2: In this week’s Parsha, we find the mitzvah of Bircas Hamazon. Rabbi Moshe Goldberger, Shlita, asks if Bircas Hamazon is only one mitzvah, why is it that there are three brochos required by the Torah (the fourth brocha, according to most, is Rabbinic in origin), one brocha thanking Hashem for feeding everyone, a second brocha thanking Hashem for many other important benefits that Hashem has bestowed upon us (as we have previously noted, HaRav Pam, Z’tl, used to count them on his fingers while reciting them), and a third brocha asking for the return of Yerushalayim and the Bais HaMikdash?

 

Rabbi Goldberger answers that if we would have stopped after one brocha, we may have thought that the food is actually an end in and of itself. By the two additional brochos which the Torah requires, we are to remind ourselves that we are nourished in order to properly serve Hashem in all areas, and to reach our greatest potential. With that, we ask for the rebuilding of Yerushalayim and the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdash, so that we can rise to the highest spiritual heights.

 

3: In this week’s Parsha, we find the second of the three Parshios of Shema, in which one accepts upon himself the performance of all mitzvos, and in which one recognizes the sechar v’onesh--the reward and punishment--associated with their performance or (chas v’shalom) non-performance.

 

As we recite in Shema twice daily “Heshameru Lachem, Pen Yifte Livavchem V’Sartem--beware for yourselves lest your heart be seduced and you turn astray and serve gods of others.” Rashi, in explaining the word “V’Sartem--and you turn astray”--writes that this means that you turn away from the study of Torah; and once you turn from Torah you are close to worshipping Avoda Zora. Upon only a moment’s reflection, the Torah seems to be taking a very big leap once one does not study Torah, he is a step away from idol worship. However, as we all know, the Yetzer Hora doesn’t seem to work this way. He works on you slowly and deliberately, nibbling away daily and weekly to make sure that his negative influence grows steadily, so that the changes worked upon you actually stick. So how here does the Torah describe the jump from lack of Torah study to idol worship (and its contemporary equivalents) so swiftly and conclusively?

 

The Chofetz Chaim provides a remarkable insight to explain. Imagine two countries at war. One day, one country wins a battle, the next day the other country wins a battle, and the battles go back and forth as the war continues. These back-and-forth victories can only be true and continue if one side grabs a certain stronghold, the other captures some soldiers, the first wins an air battle, the second wins a tank battle, etc. However, if on day one, one side captures all the ammunition of the other side, then the war, for all intents and purposes, is over. The second side has nothing with which to do battle.

 

The Chofetz Chaim says that our Pasuk teaches us the same lesson in a powerful, spiritual way. If a person forsakes the study of Torah (each man and woman, elder and child, in accordance with his /her own position), he has lost all of his ammunition to the Yetzer Hora. He has lost the war, because he has nothing to fight back with. Thus, he immediately leaps to complete defeat--the opposite extreme of Avoda Zora.

 

HaRav Elchonon Wasserman, Z’tl, H’YD, took the Chofetz Chaim’s (his Rebbe’s) words a step further. Chazal (Yerushalmi Chagiga 1:7) teach that even if Hashem would forgo the sins of murder, avoda zara, and gilui arayos, he will not forgo the sin of Bitul Torah, of wasting time from Torah study. Why is this stark statement so? After all, are these not the three cardinal sins that Hashem would be forgoing versus that of bitul Torah which does not appear to be anywhere near as heinous a misdeed? The answer, Reb Elchonon teaches, is that, incredibly, the cardinal sins all are capable of Teshuva. One can overcome these great failings through the Koach HaTorah, through the study of Torah. However, if the Torah study itself, a Jew’s weaponry in this World, is taken away, then he has nothing left with which to fight.

 

There is a tremendous lesson here for each and every one of us, as we rapidly approach the days of reflection and introspection. Do we want to enter Elul as a soldier without arms? Don’t we want to equip ourselves as much as we can? Where can we improve in our daily study (even for just a couple of minutes) after Shacharis? After Mincha? After Maariv? On the bus or train? Before going to sleep?

 

Also, what should we be studying? What area of Torah study have we pushed off that we really need to know or in which we need improvement? What Sefer have we never studied before that we really have been meaning to? What Mussar Sefer will we be preparing for Elul? What Halachos should we learn daily (especially that apply to us?). How can we improve in our study of the Parsha? There are so many new Hebrew and English Parsha Seforim. Have we acquired any of them? After we have made a mistake in Halacha, or we are not sure whether we said or did the right thing, do we learn what the proper Halacha or Hashkafa is in order to make sure that it will not happen again (i.e., Teshuva!).

 

As we all know, “Talmud Torah K’Neged Kulam--the study of Torah is equivalent to them all” (Shabbos 127A). Let us take heed of the words of Shema that we recite daily--so that we succeed not only in our daily battle--but in our life’s purpose and goal!

 

-------------------------- Hakhel MIS