Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Tezaveh

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. 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 R' Frand.

In Shemos 28:30, the Torah states that Moshe was instructed to place the Urim and Tumim into the Breastplate of Judgment. R' Frand quoted Rashi (although not on this pasuk) which cites a Medrash which states that - the heart which was happy in seeing the greatness of his brother should wear the Urim and Tumim. R' Frand explained that Aharon did something with his heart and therefore he was zoche to wear this on his heart. This was a middah k'neged middah - which is not only a negative.

R' Frand noted that the middah k'neged middah as it relates to limbs can be found elsewhere. Yosef who did not sin with his mouth - all swore by his name. His neck did not sin, so he wore a special gold collar. Similarly by Izevel - the prophecy would be that she would die and be eaten by the dogs. When she was found dead, the only thing they found were her head, hands and legs. Why? Because she would be misameach chassan and kallah and she used her hands to clap for them and her legs to dance and her head to motion - so they were rewarded.

R' Frand also quoted R' Elya Baruch Finkel who quoted R' Chaim Shmulevitz who explained that the reason that he wore the Urim and Tumim was because the Kohen Gadol had to look into a person's heart and see what he really wanted and thought as part of asking the question to the Urim and Tumim. [R' Frand joked that this is not Google where you search for an answer. He said that there is a term Google Gadol - a person who knows everything by searching Google.] The Kohen Gadol needed to have a pure heart to be able to listen and understand what the person wanted and was thinking when he consulted the Urim and Tumim.

R' Frand said a second vort based on the Gemara in Kiddushin 31a about the story of Dama Ben Nassina and gave credit to his son R' Ya'akov for helping him with the sources. The Gemara recites the story about how the Kohanim needed the precious stones for the Urim and Tumim and Dama's father had them in a safe and the keys were under his father's head. Dama did not wake his father and lost the sale...but was rewarded a year later with a Red Cow and when they came to buy it from him he said that all he wanted was the money that he lost from not being able to sell the stones.

R' Frand then quoted his son who asked a bomb question - since they were living in the times of the Beis HaMikdash, why would they need stones for the Urim and Tumim - they had them for generations.

R' Frand answered by quoting a Gemara in Yoma which stated that the stones contained the names of the tribes of the Jewish people and this way the words could be spelled out with the letters. But what about the letter Tzaddik which is not in any of the names? The Gemara answered that Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov's names were hewn there as well. The Gemara asked again - but there is no Tes? The Gemara answered that the words Shivtei Yeshurun were written as well.

R' Frand next quoted the Rambam in Hilchos Klei HaMikdash who wrote that above the name of Reuven was written Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov and that below Binyamin was written Shivtei Hashem. 

The Kesef Mishna questioned how the Rambam could write this --the Gemara explicitly states that the words Shivtei Yeshurun were written!

R' Frand answered by quoting the Chasam Sofer on the Gemara in Yoma who writes that Shivtei Yeshurun is much less common than Shivtei Yisrael. If the letter Tes was needed, why not write Shivtei Yisrael? He answered that Yeshurun is on a much higher level - since it means that the Jews were straight on their own. In contrast Shivtei Yisrael means that they were straight because Hashem straightened them out. When Aharon was around, the Jews were straight because of who they were - that was why the words were Shivtei Yeshurun. However, when they were not on such a high level, it was Shivtei Yisrael. Furthermore, when they were in Galus there were times that people questioned if the Jewish women were being faithful and the children were really Jewish --to which Hashem had to vouch for them and they were called Shivtei Kah.

R' Frand summed up by quoting the Shevet Sofer (R Shimon Sofer) who answered the question about why they needed the stones. Dama lived in the time of the Second Beis HaMikdash when the Jews were into Sinas Chinam. They were no longer Shivtei Yeshurun as Yeshurun is only in practice when the Jews are yachad. R' Frand said that he did not know if the stones fell out or were removed, but they needed to be replaced because Yeshurn could not be used. So they went to Dama to ask for stones to put in the Tes for Shivtei Yisrael.

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