Latest / Kerem B'Yavneh Parsha Podcast / Pinchas 5786 | Rabbi Shlomo Friedman

Transcript

Pinchas 5786 | Rabbi Shlomo Friedman · Kerem B'Yavneh Parsha Podcast

• 0:08
  שלום from Camp Yavneh.
• 0:11
  What's in a name?
• 0:14
  In this week's פרשה,
• 0:15
  the Torah tells us the census that was conducted of the Jewish people before
• 0:22
  we entered ארץ ישראל,
• 0:24
  and one of the families of שמעון is referred to as זרח.
• 0:32
  רש"י and the רמב"ן point out that this זרח corresponds to the name צחר,
• 0:39
  a son of שמעון that we find in פרשת ויגש.
• 0:45
  Why the name change?
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  So the רמב"ן explains that זרח and צחר both have a similar connotation.
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  זרח,
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  of course,
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  is to shine,
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  and צחר is something which is white,
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  something which is bright,
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  also associated with the צהר.
• 1:01
  We remember the Tzohar ta'aseh lateivah צהר תעשה לתיבה.
• 1:04
  So,
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  although the names are not identical,
• 1:08
  but they do have a similar connotation.
• 1:10
  The implication of the רמב"ן is that a name is not just a label.
• 1:17
  It's true that perhaps in English if somebody's name is Harry or Bob or
• 1:23
  Joe,
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  so there's nothing about him which makes him a Bob or a Joe or
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  a Harry.
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  It's a label.
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  But in Judaism,
• 1:39
  we understand that a שם,
• 1:41
  that a name,
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  has some meaning.
• 1:45
  Along similar lines,
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  the רמב"ן points out the נשיא of בני גד in פרשת במדבר is referred
• 1:53
  at one point as Eliasaf ben Deuel אליסף בן דעואל,
• 1:58
  at another point as Eliasaf ben Reuel אליסף בן רעואל.
• 2:03
  The רמב"ן explains that דעואל and רעואל have a similar connotation.
• 2:08
  דעואל,
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  that knowledge,
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  his thoughts were about God,
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  and רעואל also has a similar meaning;
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  after all,
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  רעיון is thoughts.
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  His thoughts were about God.
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  We could add that not only does a name have a meaning,
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  but in a certain sense,
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  the name is associated with the essence of the person or the object.
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  After all,
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  we're told in פרשת בראשית that אדם הראשון gave names to the animals.
• 2:47
  What's the significance of that?
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  So presumably it's more than his thinking up all sorts of random names for
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  a dog,
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  a cat,
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  an elephant,
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  but rather in the wisdom that was granted by God,
• 3:00
  he was able to define the essence of each of the animals and give
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  them their appropriate name.
• 3:09
  This idea that a name is associated with the essence of that object or
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  that individual is something which is very relevant to the holiness of the מצוה
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  of תלמוד תורה as we'll explain.
• 3:25
  We know that the source for the מצוה of תלמוד תורה,
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  the source for the מצוה of ברכת התורה,
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  I'm sorry,
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  is the פסוק ki shem Hashem ekra,
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  havu godel l'elokeinu כי שם ה' אקרא הבו גודל לאלקינו.
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  משה רבינו at the beginning of האזינו says when I call upon the name
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  of God,
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  give praise.
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  חז"ל say this teaches us that one is obligated to say a ברכה before
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  he learns Torah.
• 3:50
  What's the connection?
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  We understand that havu godel l'elokeinu הבו גודל לאלקינו is to give praise,
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  but how do we see anything about learning Torah?
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  Well,
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  apparently שם ה' is a reference to תלמוד תורה.
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  And the truth is when we say ברכת התורה every morning then we say
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  v'nihyeh anachnu v'tzetze'einu kulanu yodei shemecha ונהיה אנחנו וצאצאינו כולנו יודעי שמך.
• 4:11
  So again,
• 4:12
  we see that תלמוד תורה is associated with the name of God.
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  What does this mean?
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  Well,
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  the חפץ חיים talks about,
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  רב שכטר discusses this on somewhat of a regular basis.
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  We know that in the פסוק in ספר שמואל the Torah is referred to
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  as משל הקדמוני.
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  A משל of הקדמוני,
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  of Hakadosh Baruch Hu הקדוש ברוך הוא,
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  which can be understood not only a משל that was stated by Hakadosh Baruch
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  Hu הקדוש ברוך הוא,
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  but also some sort of משל in a certain sense about Hakadosh Baruch Hu
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  הקדוש ברוך הוא.
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  That somehow the Torah on some level is some sort of a משל of
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  a משל of a משל of Hakadosh Baruch Hu הקדוש ברוך הוא.
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  The Torah is closely related and associated with Hakadosh Baruch Hu הקדוש ברוך הוא.
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  Being involved in תורה learning is our way of connecting to הקדוש ברוך הוא.
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  This is perhaps why the רמח"ל writes in דרך השם how critical it is
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  for a person to have proper reverence when studying תורה.
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  He points out that תורה learning is something which could have great influence on
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  our world,
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  bring so much ברכה to our world,
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  but one of the conditions for that taking place is that a person has
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  proper יראת שמים.
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  Why should this be so?
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  Well,
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  presumably due to the fact that the whole part of the importance of תורה
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  is the way of connecting with הקדוש ברוך הוא,
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  so only if we have that proper יראת שמים will our study of תורה
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  be our way of connecting to הקדוש ברוך הוא.
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  I'll conclude with the following anecdote.
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  There was once a meeting of גבירים,
• 5:54
  of philanthropists,
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  some sort of parlor meeting for the ישיבה in Lakewood,
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  for רב Aharon Kotler's ישיבה,
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  בית מדרש גבוה,
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  currently known as BMG,
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  in Lakewood.
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  And some fellow got up and said that we need to support this ישיבה
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  because we need to provide the ability for leadership of the Jewish people in
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  the next generation,
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  and this ישיבה will provide the leaders of the next generation.
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  רב Aharon Kotler then stood up and said,
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  well,
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  I need to make something clear.
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  It is true that the leaders of the next generation quite possibly come from
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  this ישיבה,
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  but nevertheless,
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  that's not the reason why I established the ישיבה.
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  I established the ישיבה for the sake of people to be involved in תורה
• 6:49
  study.
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  So certainly we do understand that תורה study is something which does give us
• 6:56
  the potential to lead the Jewish people.
• 6:58
  We do understand that תורה study certainly needs to be done ללמוד על מנת
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  לעשות,
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  ללמוד על מנת ללמד,
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  על מנת לקיים,
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  but we need to understand and keep in mind that the very fact that
• 7:11
  we're involved in God's תורה is our way of connecting with הקדוש ברוך הוא,
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  something which brings great ברכה to us and to the rest of the world.
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  Have a wonderful שבת.