13 Jul HAPPY WITH YESURIM

A relative of Reb

Eisik Shor of

Slabodka zt’l

broke her foot,

and she was

home-ridden for

a very long time

until it cured. Being home so long was

hard for her, and Reb Eizik visited her

and tried to give her some chizuk. He

asked her, “Do you remember the pain

of pregnancy and childbirth?” “Of

course, I remember.” “Are those bitter

memories or happy memories? I’m

certain they are happy memories

because they brought you a child who

gives you so much nachas. Similarly, all

suffering in life is like childbirth

because something very good will come

from it. We must believe that it is so.”

The Vilna Gaon teaches, “If one loses a

silver coin, he should praise Hashem as

though he found a silver coin. And if he

loses two silver coins, he should be

happy as though he found two silver

coins. The same is for every bad thing

that happens to him; he should think

that the bad is ,-        –

     ….good because the extent of the

good is in accordance to the extent of

the bad.” This means that when things

seem very bad, it is Hashem’s kindness

coming down on us to an even greater

extent. Rav Shach zt’l said to a person

who was suffering from enemies

–         ‘        ,Hashem can help

you, and in a moment all your tzaros

will go away. In the meanwhile, follow

Chazal’s counsel of not answering back

(see Gitin 36:).” Rav Shach brought

him a cup of tea with a teaspoon of

honey. Rav Shach said, “Bees frighten

people, and sometimes they sting, but

they give us honey. Similarly,

regarding those who oppose you,

believe that something very sweet will

come from it.” The Ohr Hachaim

writes, “All the descriptions of the

parah adumah represent dinim

(hardships). It’s red, the color of harsh

din. In fact, it must be ,           )

red completely representing extreme

din). It can’t even have two black hairs.

Even the horns and the hooves must be

red. They may not be black. They

certainly can’t be white (because the

parah adumah must represent din,

hardships, and white represents

chesed). Another feature of the parah

adumah is        never it that    

    -     carried a yoke on its neck.

This is because a yoke (hardships)

removes din. As Chazal (Brachos 5.)

say,                         ,

afflictions cleanse all sins, and sins are

din. [Likewise, the parah adumah

must be an animal that never had

any hardships at all, so all the

dinim are within it, and they were

never sweetened through the

hardships and toil work.] Then the

cow is burned in fire, and fire is

din. All these aspects of din

become concentrated in the ashes

of the parah adumah, and this

pulls the tumah out from the man

who came in contact with a

human corpse…” In short, the

parah adumah’s ashes represent a

strong force of din – like a

gravitational force – and it

therefore attracts all dinim to it.

When the ashes are sprinkled on

the person who became tamei, the

tumah, which is din, flees from

him. This is because tumah is din,

and the tumah goes to the

gravitational force of din of the

ashes. We quote this Ohr

HaChaim to remind us that when

one endures hardships, it

mitigates and removes dinim.

Therefore, trust in Hashem and

believe that everything is for the

good, for it is indeed so.

The Purity of Torah

It states (19:12),    -         

the, -            -       

     ashes of the parah adumah

are sprinkled on the tamei person

on the third and on the seventh

day after he became tamei. The

Shlah, Chukas,

    This, “writes

      

    pasuk

carries a great

hint because

although we

don’t have the

ashes of the

parah adumah

anymore, a

person can purify himself when he

attaches himself to studying Torah,

teaching it, and keeping it.” The Shlah

explains that the third day represents

the third millennium, the millennium

we received the Torah. The seventh

day represents the seventh millennium,

which is the era of             

,when the world, as we know it, will be

destroyed, and the neshamos of Bnei

Yisrael will bask in Hashem’s

presence. The reward of the seventh

millennium is given to those who

purify themselves with the Torah that

was given to Bnei Yisrael in the third

millennium. As the Shlah writes,

“Chazal say, ‘Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s

day is a thousand years.’ This means

the seven days of Creation allude to the

six thousand years that the world will

exist and another thousand years when

the world will be destroyed (see

Ramban, Bereishis). The Torah was

given in the third millennium and is

[represented by] the third day of

Creation. The pasuk ,   -         

           ,says which means when

one purifies himself with Torah which

was given on the third day, then,

                 ,he will be

completely pure in Olam HaBa, 

          .But if he doesn’t become

pure with the third day [which means

he doesn’t purify himself with Torah],

he won’t be pure on the seventh day.

As                  ,say Chazal

          ,if you prepare from before

Shabbos, you will eat on Shabbos.”

The Gemara (Pesachim 42:) ,        

     ,discusses which is dough made

from not fully grown wheat kernels.

This dough was placed on top of a pot

that was cooking, and it drew out the

      ,the impure particles found in

the food. Tzaddikim said that the more

common translation of       is toil.

Thus, Chazal are hinting that if you toil

in Torah, this will draw out of you all

your       , impurities.