I would like to dedicate this dvar torah in memory of my beloved friend R' Yoel ben Pinchas Halevi Weisberg who passed away this week. He was about the most refined individual I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He suffered from a rare blood disease for close to 30 years but was always filling his mouth with praise for Hashem. He was always brimming with optimism and good cheer even when he was connected to an oxygen tank. The last conversation we had revolved around me and my problems even though he himself was suffering so much. He was just more interested in other people than he was in himself. He knew how to make every person feel special and important. He loved Eretz Yisrael so much that from his aliya as a baby he never left on principal. He loved and valued Torah and even in his suffering continued to learn. By profession he was an orthodontist and a very good one at that but it was clear that his intention was to help people and the money was an after thought. When I made a bar mitzvah for my son we had a shabbos morning davening in the yeshiva followed by a kiddush. Not one of my friends showed up, even people from the neighborhood who lived 3 minutes away - except Reb Yoel and his children who made the long trek to the rova in the stifling heat to join in my simcha and followed up by getting my son a really nice present. We barely had a minyan which made me appreciate his effort so much. When you have a time of simcha or the opposite you learn who your real friends are. This is an incredibly painful time for many people who lost such a special person, maybe even one of the lamed vuv tzadikim. I myself feel as if I lost my best friend.
Because I did.
R' Yoel, if you are reading this - אני אוהב אותך מאד ומתגעגע נורא. [We conversed in Hebrew so I write in our language of communication]. I hope I can learn from him how to care about and respect people, how to love Hashem, Torah, Jews and Eretz Yisrael and how to always see the silver lining in every dark cloud. He and his wife didn't have children for many years and finally had triplets who are now about thirty. For thirty years he didn't stop thanking Hashem for the miracle of his children. May we see tchiyas hameisim soon and be reunited with our loved ones. [The computer screen is looking blurry for some reason].
In this weeks parsha we read the words of Moshe to the Jewish people "השם אלהי אבותיכם יוסף עליכם ככם אלף פעמים ויברך אתכם כאשר דבר לכם" - Hashem should add on to you a thousand times and bless you as He said. What a LOVELY bracha!! OK, now let us read the next pasuk.
איכה אשא לבדי טרחכם ומשאכם וריבכם
How can I alone bear your annoyance, your burden and your disputes. Rashi explains that Moshe was saying - "You guys drive me crrraaazzzyyy. You annoy the judges by claiming that you have more evidence and that new judges must be added. You are apikorsim. You are quarrelsome. I can't handle you!!
The flow of the narrative seems strange. First a bracha as if they are all a bunch of huuuuge tzadikim and then he says that they are unbearable. So which one is it??
The answer, but first, a story....:-)
Many years ago, R' Shlomo Carlebach was at the kotel davening with his chevre. An older man suddenly approached him and said in furious tones זה מקום קדוש ואתה איש טמא - צא מפה. This is a holy place and you are an impure person. Go away! And then he SPIT directly into R' Shlomo's face.
Frozen with shock, Shlomo's followers watched in horror as he carefully began to wipe off the thick rivulets of spittle streaming down his face. Turning to the group R' Shlomo said "Did you see the holy eyes of that man?? We are privileged to have in our midst such a Holy Man!!" And there was absolutely no anger, no rebuke, no bitterness, in his voice, just a sense of awe and marvel that a holy man had crossed his path.
[Holy Brother page 180. Incidentally, the story from two weeks ago was from the same book].
I heard from the Tolna Rebbe Shlita: What is a person? All good? All bad? A person is a mixture. Lots of good with some not so good mixed in. Sometimes you eat a cholent and some parts are tastier than others. So is man. That is what Moshe was saying. First he blessed the Jews because he appreciated all of their good. Then he went on to say that they also have a darker side.
Years back I was talking to the Rebbe Shlita and asked if he had ever heard of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He said "Yes, in Judaism we call it "yetzer hara and yetzer tov.'"
In this period when we remember the Beis Hamikdash that was destroyed because of baseless hatred it is worthwhile internalizing the message. People are not all bad. We are all a mixture of good and bad and it behooves us to focus on the good.
A sweet shabbos and easy but meaningful fast on Tisha B'av.
Love and blessings!!:-)
