As R' Frand had a family simcha, he did not give the shiur this evening, but there were some nice vorts said by R' Neuberger who stood in for R' Frand. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.
The first vort this evening was based on a Gemara in Makkos which states that a person is led (plural form) in the direction that he wants to go, and that a proof can be seen from Torah, Nevi'im and Kesuvim. The source for the Torah example was Bila'am as the parsha begins with him asking Hashem whether he should go with Balak to curse the Jews and Hashem responds in the negative. Yet later he asks again and Hashem responds that he can go.
The Maharsha explains that Hashem is not the entity which leads the person in the path that his heart wishes to go, since the Gemara uses the plural form. Instead, it is a person's angels who lead them. He explains that with each act that a person does, and each word he speaks and each thought that he has, an angel is created. These can be positive angels or G-d forbid, negative. A person has free choice in what he is going to do, but these angels do sway him towards his prior inclinations.
R' Neuberger said that a couple once approached him and asked how they could be nicer to each other. He told them that do something nice, say something nice, think something nice about each other and your children, With each act, word, or thought, you will create angels which will encourage you to continue acting in this way.
He closed the vort with a quote from the Medrash on Mishle, which states that if a person has a positive thought of doing something nice for someone else right before he goes, to sleep, that person will get a special reward in Olam Haba. If a person's soul leaves him for the night at the time that he is focused on someone else, there is a special zchus for him. We see how positive a good thought can be and how it makes us so special.
The second vort was related to the fact that Bila'am could not see the angel, but the donkey could. After the conversation with the donkey, Hashem opened Bila'am's eyes and he was able to see the donkey. But why could he not see the angel? His eyes were not closed!
R' Chaim Voluzshin explains based on the posuk Gal Eynai - speaking of asking Hashem to open our eyes to see the wonder of the Torah. A person can have his eyes open, but something blocks him from seeing the obvious. This happens sometimes when a person tries hard and cannot understand a Torah concept and sits and works and asks and then he gets it and he can't understand why he never got it until now. Why did it take so long? Because Hashem wanted him to work to get that understanding.
We have this in other things in our lives, including trying to make the right decision and overcome challenges. If we ask Hashem for help and understand that the truth lies with Him and the Torah then our eyes can be opened to the right decisions.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment