Print PDF
By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
אתם נצבים היום כלכם (פרק כט פסוק ט)
The Parsha begins with Moshe’s proclamation to כלל ישראל, “You are standing today, all of you, in front of Hashem…” The Chofetz Chaim derives a new meaning, apart from the simple explanation, that all of you are standing, that is you will have strength to continue succeeding, כלכם- when it is all of you together. Our key to success in our mission on this world is אחדות- our unity and bond with all כלל ישראל. The Chofetz Chaim explains this with a משל. A wealthy man had many sons, and he wanted to give them an opportunity in the business world. To this end, he gave each of them a small fortune of goods, each in a different industry. They promptly got to work, each one trying to outdo the other, trying to build up their individual business. This resulted in fierce competition and lots of hard feelings, with their father watching disappointedly. A wise man commented, if only you would have all joined together, you could have put together a tremendous corporation with all that capital and cornered all the markets together. You all would have benefitted from the success of the business and your father would have been proud. By fighting and competing, you have merely gotten less for yourselves and removed yourselves from the good graces of your father. We are meant to take our talents and gifts that Hashem has given us and use them all together to attain our common goal. If we live in unity, recognizing and respecting each individual and freely giving of ourselves and our gifts, then we will all gain and bring tremendous honor and pride to Hashem.
ואמר ביום ההוא על כי אין אלקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה…ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני (פרק לא פסוק יז-יח)
The Torah predicts that after sinning and getting punished for it, כלל ישראל will recognize their mistake and say that they are suffering because Hashem is not with them. This seems to be the first step towards repentance, and yet the next פסוק says that Hashem will then hide His face from them. Why did Hashem not accept our recognition of our sins in a positive way? The Chidushei Harim said in the name of R’ Bunim of Pschischa that the expression in the פסוק is one of יאוש- despair. We recognize our mistake and despondently proclaim that Hashem is not amongst us, giving up hope of ever renewing our connection with Him. When we realize that we have sinned and that Hashem has therefore punished us, our first response must be Teshuva. We must remember that Hashem is always waiting for us to return, He has endless love for us, and even when we fall far from Him, we must never despair. By remembering this idea, we can provide ourselves with the strength needed to fully return to our Father in Heaven.
