The Evil Spirits

Not sure what to make of this.  

"Furthermore, there is an amazing tradition regarding Graf Potoczki, born in Poland to aristocratic parents, who had his heart set on joining the nation of Israel and converting to Judaism. Since such a thing was prohibited in his time, he converted secretly and engrossed himself in Torah. Eventually, the Christians captured him and offered him two options: to return to Christianity or to be burned alive. The righteous convert chose to die by fire, thereby publicly sanctifying God’s Name. At that moment, the Vilna Gaon said that the ruach ra’ah lost some of its strength, particularly regarding the ruach ra’ah of Shacharit. For this reason the students of the Vilna Gaon are lenient regarding walking four amot before washing" (From Peninei Halakha 8:4.)

This tradition is corroborated by Rav Shlomo Zalman, cited in Eshay Yisrael on the laws of prayer

Hearty Building

 Gr"a on Shir Hashirim (1:17)

The Mishkan was a place of the gathering of the hearts of Klal Yisrael.  A person's body has to go here and there and be involved in daily pursuits but the heart can remain pure.  A person's desires do not have to be held captive by the pulls of the world and the heart of a person is the Mishkan within the individual.  The Mishkan is the place where all the hearts come together.  It is a manifistation in a physical sense of the purity of heart.  It is a place which rises above the tumah of the world where one connects to a place of pure holiness.  

The Sforno (25:9) לדבר עמך ולקבל תפלת ועבודת ישראל, לא כמו שהיה הענין קודם העגל, כאמרו ״בכל המקום וכו׳ אבוא אליך״.  The Sforno goes לשיטתו in a few places that the need for a Miדhkan was established only after the חטא העגל.  And he adds the point of the Mishkan is a place to daven to Hashem.  כי ביתי בית תפלה יקרא לכל העמים, the Mishkan was a place of prayer, where one can pour out their heart before Hashem.

Put In The Fire

Rashi says תיעשה המנורה – מלא. לפי שהיה משה מתקשה בה, אמר הקב״ה: השלך הככר לאור והיא נעשית מאיליה. לכך לא נכתב: תעשה.  Moshe had a hard time understanding how to make the menorah so Hashem told him to throw it into a fire and it came out complete.  What was so difficult about the menorah specifically?  The Menorah represents the light of Torah (as discussed in the Netziv in detail.)  Moshe was astonished as to how one is supposed to be able to learn Torah in a manner in which it will illuminate the person and the world at large?  How can one merit to learn Torah in such a manner through all the difficulties one faces? Hashem answers thrown it into the fire, when one puts their energy into learning Torah, when one learns with a hislavus, then Hashem will give one the ability to understand and to penetrate the depths of the Torah so that it illuminates himself and the world at large (see Sfas Emes 5631.)

Rosh Chodesh, Adar, Mishpatim

This week is the parsha of Mishpatim, Rosh Cohdesh Adar 1.  What is the common denominator of these various occurrences?   

The parsha of Mattan Torah is split between Yisro and Mishpatim.  In the parsha of Yisro, the giving of the Torah with the great event that is maamad Har Sinai is recounted.  This is the giving from the side of Hashem.  The parsha of Mishpatim describes the kabbalah of Klal Yisrael, the naaaseh veneshma.  The giving of the Torah is kedusha breaking into the barriers of the world. The receiving of the Torah is accepting, bringing the Torah into the boundaries of the world.  

The holiday of Rosh Chodesh is a day in which the holiday aspect is not so apparent.  For many people it is just a longer Shacharit, but the day is the same like any other.  The kedusha of the day is not apparent.  Why is this so?  Since the holiday of Rosh Chodesh corresponds to the renewal of the moon.  It is a reminder that even when things seem to be going downhill, when the light is diminishing, there is a renewal of the light.  The holiday reminds us that even when the dark days of the golus seem so bleak, Klal Yisrael will not be lost.  The Rosh Chodesh holiday reminds us that even during the chol, when the kedusha is not readily seen, still we are not forgotten.  The holiday aspect only will become recognized in the future.  The possuk at the end of the haftorah of Shabbas Rosh Chodesh is וְהָיָ֗ה מִֽדֵּי⁠־חֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ בְּחׇדְשׁ֔וֹ וּמִדֵּ֥י שַׁבָּ֖ת בְּשַׁבַּתּ֑וֹ יָב֧וֹא כׇל⁠־בָּשָׂ֛ר לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺ֥ת לְפָנַ֖י אָמַ֥ר י״יֽ.  The Yalkut says that in the future every Rosh Chodesh will become a time of aliyah l'regal.  The holiday aspect of Rosh Chodesh will be fully recognized.   

The addition of a 13th month is to keep the solar year and lunar year aligned.  This is a  hint, a prelude, to the time of when והיה אור הלבנה כאור החמה (Yeshayua 30:26,) when the moon will shine like the sun.  The addition of a Rosh Chodesh Adar specific, beyond every Rosh Chodesh, is a time where the light of the future shines a small ray on us in the present.  There is a prevalent custom to add in the beracha of Rosh Chodesh where there is a 13th month the words ולכפרת פשע.  The additional month is a כפרה for the diminished light of the moon, which is the source of the darkness in the world (see Toras Menachem 5711 Mishpatim.)  Hence, Rosh Chodesh Adar is a super Rosh Chodesh of sorts.  It is a time of celebration of the holiday, above nature, being absorbed into nature just as Mishpatim is the parsha of bringing the Torah down into the laws and details of everyday life.

His Torah

 Sorry for the bad print, it is the copy I found on hebrewbooks.com.

From the Chida in שיורי ברכה יו"ד סי רמג 

Simply understood the Gemarah that says רב שמחל על כבודו, כבודו מחול (Kiddushin 32b) means that one can be mochal on the honor given to him for studying Torah.  However, the Chida says that there can be a person who is deserving of honor due to the Torah they have studied but at the same time the Torah is not considered to become the Torah of the individual for him to have the ability to be mochal as תורה דיליה.  In order to be תורה דיליה, one has to be able to understand the halachos that one is learning.  Only when one delves into them does it become תורה דיליה.  

Shalom Of Torah

Daas Chachma U'Mussar volume 1 maamer 21

True shalom is the combination of opposites.  The giving of the Torah is a joining of G-dly wisdom with the brain of mankind.  It is a joining of polar opposites.  This is the  shalom that Torah produces.  Presumably, this idea would be the explanation of  learning Torah כל העוסק בתורה לשמה משים שלום בפמליא של מעלה ובפמליא של מטה (Sanhedrin 99b) and ת"ח מרבים שלום בעולם and other such statements.  

The Names Moshe Gave, The number 10

The first son of Moshe is named Gershom  כִּ֣י אָמַ֔ר גֵּ֣ר הָיִ֔יתִי בְּאֶ֖רֶץ נׇכְרִיָּֽה and the second son Eliezer כי אלקי אָבִי֙ בְּעֶזְרִ֔י וַיַּצִּלֵ֖נִי מֵחֶ֥רֶב פַּרְעֹֽה.  It would seem more apropos for the names to have been in reverse for first Moshe was saved from Pharaoh only after that did he live in a foreign land?  The Or Hachayim gives two answers.  The first one is that what is happening to a person currently is what comes to mind first and hence Moshe gave a name reflecting that experience first and then looked in the past for inspiration for a second name.  The second answer he gives is that the גר הייתי is not referring to his time in Midyan but the very coming down into this world which is a foreign place to the holy soul of the tzaddik and that did come first.  The Nitziv (Shemos 2:22) says since he wasn't totally out of danger yet for Pharaoh can still hunt him down, so Moshe didn't name a son after being saved until he was assured that it was safe to go back.  This approach is said here in the Riva as well.

שֵׁ֤ם הָֽאֶחָד֙ גֵּֽרְשֹׁ֔ם כִּ֣י אָמַ֔ר גֵּ֣ר הָיִ֔יתִי בְּאֶ֖רֶץ נׇכְרִיָּֽה

וְשֵׁ֥ם הָאֶחָ֖ד אֱלִיעֶ֑זֶר  כי אלקי אָבִי֙ בְּעֶזְרִ֔י וַיַּצִּלֵ֖נִי מֵחֶ֥רֶב פַּרְעֹֽה

Why in the first possuk does it say כי אמר and in the second possuk it does not?  The Riva explains  לפי שמשה כתב ספרו והיה אומר כל שעה אלהי אבי בעזרי. ואלו כתוב אמר משה אמ' לפי שעה. בשם ר' יחיאל.  The fact that he was saved from Pharaoh he declared one time as the reason for naming his son Gershom but אלקי אָבִי֙ בְּעֶזְרִ֔י wasn't said one time, it was something that Moshe constantly repeated.  

The Mishnayot in Avot Ch. 5 list off a whole list of things that are the number 10, why is there a blatant omission of the the 10 commandments?  The Rebbe explains (Likutay Sichos volume 30 Berashis) that the Mishna lists off all the things that are groups of 10 because 10 shows its importance.  But why is it that the 10 represents an important unit?  Because the Torah which predates the world has 10 commandments, hence the number 10 in the world is a reflection of that perfection.  So, the Mishna is listing the things which are attached to the number 10 to reflect their importance but the fact that their are 10 commandments doesn't reflect their importance, it is the cause of why the number 10 is important.