Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back for this week's episode of the Practical Parsha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohon and I hope you are well.
[00:00:08] For this week it's Parshas Re ei.
[00:00:12] We are going to jump right into it with some beautiful thoughts on the Parsha. And before we begin, as always, if you'd like to send me an email to say hello or just to send me your thoughts, or even if you want to wish me a belated happy birthday.
[00:00:29] Still waiting. I'll still accept those belated happy birthday wishes. You can send me an email at Rabbi shlomo kon k o h nmail.com I'd love to hear from you.
[00:00:38] This week's Parsha is Parshas Rey. Just to give a quick overview of the Parsha. The Parsha begins with the blessings and the curses.
[00:00:46] Now Moshe Rabbeinu is giving this speech to the Jewish nation and that's the whole book of Deuteronomy, the whole book of Devarim. And at this point in Parshas Rey, he tells the Jewish nation that when they're going to get into the land of Israel, they're going to have this, um, procession or ceremony where the blessings and the curses are going to be said at Har Avel and Hargreizem, Mount Ewel and Mount Gerizim. And already now he's sort of beginning this process by telling the Jewish people what's going to happen, that if the Jewish nation does what they're supposed to do and follows the Torah, things will be good for them. They'll get all the blessings. But if God forbid not, then curses will come upon them. The Parsha continues with the sanctity of the Land of Israel, how Eretz Yisrael has a certain Kedusha special holiness, um, which makes it more elevated than the rest of the world.
[00:01:42] Parsha tells us, um, about the Halachos of Parasha eating specific, um, offerings that are redeemed, as well as certain sacred foods that only may be eaten in Yerushalayim in Jerusalem.
[00:01:57] The Parsha also deals with the permission for the Jewish people to eat regular meat, to slaughter animals in the proper way and eat them.
[00:02:05] And we have general prohibitions in this week's Parsha of not copying the rights of of the non Jewish nations that are in the land of Canaan, to not follow in these rites of the nations.
[00:02:21] Parsha tells us as well about a false prophet and not to follow him, to not listen to a false prophet as well as um the meisas Umaydiyach, which is about somebody. How do you deal with a person who tries to entice others to sin?
[00:02:37] And a, a city that is a wayward city. How do we deal with, with a city that has gone astray? The Parsha continues with Moshe Rabbeinu telling the Jewish nation that they are treasured people, they are a special people, they are elevated people.
[00:02:56] And continues with the laws of permitted and forbidden foods. Certain animals are permitted and certain animals are forbidden.
[00:03:04] Parasha also has different tithes as well as the remission of loans that by Shemitah, every seven year we have Shemitah, and loans get wiped away at that time.
[00:03:18] And the parsha finishes off about, um, a general commandment to be open hearted and caring for our brethren, as well as the Parsha giving us the commandment of going to Yerushalayim three times a year on Pesach, Passover, Shavuis and Sukkis.
[00:03:38] The first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the first verse of the parsha.
[00:03:46] So this week's parsha is parshas, re ei.
[00:03:50] And the first pasuk in this week's parsha goes as follows. Re e' ya noychi noise bracha uklala.
[00:04:01] See, I present before you today a, uh, blessing and a curse.
[00:04:07] Now, in past years I've spoken about this verse and this idea of blessing and curse. There's a lot of different ideas that can be expounded upon this first pasuk in this week's parasha.
[00:04:20] But, uh, what I wanted to talk about is actually the wording of the pasuk and the lesson that it can teach us.
[00:04:28] So the first word of the posse is re ei, which means to see, to see something.
[00:04:38] And then the posse continues.
[00:04:42] Anochi levnech hamayom bracho kala. See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse. Now, the first question that's raised, Rabbi Fran raises this question.
[00:04:52] He says the word re e is in a singular form.
[00:04:58] And if you continue reading the verse, it says which is before you is in plural. Hebrew has different um in the language. In Hebrew language, there's singular and plural. So re e, the word see is a singular wording, but is a plural wording.
[00:05:22] So that's question number one. Why is the pasuk is the verse not keeping it uniform? Usually in the psukim, you know, when you're referring to a singular, you keep it in the singular, and if it's plural, keep it in the plural. So over here it would make sense.
[00:05:36] Moshe Rabbeinu is talking to the Jewish nation.
[00:05:39] It should be plural. Why is it the singular re E? And furthermore, the question is, why do we have to. It's like a double wording over here. Re ei. Anokhi nosin lefnikhem hayem bracha klala. I'm giving you this blessing.
[00:05:56] Why do we have to be repetitive? What if they see I'm giving to you a blessing? Here's a present. Uh, you see it? No. Of course you see it, because it's right in front of you. So why is the Torah telling us this wording? Re e' Ya knowchi nosin levnech hamayom bracho klela. See, I've placed before you this present, right? So maybe it should just start. Anochi nosem levnechemayam M bracho klala.
[00:06:19] It'll be parshas anochi, not parshas re ei.
[00:06:23] So that's the two questions that we have to start us off on this week's episode.
[00:06:28] So I saw a beautiful explanation that I think can give us a very practical lesson to our own lives. You know, there's an expression, count your blessings and keep on walking.
[00:06:44] When we look at life, we should look at the good things and the blessings that come our way.
[00:06:51] Now, there's a catch to that.
[00:06:54] The catch is that it's not so easy necessarily to see the blessings. It's a lot easier to see the things that are going wrong.
[00:07:04] That's because when things are going well, we sort of go on autopilot. We tend to forget where it's all coming from.
[00:07:12] So it's. We only recognize hashem when, God forbid, things are going wrong. Right? It's God the terrorizer. Why is this happening to me, God? Why is the bad things happening to me? Right. I'm not saying we all do that all the time. Obviously, we're thankful. But the point is, is that it's much harder when things are going well to recognize the blessing in our life. And even more than that, even when things are not going well, to also recognize the blessings in our life. There's so many blessings, so many brachos that we have in our lives, you know, even if we do face challenge, but the blessing outweighs it. It just takes us to sort of perceive it. We need to look for it. We have to find it. We have to focus on it. Because if we don't focus on it actively, we're never going to see it. With this in mind, we have an answer to one of our questions. Because now we understand why the verse is telling us re e anoki ah noseiyen levnei chaim that see, I have placed before you a blessing and a curse.
[00:08:17] Because in order to see the blessings, you have to see it. It takes effort. You have to, you know, think about the blessings in your life. It doesn't just come natural to us because human nature as such is that we take it for granted. We take the fact that we're alive for granted. You know, that's how people are. And all the good things in our lives, we take it for granted. So we have to make that effort to appreciate and to see all the good that we have.
[00:08:46] Because we definitely have.
[00:08:48] With this answer in mind, it can help us with our first question that why is it the word re ei isn't singular and the rest of the verse is in plural? And the Katsuka rebbe explains.
[00:09:01] He says when it comes to blessings, the way one person perceives blessings and, uh, the way another person perceives a blessing is two different ways.
[00:09:14] And that's the lesson of the pasuk. Uh, even though these brachos that the Jewish nation are receiving from Hashem is for the whole nation, but depending on who we are and what situation we are in our lives, it will differ from one person to the next.
[00:09:34] How we take these brachos in, how we receive these blessings.
[00:09:40] Because one person is different than the next.
[00:09:44] And that's why the verse changes from singular to plural. Because although everyone is receiving the blessing, the way each and every one of us see it is different than the other. Because we're all different. And we have different challenges and different strengths and different things that we need and want.
[00:10:06] So the way that we perceive them and take them in will be different than the next person. The second idea I want to share with you today takes us to the commandment of the Torah to be warm hearted and open handed to our brothers and sisters.
[00:10:23] The posse says Kiye v' cha' evyoim' achar achecha be' achad sha' areecha be' atzecha asher hashem elokecha noseyin loh lo sametzis levavcha.
[00:10:38] If there shall be a destitute person among you, any of your brethren in any of your cities in the land that Hashem your g d gives you, you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your destitute brother.
[00:10:53] Meaning there's a commandment of the Torah to give tzedakah to support those um, of us that don't have to make sure that they have to open up your hand.
[00:11:04] Now if you look at the pasuk, at the verse with a just a simple look at it. The simple understanding of the verse.
[00:11:15] Do not harden your heart, which means don't be, um, stubborn, don't be tight fisted, open up your heart, give him some money, help support him. Don't just turn away and be hard hearted, you know, to not be caring.
[00:11:33] The Ibn ISRA gives another understanding of those words in this pasik, which I think are something very important for us to internalize.
[00:11:43] The explains that the words do not harden your heart can also mean that when a poor person approaches you for money for help, that just aside from giving a donation to the person to give him some money to help him, there's also a mitzvah, uh, to tell him something positive to give him some emotional support, to not harden your heart. That even if you're giving the money, you should give it with a good word, give him some chizuh, give him some strength to keep him going, that you shouldn't just give the money with a hard heart. Okay, I got to give him the money. I'll just give him the dollar and get him off my back. No, you should tell him it's going to be good, you know, wish him hatzlachah, wish him success, give him a smile.
[00:12:34] Do not harden your heart, right? You should open your hand. Do not harden your heart.
[00:12:39] And this is a very important concept I think in general, you know. So you might say to me, uh, okay, you know, what does that have to do with me? I don't deal with poor people, you know, I'm not uh, running a soup kitchen. How does you know giving emotional support to poor people? No, that's obviously it's not just poor people, but I think in a way all of us and you know, many people that we know, I'm sure they need, we need support.
[00:13:04] People need to hear a good word. It's very important.
[00:13:08] You never know what another person is going through.
[00:13:13] And especially the people that we do know things are going on in their lives.
[00:13:18] And you know, maybe we can't do much, but something we could do is to give someone emotional support, to give someone a good word, you know, and uh, obviously just see how you're doing. Some of this is not even telling people it's going to be okay. Just saying hello, giving someone a smile, giving someone a compliment, just being there for a person. And sometimes it's a little bit more than that. Telling People that it's going to be okay.
[00:13:44] Giving people assurances, giving them. There's different levels of this. And we have to use our seichel, our understanding of assessing a situation, you know, with our relationship with other people and the person themselves of how we can do this. But it's something we need to do.
[00:14:02] People don't hear enough good words from other people.
[00:14:08] There are many stories of people who almost gave up in their life, but it was something small that someone said to them that helped them turn everything around. And I think that's a major lesson, this week's parsha, that aside from giving people, giving tzedakah, uh, giving charity, we have to do it with a happy face, with, with that emotional support. And actually, just interesting. The Gemara tells us that if a person gives tzedakah, um, they get a certain amount of blessings.
[00:14:40] And the Gemara tells us further that if a person gives the tzedakah but also gives a good word with the tzedakah, the blessings go up exponentially.
[00:14:50] And I don't remember exactly the numbers, but I remember it was like, you know, much more. It was like 16 brachos, 16 blessings. For a person who says a good word to a poor person when they give him the charity, that it's not just giving the charity, it's also giving it with a good attitude and a good face and a good word.
[00:15:08] And it's not just when it comes to charity and, uh, giving a poor person money, but it's any person, especially the people we know are facing things that they need. The chizuk. Think about yourself. How would you want, you know, how would you feel? What would you want people to tell you if you're in a hard situation?
[00:15:27] What have we wanted people to have told us when we were going through something hard? Right?
[00:15:33] Uh, or how good did we feel when we got that hizluk, when we got that strengthening from another person? So try to take those feelings and channel it into helping another person, to giving a smile to another person, giving someone some strength, some emotional support. And God willing, when we do this, you never know how far a good word a smile, a pat on the back can do for another.
[00:15:56] The last idea I wanted to share today takes us to the very end of the parsha.
[00:16:01] So at the conclusion of this week's parsha, the Torah reiterates the commandment to be ola regel, to go to Yerushalayim, to Jerusalem three times a year for the festivals.
[00:16:16] And in the psukim's description of going to Jerusalem.
[00:16:21] The Psukim tell us something very interesting. The psukim give us a specific commandment.
[00:16:33] Uh, M.
[00:16:45] Hashem Eloka Lashakin Shimosham, you shall rejoice before Hashem, your God, you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maidservant, the Levite who is in your cities, the proselyte, the orphan, and the widow who are among you in the place that Hashem, your God, will choose to rest his name, and Pasuk Yud Beyz, you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall observe and perform these decrees.
[00:17:24] So it seems that there's a commandment.
[00:17:27] There's a commandment in this week's Parsha that aside from you yourself going to Yerushalayim, there's also a commandment to make sure that, uh, the people who are underprivileged, the Yasum, the almana, the orphan, the widow, the convert people, didn't necessarily have all the means that, you know, maybe that maybe people who didn't have all the means necessary to go to Jerusalem to be happy, that you should make sure it happens, right?
[00:18:01] You should rejoice with Hashem, you should rejoice with God. But not just you and your family.
[00:18:07] Also all the people who are underprivileged in your community should also be able to go, and you should make sure it happens. Meaning it's the responsibility of the community to make sure that the people who don't necessarily have everything, they need to make sure that it's taken care of.
[00:18:25] Now, the question is as follows.
[00:18:28] What does the first verse which talks about this commandment of going to Yerushalayim and making sure everyone's able to go and everyone has what they need to be happy for the holiday, have to do with the second verse which talks about, remember you were a slave in Mitzrayim, right?
[00:18:49] Now you should remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall observe and perform these decrees. What does that second posse have to do with the first posse? What's the connection between the two and the QSav Sofer says, A beautiful idea, which I think helps us reframe in certain situations.
[00:19:09] The way that the QSav Sofer reads these two pesukim is as he says that there might be people out there who might say to themselves, okay, fine, you, uh, know, I know I have to go to Jerusalem. I'm all good to do that. And I even understand that I have an obligation upon myself to make sure I give tzedakah to those that Maybe don't have as much as I do to give to them, to give to the orphan, to give to the al mana, to the widow, to the convert, to make sure they have what they have.
[00:19:43] But, you know, I'm not so happy about doing it. It might be hard for them to actually separate from their money, to give it to someone else.
[00:19:54] You know, it's not an easy thing to do. They say that's the hardest. One of the hardest things for a person to accomplish is to separate them from their money, right? You ask people in sales, right? You gotta convince someone to hand over their hard earned money from their hand to yours. It's not an easy thing necessarily. So over here, a person might think to himself, okay, I have a responsibility to go to yerushalayim for my family. I'm all happy to do that. And I'm even, you know, I know there's a responsibility of me to make sure others needs are taken care of.
[00:20:29] But maybe, uh, I'll do it. I'm not so happy about it. It might be hard for me to do it though. It's hard for me to separate. Or maybe I'm not so happy about it because I worked hard for this money. It's something that I did, and now instead of putting it in my, uh, 401k, I'm gonna have to give it to someone else.
[00:20:47] And the Ksopsofer explains that that's precisely the connection into the next pasuk.
[00:20:53] Because when a person remembers where he comes from, that our ancestors were slaves in Egypt, we didn't have freedom, we subsisted on the bare minimum necessary to survive.
[00:21:08] And now we're free. And now we have the ability to serve hashem in Yerushalayim with joy, with happiness, with our families.
[00:21:18] So we realize what a better situation that we're in now and that causes a person to be happy. And when a person remembers where he comes from and how much better it is for him now he remembers the challenging times that he went through, through the experience of Egypt. And now he's so much better off, it's easy for him to do the mitzvah, it's easier for him to go to Yerushalayim and to be happy. And when a person's joyous and happy, it's much easier for him, um, to do the mitzvah of being generous to another person as well.
[00:21:53] And when a person keeps in mind how good he has it, right, how wonderful it is to be free, so they're able to fulfill the mitzvos with a great feeling of joy to pay it forward with, with a sense of happiness. By remembering the point of where you come from at your humble beginnings. It helps you even in your situation right now. And I believe if you think about this, we all could think about people who we know that sort of forgot where they came from.
[00:22:30] Maybe they made it in life to a different, uh, uh, cast or different level, and they don't remember where they come from. Obviously, that's just one extreme, but. And there are also plenty of people who always remember their humble beginnings and they live their life based upon the experiences that they went through in their early formative years. And really, that impacts the way they think and the way they act for as long as they're living.
[00:22:55] And I think there's a, uh. There's actually. This is a very important concept, I think, for us to really internalize, because there's a story that's brought down. Rabbi Plisken brings us down that there was once a fellow who was waiting for a flight to Israel.
[00:23:11] And this flight, it was in Kennedy Airport, was delayed and delayed again and delayed again and again and again. And finally, after 10 hours of being delayed, you know, everyone's upset and you can understand being very irritated.
[00:23:29] I'm sure we've all experienced this, uh, sitting at an airport for hours. It's probably one of the most, uh, uncomfortable things to do. It's not fun, especially when you have places to go or you're with a family.
[00:23:41] And this man sees this elderly couple on the side of the, uh, terminal who's also waiting for this flight. And they're just perfectly calm over the hours and hours and hours. Nothing seems to faze them.
[00:23:54] And he goes over to this couple and he says, like, you know, I see that you guys are perfectly calm waiting for the flight. Like, how do you do this? And the couple turns to tell them, and sort of a startling answer. He says, well, in the Second World War, in the Holocaust, we were in a concentration camp.
[00:24:16] So waiting for a few hours in the airport doesn't really faze us at all.
[00:24:20] And I think the. The lesson here is that, number one, to remember where we came from, to remember who we are, to not forget our humble beginnings. But even more than that, every situation is relative.
[00:24:37] If we think about what's going on, even if we're facing a challenging situation, it doesn't mean we tell people, oh, your situation could be worse. No, it's for ourselves to internalize this idea. It's for ourselves to. To realize, to think about to use as a tool, that every situation is dependent upon how we view it, that we have the ability to look at something and to put things into a positive light. It all is a matter of context, and this is something it's not so easy to do, but it's something we could do. And we see it clearly in this week's parsha. So with that, hm, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. I hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments or would like to reach out, please feel free to send me an email@rabbishlomokon kohnmail.com have a great day.
