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We Can Take It Looking Above For Financial Aid By Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis The following is based on a shiur given by Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Rosh Av Beis Din of the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim, in Beis Knesses HaGra in Har Nof.

LIVING WITH MIRACLES The Zohar describes at length the great pleasure that Hashem takes when the Jewish people speak about the miracles performed for them on a national and personal level. I follow the advice of this Zohar myself every year when I make a seudas hoda’ah on the 18th (Chai) Sivan, on the day that I was spared from death in a near fatal car accident. Rav Moshe Sternbuch relates the following story about a miracle that he personally witnessed. During World War II, Rav Sternbuch was a bochur learning in Yeshivas Toras Emes in London. The British authorities decreed that the English students could continue studying since they were preparing themselves to be Jewish leaders in England. Foreign students, however,

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needed to take part directly in the war effort, either by enlisting in the army or by working in factories to fuel the war machine. Rav Moshe Shneider was the rosh yeshiva and, despite this regulation, he refused to let anyone leave the yeshiva. As a result, the foreign students were in danger of imprisonment or worse. On a Thursday night, Rav Shneider called the entire yeshiva together for a tefillah gathering to annul this decree. The next day, some of the foreign students of the yeshiva were summoned by a government official regarding their refusal to do their part for the war effort. The official asked the first student, “Don’t you realize that your relatives are being slaughtered?” The student replied that although the situation was dire, the best way they could help their relatives was to continue learning in the yeshiva. “But if your family is killed, you will need to provide sustenance for yourself,” continued the official. “Shouldn’t you learn a trade?” The student replied that he was not worried, as Hashem would take care of them. “But sir,” exclaimed the official, “what would happen if everyone thought like you?” The student replied that Hashem had sent monn, bread from the heavens for all of the Jewish people when they wandered in the desert for forty years, and therefore he was not worried. The official questioned another bochur and received similar answers. He concluded that Rav Shneider and all his disciples were crazy, and exempted them all from military service. Rav Shneider realized that a great miracle had taken place and he called the whole yeshiva together. Half Hallel was recited, as Chazal warn us against saying the full Hallel on a regular weekday. When the students saw the tears of d’veykus flowing down the rosh yeshiva’s face while reciting that Hallel, they felt that they had never before experienced a Hallel. Rav Shternbuch relates that during the war, the Nazis would bomb England daily. The prime minister, Winston Churchill, would declare in response: “You can bomb us, but we can take it.” Rav Shneider adopted this very same philosophy in refusing to let his talmidim stop learning, and he also came out victorious. Many Jews are suffering during these times of great financial hardship. We should take lesson from the monn. By showing that “we can take it,” we will surely find favor in Hashem’s eyes and arouse Divine mercy.

NO COMPLAINING In Sefer Bamidbar, we read that the am were kemisonanim, like complainers. We know that when the Torah writes the am, this refers to the eirev rav. What does the Torah mean that they were “like complainers”? The eirev rav noted that even though they were subsisting on a supernatural diet of monn in the midbar, soon the people would be going into Eretz Yisrael and would have to make a living through natural means. They therefore claimed that they needed real food to help facilitate their transition back to normal life. This ‘lesheim Shomayim’ pretext was the reason that the Torah describes them as “like complainers.” But this argument was all a facade and did not represent the true motives of the eirev rav. All they really wanted was to indulge in physical pleasures. Furthermore, eating monn meant keeping all of the mitzvos connected to this spiritual food, which made consuming monn a serious business. The eirev rav wished to free themselves from all of these mitzvos and receive their parnassah with no strings attached. LESSONS OF MONN In giving us the monn, Hashem meant to teach us that parnassah is also kedushah and ruchniyus. For this reason, the tzintzenes hamonn, a flask full of monn, was placed next to the luchos in the Kodesh Hakodoshim, the holiest place in the world. Someone once came to the Chazon Ish on Erev Yom Kippur after Minchah, joining a line of hundreds of people who were waiting to ask the rov for his bracha to be inscribed in the Book of Life.

Getting Dirty (Continued from Page 3) shlichus, he is promised that the task will be completed by Hashem. Shel’cha gedolah mishelahem. Thus, the act of kindling the menorah is greater than the korbanos that the nesi’im brought for the chanukas haMishkan. The avodas hahakrovah was not even done by them. Such a donation to the Mishkan does not have the same everlasting impact as the hadlokah and hatovah performed by the kohein himself, as he was waiting for the shalheves to be oleh mei’eileha. In last week’s parsha (7:9), we learned that the Bnei Kehos weren’t given wagons to assist them in carrying the keilim of the Mishkan throughout the Midbar as were the Bnei Gershon and YATED NE’EMAN

When his turn finally arrived, the man was shocked that the great tzaddik asked him how his business was going. The man asked him, “Is this what a person should be thinking about on Erev Yom Kippur?” The Chazon Ish replied that parnassah is spiritual matter, especially when it is the livelihood of another Jew who might be suffering from financial straits. The monn was a message to Klal Yisroel that parnassah comes from Above. Every morning, the monn appeared at our doorsteps, teaching us that Hashem provides our sustenance daily. For this reason, we could not save any for the next day, for Hashem’s kindness is repeated with each new dawn. Chazal tell us that parnassah is even greater then the geulah. Redemption will take place via a malach, while parnassah comes from directly via Hashem. What is the reason for Hashem’s intimate involvement in such a worldly matter? Malachim do not have physical needs, and are completely spiritual beings. While a malach can understand that the geulah is essential, he cannot begin to grasp why parnassah is important. Therefore, Hashem takes care of feeding us Himself. On another level, Hashem is our Father in Heaven. Only a father can really know what the needs of his children are. Feeding us daily is an eternal sign of His deep love for the Jewish people. ON THE HOUSE The Alter of Navardok would compare this world to a fancy restaurant. When a person orders his selection from the waiter, no payment is requested. He might order more and more dishes,

thinking that his meal is on the house, since no one mentions money. This continues until the end of the meal, when he is presented with a huge bill. So too, this world can be like an expensive restaurant. Everything we do here must be accounted for, since the pleasures we enjoy now will be deducted from our reward in the next world. However, we can get our parnassah for free, provided that we remember that our Father in Heaven owns the restaurant. Hashem is the real Breadwinner in the family. We must recognize the miracles that sustain us and our families on a daily basis, which are no less fantastic than the appearance of the monn in the desert. If we can do this, then all our worldly sustenance will indeed be “on the house.” During our forty years in the midbar, the monn taught us to rely completely on Hashem. Since the monn ceased to appear, we must work much harder and sometimes struggle intensely before parnassah arrives on our doorstep. We can easily become confused about its true source. During these difficult times, we must focus our eyes heavenward in tefillah and recognize that the Almighty alone is the source of all parnassah. Any financial problems originate from Him, and so will their reprieve. ••••• Rabbi Travis is a rosh kollel of Kollel Toras Chaim in Yerushalayim, and is the author of Shaylos U’Teshuvos Toras Chaim and “Praying With Joy A Daily Tefilla Companion,” a practical daily guide to improving one’s prayers, available from Feldheim Publishers. For more information about his work, contact [email protected].

Bnei Merori. The posuk states regarding the Bnei Kehos, “Avodas hakodesh aleihem bakoseif yiso’uh.” Since they were given the job of carrying the aron, mizbei’ach, shulchan and menorah, they had to carry them on their shoulders, as the sanctity of these objects did not permit them to be placed in wagons for transport. Chazal say that “aron nosei es nosav,” the aron carried those who carried it. Thus, even though the Bnei Kehos place the aron on their shoulders to transport it, carrying it did not require more than the initial effort of lifting. Following that initial exertion, they were in fact assisted by Hashem; the heavy keilim they shouldered actually carried them. Those who endeavor to accomplish and spread holiness in this world and are prepared to do the heavy lifting are granted Heavenly as-

sistance to complete the task. The fact is that although our efforts contribute very little to the actual results, there is a factor we do control. Our mesiras nefesh plays a major role in evoking siyata diShmaya. The only limits to what we can accomplish are those which we set by ourselves. If we let the forces of negativity and cynicism get to us, we will achieve as little as those who cultivate the negative forces. If we ignore the chorus of naysayers and nitpickers, there is no limit to what we can achieve to benefit our generation and generations to come. Let us set out to be madlik and meitiv to the best of our abilities and then watch as the shalheves is olah mei’eileha. Our children and neighbors will bless us and our cheilek will be with Aharon Hakohein. 20 Sivan 5769 • June 12 2009