Hazzinu

Famous last words: Watch this !

1. This week’s Parshah is Hazzinu . It is the penultimate Parshah in the Torah (Five books of Moses.)  For the last few Parshas and most of sefer Devarim we have been focusing on Moses’ last day of life.

2. Parshat Bereshit is the first Parshah in the Torah. It covers from the creation of time to 1,000 years into history. Why is the Torah  not laid out in even increments of time? The first Parshah is 1,000 years and the last one is a few hours of one day?

3. I was told,  at the end of sefer Devarim the Parshas become very short because
when you are coming to the end of your life, time seems  to move faster and the years seem shorter. Moshe's life was coming to an end he was experiencing a telescoping of time.

4. When one is young s/he doesn’t consider his own mortality and does not value their time. “Youth is wasted on the young” . We only truly appreciate the price we pay for a day, when we can not purchase any more, when we are out of days.

4. Moses knew it was his last day of life. In life each day becomes more valuable. They all have the same 24 hour absolute  length . If you live to 80 years that is  29,200 days. However, each day of your life  is a slightly larger percentage of your remaining time on earth.Your first year is less than 2 percent of your total life. 100% of Moses life span remained in his last day.

4. At the end of the Parshah Moshe tells the people “you will lengthen your days if you listen to the song I am singing.”  How to lengthen our days is the last message Moses gives the Jewish People through the example he set on his last day of life.You should live your life by teaching and by learning from others. We can bring value to our days only by becoming wise beyond our years.

*The last words of Einstein's life were a few sentences uttered in German.  Unfortunately the Nurse who was attending to him did not speak German.  The last few minutes of Einstein's life were relatively worthless, or where they?

Vayelech

Thoughts confine the mind , eyes can blind , when we are trying to find....

1. In this week’s parshah we are told of a time when Hashem will hide his face. Some commentaries point to this verse as an allusion to Purim. Others to the time of the Holocaust. The verse contains a double language of the term hidden to stress the concealment; literally it is a concealed concealment.

2. What type of concealment is this and why does Hashem hide himself?

3. Different types of disguise:

Obstructed- Not in our view. Yankel was looking for his house key near a street light. Another man walked over to Yankel and asked him what he was doing. Yankel said he heard his key fall out of his pocket, the man asked Yankel where exactly did it fall ? Yankel responded, up the block but it is very dark in that part of the street . When we search for G-D using only scientific, empirical methods we are searching for something that cannot be quantified and we will not find it.

Camouflage blends in to the surroundings. This is the concealment provided by nature. The error of pantheism is that it mistakes the glove for the hand.

Smithy was on the roof of his house during a massive flood. A boat showed up offering assistance and Smithy refused it, saying to himself no G-D will save me. A helicopter flies by and throws down a line. Again Smithy refuses and says G-D will save him. Smithy ultimately drowns. When he gets to Heaven he asked G-D, why did you not rescue me I had complete faith! G-D answered , what are you talking about I sent two angels for you.

When the invisible man puts on a shirt he reveals himself.

4. Concealed- I am not aware it is hidden. If I hold out both of my hands and tell you to guess which hand the candy is in then it is obstructed. If I hide money in your house without telling you it is obstructed and you are not aware it is hidden, it is a concealed concealment. This is the nature of the hiding that the verse is speaking of.

In experimental research many experiments must conceal the aspect they are testing for in order to get an accurate result. For a good example of this see the Milgram experiment.

4.Chacham Grossman told me a great example. If you see a cop waiting at an intersection it is not a test to see if you will stop at the red light. When the cop is hiding that is the true test. G-D must conceal himself to make room for us to exist, to exercise our free will and to truly do good.

Nitzavim

Get busy living or get busy dying. 

1.The Dali Lama has an insightful thought experiment. If today was the last day of your life, how would you spend your time ? Who would you talk to? What would you tell them? What would you not do?

1.This week’s Parshah takes place on the last day of Moshe’s life. He advises the Jewish people regarding the future of Jewish history. At the end of the Parshah he states : “Behold I have set forth before you today life and good and death and evil”

2. What about a middle ground? Everything we do is not a matter of life and death.

3. Moshe was teaching the Jewish people the value of a day on his last. He taught the value of time and the value of how it’s spent. All that we do has an opportunity cost because our time on earth is finite and one day we will die. Everything we do is either positive and life affirming or negative. There is no neutral in life.

4. The Script- Break Even

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

4. Bear Bryant, a college football coach had this to say, about the value of a day.

This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever.
Leaving something in its place I have traded for it.
I want it to be a gain, not loss - good, not evil.
Success, not failure in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it.

Shabbat Shalom U'mivorach,

Dan

Ki Tavo

Happy Happy, Joy Joy 

1. In this week’s parshah Moshe rebukes the Jewish people and warns them that in the future they will be punished for their misdeeds . One reason given for being punished is given in verse 28:47
 
“Because you did not serve the Lord, your God, with happiness and with gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything.”
 
2. I can understand why G-D would be upset with the Jews not listening to him, but why does G-D specifically mention that it was not with “happiness and gladness of heart”? What is so essential about joy to the observance of the commandments during times of prosperity?
 
3.  When the Jews are happy when they are supposed to be sad G-D is upset. G-D is more upset when the Jews are sad when they are supposed to be happy. An example of this is the first Tisha Bav. When the Jews were in the desert they sent spies to scout out the land of Israel. The spies returned with a negative report and the Jews cried about entering the land of Israel. They were receiving an amazing gift, but instead cried about it. Because of these actions the entire generation could not enter the land and G-D told the Jews that because they cried on that night for no reason, he will give them a reason to cry.  This story happened on the ninth of Av.
 
3. Joy is a fundamental aspect of Hakarat Hatov (gratitude for the good bestowed upon you). That is why G-D requires it. When we serve G-D with joy during times of prosperity it highlights the fact that we appreciate what G-D has provided for us.  Joy is the highest level of gratitude .
 
4. I was at a wedding once and I took a break from the dancing to sit down and drink some water. I noticed at the table a young girl probably around 6 or 7 with leg braces. I moved next to her and asked her if she was having fun, she replied yes with a smile. Then she asked me a question I will never forget. She pointed at a couple who were also sitting at the table and asked, why aren’t they dancing? I almost started crying.
 
That is what G-D is asking the Jews of our generation. You have everything, why aren’t you happy, why aren’t you dancing?