RE’EH כ''ו אב 5767

Good morning everybody, I am once again, pleased to be back speaking to you.

This week’s sedra, parshas ראה, has numerous mitzvos in it. There is, however, one major thread which runs through the sedra and is mentioned especially at the beginning and towards the end. The first time we encounter this is before sheini and Moshe Rabbenu was telling the Bnei Yisroel that they must destroy all vestiges of avodah zoro when they enter the promised land. They should destroy their altars, burn their idols and effigies etc. Then the Torah continues


“You shall not do the same to Hashem.” And the next verse is
כי אם אל המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלכיכם מכל שבטיכם לשום את שמו שם לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה

“But to the place which Hashem will choose from all his tribes to place His name there, you should search for His Shechina and you should come there.”

And the Torah continues that you should bring all different karbonos etc. Immediately after sheini the Torah again uses the expression
והיה המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלכיכם בו לשכן שמו שם

Virtually a repeat of this and three verses later again it says
כי אם במקום אשר יבחר ה'

If that is not enough another three verses later it again says
במקום אשר יבחר ה'
The place Hashem will choose.

Very strange that the Torah is emphasising again and again this expression of the place that Hashem has chosen to cause his Shechina to dwell. Of course, this does mean the Bais Hamikdosh as I am sure you have understood.

At chamishei we read the famous parsha of עשר תעשר which is also read on the last day of Yom Tov. Once again the Torah keeps on mentioning from there right to end of the sedra, this phrase.
במקום אשר יבחר ה'

The penultimate posuk of the sedra has once again those very words.

And then the final verse of the sedra is
שלש פעמים בשנה יראה כל זכורך את פני ה' אלכיך במקום אשר יבחר בחג המצות ובחג השבעות ובחג הסכות
Three times every year all males should appear before Hashem in the place I will choose, on Pesach, Shavuos and Succos.

You will find, if you go carefully through the sedra that this expression or something like it, is mentioned no fewer than 15 times in this sedra. As usual I am asking a simple question. Why does it need to be repeated again and again and again and why 15 times.

Some of you may recall that many months ago I spoke about the importance of the Mishkon. That, of course, was the edifice erected in the midbar and which carried on serving as the focal spiritual point of the whole Jewish people for the first few hundred years that they were in Eretz Yisroel. Eventually, as we know, Shlomo Hamelech built the Bais Hamikdosh and it was consecrated 480 years after the Jews left Egypt.

This was המקןם אשר יבחר ה' the place that Hashem had ordained would be the spiritual focus of all the activities of Klal Yisroel and a beacon of light for the whole world. It remained so for 410 years until the first Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed. 70 years later it was rebuilt and the second Bais Hamikdosh stood a further 420 years. This Holy and magnificent building which was erected by Shlomo and a further magnificent building which was erected for the second Bais Hamikdosh, was not just an ornamental palace or museum, it was the place that gave spiritual inspiration to the whole of Klal Yisroel all the year round. Even more so, on Yom Kippur when the Kohen Godol carried out the whole avodah and atoned for the Bnei Yisroel.

As far as the Yidden were concerned, the mitzvah mentioned at the end of Re’eh was very relevant to them. This was that three times a year on every one of the שלש רגלים , it was a positive commandment, a מצות עשה to come to the Bais Hamikdosh and bring with presents and karbonos as mentioned right at the end of the sedra.

What was the point of them coming three times a year? Our meforshim tell us that this was to give them spiritual uplift that they could then take home and pass on to their own families. The atmosphere of קדושה, holiness, and טהרה, purity, was palpable there. You will, no doubt, all recall the Mishna in the fifth perek of Pirkei Avos which starts עשרה נסים נעשו לאבותינו בבית המקדש , there were ten miracles that happened to our forefathers in the Bais Hamikdosh. This was a place that was למעלה מן הטבע , supernatural. Therefore, there was, in fact, a recharging of spiritual batteries.

The Gemora in Menuchos כ''ט says on the posek כי בי'ה ה' צור עולמים that Hashem created the two worlds, our world and the world to come with a י and with a ה and the ה represents our world and the י represents the world to come and proof is brought from right at the beginning of Torah because it says בהבראם This word is explained as ב''הא'' בראם our world was created with a ה and the reason is because a ה looks like a veranda so that anybody who wishes to, can fall down (in a spiritual manner) from sitting on the roof of the ה . If he wishes to do teshuva he then climbs up the leg of the foot on the left hand side. The י represents the world to come, because it is the smallest of all letters and there are very few tzaddikim who will be able to aspire to the heights of it and it is also bent in the same way as tzaddikim, who do not walk haughtily but with their heads inclined.

The long and short of the Gemora is that י and ה represent the two worlds and where, I would ask, did the two worlds meet? In the Bais Hamikdosh, because you had the spiritual level coming down represented by the י and the people coming in to the Bais Hamikdosh and all the animals as korbonos and other physical entities such as the shulchan with the show bread on it representing the ה, all together. This was the place that Hashem chose for the purpose and, therefore, one has this constant emphasis, במקום אשר יבחר ה' the place which Hashem had chosen to rest his Shechina there.

We now also understand why it is mentioned 15 times because that is exactly what י and ה add up to.

You may recall the numerous Shir Hamaalos שיר המעלות . If you look carefully and add them up, there are exactly 15. What does the translation of those two words mean, “A song for the steps”. The Levi’im sang the Shir Hamaalos on these 15 steps going up to the בית המקדש as the water was brought up to the Bais Hamikdosh on Sukkos for the ceremony of ניסוך המים There were exactly 15 שיר המעלות and 15 steps to bring together the spiritual and the physical. In fact, the whole ceremony was known as שמחת בית השואבה and we are told that from there רוח הקודש was drawn.

I recall that in 1968 shortly after the whole of Yerushalyim was united, I went to an Arab school which overlooked the whole of the Bais Hamikdosh and it was a very interesting sight. One thing that caught my eye was, that even nowadays, there were 15 steps going up towards the actual mount on which, unfortunately, at the moment, there is a mosque as you are aware.

This idea of 15 joining together and fusing the י and the ה is mentioned in davenning as well every day. Right at the beginning of davenning among the korbonos there is a paragraph which starts off with אביי הוה מסדר סדר המערכה stating the order of the service in the Bais Hamikdosh each day. There are exactly 15 items mentioned. Furthermore, the middle one, number 8, is the ketores that was brought each day. As we know ketores was the most spiritual of all the items brought as an offering and therefore, it is at the heart of all the avodah that was carried out each day.

In the pesukei d’zimra, we have numerous kapitelech which commence and also end with the word הללוי'ה. The Gemora at the end of Pesochim, tells us that this can be viewed as two words namely הללו and י' ה We are praising Hashem who created the two worlds with the י and the ה We go into detail in the pesukei d’zimra of the numerous ways that the world shows that it is created by Hashem. One mizmor talks about the heavens, the earth, the people living in it and others speak about other facets of our world, י' ה as you all appreciate adds up to 15 and represents the fusion of the spiritual and physical worlds. By praising Hashem we are elevating the הto join to the י. Furthermore, the word הללוי'ה adds up to 86 which is exactly the gemmatria of Elokim which is known as middos Hadin. By praising Hashem, we sweeten and offset the middos Hadin. This is known as המתקת הדין.

We are told that the tefillos that we make are in place of the karbonos brought in the Bais Hamikdosh ונשלמה פרים שפתינו our lips should move in place of bringing offerings.

We also find that in ישתבח, which is, of course, a praise of Hashem, you have 15 expressions of praise and the like, commencing שיר ושבחה up to ברכות והודאות

Immediately after Shema every morning we have אמת ויציב which go up to וטוב ויפה again 15 expressions of praise of Hashem. The idea is that we, in our prayers, are also striving to bring together the two worlds, the physical world, Olam Hazeh with the spiritual upper world in the same way as the avodah was carried out in the Bais Hamikdosh.

The mekubalim tell us that the four parts of tefilla, represent the four levels of world. The korbonos represent the Olam Ha’sia, this world, the pesukei d’zimra of which ישתבח is the culmination, represents the Olam Ha Yiztira, the world of formation. The Olam Ha’ Bria, the world of creation, is commenced with יוצר אור all the way up to Shemona Esrei and therefore, we have this idea of 15 mentioned at all three levels. At Shemona Esrei which is the highest level and comparable to Olam Ha’Aztilus as near as possible to Hashem, there is absolute fusion and, therefore, no need to emphasise the 15.

The very posek that I quoted כי בי'ה ה' צור עולמים comes right near the end of ובא לציון after which we say the special Kaddish תתקבל namely that Hashem should accept our prayers and entreaties.

You will, no doubt, recall the famous maamer chazel איש ואשה שכינה שרויה ביניהם a husband and wife have the Shechina that dwells between them, there is a Yod י in איש and a ה in אשה. Together there is a י and a ה . The other letters in each is אש fire, because if the Shechina does not dwell among them, unfortunately there are problems. Whereas, if the Shechina does dwell among them, together they elevate this mundane world to a high spiritual level.

One further thought regarding the original question I posed with the expression במקום אשר יבחר ה' is repeated time and again, there is a possek which we say in יהי כבוד during pesukei d’zimra and in fact it comes from a Shir Hamaalos
כי בחר ה' בציון אוה למושב לו
Because Hashem chose Zion and was anxious that there should be a place for Him to dwell.

Referring again, of course, to the Bais Hamikdosh. The word בחר is, of course the root of יבחר. If one spells out the letters that is ב being ב י ת which adds up to 412 ח which is ח י ת which adds up to 418 and ר which is ר י ש and adds up to 510. This totals 1340.

As we know, Parshas Re’eh was part of the speech of Moshe Rabbenu in the last days of his life and it was 440 years later that Shlomo built the Bais Hamikdosh. The first Bais Hamikdosh stood for 410 years. There were then 70 years of the first golus followed by 420 years of the second Bais Hamikdosh. This also totals 1340 as well. A very deep remez for this constant repetition of יבחר. The י refers to Hashem being the first letter of the name of Hashem and the rest, as I mentioned, in depth, refers to the total years from the statement by Moshe Rabbenu until the second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed.



As you are all aware, we are almost up to Shmitta year and this week’s sedra we have a particular mitzvah mentioned, of not ignoring a poor person because Shmitta is coming and therefore not giving him a loan which would automatically be cancelled because of Shmitta. The Torah tells us, you should give him, and continue giving him, and not be upset כי בגלל הדבר הזה יברכך ה' because if you do support him Hashem will bless you and all your works and everything that belongs to you.

The Gemora at the end of Shabbos takes the word, בגלל , which is a very unusual word in Torah and explains גלגל הוא החזיר בעולם namely money is like a wheel turning, it sometimes is with one person and afterwards it goes to somebody else.

I came across a beautiful story about this concerning a famous Tzaddik, R’ Mendel Kossover. When he was a young man and very poor, he heard that his Rebbe, known as R’ Feivish of Zeborz was going to visit for Shabbos near where he lived in a place called Skula. R’ Mendel decided that he would, therefore, go to be with his Rebbe for Shabbos and, having no transport, he walked. He had to walk for two or three days and on Thursday evening he reached a village still a quite a few miles away from Skula and spied an inn. Seeing that it had a mezuzah on the door, he went in and asked the baalabos if he could stay there overnight. He had not eaten all day and was very tired.

The answer was “Yes, you can come in and stay here overnight but I am sorry I have not got anything to eat. My children are crying for food and I haven’t got anything for them even. I have absolutely no parnosa and the Poretz, the local squire, is threatening to throw myself and all the family into prison because I haven’t paid him for such a long time.”

R’ Mendel Kossover was, of course, upset and could not sleep all night because of it. When morning came, he left blessing the baalabos that Hashem should help him and started walking towards Skula. He had only walked a few miles and a coach came by and stopped, there was a Yid who was obviously wealthy sitting there and he asked him “Tell me, young man, where are you going?”

He replied “I am going to the Rebbe of Zeborz.”

“Good,” said the other gentleman, “I am also going there, come and join me.”

R’ Mendel Kossover answered, “I am not coming with you unless you give me five roubles.”

The other gentleman was annoyed “Not enough that I want to give you a free lift, you want me to pay you for it as well.”

“I am not asking for myself, believe me,” Said R’ Mendel, “It would also be good for you if you listen to me.”

“How come?” said the oisher, the rich gentleman.

“Well,” said R’ Mendel “except for the fact that you are going to give tzedoka, you should know that nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow or in the future, גלגל הוא החזיר בעולם.

The other gentleman took it to heart and gave him the five roubles. “Right,” said R’ Mendel “we are not going on now, lets turn round and go back to the village we have just passed and you will see how great a mitzvah you are going to perform. OK?”

They turned round and then went back. R’ Mendel gave the inn keeper the money and said, “Please go into town and buy some liquor.” And he also promised him, “You will see, from now onwards, you are going to be a changed person and you will have hatzlocha.”

Then he said to the rich man “You know what, one mitzvah brings another one, lets daven here and we will give some more money to your wagon driver and he can buy something to eat for breakfast for the children and for ourselves,.”

So he agreed to that as well, handed over some more money and meanwhile, they davenned and afterwards the wagon driver came back with a whole lot of bread and so the children got bread, the inn keeper and his wife got bread and what was left he gave to the wealthy man for Shabbos, after that he took a little bit for himself.

Just as they were leaving R’ Mendel said to the innkeeper “You should know that from now onwards you are on the up and up, you are going to become very rich and the person who just helped you is going to have exactly the opposite fate, so remember that you should pay him back in the fullness of time.” He also suggested to him that he should leave that place and go and live somewhere else.

Meanwhile, R’ Mendel and the rich person got to the Tzaddik of Zeborz and there were lots of people and they could not get in, but suddenly they were spied and R’ Mendel was let in. This surprised the rich man who realised that the young man who he had taken on board was not just an ordinary Chosid of the Rebbe but must be something special himself. When R’ Mendel came into the Rebbe, R’ Feivish of Zeborz, he told him the whole story and was interrupted. “I know,” he said, “I understand what you did but did you tell the innkeeper how he is supposed to act later on?”

“Yes I did” replied R’ Mendel.

Shortly after this, the oisher started losing all his money and after a time he became an absolutely poor man and had to join a group of עניים who used to go from one town to another to beg for funds.

Meanwhile, R’ Mendel of Kossov himself became known as a Rebbe and people flocked to him. After many years, this previous oisher who was now such an onei, reached Kossov and had no idea who this Rebbe was, but was told by other poor people that he was very generous in giving tzedoka. He, therefore, went to see him.

R’ Mendel recognised him and said to him “I know who you are and I am going to give you a letter to a very rich man and you will see that you will be helped.”

The poor fellow was absolutely astounded but he took the letter and went to where he was told. He then handed over the letter to this wealthy man. 15 years had elapsed since the original story and before the man had opened the letter he called in his wife, and said “Do you recognise this man?”. They both looked intently at him and something clicked. Meanwhile, he said to his wife “You know that I had a dream last night, that the Rebbe of Kossov was going to send me a letter stating that I have got to now pay back a favour that was done to us long ago.” They discussed it with the poor man and he finally remembered that he had many years ago helped as mentioned at the beginning of the story. They then journeyed back together to R’ Mendel of Kossov who instructed the rich man to give a very generous sum to the poor individual who once again started business and became very successful and an oisher again.

As I said גלגל הוא החזיר בעולם

כ''ו אב 5767