Sermon Archives

In this email you will find:

1. A D'var Torah from Rabbi Herzfeld
2. Stories on the Parasha from Rabbi Herzfeld
3. A Family Parasha Sheet from Maharat Friedman

A D'var Torah from Rabbi Herzfeld

August 14, 2020

How to Celebrate Our Holidays This Year
Re’eh, 5780

This week we read parashat Re’h in the midst of one of the worst pandemics in the history of our country with more than 160,000 souls already dead.  Every day as we gather in person and on zoom for prayers, I desperately daven for this pandemic to cease.

Our Torah portion does not tell us exactly how we are supposed to mourn for a loved one who dies, but it does tell us how we are not supposed to mourn.

The Torah says:
You are children of Hashem (banim atem la-Hashem Elokeichem). Do not gash yourselves (lo titgodedu) nor shave the front of your heads on account of the dead (Devarim, 14:1).

This is the prohibition of lo titgodedu—of not mutilating one’s body in response to death.

Rashi (ad loc.) explains the reason for this prohibition and the reason why the prohibition is specifically connected to us being the children of Gd: 

“You shall not make cuttings and incisions in your flesh for the dead in the way the Amorites do because you are children of the Lord and it is therefore becoming for you to be comely and not cut one’s body and walk around with hair torn out.”

In other words there was an ancient practice amongst the neighbors of the Israelites to inflict wounds upon one’s body as part of the mourning process.  The Torah prohibits this because we are all children of Gd and it is not appropriate for us to disfigure our own bodies.  Just like a parent would get upset if their child looks unkempt, so too, we are supposed to act like we are children of Hashem and represent Gd in a beautiful manner.

Torah Temimah (ad loc.) offers another explanation that is especially appropriate for our times.  He writes:

“The main reason why there is a prohibition against mutilating one’s body while grieving for the dead is because we are all children of Hashem.  Thus, we are not allowed to mourn “excessively” for the dead.  Instead we should recognize that any harsh decree is like a parent who sometimes must act severely towards a child and it is certainly for good.”

Sadly there are some people who mutilate their own body because they feel unloved—by others and by Gd.  According to the Torah Temimah, the reason we should not inflict marks on our body is because we must always remember that we are loved; we are “children of Hashem,” and therefore Hashem loves us.  Even when the situation in our world appears dark and brutal, we must never forget this basic teaching of our tradition: Hashem loves us and will always love us.

Indeed, this is how Pirkei Avot explains this verse:

“Beloved is man for he was created in the image of Gd.  Especially beloved is he for it was made known to him that he had been created in the image of Gd, as it is said: ‘for in the image of Gd He made human’ (Genesis 9:6). Beloved are Israel in that they were called children to the All-Present. Especially beloved are they for it was made known to them that they are called children of the All-Present, as it is said: “you are children to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1,  Avot: 3:14).

Pirkei Avot is reminding us that we are children of Gd and therefore will always be loved by Hashem.  

Even in –or especially in--the midst of a raging pandemic we must remember the love that is always being transmitted to us from Hashem.

This is why there is a commandment against self-mutilation during the mourning process.  It is a commandment for us to never forget the love that Hashem feels for us.

Of course, it is not inappropriate to grieve and to mourn.  This is in fact required by Jewish law.  It is however inappropriate to mourn and grieve more than what our tradition demands.

The same Torah portion that tells us not to grieve excessively also commands us to be happy as the Torah tells us that we must rejoice on our festivals.

“Vesmachta bechagecha, you shall rejoice on your festivals” (16:14).

This is a hard commandment.  It is a commandment of emotion.  How can the Torah obligate us to feel happy?  It can surely obligate us to do something.  But to feel an emotion…that seems impossible!

My teacher, Rabbi Avi Weiss, explained to me that this verse is not commanding us to have pleasure but to be happy.  There is a big difference between pleasure and happiness. 

America is a country in which people are often seeking pleasure but in Judaism the real goal is not the pursuit of pleasure, but the ultimate desire to do good.  As it states earlier in Devarim,  “You shall do the upright and the good hayashar vehatov” (6:18).

It is our belief that the more we do good things, the more happiness we will have.

Pleasure is a passing emotion, whereas happiness is a powerful state of being which comes from leading a purposeful lead in pursuit of helping others.
When the Torah tells us to “rejoice on your holiday,” our holy Torah is not commanding us to pursue pleasure but rather happiness.  True happiness will come when we act in a proper way that brings joy and strength to others.

This is the full context of the verse that commands us to rejoice on our holidays:

“You shall rejoice on your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female servant, the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow in your communities.”

The context of the verse makes clear that the goal of the commandment to be happy on a holiday is not for us to achieve our own personal joy but to help gladden the lives of others.

So too, this is why our Talmud actually prohibits certain types of joy on our holidays.  For example, the Talmud commands us not to get married even on an intermediate day of a Festival.  The Talmud explains that if we would get married on the holiday then we would not be celebrating the holiday properly, “because then it is not joy of the festival but the joy of the spouse” (Moed Kattan, 8b).  In other words, on a holiday the Torah is commanding us to strive for achieving a state of happiness by looking outwards with our actions in order to help others.

Before the Torah commands us to rejoice on our holidays, the Torah tells us:
“Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do so, for in return the LORD your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings. For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land” (15:11).
This verse means that the more we give to the poor, the more we will have.

The Ben Ish Chai offers a parable to explain this concept.

One who gives charity often thinks that he or she is losing something from one’slife or net worth.  What a mistake!  Money comes and goes, but the merit of helping someone else remains forever.
There was once a father who was trying to teach his son math.  He said to him if there would be ten birds on the roof and a hunter comes and shoots one of the birds then how many birds will remain? The son answered, “one bird.”  The father said to the son, “Wrong.”  There will be 9 birds left.  The son said, “Forgive me dear father.  When the hunter shoots a bird, all the other birds fly away, and only the dead bird remains.”

So too, a person’s money quickly will disappear without any remnant.  Only the money that is given to help others will remain.  Only the impact and merits of that gift will not disappear.

This week we will usher in Rosh Chodesh Elul . In doing so, we are bringing in an intense 7 week period of holidays and rejoicing.  We are cognizant this year that our holidays will not be the same. But the core of our holiday season is not prayer services or even Torah study.  The ultimate core is helping others.  That is our path towards a life of happiness and service of Hashem.  This year more than ever it is our spiritual responsibility to emphasize this aspect of our holidays.  This year our holidays must be about helping others.

Shmuel Herzfeld

We would love to study parasha with your family. Please see the stories and questions below.  

The Maharat has created a weekly parasha sheet for your family. There are two questions for each aliyah, plus a special BONUS question. These questions are intended to help guide older children through independent parasha study, and help parents study the parasha with younger children. If you or your child would like the answer to a specific question, please email Maharatruth@ostns.org.

Rabbi Herzfeld will also be sharing one to two stories a week centered around a verse from the weekly Torah portion.  These stories are intended for children to read and discuss at the Shabbat table but feel free to read them no matter your age.  (Please see below for Rabbi Herzfeld’s introduction to these stories.)

This week is parashat Re’eh.  Here are two stories.  One I saw in a book and a second one is from my teacher, Rabbi Avi Weiss.

Story 1
14:22 -- Aser Te’aser. You must take a tithe from all your produce that your field produces every year.
Taanit 9a --  Rabbi Yochanan teaches aser bishvil shetitaser.  Give a tithe and you will become rich.
From the Haftorah (Isaiah 54:14): “Bitzdakah tikonani, as a result of giving tzedakah you will be firmly established in your land.”

A rabbi in a twentieth century American city noticed that one of the members of his congregation was especially careful about the practice of giving ten percent of his income to charity.  This rabbi was shocked and inspired by the lengths that this man went to make sure he never gave a penny less than ten percent.

The rabbi approached the man and said to him: “I notice that you are so diligent about this practice.  How did you come to be so careful?”

The man responded, “Before I came to America I used to live in Russia.  Back in Russia I used be in the cow business.  I would buy and sell cows.  Whenever I made such a sale, I would always take ten percent and bring it to a melamed.  In our town there was a melamed who was an excellent teacher but he was very poor.  I knew that my little bit of tzedakah would help him get through the week.

One time I made a very big sale and I made a nice chunk of money.  As was my practice, I ran to the melamed and offered him ten percent of my profits.  The melamed was shocked.  He looked at me and said this is way too much money for me.  He refused to take the money.  

So I said to the melamed, “If you won’t take the money, what should I do with it?”  He told me that in the surrounding towns there were two outstanding students who deserved to be sent away to study in a yeshiva.  The problem is that their parents were very poor and they were unable to afford their tuition.  He suggested to me that I should contact their parents and offer to pay for their yeshiva study.  

The former cow salesman did just that.  He contacted their families and sent these two students off to yeshiva. 

The man looked at the rabbi in front of him and said, “Those two students were (Rabbi) Moshe Feinstein and (Rabbi) Yaakov Kaminetsky.”  

These two rabbis were two of the most important teachers and leaders of the Jewish community in America after World War 2.  
(This story is told in Vekarata Leshabbat Oneg, volume 2)

Question: 
1) What do you think it means when it says in the Talmud: “Tithe and you will become rich?
2) Do you think the two rabbis ever knew the identity of the cow salesman who sponsored their Torah study?

Story 2 
Here is a story that Rabbi Avi Weiss told me this week:

Based on the verse: Vehayitah ach sameach, you shall be happy (Devarim 16:15).

There was once a young woman that I knew.  Unfortunately I always felt that when I looked at this woman’s face I often saw sadness. I always felt that she was missing something in her life.

One day our shul held a bone marrow drive.  I encouraged her to get tested to see if she was a match as that could potentially save a person’s life.  She resisted.  She told me that even if she was a match she couldn’t see herself donating her own bone marrow.  After all, the donation process was supposed to be a painful and risky process.

Finally, she decided to get tested.  

Sure enough, a few years later she was called.  She was a match with someone and they needed her bone marrow. She came to me and asked for advice.  She said, “I am not sure if I should donate the bone marrow as there are risks involved.  I can’t imagine doing this.”

We spoke for a long time and I encouraged her to donate her bone marrow.  I promised that I would accompany her on her trip to the hospital. She ended up going through with the donation.  It was an all day process.

A year later she invited me to meet her at an event where she was scheduled to meet the recipient of his bone marrow for the first time. I went to the event and saw them meet each other.  It was a very uplifting moment.  Both donor and recipient were crying tears of joy.

She said to me, “This act of giving the bone marrow transformed me.”
I looked at her face and I saw a sense of fulfillment that I had never seen before.
When I looked at her face I saw happiness.

True happiness is giving to others.

Question: How can we best achieve happiness on our holidays?


Parasha Questions
Download a printable version here

Parashat Re’eh
Aliyah 1 - 11:26-12:10
1. What are the Hebrew words for blessing and curse in this aliyah?
2. Under what circumstances will we be blessed? Under what circumstances will we be cursed?

Aliyah 2 - 12:11-28
1. What is the commandment in psukim 13-14? Why do you think this is important for us to remember?
2. What are we prohibited from doing in psukim 16 and 23? Why?

Aliyah 3 - 12:29-13:19
1. Psukim 13-19 tell us the story of the ir nidachat, or a city that has begun to practice idolatry. What are we supposed to do if we hear about an ir nidachat?
2. What are we supposed to do to an ir nidachat? Why do you think that’s an appropriate punishment?

Aliyah 4 - 14:1-21
1. This aliyah discusses the laws of kashrut. What are the requirements for an animal to be kosher? What about a creature that lives in the water?
How do we know if a bird is kosher?

BONUS QUESTION!!!!!  What commonly eaten bird is not on this list? (hint - in Hebrew it’s called a תרנגול הודו). Should it be considered kosher? Why or why not? Email your answer to MaharatRuth@ostns.org and you’ll be entered in a raffle to win free ice cream!

Aliyah 5 - 14:22-29
1. What is the commandment given to us in this aliyah?
2. Why do we specifically have to give this amount as a tithe? Do you think it should be more? Less?

Aliyah 6 - 15:1-18
1. This aliyah teaches us some of the laws of shemitah. According to these psukim, what do we change in our society every 7th year? Why do you think

2. Hashem wants us to do this as a community?
The second half of the aliyah teaches us some laws of the eved ivri, or Hebrew slave. Why would someone have an eved ivri? Do you think that Hashem wants us to have an eved ivri forever? Why or why not?

Aliyah 7 - 15:19-16:17
1. The last aliyah describes the shalosh regalim (holidays). What are these holidays?
2. What does shalosh regalim mean? Why are they referred to with this name?

HAVE A GREAT SHABBOS!!!