Rabbi Frand on Parshas Beha'aloscha
This dvar Torah was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: # 196,
Vegetarianism. Good Shabbos!
The Cloud Moves On and So Does Life
There is a very interesting Ramba"n in this week's parsha. The Torah
says that the pattern of the Jewish nation travelling and camping in
the wilderness was dependent upon the movement of the Cloud that accompanied
them. The Ramba"n comments that it was not uncommon for the Jews to arrive
at an absolutely undesirable place in the dessert. At times, they wanted to
leave a place immediately, but they would need to stay because the Cloud
stopped over the Tabernacle. Similarly, at other times, they arrived at a
lovely place, exhausted, and wishing to stay for a long time. Often, after
only two or three days in such places, the Cloud began to move and they
continued their travels.
The Ramba"n adds that sometimes they would come to a spot, the Cloud would
stop, and they would all unpack. Then, the next morning, after they finished
unpacking all of their belongings, the Cloud would move and they would have
to repack and start travelling all over again.
Imagine such an experience! We know what is involved in going on a trip.
Everything is loaded into the station wagon. With great effort, everything
is tied down on the roof. When we finally arrive at our destination, we want
to at least stay for a couple of weeks!
This is the meaning of the pasuk [verse], "When the Cloud lingered upon the
Tabernacle many days, the Children of Israel would maintain the charge of
Hashem and would not journey" [Bamidbar 9:19]. The travels were not easy.
They were a tremendous test.
However, there is an obvious question. G-d is not a capricious puppeteer who
demands that people "jump" for no reason. What was the point of making the
sojourn in the Dessert so arbitrary and so burdensome?
Rav Dessler offers a very interesting insight in his sefer [book] Michtav
May'Eliyahu (Volume 4). Rav Dessler explains that the time in the wilderness
was the period during which the Jews received much of the Torah. Perhaps G-d
was trying to teach us the lesson that we must learn Torah and perform
Mitzvos in spite of any outside conditions. Many of us say, "If only we had
a little more free time" or "If only we did not have to worry so much about
making a living..." "If only we did not have to worry about our children" --
"Oh boy would we be able to sit and learn Torah and daven [pray] like we
should daven, without rushing through!"
As a Rebbe in the Yeshiva, I must, from time to time, chastise a bachur
when he is not performing up to par. I often hear excuses like: "I am busy
with school work" or "I am having trouble with shidduchim" [dating] -- if
only I had my shidduch and I finished college -- oh boy would I be able to
sit and learn!" But life does not work like that. Life is always full of
disturbances. We are not living in the Garden of Eden. There are financial
problems. There are problems with parents, problems with children. There
are always problems!
That is what the Torah is teaching us through the travels in the wilderness.
Life in the desert was not easy. It was no picnic. But life must continue.
In other words, we must continue learning and living as an honest and
dignified Jew in spite of the surrounding conditions.
Anyone who has ever read the history of the Mir Yeshiva during World War Two
is amazed. The Mir Yeshiva fled from Mir and Poland to Russia and across
Russia into Kobe, Japan and from Kobe to Shanghai, China. They were young
men -- single and married -- who did not know what the next day would bring.
Bochrim were separated from their families. They did not know if their
families were alive or dead. They did not know if they would ever get out of
the morass; and if they would, if they would ever get married.
Any "Mirrer talmid" [student at the Mir Yeshiva] from that time period can
tell you that in the worst days of Shanghai, the Yeshiva continued; the
Sedarim [regular schedule of hours for learning Torah] were maintained,
people learned and people wrote Torah S'farrim [books]. People learned Torah
in the worst of conditions.
We, Baruch Hashem [thank G-d], have relatively easy lives. Our parents lived
through much more difficult conditions than we can ever imagine. They
learned Torah and performed Mitzvos in spite of the tough conditions. This
is the lesson of the Cloud -- continuing to exist when not everything is
provided on a silver platter. Life is not provided on a silver platter, but
life, Torah and Mitzvos must continue.
"Statistical" Cruelty
This week's parsha contains the positive Biblical command [Rambam Hilchos
Ta'anis Chapter 1] of "crying out and blowing trumpet blasts regarding every
calamity that befalls the community". According to some opinions, this law
is applicable even nowadays (in the Land of Israel); according to other
opinions, it is only applicable when the Beis HaMikdash is built.
The Rambam, quoting the pasuk in this week's portion [Bamidbar 10:9],
explains that every communal calamity -- be it a plague or pestilence or
locusts or any public suffering -- requires crying out and blowing of
trumpets.
The Rambam explains that this is part of the Teshuvah [Repentance] process.
When we Jews hear the sound of the trumpet we know that the troubles
befalling us are because of our deeds. This introspection and determination
to repent and improve our communal and individual ways will eventually stop
our misfortunes.
But, says the Rambam, if the response of the community is not to blow and
not to pray, repent and think any differently, but rather to attribute the
misfortune to "the ways of the world", to statistical chance, to the
"realities of life" -- this is derech achzariyus [the way of cruelty]. Such
attitudes cause people to remain attached to their evil ways and cause
G-d's response to be "more such statistics".
This expression of the Rambam -- "derech achzariyus" -- has always bothered
me. If the Rambam would have called it "the way of heretics" or "the way of
fools", I would not have been bothered, but "the way of the cruel" is a
perplexing choice of words. What does this have to do with being cruel?
Not long ago, I heard an interesting insight from Rav Nosson Scherman into
the meaning of this Rambam. Rav Scherman compared this matter to an
intersection in one's neighborhood where accidents are constantly occurring.
It is just a terrible corner -- again and again, another accident, another
person killed.
Someone approaches the government and petitions that they do something about
the intersection. "Put up a stop sign; put up a red light; do something --
there is a carnage going on out there!"
The bureaucrat responds "No, the department has determined that there is no
need for a stop sign." That bureaucrat is cruel, because he can stop the
carnage, he can stop the accidents; but he is not willing to do anything
about it. It is simply cruel to preside over carnage and do nothing, when it
is within your power to stop the carnage.
This is what the Rambam is telling us. Troubles befall a community, and the
community can do something about it -- because the blowing of the trumpets
and doing Teshuvah will cause the troubles to stop -- however, the community
fails to do something about the troubles, but rather attributes them to "the
realities of life". Such a community is cruel to its own members.
So many times, when we see things go wrong in our communities, we have a
tendency to react by saying, "Well, that's just the way it is". That is
cruel. This is not the reaction that the Torah expects from us. The Torah
wants us to put up a stop sign -- to stop and think and react and try to
improve. A community that fails to react is as bad as the bureaucrat who
fails to put up the stop sign on the carnage-prone intersection.
Glossary
daven -- pray
shidduch[im] -- matche[s] (finding a match for marriage)
bachur / bochrim -- single man / men
sedarim -- regular hours for learning (literally order)
Beis HaMikdash -- Temple
This week's write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah portion (#196).
The corresponding halachic portion for this tape is: Vegetarianism. The
other halachic portions for Beha'aloscha from the Commuter Chavrusah Series
are:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
and is available through your local Hebrew book store or from
Project Genesis, 1-410-654-1799.
