Written by: Rabbi Avrohom S. Moller

The first part of this week’s parsha deals with the infamous insurrection of Korach and his congregation. Our sages in Pikei Avos describe this conflict with Moshe Rabeinu as the ultimate example of מחלוקת שלא לשם שמים – conflict which is caused by people who do not have pure motives. The contrast is the arguments of Bais Shammai and Bais Hillel which were for pure motives.

It is often difficult to discern what an adversary’s motive is. Often the first rebuttal to a challenge is to accuse one’s adversary of self-serving motives. However, there are some clues which help analyze from where the challenge is really coming. The gemara describes the tremendous respect which Bais Shammai and Bais Hillel displayed to each other even when the halachic debate got quite pitched and tense. There wasn’t any demonizing, disingenuous accusations, or unnecessary escalations. This is because both sides were seeking truth for the right reasons and that is what guided their behavior even during very contentious debates.

Conversely, Korach’s complaint about his own status as a “common” Levite began with an accusation that Moshe and Aron had cornered all the prestige and leadership for themselves and their close family. If Korach had really been looking to right a perceived wrong, he would have argued that he was also deserving of a leadership role. He was, however, motivated by jealousy and his view was that it was a zero-sum game, if he was elevated, Moshe and Aron must lose. This is how we know where his “crusade for his rights” really came from.

Unfortunately, we face challenges and contention in our personal and professional lives. We cannot always change others’ behaviors toward us, but we can monitor our own behavior. Are we being fair and not being accusatory? Are we able to concede that our opponent has merits either in the current argument or otherwise? Have we demonized them to the point that we cannot hear them anymore? These are questions we must ask ourselves to keep ourselves straight during such unsettling situations.

Written by: Rabbi Mordechai Raizman

Opening One’s Eyes

In this week’s Torah portion Shelach, we encounter the episode of the spies, 12 leaders of our people who were sent on a mission to explore and examine the land of Israel. Ten of the 12 spies returned with a negative report. These spies rallied the people to accept their report, and, consequently, the Jewish people were punished and could not enter the land of Israel for 40 years.

Last week’s Torah portion concludes with the story of Miriam speaking disparagingly about her brother Moshe, and as a result of her uncomplimentary words, was stricken with tzoraas (a skin ailment). She had to be quarantined for seven days creating a delay in the Jewish people’s traveling schedule.

Rashi comments that these two episodes appear in this order for a reason. He states that our 12 leaders should have learned from Miriam’s experience. However, a natural question arises with this statement. How are these episodes alike since Miriam spoke about a person while the spies spoke about the land.  At first glance, one could say that these two situations are different, but upon further investigation one can see a common thread. Both parties’ descriptions were negative.

From these two incidents, the Torah teaches us a lifelong lesson. Negative speech is unacceptable. If you are speaking harmfully about someone or something that is loshon hora (evil speech). It does not make a difference who or what the recipient is. Our character needs to be more principled. Loshon hora is not only about how it affects the person who is being spoken about but more so on how it affects the speaker. We need to always have a positive outlook on everything in life. Speaking positively in all situations about people, places and things is an important goal to achieve.

Written by: Rabbi Avrohom S. Moller

“The meat was yet between their teeth not yet chewed and Hashem’s wrath was kindled against the nation and He smote the nation with an exceedingly large plague.” These frightening words describe Hashem’s response to the demand for meat by some of the אספסוף, the “riffraff” amongst the Jewish people. G-D gave them their wish to demonstrate that he could deliver vast quantities of meat as they demanded, but he also extracted a very harsh punishment for the demand.

As with all other unhappy episodes in the Torah, this story is meant to teach us how to behave and to learn the lessons from this incident. So that begs the question, “What was the cause of Hashem’s anger in this incident?” Was it the demand for animal pleasure? Was it the lack of appreciation for the miracle of the manna? Was it the fact that there was rabblerousing going on when the אספסוף involved other people in their complaint for meat? These are all plausible explanations and the pesukim support these interpretations.

The Kehilas Yitzchok (A Torah anthology published in Vilna in 1900) offers the following insight based on the Midrash. The Midrash  tells us that the manna was delivered to each person according to his spiritual status. If a man was righteous, the manna fell at his doorstep. If not, he had to leave the camp and scour the area to collect his daily sustenance. If he was worthy the manna arrived well prepared. If not, he needed to grind, pound, cook, bake, etc. In effect, every person got a daily update of his standing in G-d’s eyes. This was unnerving for some of the less spiritual people. They didn’t like this level of accountability. They wanted to live their lives without all of the feedback. This is why they wanted food that they could access without the high visibility of Hashem’s opinion of them. This is why they pined for the days in Egypt that they could, “eat without any cost” which Rashi explains to mean, “free of all mitzvos” even though they certainly had to work physically to get their food in Egypt.

Hashem’s response to this attitude was very harsh. Accountability is the foundation for growth. It gives us the ability to repair our mistakes and to avoid them in the future. It encourages us to go on to greater things. To reject that feedback is not only rebellion, it shuts the door to any form of development and this was the terrible mistake of the אספסוף.

This idea is very important for all of us. It is repeated in Tanach and in the writings of our sages. The wise person appreciates constructive criticism and seeks feedback and guidance to grow more and more. Growth is the essence of and the real definition of life in this world! As parents, we need to speak to our children and to guide them. We should praise their good efforts and good choice making and correct them when they have fallen short so that they grow into well-developed people.

Written by: Rabbi Avrohom S. Moller

All On the Same Page

In this week’s parsha, Nasso, we read about the leaders of each shevet (tribe) bringing an offering at the dedication of the mishkan. If we pay close attention, we notice that each offering was exactly the same. This begs a question. Since the very concept of  creating the 12 shevatim is that every shevet has its own unique role to play, if they are all doing the same thing, where is the individuality that is supposed to emerge from each shevet?

There is a powerful lesson to be learned here. It is true each shevet had its own individual role to play.  For example,  Shevet Levi was composed of the kohanim who served in the Bais Hamikdosh, Shevet Yehuda  produced the kings while Shevet Yissachar produced Torah scholars. In addition, throughout the year, each shevet had plenty of other opportunities for individual growth and expression.

However, at this moment there was one goal in mind. The Jewish people were about to dedicate the mishkan to serve Hashem. They all had one focus, and therefore, brought the same exact offering. As they were starting, so to speak, the first synagogue of Klal Yisroel, the first business of order was to be on the same page, having the same goal, building the mishkan as a unified people in serving Hashem.

The same is true as we gather in our shuls whether it be daily, Shabbos, or Yom Tov. We all have different roles to play when we are interacting with the world around us. Some of us are rabbis, teachers, lay leaders, etc. However, when we come to shul, we all do the same thing; we say the same words and tefillos. We recognize that these moments of davening unite us in serving Hashem. Perhaps, that unity in shul is what gives us the ability to go out and serve Hashem in our individual roles as well. I believe that is what the nesiim  (leaders of each shevet) recognized. When we come together, we all need to start on the same page. After doing so, we can branch out and fulfill our individual roles in this world, completing many pages in the book of the Jewish people.