13 Jul YISHUV HADAAS

A person was

heading to his

friend’s home to

request a loan.

As he walked,

he thought to

himself, “Nah, he won’t give me a

loan. He’ll chase me away, and I will

be embarrassed that I even asked

him.” Then he told himself, “Why am

I thinking such thoughts? Maybe he

will lend me money. He’s a friend,

after all.” But then he told himself

that his first assumption was correct.

His friend won’t lend him the money.

“But why not? I did him so many

favors; why doesn’t he help me? It

isn’t right.” His mind was full of all

these disturbing, angry thoughts and

feelings towards his friend, that when

he reached his friend’s home, he was

fuming inside. As soon as his friend

opened the door, he immediately

blurted out, “I don’t want any favors

from you. Don’t lend me the money.

I prefer it that way,” and he slammed

the door shut. His bewildered friend

stood behind the closed door,

completely unaware of why he was

so angry and what he was talking

about. This story is just a parable to

teach us that one can become angry,

lose their tranquility, and can base

all his information on untrue facts, a

complete misunderstanding. This is

what happened to Moav. They were

petrified of the Jewish nation, as it

states (22:3)      sought They.     

        -     solutions as to how

they can save themselves. They

made peace with their arch enemy,

Midyan, so they can join to protect

themselves from the Jewish nation.

But it was an illusion based on their

imagination because they didn’t

have anything to fear. Hashem

commands us (Devarim 9:2)

   -         -        –

           -      -      -     ,

Don’t place an ambush on Moav and

don’t make a war with them, because

you will not inherit his land…” They

weren’t going to fight against Moav.

This is the nature of imagination; it

has the power to cause something

unreal to appear very true, and it

robs people of their yishuv hadaas.

Yishuv hadaas is essential. When

one has a calm, rational mind, he can

find solutions to his problems, and

he can cope. But when one loses his

peace of mind, he is liable to become

angry, get into machlokes, and act

unwisely. Furthermore, without

yishuv hadaas, he doesn’t have a

settled mind to learn or daven.

Therefore, yishuv hadaas is

essential. The Zohar (vol.3 199:)

states that the first two letters of

and      spell      ,confusion. The

final letters spell     .This is

because when one is confused, one

falls into the hands of Amalek. Our

goal is to strive to attain yishuv

hadaas at all times. Reb Moshe

Kobriner zt’l wrote in a letter, “All

the wealth of the world doesn’t equal

one moment of yishuv hadaas…”

The Nesivos Shalom zt’l (of Slonim)

teaches that Haman also understood

that he could only harm the Jewish

nation if they lose their yishuv

hadaas. Therefore, he sought to

confuse them and to put them into a

mode of panic. As it states (Esther

9:24)

-                     …

             –

Haman thought to annihilate the

Yidden, so he drew lots to confuse

them and to destroy them.” He first

By: Rabbi

Elimelech Biderman

wanted      

,to confuse

them. As we

explained, he

wanted to

create a panic

and cause

people to lose

their yishuv

h a d a a s ,

because he knew that then he could

      ,destroy them. About

Bilaam, it states and, -        

21:22),    ( about Avraham it

states .3:22),     –

Bereishis( Both mean that they

woke up early in the morning, but

there is a difference .      and    

between As the Lev Simchah zt’l (of

Gur) explains; when it states      

it means that he woke up, and    

means he stood up. About Avraham

it states      ” ,he woke up early,”

which means Avraham slept that

night. About Bilaam it states     

    , “Bilaam stood up,” but he

didn’t wake up, because he was

awake all night. Avraham always

maintained his yishuv hadaas, while

Bilaam couldn’t control his

emotions. Therefore, when Hashem

told Avraham to make the akeidah,

Avraham didn’t lose his peace of

mind, and he was able to sleep at

night. As opposed to Bilaam, who

was so happy to have the

opportunity to curse the Yidden, he

lost his tranquil mind, and he

couldn’t fall asleep. Therefore, it

states     .He got up in the

morning, but he didn’t wake up

because he was awake all night

long. The Lev Simchah zt’l (of Gur)

explains that Avraham had the

attribute of        , which means

he believed everything was for the

good, and therefore, he remained

calm and relaxed when good things

happened to him and also when

going through hardships. The

knowledge that he must slaughter

his son didn’t disrupt his life.

L’havdil, when Bilaam conspired to

curse the Jewish nation, he was so

excited with the aveirah, he couldn’t

sleep that night.