STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
SHELACH 5778
“FOR
THE SAKE OF WHOM”[1]
Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman is known as
"the Disco Rabbi" due to his amazing success at reaching out to boys
and girls in their own "habitat" and bringing them closer to Hashem
and His Torah. There are many amazing stories about this remarkable person and
his unconditional love for every single Jew. The following was published by
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat who witnessed it:
“Allow me to share with you a story from my
previous life in the exile of the West Side of New York City, which taught me
how the word can bring sanctity into the most unlikely of places:
“In the early 1970's, a disco opened up in
a window storefront building on 72nd Street and Broadway; despite the fact that
it was called the Tel Aviv Disco and was owned by Israelis living in New York,
it remained open every night of the year, even Kol Nidre night. I must have
placed at least two dozen calls to the owners to try to persuade them to close
at least on the night of Yom Kippur, only to have finally received a message
from their secretary informing me that the owners would not speak to rabbis!!
“During this period, Rav Yitzchak Dovid
Grossman - a beloved and respected friend who is the Rav of Migdal Ha'Emek -
spent Shabbat with us at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is a charismatic
religious leader who is well-known for the many prisoners and other alienated
Jews whom he has brought back to religious observance.
“After a delightful Friday evening meal at
my home, replete with inspiring Hassidic melodies and words of Torah, he
suggested that we go for a shpatzir (Yiddish for a leisurely walk). I
tried to explain that the general atmosphere of the West Side streets of
Manhattan were hardly conducive to Sabbath sanctity - but to no avail. His
steps led us in the direction of 72nd Street and Broadway, right in front of
the window revealing the frenzied disco dancers.
“Did you ever see a mosquito captured in a
glass jar?” he asked me in Yiddish (our language of discourse). “The mosquito
is moving with all sorts of contortions and appears to be dancing. In reality, however,
the mosquito is gasping for air. That is the situation of those “dancers” in
the disco. They are really gasping for air, struggling in their search for a
real Shabbos. Let's go in and show them Shabbos.”
“Before I could say anything, he was inside
the disco. As a good host, I felt constrained to follow him. He sported a long
beard and side-locks and was wearing a shtreimel (fur hat) and kapute (silk
gaberdine), and I was dressed in my Sabbath Prince Albert, kippa and ritual
fringes out. As we entered the disco, the band of Israelis immediately stopped
playing. I immediately recognized three young men from the Synagogue - who
seemed totally discombobulated; two ran out covering their faces, and the third
tried to explain to me that he wasn't really there, that his mother had had
some kind of attack and he thought that her doctor might be at the disco…
“Rav Grossman began to sing - Sabbath
melodies. Almost miraculously, the men danced on one side, the women on the
other. After about twenty minutes, he urged me to speak to them in English. I
told them of the magical beauty, the joy, and the love of the Sabbath, and they
listened with rapt attention. Rav Grossman led them in one more song - and we
left.
“I cannot tell you that the miracle continued, it
didn't take five minutes, and we could hear the resumption of the disco band
music. However, before the next Yom Kippur, the Tel Aviv Disco closed down. I
don't know why, because the owners wouldn't speak to rabbis. And for the next
two years, at least a dozen young singles joined Lincoln Square Synagogue
because they had been inspired by our Disco visit!”
The Sefer Yetzira explains the significance of
each of the twelve Jewish months of the year, including which physical sense it
corresponds to, as well as which of the twelve tribes it corresponds to, as
well as other symbolisms. It states that the month of Tamuz corresponds to
Reuven, the oldest of the tribes, and to the sense of sight[2].
The month of Av corresponds to Shimon and the sense of hearing.[3]
The months of Tamuz and Av contain the three weeks
of mourning for the destruction of both Batei Mikdash. The Three Weeks begin on
the fast of the seventeenth of Tamuz and end with the fast of the ninth of Av.
The primary causes of the destruction of the Batei Mikdash were because we
failed to use our eyes and ears properly. Therefore, the rebuilding and
consolation will occur when we rectify those shortcomings. That is the primary
spiritual effort of these (summer) months – to channel and utilize our vision and
hearing properly.
The sense of vision makes us particularly
vulnerable because we are quick to trust what our eyes see, although we are
often not privy to seeing the entire picture. In addition, how we interpret
what we see is skewered by our preconceived notions.
At the beginning of parshas Shelach, Rashi asks
why the Torah juxtaposes the narrative about the tragic story of the Spies with
the story of Miriam contracting tzara’as, at the end of the previous parsha?
Rashi answers, “Because she was afflicted due of matters of speech, for
speaking against her brother. And these wicked ones saw and didn’t learn the
lesson[4].”
What is the connection between the loshon hora
Miriam spoke about Moshe[5]
and the negative report the spies gave about Eretz Yisroel?
Why did Miriam feel justified to speak to Aharon
about what she felt was a shortcoming in Moshe?[6]
There is no question that Miriam was aware of
Moshe’s greatness as a tzaddik and a prophet. But Miriam was also a great leader
and prophetess. The poignant rebuke that Hashem told her is that she didn’t
adequately recognize her younger brother’s greatness. True, she and Aharon were
also prophets, but Moshe’s prophecy was on a higher level. Aharon and Miriam
had failed to see what was beyond their purview, that Moshe had achieved levels
of greatness beyond what they had attained. “Not so my servant Moshe; in My
entire House he is trustworthy.”
The verses in three of the five chapters in
Megillas Eicha form an acrostic based on the letters of the Aleph Bais.
However, the letter פ precedes the letter ע.
The gemara[7]explains
that it is to hint that they (the spies) spoke with their mouths[8]
what their eyes did not see[9].
Maharal[10]
explains that the gemara doesn’t mean that the spies blatantly lied. When it
talks about what they saw it isn’t referring to physical sight, but to things
one understands through contemplation, pondering, and analyzation.
When the spies returned from Eretz
Yisroel, they in fact related exactly what they saw. But their physical vision
hadn’t presented them with the real truth. They were great men and should have seen
beyond the surface to recognize what was really happening. It was true that the
land was unconquerable, but that was without G-d’s promise and assurance. It
was true that there were great people dying wherever they went, but that was as
a favor to them, so they shouldn’t be noticed by the grieving citizens.
In that sense, the sin of the
spies mirrored the sin of Miriam. Just as Miriam had not recognized greatness beyond
what was immediately apparent, so did they did not realize and appreciate
greatness beyond what they saw. They jumped to conclusions without
contemplating the deeper meaning of what they were seeing.
The AriZal writes that when a
farmer offers Bikkurim, it serves as a rectification for the sin of the spies. The
Torah relates that the spies brought back pomegranates, dates, and grapes. When
the Mishna[11]
describes the process of bringing Bikkurim, it says: “A man goes down into his
field and he sees a ripened date, a ripened cluster of grapes, a ripe
pomegranate, he ties it with a string and declares “These are bikkurim”. The
fact that the Mishna specifically uses as examples the same three fruits that the
Spies brought back, demonstrates that they are connected.
When a farmer sets aside his
first frits to be brought as Bikkurim, it demonstrates that he is seeing beyond
the physical fruit before him. It symbolizes his awareness that the growth of
his produce is not merely the result of his tireless efforts, but a result of
the blessing of Hashem.
The spies looked at Eretz
Yisroel with a physical perspective and saw negatively. The one brining
Bikkurim recognized the sanctity of his produce, and that the greatness of the
land traverses its physical landscape. That was the rectification for the sin
of the Spies.
Our world is not only
judgmental and opinionated, it is also often emphatically condemnatory. We are
quick to forward articles about others, and to spread news, which maligns other
individuals or groups that we may not agree with. We are very smug and
confident that we know what’s best for everyone else and for the world. But the
truth is that there is a world beyond what we see, and we are less privy to the
full picture than we care to believe. It requires a modicum of humility to
submit to the notion that what we see isn’t the whole truth.
Someone once asked Rav
Avigdor Nebenzhal shlita how he could judge someone favorably, when it seemed
like the person did something wrong? Rav Nebenzhal’s poigniant response was: לא צריך לדון אותו - you
don’t have to judge him! If one is not a judge, or a parent, or teacher, or
employer, in that situation, why should he judge him at all? Let Hashem do the
judging in that case, and we can go back to trying to judge our own lives.
The month of Tamuz is a time
to reflect and improve upon our vision – to realize that there are other
perspectives and viewpoints besides ours, and to remember that there is far
more going on in other people’s lives than we know. The mistake of Miriam, and
subsequently the Spies was, that they thought they had a fuller picture than
they in fact did.
A close friend often remarks
how often one thinks he knows someone well, until he finds out that there was
so much he didn’t know.
We must remember that there
is much to see beyond what we see, and know that only Hashem can see
everything.
“Not so my servant Moshe”
“These are bikkurim”.
Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New
Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance
Counselor – Heichal HaTorah
Principal – Ohr
Naftoli- New Windsor
[1] Based on the
lecture given at Kehillat New Hempstead, Shabbos Kodesh parshas Shelach 5777.
[2]
The name Reuven means sight; Reuven was so named because his mother Leah
declared that G-d had seen her pain.
[3]
The name Shimon means hearing; Shimon was so named because his mother Leah
declared that G-d had heard her prayers.
[4]
Literally “take discipline”
[5]
When Eldad and Mediad began prophesizing unexpectedly, Zipporah, the wife of
Moshe, commented to Miriam that she felt bad for their wives because now that
they were prophets they would have to physically separate from her. Miriam then
repeated to Aharon what Zipporah had said and noted that she and Aharon had not
separated from their respective spouses, and they too were prophets. So why did
Moshe have to separate from Zipporah? The Medrash notes that Miriam only spoke
out of concern, she spoke about her beloved younger brother, and Moshe was not
slighted in the least bit. Yet she was punished with tzara’as. It is a painful
reminder about the severity of speaking loshon hora.
[6] It
must always be reiterated that we proceed with awe and caution when we speak
about the flaws and shortcomings of our greatest leaders. We only do so in
order for us to learn the vital lessons we can relate to on our level.
[7]
Sanhedrin 104b
[9]
The letter ע is called “ayin” which means
eye. The gemara is explaining that in Eicha the peh comes before the ayin to
symbolize that the spies – who gave their evil report on the ninth of Av – gave
a report about things they didn’t actually see.
[10]
Netzach Yisroel chapter 9
[11]
Bikkurim 3:1
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