Author: Rabbi Milder

In this week’s Torah portion of Yisro, the Jewish people received the Torah from Hashem at Har Sinai. There is a famous Chaza”l in the beginning of tractate Avoda Zara which describes how Hashem first went around to all the nations of the world and offered the Torah to them but they refused to accept it after they asked what was inside; however, when Hashem offered it to the Jewish people they said the famous words “na’aseh vi’nishmah,” we will do and then we will listen. They accepted the yoke of the Torah without even asking what was inside. There are commentaries who say this blind acceptance was for the Written Torah only, and there is a famous Chaza”l that says that the Jews accepted the Oral Torah only after Hashem threatened them with annihilation by putting Har Sinai over their heads and threatening to crush them all if they didn’t accept the Oral Torah. The Jewish people later re-accepted the Oral Torah out of pure love in the days of Mordechai and Esther after Haman, his family, and followers were wiped out.

The Gemara in Beitza 25b asks in the name of Rebbe Meir: “Why was the Torah given to Jews?” and answers: “Because they are brazen.” The Maharsha asks a blaring question. Didn’t the gemara in the first chapter of Avoda Zara say that in fact Hashem offered the Torah to all the nations of the world and that they simply didn’t accept it? Yet here it implies that the Torah was destined for the Jewish people anyways? The Maharsha answers that while Hashem gave every nation a chance to accept the Torah of their own free will, He did not threaten each nation with annihilation if they didn’t accept it. Hashem only made that threat to the Jews, and in fact the gemara in Avoda Zara says that the non-Jews will have a claim against Hashem in the future for not giving them an equal opportunity to accept the Torah, in the same fashion as the Jews. (Click here and here for Hebrew text.)

 So why did Hashem do this for the Jews? It is because they are brazen, and the Torah would be a perfect complement to their nature. What does brazen mean? The Maharsha in Beitza says it does not mean they are strong but rather that they are argumentative and stubborn, willing to stand behind their word and not give up their position easily. The Maharsha explains that the main reason it makes sense that the Torah was given to the Jews is based on a mishna in Pirkay Avos: “That one who is bashful won’t be successful in learning” (Avos 2:5). He also gives another reason why the Torah is a perfect fit for the Jews by quoting a gemara in Nedarim 20a, saying that fear of Hashem will be on their face, which refers to the character trait of having a sense of shame.

The Gemara in Nedarim in fact quotes our Torah portion: “In order so that His fear will be on your face” (Shemos 20:17) and says this refers to shame, quoting the end of that pasuk: “so that you will not sin.” The Gemara says that we learn from here that shame brings one to fear of sin. From here they say that it is a positive sign for a person to be bashful, or have a sense of shame. Others say that whoever becomes shameful will not come to sin so quickly and anyone who does not noticeably have a shameful demeanor, is evident that his ancestors did not stand at Har Sinai. (Click here and here for Hebrew text.)

The Maharsha summarizing says that the opposite of a shameful demeanor is a brazen demeanor and the trait of shame is one of the signs of a Jew, as stated in Yevamos 79a. When it comes to one’s character they are saying it is a positive sign for one to be bashful or shameful, but for one’s learning Pirkay Avos says that the bashful one cannot learn. The Maharsha now resolves a blatant contradiction that evolved from the gemara in Beitza to the gemara in Nedarim, namely that the reason why the Torah was given to the Jews was because they are brazen makes sense because (1) one who is bashful cannot successfully learn Torah, and (2) the Torah will weaken his brazenness, ‘for the fear of Torah is on their face,’ which is referring to shame.

Shame seems to be a very positive character trait. Not only that, but King David said there are 3 signs of a Jew: (1) merciful, (2) bashful and (3) doers of kindness (Yevamos 79a).  The Maharsha in Yevamos, explaining the sign of bashfulness or shame, cross-references the gemara in Nedarim that fear on one’s face is referring to shame, and the opposite is a brazen face. However the Maharsha says that this sign of shame in a Jew is not their temperament or nature, as we know based on the gemara in Beitza that the only reason why Hashem gave us the Torah is because we are brazen. Rather, the reason why we are called bashful is because the Torah weakens our strength of brazenness and humbles our hearts, as Rashi points out there. This is what the pasuk “in order so that His fear will be on your faces” means, that by the giving of the Torah Hashem was telling us that He is giving us the Torah so that His fear will be on our faces in order that we will not come to sin. The fact that shame came to us through the giving of the Torah is most apparent from the gemara in Nedarim when it says that whoever does not have shame on his face it is apparent that their ancestors did not stand at Har Sinai. (Click here and here for Hebrew text.)
On the one hand it would seem that built into the genetic makeup of a Jew is the trait of being brazen, argumentative, and challenging without ever giving up. In a sense it is our way of survival. Not only that but it is the only way to successfully learn Torah. On the other hand, by learning Torah we weaken our sense of brazenness and cause ourselves to develop a sense of shame which instills a fear of Hashem so that we won’t come to sin too quickly. This sense of shame or bashfulness can be seen on our faces, to the point that it is a sign of a Jew. However, what if a Jew does not learn Torah; maybe he or she is not Torah observant. Does that mean they are not Jewish? G-D forbid! Jewish law says as long as your mother is Jewish and her mother is Jewish, etc. etc. all the way back to Har Sinai then you are Jewish, whether or not you learn or observe Torah. So how can the gemara in Nedarim say that if one does not have a shameful face (which evolves through Torah learning) then it is evident that his ancestors did not stand on Har Sinai, meaning he or she must not be Jewish? That is false!

We must say that the trait of shame is also an inherent trait of a Jew which is apparent upon the face of any Jew whether they learn Torah or not, because their ancestors stood at Har Sinai. Not that the gene of brazenness was mutated at Har Sinai into the gene of shame but rather the main genetic makeup of a Jew as said before is brazenness and that inherent trait is very useful for a Jew for without it they cannot learn optimally.  However, from the time our ancestors received the Torah on Har Sinai they developed a sort of recessive gene of shame, which doesn’t skip a generation but is in each and every one of us to the point that it can be recognizable on any Jewish face to some extent. However, if one uses his brazenness towards Torah learning then he can develop that sense of shame to increase fear of sin so that one is less prone to do the wrong thing and more careful to do Hashem’s will, the right thing.

What results according to this is something quite fascinating, in that it is possible for a person to have two totally opposite character traits inside him and herself, even from the time of birth. One can naturally be stronger than the other but we are expected to use and develop both of them even at the same time as we see here that the more brazen one is the better learner he or she can become but at the very same time one taps into his or her sense of shame and is supposed to develop it which automatically means he or she weakens his or her brazenness which is good because that is a sign of being G-D fearing which will slow one down from sinning, but on the same token one still has to persistently use that brazenness to learn more Torah and to be sure he understands everything more clearly in order to be even more careful from sinning, and the cycle just continues on and on.

But this is the complexity of a Human being and the greatness of mankind!

In this week’s Torah portion of Beshalach, after the splitting of the sea and drowning of the Egyptian army, the Jewish people begin their  trek to Har Sinai, being led by the Clouds of Glory by day and a pillar of fire by night. Along the way they pick up the Well of Miriam, a rock that supplies water throughout the travels in the desert, as well as manna, food that falls from heaven. In summation the Torah tells us about the manna: , “…gather of it each one according to his eating capacity, an omer for each person… and whoever gathered much did not have more, and whoever gathered little did not have less… Let no one leave over [any] of it until morning” (Shemos 16:16-19).

The Ralbag learns from here that it is not fitting for a person to afflict his soul by limiting himself from food essentials. It is also not proper to eat more then he needs to sustain his body. This is why Hashem commanded the Jews to collect a measurement of an omer of manna for each person. What Hashem did was a miracle, for when each person weighed how much they personally received they found they got the exact amount that was fitting for them. The Divine intention was that they would have an exact amount of sustenance, no less and no more, in order to accustom themselves with the attribute of simplicity, as well as to distance themselves from acting like other nations who agonized themselves pretending to serve Hashem in that manner. For this reason also Hashem commanded that no food should be left over till the next day” (Toeles HaRalbag #4 in perek 16). (Click here for Hebrew text.)

Besides the obvious lesson that everyone should take care of their bodies and strive to eat a well-balanced diet, I believe there is a much broader lesson that we can glean from this Ralbag. Hashem the Perfect One, Almighty, All Knowing, was able to give each individual in the desert the exact nutrients they need each day. But the Ralbag says that we can learn a lesson that we can apply to ourselves from the obviously open miracle Hashem performed for approximately 3 million people daily. That is, it is generally improper to go to the extremes in life. One must strive to the best of his ability to strike a balance, whether it is with his diet or anything else in life. A healthy, well-balanced diet where one eats exactly what he need, not starving himself, but not indulging too much, will energize a person and give him or her the ability  to serve Hashem  to the maximum. This is true about anything else in life as well.  Everything one does should be for the sake of serving Hashem, so everything should be balanced by that attitude:’how do I serve Hashem to the fullest,’ without going overboard or undershooting.

This lesson of finding a balance or middle ground might be one of the hardest purposes Hashem has put humankind on earth to perfect. But it is also one of the most important, because this is what Hashem is looking for; not to go to one extreme or the other. As the basic theme of Mesillas Yesharim says: we should strive for perfection and perfection is that perfect balance. It is a challenge, it is not easy, but as it says in Iyov: “Man is born to work hard” (Iyov 5:7). Hashem wants to challenge us, and we become better people when we must analyze our every decision to be sure it is correct, and not leaning more to the left or to the right.

However, there are extreme circumstances that call for extreme measures. For example there is a gemara in Gitten 56a which says Rebbe Tzadok fasted for 40 years in order to push off the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash. To the opposite extreme there is a mitzvah to indulge in delicacies on Shabbos and Yom Tov in order to enhance the enjoyment of the day, but Hashem does help us handle this extreme measure at least on Shabbos, where He wants us to eat 3 meals, by giving us a neshama yeseira, an extra soul, which Rashi in Beitzah 16a and Taanis 27b says is in order to broaden our heart and mind so that we will be able to enjoy the Shabbos with delicious foods and drinks, and not be disgusted of eating. However in general it would seem to be an important tenet to strive for a well-balanced and healthy middle ground as a means to serve Hashem to our optimum!

We find in this week’s Torah portion of Bo that Hashem commands the Jewish people to put blood on their doorposts so that the Angel of Death will pass over their homes. Hashem told them to specifically use a bundle of hyssop as a paintbrush: “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and immerse [it] in the blood that is in the basin, and you shall extend to the lintel and to the two doorposts the blood that is in the basin, and you shall not go out, any man from the entrance of his house until morning” (Shemos 12:22). (Click here for a picture of a hyssop.)

The Medrish Rabba teaches us a very powerful and fundamental lesson from the hyssop. The Medrish first begins as follows: “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop” This is what the pasuk, “’As an apple tree among the trees of the forest’ (Shir HaShirim 2:3) is referring to. Why is Hashem compared to an apple? (Some say the word tapuach, though literally means apple, refers to an esrog sometimes, see Yefeh Toar and the second Tosfos in Taanis daf 29b). Just as the apple seems to be something of no great substance to the naked eye but has a taste and a smell, so too Hashem, ‘His palate is sweet, and he is altogether desirable’ (Shir HaShirim 5:16). He appeared to the non-Jews and they did not want to accept the Torah, as the Torah appeared to them as something of no great substance. In reality it has taste and smell. How do we know it has taste? As it is written, ‘Comprehend (literally: taste) and see that the Lord is good’ (Tehillim 34:9). It has food as it is written, ‘My fruit is better than gold’ (Mishlei 8:19). It also has smell as it is written, ‘And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon’ (Shir Hashirim 4:11). The Jews said, ‘We know the power of Torah therefore we won’t budge from Hashem and His Torah, as it says ‘in His shade I delighted and sat, and His fruit was sweet to my palate’ (Shir HaShirim 2:3).’” (Click here for Hebrew text.)

At this point the Yefeh Toar explains that taste refers to the reward one receives in this world for observing the Torah, while the principle remains intact for him in the World to Come, which refers to the smell which is spiritual reward. Also “the fragrance of your garments” refers to divrei Torah, words of Torah, as it says in Tractate Shabbos that ‘your words of Torah should cover you as a garment covers a person’

The medrish continues: “So to there are things that appear lowly but Hashem commands us to perform many mitzvos with them. A hyssop seems worthless to a person, but it has great powers before Hashem for it is compared to a cedar in many places, when it comes to cleansing the metzora (spiritual leprosy), burning the red heifer, and in Egypt He commanded to perform a mitzvah with the hyssop, as it says ‘And you shall take a bunch of hyssop’. So to by King Shlomo it writes: “He speaks to the trees from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop coming out of the wall. You should learn from this that the big and small are all equal before Hashem. Through small things He performs miracles and through the hyssop which is the lowliest of trees (it is just a weed) He redeemed the Jews. That is ‘As an apple tree among the trees of the forest.’”

The Yefeh Toar teaches us a couple of inspirational lessons from the last part of the Medrish. “Just as the main reasoning of the Torah is hidden from the eyes but those who follow its ways will find its reason so to there are things that appear lowly but they have much treasure and great reason like the hyssop, which seems like nothing at all (just a weed) but it has great power in terms of mitzvos… The intent here is that the reward for doing mitzvos is based on the fulfillment of the mitzvos that Hashem commanded. Not because of the ingredients that carry the mitzvah based on their quantity or quality, therefore even if the ingredients are very small in quantity and quality it is still considered very great. The mitzvos were only given to solidify the Jew, meaning one should not think that Hashem gave mitzvos for His own sake and honor, for example by the sacrifices brought before Hashem, that is why Hashem commands us to bring lowly things like the hyssop that even humans have no need for, for this makes it apparent that the fulfillment of mitzvos is only for the need of mankind, to give them merits through performing mitzvos (for if it is for Hashem’s honor it would be belittling and disrespectful to use such a lowly substance as a weed.) That is why He commanded them to use things which are insignificant to them and easy to do, without much hassle in order to get closer to Hashem.”
What is the connection between the first part of the medrish and the second part of the medrish?

Why didn’t the Non-Jewish nations accept the Torah when they had the chance? The medrish is telling us that they had a superficial view of Hashem and His Torah. It wasn’t appealing from the outside. There was no glitz and glamour, no attraction; so they rejected Hashem and His Torah. However the Jews understood the power of Torah because their forefathers, starting with Avraham, took a deep look, of their own freewill, beyond the surface, and realized there must be something more to the world and the universe. They realized there must be a G-D who created and takes care of everything and if He runs the world He must have various ways for us people to do things in order to take care of ourselves and the upkeep of the world, Hashem’s will, the way Hashem, the way The Creator of everything planned for the world to be run. Avraham was able to simply look around at the world and figure out what Hashem wanted or expected him to do, but it was Avraham’s descendants who decided to cling to Hashem and follow His word, which Hashem gave to them as a gift on Har Sinai to make it easier to figure out how to live a meaningful, wholesome life in this world and reap the benefits in the Eternal World to Come; this gift being the Torah.

So all the non-Jew had to do was to look beyond the superficial level and dig deeper to find the gems, the good taste and sweet smells. Some of them, to their credit, do, and they convert to Judaism in order to live the a life filled with Torah and mitzvos.

This superficiality is the connection to the next part of the medrish. A world renowned principle of modern thought is that equality means just that – a utopia, where everything, and everyone, must be equal. Differences should not exist anymore, whether it is race, gender, or creed.  Everything has equal rights which mean they should not be viewed as anything different, and everything should be the same, a melting pot.

However this medrish is teaching us that Hashem, the Perfect One, Almighty, All Knowing, has a different understanding of equality. Hashem acknowledges that things are different and there are different classes of substances and even people. Some are better quality some are lesser quality; some are bigger and stronger, others are smaller and weaker, and there are different levels. However everyone and everything has its own role or purpose in this world and it makes no difference if they are bigger or smaller, lowly or important, whatever status they are, they all have a purpose in serving Hashem and bringing a person towards his or her perfection. For example, kohanim have a special elevated status more than yisraelim, and Jewish law demands they be given more respect, and only they will serve in the Beis HaMikdash, with leviem playing a more minor role in the service).  Yet, kohanim are not able to keep, for the most part, some precious mitzvos that yisraelim can do, like burying the dead, which is referred to as a chesded shel emes, a true act of kindness. So too, what seems to be as insignificant as a weed can be so important before Hashem that it is used as one of the catalysts for the Jewish redemption from Egypt, as well as purification of contact with the dead or tzaraas.

On a superficial level one would think everything must be the same; nothing should be treated differently, and that is why the Non-Jews did not accept Hashem and His Torah. But if they would have just dug deeper, not taken it at a glance, they would have seen the beauty and wealth of Hashem’s Torah, and that everyone and everything has meaning and use in this world. Every individual thing or person is special and viewed as an individual with an important purpose and can be used in the grand scheme of things, for mankind to become closer to Hashem, and bask in His Holy Presence. With this Divine view of things they could realize what is true equality and Who is the “Apple tree among the trees of the forest.”