These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1365 – Giving the Benefit of the Doubt – Does it Apply to Everyone? Good Shabbos!

Learning Kovod Shamayim from the Tzfardeia

The pasuk in Parshas Vayera says, “And Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Say to Aharon ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the reservoirs, v’ha’al es hatzefardiim (and raise up the frogs) over the land of Egypt.”” (Shemos 8:1)

The Baal Haturim, in a classic comment, notes that the word v’ha’al appears exactly twice in Chumash. Once here – “v’ha’al es hatzefardiim” – and again in connection with the death of Aharon: “Take Aharon and Elazar his son, v’ha’al osam (and bring them up) to Hor Hahor.” (Bamidbar 20:25).

Like many comments of the Baal Haturim, this observation is a riddle. If there are only two times in the Torah that the word v’ha’al appears – once regarding the tzefardiim (frogs) and once when Aharon died – there must be some kind of connection between the two. Here the Baal Haturim does us the favor of explaining himself (which he doesn’t always do).

The Baal Haturim cites the famous Gemara (Pesachim 53b): “What did Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya see that motivated them to be willing to give up their lives by allowing themselves to be thrown into a fiery furnace? They made a kal v’chomer for themselves from the tzefardiim. The pasuk says, “…they shall ascend and come into your house and your bedroom and your bed, and into the house of your servants and of your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls.” (Shemos 7:28) Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya reasoned: If the tzefardiim, who were not commanded to make a kiddush Hashem (sanctify G-d’s name), nevertheless (assuming that they jumped into heated ovens) they allowed themselves to die, giving up their lives to fulfill the word of Hashem, then we, who are commanded in the mitzva of kiddush Hashem, must certainly be prepared to give up our lives.

This was the kal v’chomer that Chananya, Mishael and Azarya made for themselves: If the tzefardiim jumped into the oven when they had the option of jumping elsewhere (the house, the bedroom, the beds, etc.), we certainly must be prepared to jump into Nevuchadnezzar’s furnace!

The Baal Haturim explains the relationship between the two occurrences of the word v’ha’al in Chumah as follows: The Medrash says that all the tzefardiim from the second plague died (Shemos 8:9-10) except for the tzefardiim who jumped into the ovens. They survived. The Baal Haturim says: Moshe and Aharon who had the opportunity to make a Kiddush Hashem (by speaking to the rock at Mei Meriva) and did not do so, died. This is what the two v’ha’als have to do with each other.

The truth is that Tosfos asks the following question in Maseches Pesachim: Why does the Gemara say that Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya decided to give up their lives based on learning a kal v’chomer from the tzefardiim? This is Hilchos Kiddush Hashem 101: There are three cardinal sins for which a person is required to give up his life rather than transgress those aveiros. They are Avodah Zarah, giluy arayos, and shefichas domim (idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder). This is basic halacha which does not require a logical kal v’chomer derivation from tzefardiim!

Tosfos answers that this wasn’t really Avodah Zarah. The statue they were asked to bow down to was not really an idol. It was merely a statue Nevuchadnezzar made of himself for his own honor. Strictly speaking, it was not Avodah Zarah so there was no ye’hareg v’al ya’vor (martyrdom) requirement. Why then were they prepared to give up their lives if there was no halachic requirement to do so? The Gemara explains that it was because they made a kal v’chomer from the action of the tzefardiim: The tzefardiim also had the option of jumping into the beds or bathtubs, but they chose to jump into the ovens, risking death, so we will do the same!

Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz (1887-1964) was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn. He was responsible for bringing over the Mir from Europe. He once made an interesting observation: The truth of the matter is that people should have given their lives to not bow down to the statue of Nevuchadnezzar for the simple reason that albeit it wasn’t Avodah Zarah, bowing down to a human statue still reflects a lack of kavod Shamayim (honor of Heaven). If all the Jews would bow down to the statue of this midget (which is how the Gemara refers to Nevuchadnezzar) and no one would make a statement and stand up for kavod Shamayim, that itself is a chilul Hashem!

Everyone should have asked themselves, “Hey, at least one of us needs to object to this brazen offense to kavod Shamayim!” Someone needs to make a statement. But everyone could say: Yes. SOMEONE needs to make a statement but it doesn’t need to be ME that makes that statement. I don’t need to give up MY life. No one wanted to be the person who made that statement.

However, Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya said to themselves: Remember the tzefardiim. They also had options: The Ribono shel Olam said: Jump into the houses, and into the bedrooms, and into the beds. And also jump into the ovens. Each tzfardeia could have argued: “Let some other tzfardeia jump into the oven! Why do I need to jump into the oven?” Said Rav Kalmanowitz – this is the lesson over here. There is always someone else that can do anything. Everyone else can always say “Let that other fellow do it.” But Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya learned from the tzefardiim that you grab the opportunity to be mekadesh shem Shamayim. The person who decides to do it receives eternal reward. That is what we learn from the tzefardiim.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]

This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Va’eyra is provided below:

• # 039 – Shabbos Emergency: Who Do We Call?
• # 082 – Astrology: Is It For Us?
• # 130 – The Issur of Entering a Church
• # 177 – Magic Shows: More Than Meets the Eye
• # 223 – Learning in Kollel: Is It Always Permitted?
• # 267 – Do Secular Names of G-d Have Kedusha?
• # 313 – Converting a Church Into a Shul
• # 357 – Birchas Hamotzi
• # 401 – Kadima B’brachos — Hierarchy of Brochos
• # 445 – Shoveling Snow on Shabbos
• # 489 – Denying Jewishness
• # 533 – Shin Shel Tefillin & Ohr Echad
• # 577 – Davening For Non-Jews
• # 621 – Kosher Cheese Continued – Cottage Cheese and Butter
• # 665 – Checking Out Families for Shidduchim
• # 709 – Kavod Malchus & Secular Kings
• # 753 – Making Hamotzei – Not As Simple As It Seems
• # 797 – Sheva Brachos at the Seder
• # 841 – Serving McDonalds To Your Non-Jewish Employees
• # 885 – Davening Out Loud – A Good Idea?
• # 929 – The Bracha of Al Hamichya
• # 972 – Is Islam Avodah Zarah?
• #1016 – The Magician Who Became a Baal Teshuva
• #1060 – Bentching on a Kos; Making Brochos with Children
• #1103 – Davening In Front of a Tzelem
• #1146 – Polling Place/AA Meeting in a Bais Avodah Zara – A Problem?
• #1189 – Can You Wear Your Tzitzes in the Bathroom?
• #1233 – Mutar To Say Mumbai, Corpus Christi and Even Satmar and Sans? – Why Not?
• #1277 – Snow Shailos
• #1321 – Should You Make A Bracha on Seeing President Donald Trump?
• #1365 – Giving the Benefit of the Doubt – Does it Apply to Everyone?
• #1409 – The Measles Vaccination Controversy
• #1453 – Do You Make A Bracha Achrona After Your Daily Starbucks?
• #1497 – Can One Daven in a Room With a Cross? And Other Cross Shailos
• #1540 – Can You Give Tzedaka in a Mikva?
• #1583 – Bentching on a Kos of Wine: Should You? Must You? Can You?
• #1621 – What Is the Bracha on Sushi and Shnitzel?

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