Thursday, August 18, 2022

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Ekev

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Shraga Kallus as recorded on torahanytime.com (https://www.torahanytime.com/#/lectures?a=158400). Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the 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.

Rabbi Kallus noted that a portion of the Shema is in this week's parsha which includes the pasuk וּלְעָבְד֔וֹ בְּכָל־לְבַבְכֶ֖ם וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁכֶֽם (Devarim 11:13). He asked what does it mean that we should serve Hashem with our whole heart? He told a story about Czar Nicholai who came to visit the Russian troops. They were given warning the morning of the visit that he was coming and that they needed to stand at roll call in full equipment and dress uniform.

There was a soldier who was a bit of drunk and he had sold much of his equipment to pay for vodka. When he realized that he was going to need to have a full pack, he panicked and stuffed his pack with grass and hay. As Czar Nicholai began to inspect the troops he stopped at the soldier and told him to empty his pack. The soldier began to take out the grass and was immediately court martialed.

Did the Czar have Ruach HaKodesh? No, he saw that all the soldiers had been standing somewhat stooped over from the weight of their pack, but he was standing straight.

R' Kallus said that a person needs to serve Hashem with his full heart. This means that a person will always have a little bit of weight on him. He quoted the Rama in the first siman in Shulchan Aruch - a person needs to realize that he is before Hashem wherever the person is and he needs to feel that he is carrying the King's items and appreciate that this is a full time obligation.

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