The Parasha starts by repeating a commandment that was just stated a few verses ago in Parashas Shoftim: “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Hashem your G-d, will deliver him in your hand, and you will capture its people as captives” (Devarim 21:10). And again, later the Parasha repeats it: “When you go out as a troop against your enemies, be on your guard against anything untoward.” (Devarim 23:10). It is very unusual for the Torah to repeat twice something, but to repeat it 3 times can only mean that the Torah stresses us to look behind the words for a hidden message. Rav Levi Yitschak of Barditchev explains: The evil instinct resides by lots of people as the “Captain of the Ship” he leads the people to do as he wishes, and they abide. However, with the Tzadik he is like a guest, that sometimes, tries to incite him to commit a small offense but to no avail. Then, why did Hashem instruct him to instigate the Tzaddik if he cannot be seduced? The Baal Shem Tov answers, because the Tzadik learns from the Yetzer Hara the scrupulousness in accomplishing the Mitzvos. The Yetzer Hara knows the Tzadik will not abide, and despite that he does what he was ordered to do. Similarly, we must accomplish the Mitzvos because we were ordered to do so by Hashem. This explanation raises some difficulties, as the Talmud [52 a] teaches: “The one greater than his friend his evil instinct is also greater”, which the apparent explanation is that for the righteous the evil instinct incites them more forcefully than for regular person. To explain it the Sages gave a parabola; a poor person that has no food home, when going shopping for food he will over buy as his decision-making process is based on his current situation. However, the rich person does not have the urge to buy as he knows he has plenty of food home. Similarly, The Yetzer Hara knows that he can easily tempt a regular person, therefore he does not feel the rush of victory by tempting them. However, making the Tzadik commit even a small offense is a tremendous victory for him, hence he constantly tries to seduce them. Thus, the Tzadik draws his power to surmount the constant harassment by learning from him, how much effort should be put in accomplishing the commandments of the Master of the world. The message of this week Parasha is not to inform us of the laws of preparedness for war, these were reviewed in last week Parasha. This week the Parasha teaches us the obligation to wage a constant war against our evil instinct. And as soon as a person has made that determination Hashem will hand it to him even before the battle. The reason being Hashem only wants that our hearts should be fully committed to him. Once the heart has been purified from the wordly temptations, doing the Mitzvos present no difficulty. In contrary, the person looks forward to them. The Chidushei Harim points out that from the Pasuk we learn, that wherever life takes a person, whether he has it easy or more difficult, Hashem makes sure that there is always a Mitzva available for him. Even when going out to war, to merit success Hashem has provided us Mitzvos. There is no reason for a person to remain in the darkness, at every moment of a person’s life Hashem is present handing him a pole to save him from the white waters of life. All the person must do is to open his eyes and embraced the Mitzva handed specially to him by Hashem. This story was told by Rabbi Yitzchak Fenger Shlita. A few years ago, I studied at the Or Samayach yeshiva in Jerusalem. On one of the Shabbos evening, something strange happened: As soon as the prayers ended Friday Night and the Dean of the Yeshiva made his way to the Holy Ark to give his weekly sermon on the Parasha, a cat came in the Beth Midrash and started walking towards one of the corners and lied there. Some students tried to get it out of the Beth Midrash, but the cat would evade them and return to the exact same spot. Understanding it was not a usual behavior and there is more than what meet the eyes they decided to leave it alone. Strikingly, the cat had its ears and eyes pointed towards the Rabbi as if it were understanding the sermon. As soon as the Rabbi ended his lecture the cat rushed out and disappeared. Needless to mention that during the Shabbos meal everyone was letting his imagination go wild and come out with all sorts of explanations about what happened. After a full week of studying the event was already not on our minds. However, the following Friday night, at the very moment the Rabbi was making his way to the Holy Ark to give his lecture, the cat came in and sat in the very same corner it was the previous week. At this point no one tried to chase it out, as it was obvious to all there was some deep meanings to such a strange behavior, especially for a cat in Israel which is almost never used as a pet. Some students decided to follow the cat when it leaves after the lecture, maybe that will provide an explanation. Again, during the entire sermon, the cat was focused on every word the Rabbi was saying. And as soon as it ended it made its way out. To their amazement the cat was crossing intersections and streets as if it had an exact address to go to. The chase went on for twenty minutes until the cat reached the far section of “Pachim” in Jerusalem, jumped into a backyard and disappeared. Sometimes we all witness occurrences that are beyond “normal”, this was surely one of those and required assistance. The Yeshiva students decided to go to the house of the Kabbalistic Tzaddik Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri Zatz”l, who lived close to the yeshiva and told him about the unusual event that took place two weeks in a row in the Yeshiva. Rabbi Kaduri told them ‘next Shabbos I will come to your Yeshiva’. But I have one request: I ask that all the Yeshiva students should be present for the Rosh Yeshiva Lecture. The students of the yeshiva have never been so excited, the Kabbalistic Tzaddik Rabbi Kaduri is coming to the yeshiva! This meant the behavior of the cat was indeed strange and maybe they will deserve to witness a Kabbalistic occult ritual. They were all aguishly awaiting the next Shabbos, there was palpable electricity in the air the entire week. The following Friday night arrived and Rav Kaduri, as promised, attended the services in the Yeshiva. As usual, upon completion, the Rabbi went toward the Holy Ark to deliver his weekly lecture on the Parasha. Like a clock, the cat showed up at that exact moment and went directly to settle in his corner. The Rabbi delivered an exalted sermon as he also felt something unusual was taking place inside the walls of the Yeshiva. The cat was focused on every word coming out of his mouth, while Rabbi Kaduri was, from time to time, glancing at the cat. As soon as the lecture ended Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri turned to the boys and said: “All the boys who lost a relative this year should say Kaddish!” Immediately several boys stood and began saying Kaddish with an emotional voice and tremendous concentration. Then something unbelievable happened: after the students finished saying Kaddish, the cat began to leap towards the center of the Beth Midrash, and as if it had gone crazy, it began to make run in circles in the middle of the Shul and suddenly dropped dead. Everyone’s jaw dropped and they eyes were looking in disbelief what had just occurred before them. The magnitude of the astonishment was palpable, it was complete quietness, not a sound was heard. Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri broke this deafening silence and requested that all the boys that said Kaddish should come, one by one, to discuss with him privately. The Yeshiva obliged and provided him an office he could use for the purpose. One of the boys came in and Rabbi Kaduri stood and said: This is it! This is him! Everyone approached the student who began recounting his story. When I was born, my father abandoned us, my mother and I remained alone, life was not easy. She had to become the breadwinner and to take care of me. Life was not joyful as my mother was bruised by being abandoned upon giving birth. I was very angry with my father and decided to have nothing do with him! Upon his passing a few months ago, I even opted to punish him and to not say Kaddish for him, as a retaliation for what he did to me and my mother. My father lived in the “Pachim” neighborhood, in Jerusalem exactly where the cat went! Rabbi Kaduri interjected at this point, he was reincarnated in the cat! The Tzadik that controls his evil penchant deserves to make miracles, but someone who acts wickedly will be rewarded accordingly.

By Rabbi Fridmann * [email protected] * 305.985.3461

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