotional charge or inspiration, connecting the brain with the heart on this subject, but still not think it is for me.

Gadlus Ha’adam, the greatness of man is inherent in every person. Hashem placed His Righteousness in man but gave man free choice to make calculations of how to feel and act. If a person does not make the right calculations, then only he will cause his own demise.

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 10 halacha 11 conclusion of footnote 31

Without going into too many details of each of the gemara’s the Chofetz Chofetz Chaim brought in his Be’er Mayim Chaim, there are a number of lessons that can be derived from these cases where at first glance it seems Rabbanim complained to others that they were personally insulted

  1.  It is very important for the listener to ask “how did this all start” to get a picture of what’s going on and it’s possible that the entire story could change. This is even if the gadol hador, the leader of the generation who is for sure honest is the one complaining, aw we saw with the stories of Rav Anan, in Keubos, who was a rabbi from the time of the gemara who Eliyahu Hanavi even spoke to.
  2. Various reasons why these cases from various gemaras were not considered lashon hara ranged from the fact that in one case (Kesubos 69a) Rav Anan was just asking advice, from Mar Ukva what could he have done wrong to be insulted in that way by Rav Huna.

Another time (Kesubos 79a) Rav Anan intent was for the sake of the truth to go to Mar Ukva the head of the court to stop Rav Nachman from mistakenly ripping up documents that Rav Anan thought were in fact valid and the point was for Mar Ukva to investigate deeper into the matter. If it’s possible to potentially make peace and judge favorably then it’s a mitzvah to listen to complaints in order to potentially resolve an issue.

Another reason to complain is if you know he won’t listen to your rebuke but he will listen to someone else’s rebuke as we saw (Kiddushin33a) Rebbe Shimon bar Rebbe complain to his father Rebbe how Rebbe Chiya didn’t treat him with proper respect as kavod haTorah would dictate and he knew Rebbe Chiya wouldn’t listen to him, so he asked his father, Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi, the leader of the generation to rebuke Rebbe Chiya.

It’s also possible in certain circumstances to believe honest rabbis since they are like witnesses and then rebuke the perpetrator as we saw in Bechoros 30a.

 3. Bottom line we have no proof that you are allowed to tell others of someone who accosted you personally in whatever way if it won’t amount to anything productive, but we have proofs that it is forbidden. The clearest example in conclusion was from Gitten 7a where Mar Ukva, the head if the court approached Rebbe Eliezer for advice of what to do about certain people who were threatening him and he had the power to turn them over to the non-Jewish authorities but he didn’t tell Rebbe Eliezer their names because he didn’t need to know them because Mar Ukva knew he could take care of the problem himself once he got the advice what to do. So, in this circumstance where re his life might have been in danger, he still didn’t spill any names then one must be very careful to not say anything wrong in these types of circumstances.

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Beshalach – It’s Not About What You Say but How You Say It

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This week’s dvar Torah is SPONSORED BY RABBI DOVID VINITSKY AND CHILDREN IN LOVING MEMORY OF HIS UNCLE JOSEPH KATZ  Yosef ben Moshe Hakohen O”H. He was an intellectual who enjoyed learning mussar and was a reader of this weekly thought. May this dvar Torah bring merit to his soul, AND ALSO BRING COMFORT TO HIS WIFE OF 72 YEARS  AUNT ESTEL KATZ AND HIS CHILDREN.


In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion of Beshalach, Pharaoh sent the Jewish people out of Egypt.

It came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go… יזוַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁלַּ֣ח פַּרְעֹה֘

The medrish Pesiksa Rabasi of Rav Kahana learns a very interesting halacha from this pasuk. “Our Rabbis taught that one who uses (literally send his hand שולח יד) an item deposited to him to watch by his friend, how could it be collected by the owner? This is what our Rabbis have taught us (in Bava Metzia daf 43): If one has used a deposit, Beis Shammai says he has to pay what is missing or extra. (For example, if a sheep was deposited to him full of wool and he sheared the wool, after he used the sheep he has to pay for the sheep and wool and if it grew more wool he has to pay the value of what was grown also.) Beis Hillel says he has to pay the value of what it was worth when stolen (whether it was full of wool or empty.) Rebbe Akiva says, he has to pay the value of its worth at the time of the claim against him, (meaning the value of the deposit when he was summoned to court.) And our Rabbis have taught us, that definitely anyone who has used the deposit of his friend is deserving of breaking his arm. Where do we learn this from? From Pharaoh, who the Jews were given to him as a deposit, and he wanted to use them, and Hashem ‘broke his arm’ as it says ‘Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt’ (Yechezkel 30:21). How do we know that the Jews were a deposit in his hand? For it had said ‘פָּקֹ֤ד פָּקַ֨דְתִּי֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם ‘ (Shemos 3:16), (which literally means I have made you into a deposit) [and Hashem promised] and I will take them out (Brieshis 50:25). And because the Jews gave up on being redeemed, Hashem said, go tell them that just as the owner of a deposit when he wants to, he takes his item, so to you, when your time has come, I will immediately take you out of his hands. The Jews said to Hashem, ‘Master Of The Universe, see how he [Pharoah] denies your existence, and prevents us from leaving,’ as it says ‘I do not know Hashem, neither will I let Israel out’ (Shemos 5:2). Hashem said to them, I swear by your life that you will see the mouth who said who is Hashem will say Hashem The Righteous. The mouth that said ‘I don’t know Hashem’ will say pray to Hashem, and the mouth that said ‘neither will I let Israel out’ will in the end take everyone by their hand and send them away. How do we know this? As it says, ‘It came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go…’” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
It is interesting to note that Hashem refers to the Jewish people as a “deposited item.” One might think that is very belittling to refer to one’s precious children, a nation of human beings with such potential, as a thing or an object. As they say nowadays, this does not sound politically correct! Why did Hashem refer to the Jewish people in this manner? Yet on the contrary, Hashem was sending a very positive and reassuring message to the Jewish people, to inspire them to not give up hope. Just as they were brought to Egypt, as orchestrated by Hashem, they can very easily be taken out of Egypt, even if they were enslaved and mistreated, just like a person who deposited a precious item into the hands of someone to watch and is now picking it up. These are supposed to be words of encouragement, not insult; it is not what is said but how it is said.

In a similar vein, at the beginning of this medrish a person who uses an item deposited by him to just watch is equated to Pharoah, deserving of his arm being broken just as Pharaoh and his country were crushed by the ten plagues for misusing and abusing the Jews. The Rada”l comments that this person deserving of his arm being broken for using the object is like a thief with a high arm and the pasuk in Iyov suggests, “and the high arm shall be broken” (Iyov 38:15). The Rada”l concludes that one should look further into the matter in Sanhedrin 58b.

There, it discusses a person who raise his hand to strike his fellow. Reish Lakish says: One who raises his hand to strike another, even if he ultimately does not strike him, is called wicked…Rav Huna says: His hand should be cut off, as it is stated: “And the high arm shall be broken” (Job 38:15). If one habitually lifts his arm to strike others, it is better that it be broken. (as per Rashi there.) The Gemara relates that Rav Huna cut off the hand of a person who would habitually hit others. Rashi on the gemara there says that the Jewish court has a right to fine a person by beating or punishing him even if there isn’t precedence of the sort in the Torah in order to create a fence and deterrent in the matter. (Clcik here for Hebrew text.)
This person who used someone’s item that does not belong to him, granted he went against the owner’s trust and did something equivalent to stealing – but is he really as bad as Pharaoh, who brutally enslaved the Jews, tortured and killed many of them? Why are they equated?

Granted Pharaoh deserved and received a much, much more severe punishment for what he did; but it would seem from the reference the Rada”l makes to Sanhedrin that the reason why this guardian of the deposit is equated to Pharaoh, who was the guardian of Hashem’s deposit, is not because of what he did, but how he did it.

It would seem that this person had a habit to use other people’s things, which he was entrusted to watch, and that is why he was deserving to have his hand broken just as the person who is in the habit of even just threatening to strike others. Forming such a nasty habit, albeit that it is not punishable the same way as what Pharaoh, did but it is equated in severity to the acts that he did. This is because when a person forms a negative habit, he has convinced himself that he is doing nothing wrong, just as Pharaoh who resolved to believe he himself was a god and denied the Almighty King Of All Kings, had no intention of letting  the Jews go and needed to be severely punished in order to learn his lesson.

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim Chapter 10, Halacha 11, Footnote continued

The theme of this part of the footnote is that there is no excuse to speak lashon hara even if you are trying to save your name by blaming someone else even if it is true unless there is no other way to prove your innocence. But if you can prove you are not guilty without saying any names of who is wrong then it would be lashon hara to be name dropping.

There are a bunch of cases in the gemara that seems to be going against the halacha that you can’t speak out if you were personally involved. The first case brought was from gemara Brachos 5b Rav Huna complained to Rav Yehudah that his sharecropper snatched most of his wine. Rav Yehudah asked, why are you telling me this? It seems that Rav Huna wasn’t worried that anything more would be stolen, and he had no intention of the rabbis rebuking the sharecropper. The only thing was he wanted to clear his name because Rav Huna withheld part of what he was supposed to give to the sharecropper since the sharecropper stole his stuff. How was he able to do that?

We see from the gemara in Bava Basra 164b that Rebbe reprimanded his son Rebbe Shimon bar Rebbe when he brought him a get mikushar, special kind of divorce bill that was folded and sown together without a time by the date. Rebbe asked where is the time, his son responded maybe it’s inside the bill we should open it up. Rebbe opened it up and it wasn’t there. He looked at his son angrily and his son said I didn’t write it; Reb Yehuda Chaita wrote it. Rebbe responded, why are you speaking lashon hara? If that’s the case, why is Rav Huna any different, in both cases blaim is just being moved to someone else and the speaker is just proving, truthfully, his innocence.

However, there are two reason why Rav Huna was permitted to say what he said. First off Rashi alludes to the fact that this sharecropper was a known thief so it’s not lashon hara to blame him for what he did and second, Rebbe Shimon bar Rebbe did not have to tell his father who wrote, he could have just said I did not write it, but Rav Huna had no choice but to reveal what happened which obviously showed who was in the wrong.

In another episode in Gemara Erechin 16b, Chiya bar Rav complained to Shmuel in yeshiva that Rav Huna was bothering him. Rav Huna said he would stop. After Chiya bar Rav Rav Huna told Shmuel that he was doing something wrong to me. Shmuel asked why didn’t you let me know that beforehand? Rav Huna said I didn’t want the son of Rav to be embarrassed on my part. Rav Huna’a intent was to push off blame from himself without embarrassing Chiya bar Rav for the sake of the truth, but he had no choice for it to be known that Rav Chiya bar Rav had done something wrong.

However, to be allowed to prove your innocence at the expense of the revealing the guilty party when permissible one has to be very careful to meet the prerequisites that will be discussed in halacha 14, for if not, it is guaranteed he will stumble into speaking lashon hara. If you aren’t trying to take the blame off yourself but you aren’t trying to degrade anyone else, it is still lashon hara because someone is degraded whether it was your intention or not, even if it is true, as we saw in chapter 3 halacha 3.

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Bo – Like the Commitment of a Servant to His Master

This week’s Torah portion of Bo takes us through the final 3 plagues and what led up to the exodus from Egypt. This includes the first Pesach and the laws that relate to Pesach and the seder.

The medrish Pesiksa Rabasi of Rav Kahana expounds on one of his interpretations of a pasuk found in Tehillim (119:62), “At midnight I arise to thank You for Your righteous ordinances.” “In another interpretation “Your righteous ordinances” refers to the ordinances (judgements) that You brought on the Egyptians in Egypt and the righteousness You did with our forefathers in Egypt. For they only had two mitzvos, the blood of the Pesach and the blood of bris milah, therefore it says in Yechezkel (16:7) – ‘And I passed over you and saw you wallowing in your blood and I said to you, through your blood you shall gain life, through your blood you shall gain life.’ This refers to the blood of the Pesach offering and the blood of bris milah.”

The Maharz”u on this medrish, quoting a Medrish Rabba in Rus, explains that they didn’t have any mitzvos in hand to be involved with so that they could be redeemed. Therefore, in order to be redeemed, Hashem gave them 2 mitzvos, which were the blood of the Pascal lamb and the blood of circumcision… (click here for Hebrew text.)

This pasuk in Yechezkel is mentioned every year in the Haggadah, “’And numerous,’ as it is said: ‘I caused you to thrive like the plants of the field, and you increased and grew… I passed over you and saw you wallowing in your bloods, and I said to you `By your blood you shall live,’ and I said to you `By your blood you shall live!’ (Yechezkel 16:6,7). The Ritva commenting on the Haggadah references a Mechilta which says in the name of Rebbe Masia ben Cheresh that Hashem was saying “And I passed over you and saw you” and behold the beloved time had come when Hashem had sworn to Avraham Avinu that He would redeem his children, but they did not have any mitzvos to be involved in so that they can be redeemed… so Hashem gave them two, the mitzvah of Pesach and the mitzvah of milah so that they can be involved in them in order to be redeemed… So to the Rambam wrote that circumcision took place in Egypt, as it says “Any uncircumcised cannot eat from it.” Moshe Rabbeinu circumcised every one of them except for the tribe of Levi for they kept bris milah as it says “And your bris they observed.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)

It would seem from the Maharz”u on the Pesiksa Rabasi and the Ritva on the Haggadah that a prerequisite to being redeemed was that the Jews had to be actively involved in performing mitzvos, which is why  Hashem gave them circumcision and the Pascal Lamb as commandments to fulfill. However, the Ritva himself mentioned that they were already performing mitzvos, earlier in the Haggada, on the line, “’And he became there a nation’ this teaches that Israel was distinctive there.” The Ritva says this was them dressing in a distinct way, differently than the Egyptians, by wearing tzitzis. In fact, the Yalkut Shimone (172) mentions other mitzvos they were careful to fulfill, such as distancing from promiscuity, not speaking lashon hara, and not changing their Hebrew names. Indeed, the gemara in Yoma 28b says that during their entire stay in Egypt there was always a yeshiva open, learning the teachings their forefathers had taught going back generation to generation from Avraham Avinu.  Furthermore, the Pirkei diRebbe Eliezer, end of chapter 48, said that for 3 things the Jewish people deserved to be redeemed from Egypt: for not changing their language from Biblical Hebrew, not speaking lashon hara, and for believing in the uniqueness of Hashem (Yichud Hashem). If this is the case, then what does it mean that Hashem had to give them 2 mitzvos in order to redeem them? Is there a contradiction here in the Ritva and are the midrashim arguing with each other?

Of course, there is no contradiction in the Ritva and it would seem that the midrashim don’t have to be arguing. It is one thing to be performing mitzvos because it is a nice thing to do, or even the proper thing to do, things that might even have been a tradition from one’s ancestors. This steady performance might be even the ultimate cause of redemption. However, they were not commanded to perform those mitzvos. Bris milah and the Korban Pesach were the first mitzvos that Hashem had commanded the Jewish people to perform. It would seem that only because they observed what they were commanded to do were they able to go through with the redemption. It would not have been possible to redeem them without their observance of what was commanded of them. In fact, it would seem from the Pesiksa Rabasi that ideally, they should have first received the Torah so that they could observe all of the mitzvos, but out of Hashem’s righteousness He took them out after observing only two commandments.

Observing something that you feel obligated to do is a whole different level than performing a mitzvah because you just feel like it, or because you are in the mood, or it makes sense to you, or you just like it. The reason being is because it shows commitment and true respect to Hashem that you are observing it because He commanded you to do it, whereas a person who fulfills mitzvos just because, and when he feels like it, shows that he is committed to himself and his desires, not to Hashem. Therefore it makes sense, as a cause and effect, that the only way the Jews could have been redeemed by Hashem out of Egypt and taken under His wing, is if they showed they were willing to commit themselves to Him and follow whatever He commanded them to do.

This seems to be a rule by redemption in general, not specific to the redemption from Egypt. In order for us to be able to be redeemed from our current exile we have to have a strong commitment towards not only believing in Hashem but towards observing his mitzvos, His commandments, that will be the means of actually being redeemed once we deserve it. This should bring a whole new meaning for ourselves when we recite the first paragraph of Shema and accept the Yoke of Heaven and then the second paragraph of Shema when we accept the Yoke of Mitzvos observance.

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 10 halacha 11


The victim of a crime, like if someone stole from him, cheated him, or even just cursed him out, embarrassed him etc. cannot tell others of what happened to him even If he tries meeting the 7 prerequisites discussed at the beginning of the chapter because there is no way he can tell anyone what happened purely for the sake of the truth to teach people the severity of the crime or to apply pressure to convince the perpetrator repent, he can’t honestly do this because he has personal interests. If people accept what he says he’ll feel justified to tell others and blaspheme the perpetrator and feel good about it since he did a crime against him. There is an exception to this rule that will be discussed in halacha 13.

The Chofetz Chaim feels a need to go into much detail to explain why personal interests are a reason not to speak out since many people make the excuse that they have the right to speak up against criminals who have wronged them personally. Quoting Rabbeinu Yonah he points out that a single witness is only allowed to testify in court if it will be productive, for example it will force the litigant to swear so that the truth will hopefully come out. But one who testifies about what happened to himself in court cannot force and oath because he is invalidated to be a witness for himself, if he testifies in court it is lashon hara and there is a separate sin for the judges to accept what he said, called “lo sisa shema shav” this prohibition will apply if he spoke to the judge before the court case about what happened, even what he says is true, and certainly if he just tells anyone else what happened to him it is lashon hara and anyone who accepts it even if it is true is accepting lashon hara which is forbidden. The only exception would be if a messenger of the court was sent to bring someone to court and he was cursed out and got a refusal to come to court, for example when Nadav and Avihu refused to show up before Moshe then the messenger of the court is allowed to tell them he was cursed out, as mentioned in Moed Katan 16a. The Ram”a in Shulchan Aruch in Choshen Mishpat 228:1 poskins that if someone insults you, you can insult him back halachically (though it is good character to stay silent) but that is only in private, that does not mean you can go reveal to others that someone insulted you.