@@@@@@
Doing Our Thing
“And Hashem will rejoice in you as He rejoiced in your fathers”
Like our fathers? Those who followed Hashem into the desert? Who heard Hashem face to face, and walked through the Yam Suf with Him? Little us can compare to them?
Hashem says ‘No matter. Keep your Mitzvos and I will be as happy over you I was happy over your parents’.
We have our job to do. We have only the powers that we were born with. We have not the powers of those who followed Hashem into the desert, nor do we have their parents, upbringing and inspiration. We are not expected to produce as they did; we are expected only to do our job.
Filling our quota, be it big or small, makes Hashem happy. He was pleased with our forefathers, and He will be happy with us. Don’t look at the stature of our forefathers or their achievements, rather that they completed their tasks. In this we can emulate and measure up to them.
Just do yours.
***
@@@@@@
Sweet As A Penalty
Moshe gathered the Jews to make an agreement with them: ‘To make us His nation, and that He will be our G-d’.
Wasn’t that already done by Sinai? What’s the new agreement?
For an agreement to last it needs consequences for when things are not done. These consequences are productive; they drive the agreement.
So Yes, Hashem had announced that He will be ours and we will be His. But what will make that happen? The curses in last week’s parshah cement that agreement. Moshe negotiated them into an agreement where Klal Yisroel accepted these penalties as guarantee of their relationship.
Penalties drive treaties. Appreciate them!
***
@@@@@@
Kids In Shul
Why bring small children to Hakhel, ask Chazal? ‘To grant reward to their bringers’.
This is a catch 22: if there is value in their attendance, what’s the question? If there is none, would their bringers be rewarded for doing something useless?
We suggested that there is no value in children coming. But parents who bring their children make a statement: this is important! Their bringers will be rewarded even if the kid gains nothing.
That’s why we bring kids to Shul (so long as they don’t make a ruckus!) because this declares that Shul is meaningful.
***
@@@@@@
Its The Journey, Not The Destination
We each need to write a sefer Torah. If need be, one can fulfill his obligation by buying it, but not by inheriting it.
If the mitzvah is having a Torah, why isn’t inheriting enough? And if its the writing, how does buying figure in?
Aside from actual learning, there is a mitzvah to PROCURE Torah. The gaining of Torah is not only a prerequisite to knowledge, it is also a mitzvah on its own. And here too: we need to PROCURE a Torah. Inheriting is not our doing, so it does not count. But buying is, and certainly writing one is.
The gemarah tells of Rav Idi who would travel three months to yeshiva and three months back, staying for only one day. He was dubbed ‘Bar bei rav d’chad yoma’.
Perhaps he was merely doing all he could. But there is a further point here; there is mitzvah in the travel even if he only spent one day in yeshiva, because he was investing in procuring Torah.
Sometimes learning isn’t a productive as one hopes. No matter. The hunt is an end-goal, not merely a means.
You did good.