Torah Teasers
Parshas KI SEIZTEI
1. A construction site is a dangerous place and the bigger the project, the more casualties are bound to occur, both minor and major. The Rokei’ach says that in the building of the Bais HaMikdash, which was one of the largest construction projects in history, there was not a single casualty. “Not a person even banged his finger,” says the Rokei’ach. How do we know that? Ans… He brings a remez from the pasukim (Ki Seitzei 22:7-8). The last two words of the parsha of Shiluach HaKein are “V’Ha’arachta Yamim” – you will live a long life. The first two words of the next parsha that talks about putting a gate on your roof are, “Ki Sivneh Bayis Chadash” – When you build a new house. The Rokei’ach says that “new house” is a remez to the Bais HaMikdash, and anyone who worked on it was zocheh to Arichas Yamim.
2. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (107a) says that when running away from Avshalom, his son Dovid wanted to worship an Avodah Zara called “Rosh”. Chushai HaArki then said to Dovid, “Do you want Bnei Yisrael to say that a great king like Dovid worshipped Avodah Zara?” Dovid replied, “And a king like me should be killed by his son?” Chushai then answered that Avshalom, the Ben Sorer U’Moreh, is the result of his marrying a Yifas To’ar. This is why the Torah in Parshas Ki Setzei puts the Ben Sorer U’Moreh and Yifas To’ar next to one another. What is the meaning of the Medrash? Ans….The Maharsham (Tcheiles Mordechai) explains that all excitement in Olam HaZeh peaks in the initial stage. When someone becomes rich, he is very excited at first until the excitement wears off. However, in ruchniyus, the excitement grows and grows. Dovid HaMelech was pulled from being a shepherd, who was an outcast even among his brothers, and made King of Bnei Yisrael. At first he recognized this as Hashem’s hand being Mikarev him. He expected his success to grow because he viewed it purely as ruchniyus and not gashmiyus. When Avshalom rebelled and Dovid HaMelech was forced to flee in fear that his own son would kill him, he then thought that his success and his kingdom were destined by the Mazal called “Rosh”. Rosh is the Mazal of worldly success because it is only satisfying in the early stages. His believing in Rosh was tantamount to worshipping Avodah Zara. Only when Chushai HaArki rebuked him and told him that his success was from Hashem and his failure was his own fault since he took a Yifas To’ar, did he then regret having any doubts about the hashgacha pratis of HaKadosh Boruch Hu.
3. By the Mitzva of Shiluach HaKen, the torah tells us (Ki Seitzei 22:7), “L’maan Yitav Lach V’Haarachta Yamim”, in order that it will be good for you and you will live a long life. By Kibud Av V’Eim in the second Dibros (VaEschanan 5:17), the torah promises the same reward that we don’t find anywhere except for these two mitzvos. What is the commonality between them? Ans …The Klei Yakar answers that the words “Lmaam Yitav” imply that the good will be a direct ramification of your doing this mitzva. If you honor your parents, your children will learn from you to honor their parents and you will benefit. If you chase away the mother bird before taking her young, you will teach them to have rachmanus even on an animal that gives birth to young and certainly on parents who give birth to their children. The reason why these two mitzvos are rewarded with long life is because they both testify to the fact that Hashem created the world and it didn’t happen by itself. By honoring the previous generation who gave birth to you, you acknowledge that everything in the world came from something before it, to which you owe honor. This leads you back to a “first and only”, and that would be Hashem, to whom you owe the greatest honor. If you believe that the world just happened, then the previous generation is not better than you, but rather a product of timing and you owe them no respect. For this proclamation in Hashem’s greatness, you are rewarded with a long life and earn the privilege to spend more time in the world Hashem created.
4. In Eretz Yisroel today, there are all sorts of organizations that give you opportunities to perform mitzvos that, on your own, you would never have an opportunity to do. You can do Pidyon Petter Chamor, buy land to give Trumas Maaser and 20 other mitzvos, purchase a plot to make hefker for shemitah, and the list goes on and on. Are these gimmicks? Need we run after these opportunities? Ans…The Baalei Mussar say “yes”, and they bring proof from the Mitzva of Shiluach HaKen. The gemara in Chulin (139b) says, I would think you are obligated to search the mountains and hills to find a bird resting on her young to in order to perform the mitzvah. Therefore, the pasuk says “Ki Yikarei” – if you chance upon a nest — meaning that you do not need to look for it. We see that by Shiluach HaKen, without the pasuk telling us that we don’t need to run after it, we would otherwise, in fact, be required to. So we can deduce that every mitzva that does not have a pasuk exempting us from embarking on a wild goose chase, we must indeed search high and low until we find the opportunity to perform the mitzva.
5. The Torah (Ki Seitzei 23:5) forbids us to allow the nation of Moav to join Klal Yisroel. The Torah tells us that the reason is that Moav hired Bilam to curse us. Since Hashem did not want to hear Bilam, He changed his curses into brachos. The Chasam Sofer asks, why did Hashem need to change his Klalos? Why not let him speak and just ignore him? Ans….He answers that if you love someone, you cannot bear to hear someone say something bad about them, no matter if it makes a difference or not. You simply don’t want to hear it. This is clear from the pasuk “V’Lo Ava… Vayahafoch”, Hashem did not want to hear Bilam’s ramblings and that is why He changed his words. (TURN OVER)
Memories
A renowned ba’al chessed and lay leader in Boro Park was killed one day in a tragic car accident. Thousands of Jews participated in his levaya, many of whom had benefited from his help and advice. Many important Rabannim were maspid him, praising the countless acts of chesed he performed in his lifetime with great mesiras nefesh and ahavas Yisroel. The funeral procession passed through the streets of the community as streams of people continued to join it. They stopped next to each shul and Beis Midrash to say Kaddish, and showed the niftar great honor by carrying his aron all the way to the cemetery.
Meanwhile, the funeral of another Jew who had also been killed in the same tragic car accident was taking place. This Jew was completely secular; he was a Holocaust survivor who had distanced himself from Torah and mitzvahs. A small group of friends and relatives of the niftar slowly gathered for the levaya. When it was over, the members of the chevra kaddisha entered the room, and prepared to take the aron for burial. Suddenly, they let out cries of dismay. A terrible error had occurred. The rosh chevra kaddisha had mistakenly taken the secular Holocaust survivor for burial instead of the baal chesed – who now lay before them! R’ Moshe, the most senior member of the chevra kaddisha, could not remember such a painful error in his forty years of avodas hakodash.
R’ Moshe hurriedly made preparations to try to remedy the mistake before it was too late. He placed the aron in a car and speedily drove through the streets of the city, hoping and praying he would reach the cemetery before they completed the burial. He arrived there just as they were preparing to lower the body in the ground. He ran out of the car yelling, “Wait, wait! There’s been a mistake; we have to switch the aronos!
The switch was made, and the burial resumed. The hespedim and parting words were repeated, the niftar was buried, and Kaddish was recited again.
This story made waves throughout the world, and was discussed endlessly during the days of shivah. Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle were put together, and the hashgacha of the story became clear. The secular Holocaust survivor who was zocheh to such an honorable levaya was raised in a family which stringently fulfilled the Torah and mitzvahs. During the Holocaust, he was deported to Auschwitz and miraculously survived. During the war, and even after his release from the camp, the niftar was moser nefesh to bring many who had died to a Jewish burial, and he always tried to gather a minyan of Jews to say Kaddish. It was almost impossible to find ten Jews who would agree to attend and say Kaddish each time, and it was extremely risky, but this Jew was moser nefesh each and every time. In the course of time, due to his great suffering, he eventually abandoned Torah and mitzvahs. He married and moved to America, and lived a life devoid of Yiddishkeit.
When his time came to leave this world, Hashem repaid him, and in the zechus of his mesiras nefesh, he was zocheh to merit thousands of Jews reciting Kaddish for him. (Shiru Lamelech)
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A yeshivah bochur decided to purchase a new automobile. Upon entering the local new car dealer, he was quickly spotted by the salesman. “Have I got a car for you!” he exclaimed, unable to conceal his delight at finding an obviously religious man. The ben Torah, dressed in a dark suit and sporting a long beard, looked at the sales man in apprehension. “Come right here and let me show you. You will never believe your eyes.” The salesman opened the door of the new and shiny sedan. “Please sit down and I will show you. ”
“You see this car has no pedals. That’s right – no gas pedal and no brake pedal.” “But how do you stop and start the car?” “All you have to do is to speak and the digital processor will convert your voice into an electronic signal that tells the motor what to do.” To start, just say “Baruch HaShem and to stop the car, all you have to say is ‘Shema Yisroel’ and the car will stop.”
Well, the bochur was very impressed and bought the car on the spot. Entering the car he said the magic words, ‘Baruch HaShem’ and the car was soon heading out and on to the local highway. As the car continued, the bochur failed to notice a sign saying that the road was closed. As the car continued, it went up onto a half completed bridge.
“Oh no! We are going to crash!”. Instinctively, his feet searched in vain for the brake pedal, but there was none to be found. “What do I say, WHAT DO I SAY!!!” Panicking, he could not remember what the salesman had told him. His mind was a blank and the car was approaching the end of the unfinished bridge, together with a majestic plunge into a ravine, hundreds of feet below.
“This is the end!” the bochur thought. And preparing for death he began to say Shema Yisroel and in a moment the car screeched to a stop with half of the car resting in a tilted manner, precariously over the bridge.
The bochur, soaked with perspiration, removed his trembling hand from his forehead, and looked at the miracle and exclaimed with deep feeling ‘BARUCH HASHEM’.

Who Knows One
Q. I’m too young to be Parve. Who am I?
Answer: I am an undeveloped chicken egg. According to Halacha, chicken is considered “meat” and cannot be cooked or eaten with milk. An undeveloped egg inside a chicken is considered part of the chicken. Later, when the egg develops, it is considered a separate entity, even though it is still inside the chicken – and is Parve – meaning that it can be cooked with either milk or meat.
(Shulchan Aruch – Yoreh De’ah 87:5)

Q. In what situation is it a mitzvah to eat, but only foods that are Parve?
Answer: During the nine days it is forbidden to eat meat. On Shabbos, however, eating meat is allowed. After eating meat, one must wait a period of time before eating dairy. Therefore, someone who ate meat near the end of Shabbos can’t eat dairy for a period thereafter; but during the “Nine Days” he can’t eat meat either. So the situation could arise where you are eating Malava Malka – “the fourth meal of Shabbos” – which is a mitzvah, and you are only able to eat foods that are Parve. (Shmiras Shabbos K’Hilchasa, Vol. 2 63:10)

Q. You take two edible items – item 1 is forbidden to cook and eat, and item 2 is permitted — but put them together, wait, and after a while, item 1 is permitted to cook and eat, and item 2 is forbidden! What are the items?
Answer: Meat and Salt. Raw meat is forbidden to cook and eat because of the blood it contains, and salt of course is permitted. But, put the two together, and the salt draws out the blood. Now the meat may be cooked and eaten, while the salt becomes not kosher.
(Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 67:2, 69:11)

Q. Some people once found a discarded, yet complete, Sefer Torah and wondered whether it was kosher or not. If it was written by a competent, certified sofer, it would be kosher, but if by someone else, it would not be kosher. They posed their question to the renowned Noda B’Yehuda, Rav Yechezkel Landau. His ingenious answer was simply “Minhag Yisrael Torah Hi” (which literally means “Jewish custom has the status of Torah”). What did he mean?
Answer: It is a widespread minhag that the sofer omits the last few letters from the completed sefer Torah, and at the completion ceremony allow several people the privilege of writing them. Therefore, by looking at the final letters of the Torah, it should be evident whether or not they were written by one person or several. If they were written by several people – evidence of that Minhag Yisrael – then Torah Hi – it is a valid Sefer Torah!

Know Your Gedolim…Who Is This?
The Geula — What to Expect
Picking Up The Tab For Moshe’s Donkey
Moshe complains about the accusations hurled against him and says, “Lo Chamor Echad Meihem Nasasi”, I didn’t even take a single donkey from them (Korach 16:15). Rashi says this refers to when he came down to Mitzrayim to redeem them on a donkey, and he paid for it from his own money. Rav Shimon Schwab asks, why would Moshe think that he should have taken the money from Bnei Yisroel.
Rav Schwab answers that the gemara in Sanhedrin (98a) says that when the geula comes, if we are zocheh, Moshiach will arrive on clouds and, if not, then Moshiach will come as a pauper on a donkey. Why? The whole world needs to know that Hashem is bringing the geula and Moshiach has no power by himself. If Bnei Yisroel are Maaminim and Ovdei Hashem, then Moshiach can come in grand fashion and we will all place thanks in Hashem and not Moshiach. But if we do not recognize Hashem’s hand, then Hashem will need to send a Moshiach who is powerless and destitute to show that it is not his charisma, brains, or money that will release us from the galus.
Moshe was the Goel in Mitzrayim. Bnei Yisroel was not Zocheh and Moshe came riding into town on a donkey, lacking any pomp or grandeur. He came with the stick in his hand and the shirt on his back. To show his poverty he should have asked Bnei Yisroel to pay for his donkey. Even then he did not, since he did not want to take anything from any member of Klal Yisroel.
Alone On Our Own At The End Of The Galus
“Yeisei V’Lo Achminei”, let Moshiach come but do not let me be alive to see him (Sanhedrin 98b). Rebbi Yochanan said that he’d give up the privilege of greeting Moshiach in order to avoid living through the terrible days of the Ikvisa D’Mishicha. With the Geula so close at hand why will those last days they be worse than the rest of the Galus?
Rav Yehonoson Eibshitz says that since the Shechina is with us in the Galus, we are protected. However, at the end of the Galus, when it is time for us to return to Eretz Yisroel, the Shechina will need to leave the galus and come to Eretz Yisroel to prepare and facilitate our return. During those waning day of the Galus, we will be left on our own without protection and endless tragedies will befall us. Only then will we realize how fortunate we were to have had the Shechina with us.

How does Rav Yehonoson Eibshitz know that the Shechina will return to Eretz Yisroel before us? The pasuk (Nitzavim 30:3) says, “V’shov V’kibtzicha Mekol Hoamim”. Chazal tell us that the word וְשָׁב, which means He will return, proves that Hashem is with us in the Galus, or else it should say “V’Heishiv”, He will return us. Rav Yehonoson Eibshitz says that we see from here that first וְשָׁב, Hashem will return to Eretz Yisroel. Only after the groundwork is laid, will He bring us back from among the nations.
Plowing For Moshiach
“Lo Sacharosh B’Shor V’Chamor Yachdav”, you may not plow with an ox and donkey together (Ki Seitzei 22:10). The Me’or VaShemesh says that this is a Remez to Moshiach. The ox refers to Moshiach ben Yosef as Yosef is compared to an ox, “Bichor Shoro”. The donkey refers to Moshiach ben Dovid who is called Ani V’Rochev Al Chamor, a poor man riding on a donkey.
The pasuk tells us “Lo Sacharosh”, which can also mean – do not be silent. We must not remain silent or idle. We must do mitzvos and maasim tovim and daven for the coming of both Moshiach ben Yosef and Moshiach ben Dovid Bimheira Biyameinu.
Waiting For Moshiach At The Door
The Rambam (Milachim 11:1) writes that anyone who does not believe in the coming of Moshiach or does not wait for him… is kofer in Toras Moshe. The Brisker Rov points out that even if you believe in Moshiach but are not awaiting his imminent arrival, you are a kofer. This is further emphasized by the Rambam with his writing in the 13 Ikarim, “Achakeh Lo BiChol Yom SheYavo”. The waiting is not simply a word about our yearning for Moshiach. It is part and parcel of believing in him. If you are not waiting, you do not believe.

So how does one wait? Rav Eliyahu Dessler in Michtav MeiEliyahu writes that when a person is deathly ill and waiting for a special expert Doctor who promised to come from far, when the patient hears every knock on the door he jumps expecting it to be the Doctor. Even if the Doctor hasn’t shown up for days, the patient never gives up hope and is convinced that each knock is finally him.

It is said on the Chofetz Chaim that often when he woke up, he would urgently ask, “Did Moshiach arrive, while I was sleeping?”
Im Kol Zeh Achakeh Lo B’Chol Yom SheYavo!
This week’s Torah is B’Zchus: all those who remember what Amalek did to us and are ready to obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.

Distributed by the Chevre Marbitz Torah D’NMB

Created By Rov Allen Sherman