(For the riddles, please see back page)
1)
The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh on the pasuk in this week’s parsha: אלה הדברים אשר דיבר משה, brings down a number of explanations in the pasuk. One explanation he brings is, the pasuk is telling us that Moshe Rabbeinu fulfilled the pasuk of ודברת בם, which Chazal expound to mean, ודברת בם ולא בדברים בטלים - “That you should talk only words of Torah, and not idle matters.” Meaning: The pasuk is telling us that Moshe Rabbeinu throughout his entire life only ever spoke what Hashem commanded him to speak, and he only ever spoke words of Torah, chochmah and mussar, he never spoke anything else.
The Tiferes Shlomah (on our parsha) asks: ויש להפליא הלא משרע"ה בן שמונים שנה הי' קודם שקבל התורה ומלך בכוש ימים רבים ואיך כל ימיו לא דבר רק ד"ת - “How is this possible? Moshe Rabbeinu lived for 80 years before receiving the Torah, and was the King over Kush for a long time (Sefer HaYashor), so how can it be that only ever spoke words of Torah?”
The Tiferes Shlomah answers: ענין סוד ליראי ה' ולחושבי שמו אעפ"י שעוסקים ומדברים בדברי עוה"ז מ"מ מחשבתם קשורה ודבוק' בהש"י ב"ה כל הימים וכל דבריהם בקדושה וכמו שידענו מזה מדברי איש האלקי הבעש"ט זי"ע שדיבר עם תלמידיו ספורי מעשיות מעניני עוה"ז והמה דברים גבוהים ברום עולם – “There is a special secret known to those who fear Hashem and always think about Him, that even though they are busy talking about worldly matters, nonetheless, their thoughts remain attached to Hashem Yisborach, and all their actions are carried out with holiness. Like we know about the Ba’al Shem Tov, that he was able to relate to his talmidim stories about worldly matters, yet at the same time he was thinking about something else. These ideas are very lofty.
We see from the Tiferes Shlomah that its permissible to speak sichas chullin [mundane/ idle chatter] if at the same time one is thinking in Torah.
This is not like the Shu”t Yad Eliyohu (Chelek Kesovim, ois 5, siman 14) who writes: “If one speaks mundane matters and idle chatter, even if he is thinking in Torah in his heart and doesn’t take his mind off Torah, nonetheless, he violates an aseh of ודברת בם ולא בדברים בטלים - “That you should talk only words of Torah, and not idle matters.”
The Yad Eliyohu concludes: “I am saying this, because I heard that a certain tzadik and Gaon held otherwise.”
The Yad Eliyohu doesn’t mention who he is referring to, perhaps he is referring to the Tiferes Shlomah cited above, however, it’s more logical that he is referring to R’ Chaim Volozhin, who the Yafeh Einayim writes about him: “That he was able to speak mundane matters and at the same time think about Torah.” In his sefer Kol Aryeh (Daf 37b) he writes: “They say about HaRav HaGaon Moreinu HaRav Rabbi Chaim Volozhin that he had the ability to speak with people, and at the same time do chazorah on the Rif.”
In Keser Rosh (siman 70) they bring from R’ Chaim Volozhin that: “There are people who are able to do two things at once, to speak (mundane matters) and think in Torah, however, such a thing is impossible, and it isn’t found, and it takes incredible wisdom to do such a thing.” This seems to contradict the above, however, it could be that R’ Chaim Volozhin said this out of humility, however, really, he was able to.
The Gemara in Succah (21b) brings from Chazal: שיחת חולין של תלמידי חכמים צריכה לימוד – “the mundane chatter of Talmiday Chachomim needs to be studied.” Based on the above, perhaps we can say, one should learn from Talmiday Chachomim, how it’s possible to talk in mundane matters and at the same time be thinking in Torah, like R’ Chaim Volozhin who was able to talk mundane matters and learn the Rif at the time. (Otzer Pelois HaTorah)
2)
Og’s real name was “Polit” (פליט) and he was called this because he managed to survive the mabul [big flood].
The Gemara in Niddah (61a) says: ויבא הפליט ויגד לאברם העברי ואמר ר' יוחנן זה עוג שפלט מדור המבול – “’And there came one that was saved, and told Avram’, R’ Yochanan said: This refers to Og who managed to survive the mabul.”
Tosfos (Niddah 61a) explains why the Torah refers to him as Og. Tosfos explains: When Og went to tell Avraham that Lot had been taken captive by the kings, he found that Avraham was in granary preparing matzos (עוגות ) for Pesach, and because of this he got the name “Og”. The source for this is the Medrash Bereishis Rabbah (42:8).
As an interesting aside, the Aruch (Erech קלר ג') writes that there is a place where they call cake “Kalir”, and this is how Rebbi Eliezer HaKalir got his name. He once ate a cake which had a special name written on it, and through this he became very clever.”
The pasuk in this week’s parsha (Devorim 3:11) says: כי רק עוג מלך הבשן נשאר מיתר הרפאים הנה ערשו ערש ברזל הלה הוא ברבת בני עמון תשע אמות ארכה וארבע אמות רחבה באמת איש – “Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaim. His bedstead, an iron bedstead, is now in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide, by the standard cubit.”
We see that Og’s bed was made of iron. The Medrash HaGadol says: Because having an iron bed is not a normal thing, the pasuk needed to go out its way to mention it.
The Medrash (Devorim Rabbah 1:24) describes the scene of what happened when Moshe first met Og, the Medrash says:
Moshe lifted his eyes and saw Og sitting on the wall and his feet reached the ground. Moshe said: ‘I do not know what I am seeing. Did they build another wall at night?’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Moshe, what you see is Og.’ Rabbi Yochanan said: The length of his legs was eighteen cubits. At that moment, Moshe was afraid. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Fear not, as I will topple him before you.’ From where is this derived? “Hashem said to Moshe: Do not fear him” (Bamidbar 21:34). Og would uproot a mountain and cast it on Klal Yisrael, and Moshe would take a pebble, intone the ineffable Name, and it [the pebble] would intercept it [the mountain]. Klal Yisrael said: ‘Cursed are the hands that cast in that way.’ The Emorites said: ‘Blessed are the hands that intercept in that way.’
The pasuk we mentioned in this week’s parsha says that Og’s bed was nine amos [cubits] long and four amos wide, however, from the Medrash it seems that just his feet were eighteen amos, how can we reconcile these two measurements?
The Rashbam on the pasuk in this week’s parsha, writes that Og’s bed was only made out of iron when he was a young child, as when he was young, he was very strong and heavy and when he would stretch, he would break his bed, so it needed to be very strong and made from iron. However, when he got older, he was more careful and was able to sleep on a normal bed.
Based on this we can explain that when he was young, he wasn’t as tall and he managed to fit on a bed which was just nine amos long, however, when he got older, he grew and grew, and at one point just his feet alone were eighteen amos tall.
3)
In this week’s parsha we have the pasuk: רב לכם סב את ההר הזה פנו לכם צפנה - “You have enough, circle the mountain, and turn to the north (tzafonah).” (Devarim 2:3)
The Kli Yakar lived during a time when the Jews enjoyed prosperity, and he did not approve of the way they dealt with it. He urged them to be more discreet, to keep a low profile and not draw attention to themselves with ostentatious lifestyles.
He supported his exhortation with a homiletic interpretation of Moshe’s words to the Jewish people. “You have enough, circle the mountain, and turn to the north (tzafonah).” The word tzafonah can also be translated as “the hidden.” In other words, you have enough material things. Now hide them! If you’ve got it, you don’t have to flaunt it!
Eisav has a long memory, writes the Kli Yakar. Whenever he sees Yaakov prosper, he believes with all his heart that it is only because of the blessings that he believes Yaakov stole, the blessings that should have gone to Eisav.
Yaakov himself was already worried about this. When famine struck all of the Middle East, everyone was forced to run to Egypt, the only place where large stockpiles of food existed. It was the only way to avoid starvation.
Yaakov’s pantry, however, was well stocked with food, and his family could have gone a long time without a trip to Egypt. Nonetheless, Yaakov sent them to buy food. “Lamah tisra’u?” he said. “Why should you show off?” According to Rashi, Yaakov was concerned about the children of Eisav and Yishmael. Why should they see that you have plenty of food while they are starving? That would be a foolish thing to do.
R' Frand adds: Living in the United States, which is so liberal, so tolerant, we tend to forget this important lesson. Regardless of how benign American society is, it is still exile. We still live among non-Jews, not all of whom share the full measure of tolerance which has made this country the superpower that it is today. We still need to watch our step. If we have been blessed with prosperity — money, real estate, nice homes, automobiles and clothing — there is no need to flaunt our wealth.
“Why do you show off?” said Yaakov. It is impolite. It is unwise. It is even dangerous.
4)
In Parshas Devarim, Moshe said (2:25) that Hashem told him that He would cause all the nations under the entire heaven to fear the Jews. Rashi explains that this was fulfilled when Hashem caused the sun to stand still on the day of the battle against Og, a miracle that was noticed by all the nations around the world.
In Parshas Beshalach, Rashi writes (Shemos 17:12) that the Amalekites used astrology to determine the most auspicious time of day for them to prevail, so Moshe caused the sun to remain in place to throw off their calculations.
During the battle to conquer Eretz Yisroel, Yehoshua ordered the sun to stand still (Yehoshua 10:12).
5)
At the sheva berachos of his youngest son, Rav Meir, at the Wagshal’s Hotel in Bnei Brak, the Brisker Rav expounded on the words of each of the songs that were sung by the guests. With relish, the assembled would sing a niggun, and then delightedly wait to hear the Rav’s spontaneous insights.
One of the guests was the renowned Tzadik, Rav Velvel Adelman. When asked to sing, he chose the aforementioned song. Everyone joined in fervently to this implied prayer for the Brisker Rav’s health and longevity.
When the singing ended, the Brisker Rav asked our aforementioned question. He then smiled and gave his answer: “We pray for Mashiach to come sooner! And if he comes before his schedule arrival, there will be additional (תוסיף ) days of Mashiach’s reign.”
May the words of the Brisker Rav come to fruition in our day
