Friday, July 16, 2010

Reb Itchie Mayer on Devarim

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Dervarim, with English excerpt and full text in Hebrew in pdf form from Reb Itchie Mayer's Torah. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week.

Appointing a King

We eradicate Amalek nowadays by sanctifying ourselves from all evil. We rebuild the temple by building up our understanding through the holy works of the tzaddikim, both of Mussar and Chassidus. How to fulfill the third mitzvah of appointing a king in our time seems unclear, however.

Rebbe Nachman writes in Likutei Moharan: “Every person must say that the world was created for my sake.5 Since the world was created for me it follows that I must look carefully, delving at all times into how I can rectify the world through filling in what is missing in the world and praying for them.”6

It is not only Moshe who must lift up his fellow Jew in any way that he can. It is incumbent on every Jew to do his utmost to help his friend in material and spiritual matters. We all must feel for our friends’ lacks and do everything we can to rectify your fellow Jews. The entire world having been created for each of us means that each of us is responsible for the entire world.

Jews are all part of one cohesive neshamah. Like the heart, which the Zohar teaches is the king of the body because it is always working to bestow vitality on every part of our bodies, a person must always do good for his friends. He must pray that Hashem give everyone whatever they need. We should never think that another's problem is not our business, since we are all connected and everyone must do his part to rectify what he can. We do this either through prayer or focused thought where we draw down Hashem’s mercy on every Jew that he knows. This is an aspect of, “And he saw their suffering.”

Rebels Against the King

The main obstacle to truly entering into this mindset is one’s perception of his friend’s attitude. He stops wishing his friend well and praying for his benefit when he sees that his friend does not return the kindness. And worse, at times his friend may even repay evil with good. Yet even if one breaks off for this reason he is still
blemishing the Malchus since the main element of Malchus is to bestow good on everyone unconditionally. Without this characteristic he cannot possibly eliminate Amalek or attain true understanding which is the rebuilding of our personal Beis
Hamikdash.7

There is an aspect of the destruction of the holy temple that exists in every Jewish heart. This is when one falls prey to discouragement and small-mindedness. Yet Hashem always waits for every one of us to reign over his kingdom in holiness by acting like the heart of the world. This person does not only think about himself and his own needs. He feels for his fellow Jews and prays for their every need.

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom on Devarim.

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