He explains the logic behind this counsel: "Once, I received a letter from a yeshiva bachur who sought counsel for happiness. I replied that he should check whether he knows the Gemara, and the shiur taught in the yeshiva and whether he knows the Chumash Rashi of that day... Perhaps that is the reason he is sad... After thinking it through, the bachur admitted that it was so. The explanation is that generally, sadness is experienced when a person feels 'out of place.' Therefore, a yeshiva bachur who sits between the walls of the yeshiva, if he doesn’t study and understand what he is supposed to study, will feel that he isn't in his place. But if he always does what is expected of him, he will feel secure and in his place. The same can be said about studying Chumash with Rashi, the portion of each day. This is a tested segulah to cause a person to feel that he is in his right place, and that will give him a feeling of satisfaction and joy”.
Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l said that it is a tested segulah that whoever studies the daily portion of Chumash Rashi won't sin that day.
Don't allow what happened in the past to prevent you from doing good today. The meforshim write that this concept is an introduction to kabbolas haTorah.
The Avodas Yisrael in this week's parashah (בחודש ה"ד) writes, "The Midrash says that ועתה, “and now”, is an expression of teshuvah. We can explain that Hakadosh Baruch Hu hints to those who come close to Hashem that they shouldn't lose hope or be afraid to come close to Him due to the aveiros of their past. The main thing is to come close to Hashem from today onward and not sin anymore. This is a great chesed. Hashem wants to bring close the people who do teshuvah and not look at their deeds of the past..."
A bachur came to the Sar Shalom of Belz zt'l and cried over the aveiros he had committed in the past. The Sar Shalom showed him that on the words בָּאוּ ַזֶּהה בַּיּוֹםִינָיס ִדְבַּרמ, "On this day, they arrived in the desert of Sinai", Rashi writes תורה דברי שיהיו ניתנו היום כאילו עליך חדשים, "This tells us that Torah should be new in your eyes as if the Torah was given just today." The Sar Shalom explained to the bachur that he should think the Torah was given just today and not dwell on the faults and aveiros of the past.
Never Too Late to Do Teshuvah
Sifsei Tzaddik teaches that Yisro wanted to become holy and close to Hashem, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded Moshe to be mekarev and help him in the process. The same will occur to every Yid who wants to come close to Hashem – including those Yidden who are at the lowest levels. They need help, and the "Torah" will help them get close to Hashem.
It states (19:2) ִינַיס ִדְבַּרמ וַיָּבֹאוּ ִידִיםֵרְפמ ְ עוּוַיִּס, "They journeyed from Refidim, and they arrived in the desert of Sinai." Several aveiros occurred in ִידִיםרְפ. They came to a place without water and complained about why Moshe brought them to the desert to die. Chazal (Sanhedrin 106.) say that the word ִידִיםרְפ stands for ידיהם רפו תורה מדברי, that they became weak in the realm of Torah study, and they were weak in their keeping the Torah.
This resulted in Amalek coming to them, there in Refidim.
It states (Shemos 17:7) ָהְרִיבוּמ ָּהַסמ ָּקוֹםַמה ֵםׁש ָאְרוַיִּקִםא ִ רְ בֵּנוּבְּק 'ה ֲׁיֵשה ֵאמֹרל 'ה ֶתא ָםֹּתנַס ַלוְע ֵלָאְרׂיִש בְּנֵי רִיב ַלע ָיִןא, "He named the place Massah [testing] and Merivah [quarreling] because of the quarrel of Bnei Yisrael and because of their testing Hashem, saying, Is Hashem in our midst or not?"
They left Refidim and finally arrived at Midbar Sinai, as the pasuk states (19:2) ְ עוּוַיִּסִינַיס ִדְבַּרמ וַיָּבֹאוּ ִידִיםֵרְפמ, "They journeyed from Refidim, and arrived in the desert of Sinai." Why does the Torah specify that they traveled from Refidim? Isn’t it obvious that they traveled from the last location they had encamped?
As Rashi writes, "Why did the Torah have to repeat and explain from where they had journeyed? Did it not already state (Shemos 17:1) that they were encamped in Refidim? It should be obvious that they journeyed from there!” Rashi answers that the Torah wishes to compare their journey from Refidim to their arrival in the Sinai desert. Just as their arrival in Midbar Sinai desert was with repentance, so was their journey from Refidim with repentance.
Repentance in Refidim
This episode teaches us an important lesson. We learn that the Jewish nation did teshuvah when they were still in Refidim. They didn't say, "We sinned in this place... Let us wait until we go somewhere else, and we will improve our ways." They also didn't say, "We are having a bad day; let’s wait for tomorrow." The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni) says that they sinned for a short time, and they immediately did teshuvah in Refidim.
It states (18:8) ָהָׂשע ֶרֲׁשא כָּל ֵתא ְנוֹלְחֹת ֶהׁמֹש ֵּרַפוַיְסֵלָאְרׂיִש אוֹדֹת ַלע ַיִםִצְרוּלְמ ַרְעֹהלְפ ה"הוי, "Moshe told his father-in-law all that Hashem had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on account of Yisrael..."
Yagel Yaakov (Mishkoltz) asks on the wordsֵלָאְרׂיִש אוֹדֹת ַלע, "on account of Yisrael..." that they seem to be extra. Also that the pasuk states ה"הוי ָהָׂשע ֶרֲׁשא כָּל ֵתא, and at the beginning of the parashah Hashem's name אלקים is used, as it states (18:1) ֶהׁמֹש ֵןחֹת ִדְיָןמ ֵןכֹה ְרוֹיִת ַעְׁמוַיִּשּוַֹמע ֵלָאְרׂוּלְיִש ֶהׁלְמֹש ִיםֱלֹקא ָהָׂשע ֶרֲׁשא כָּל ֵתא, "Moshe's father in law, Yisro, the kohen of Midian, heard all that אלקים had done for Moshe and for Yisrael..."
Yagel Yaakov replies that Yisro was surprised when he heard about the makos. Every time Pharoah had a drop of regret, Hashem took the makah away from him. Why did he deserve this? Pharaoh was just minimally sincere, just a drop of teshuvah. Did he deserve the makah to be removed from him? Moshe explained to him that it wasֵלָאְרׂיִש אוֹדֹת ַלע, "on account of Yisrael..." Hashem wanted to teach the Jewish nation that if they have a drop of teshuvah, it is significant in Hashem's eyes, and He will accept it. This is the reason ה"הוי, Hashem's name of compassion, is used in this pasuk. Hashem's compassionate manner of treating Pharaoh was to teach the Jewish nation that Hashem would certainly be compassionate with them and accept their teshuvah, even when it is minimal and imperfect.
