Thursday, October 20, 2022

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bereishis

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.

R' Frand began by quoting the Ba'al Haturim who notes that the Sofei Teivos (last letters) of בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת spell out אֱ֖מֶת and that this occurs six times in the beginning of the Parsha, in order to fulfil the pasuk in Tehillim 119:160 - רֹֽאשׁ־דְּבָֽרְךָ֥ אֱמֶ֑ת. The Ba'al Haturim concludes that it is for this reason that the tefillah Emes V'yatziv mentions the word  אֱ֖מֶת six times.

R' Frand quoted a story from the Sefer Abir Ya'akov about R' Aharon Kotler which underscores the concept of רֹֽאשׁ־דְּבָֽרְךָ֥ אֱמֶ֑ת. When he was starting BMG, he bought a house in Lakewood which contained the Yeshiva. He asked a printer to use a picture of the house on the receipts which would be issued to donors to the yeshiva. When the printer came to take pictures of the house he saw that there were 3 trees on one side and two on the other. This bothered the printer and he doctored the image to have a symmetrical photo of three trees on each side of the house. When R' Aharon saw the receipts he immediately decided not to use them (even though the Yeshiva had already paid for them) because they were not אֱ֖מֶת.

R' Frand said a second vort related to the creation on day 6. He noted that in Bereishis 1:31, the Torah writes וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד and that this was different than what was written about other creations in that the Torah used the words כִּי־טֽוֹב to describe the creation of the animals on day 5 and the sun and the moon on day 4. 

R' Frand gave three explanations for the difference. He first quoted the Meshech Chachma who explains that with the creation of the sun and moon or the animals, the creations were perfect when formed and did not have need for improvement. However man is a "work in progress" [clearly R' Frand's 21st century terminology and not the Meshech Chachma] which needs to develop into a state of כִּי־טֽוֹב.

R' Frand quoted the Sefer HaIkrim which explained similarly that an animal is complete when created, but a man only has potential which he needs to develop.

Finally, R' Frand quoted R' Ya'akov Kaminetsky who explained that Hashem could not say כִּי־טֽוֹב by man because shortly thereafter Hashem wrote in Bereishis 2:18 - לֹא־ט֛וֹב הֱי֥וֹת הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְבַדּ֑וֹ - it was not good for man to be alone.

R' Frand said a third vort which explored this point. He quoted Rashi who asks - why is it not good for man to be alone? He answers that that so that no one should believe that Hashem is alone in the Heavens and man is alone on the earth and that each is the ruler of their domain. 

R' Frand then asked - if this is the case, why did Hashem just not say - I will make a pairing for man, rather than use the language - לֹא־ט֛וֹב הֱי֥וֹת הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְבַדּ֑וֹ? He answered by quoting R' Elya Finkel who explains that the purpose that women were created was to be an עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדּֽוֹ - to correct man when he is wrong. (R' Frand said that the purpose of a wife is to tell her husband at the proper time that he is being an idiot). Thus the Torah first had to write that it is not good for man to be alone and the wife's purpose is to be an עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדּֽוֹ.

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