Thirty years ago, was niftar Harav HaTzaddik Reb Mordechai Twersky zt'l, the son of the Rachmistrivka Rebbe of America zt'l. The petirah of this holy son was sudden, and everyone cried and mourned this significant loss.
Soon afterwards, there was a chasunah in the Rachmistrivka family, and the father (the Rebbe zt'l) was extremely happy. His sons asked him how he could be happy amid such a loss and sadness. He replied, "What do you think, I am not made from flesh and blood? My heart is broken, and it's bleeding. But at the chuppah, when the chasan stepped on the glass cup and everyone shouted Mazal Tov, I thought to myself, what is the reason for this custom? It is to teach us that even if a cup shatters, one still has to shout out in a loud voice Mazal Tov and be happy."
Accepting Hashem's Decrees
The first Rashi of the parashah discusses the parah adumah. The Goyim ask, "What is the reason for this mitzvah? What is the logic?" Hashem's response is, אין ,מלפני היא גזרה אחריה להרהר רשות לך, "It is a decree before Me, and you don't have permission to ask questions about it." The Kaliver Rebbe Shlita (may he have a refuah sheleimah) explains that this portion speaks about someone who died (because a parah adumah is brought to purify from מת טומאת). When someone dies, now it is time to say אחריה להרהר רשות לך אין ,מלפני היא גזרה, "It is a decree before me, and you don't have permission to ask questions about it."
The Shefa Chaim zy'a of Klausenberg lost his wife and his eleven children hy'd in the Holocaust. About this great sorrow, the Shefa Chaim said the following vort. It states (Tehillim 33:9) וַיַּע ֲמֹד צִוָּה הוּא וַיֶּהִי אָמַר הוּא כִּי , "For He said and it came about; He commanded and it endured." וַיֶּהִי is an expression of tzaar (see Megillah 10b). The pasuk is saying וַיֶּהִי אָמַר הוּא כִּי, the same Hashem Who brought on the tzaar, וַיַּע ֲמֹד צִוָּה הוּא, He commanded that we stop crying. We must get up from the earth and not be focused so deeply on the sorrow.
Lessons on Mourning and Tumah
Some years ago, the daughter of Harav HaTzaddik of Sea Gate zt'l was niftarah. At the end of the shivah, the rav gathered his family and showed them a bottle of milk. On it was written an expiration date. The rav said to his family, "Just as milk has an expiration date, after which the milk spoils, so too, mourning and crying have an end date. Past this time, it isn't right to cry anymore."
The tumah that comes from a dead person is greater than all other tumos because that tumah lasts for seven days, and is called הטומאה אבות אבי, "The father of the fathers of tumah."
Bnei Yissaschar (Rosh Chodesh 1:11) teaches that on rosh chodesh, when one says Hashem’s name in the brachah חדשים וראשי ישראל מקדש 'ה אתה ברוך, he should concentrate on the letters of Hashem's name, as they appear that month. For example, for rosh chodesh Tamuz, he should think the name י"הוה, as the name shines during this month. Doing so, the Bnei Yissaschar teaches, is a segulah that his tefillos of the entire month will be answered.
It states (19:16) חֶרֶב בַּחֲלַל הַשָּׂדֶה פ ְּנֵי עַל יִגַּע ֶׁראֲש וְכֹל יָמ ִים שִׁבְעַת יִטְמָא בְקָבֶר אוֹ אָדָם בְעֶצֶם אוֹ בְמֵת אוֹ, "Anyone who touches one slain by the sword, or a corpse, or a human bone or a grave, in an open field, he shall be tamei for seven days." Why is this tumah so severe? The Chizkuni writes, "The Torah is more machmir with tumas meis than all other tumos."
