These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1374 Pesach Shaylos You May Never Even Have Thought About. Good Shabbos!

The pasuk in Parshas Vayikra says, “If a person will sin: If he accepted a demand for an oath, and he is a witness – either he saw or he knew – if he does not testify, he shall bear his iniquity” (Vayikra 5:1). The halacha is that if someone knows eidus (testimony) about a case, he needs to testify. If he knows facts germane to a case – at least in monetary matters – and he refuses to provide testimony, he has committed an aveira.

The “Mitteler Rebbe” (Rabbi Dov Ber (1773-1825), son of the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi), was once told by his doctor that he needed to go to the famous spas in Marienbad (in what is today the Czech Republic). The Rebbe was in White Russia, which was in Belarus. He had to travel to Marienbad, but for some reason, he traveled by way of Posen (in Poland), which was where Rabbi Akiva Eger lived.

The Rebbe went to visit Rabbi Akiva Eger and asked him to explain the following pasuk, which is recited as part of the Haftorah of Shabbos Hagadol: “I Hashem have not changed, and you, Children of Yaakov have not been destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6).

Rabbi Akiva Eger responded by citing the pasuk in our parsha relating to refusal to testify: “If he will not tell, he will bear his sin.” Now, quite atypically, the negation in the first part of that pasuk (V’im lo yagid…) is spelled lamed-vov-aleph. (Normally a negation is just spelled lamed aleph.) Rabbi Akiva Eger explained (and this is how the Rambam paskens) that the halacha that it is an aveira if someone who knows testimony for someone else does not testify only applies if the party to the dispute subpoenas the witness and asks him to testify on his behalf. If the litigant does not ask the witness to testify in court, even if he witnessed the incident and does not come to court to share his knowledge, he has not sinned.

From where does the Rambam get this halacha? The answer is, he gets it from the above-cited pasuk: “V’im lo yagid“. The Rambam infers this detail from the fact that lo is spelled with a vov (before the aleph). Read as lamed vov, the word means “to him” – implying that there is a “him” who is demanding that the witness testifies. Only if “to him” (lamed vov), he does not (lamed aleph) testify – then he will bear his sin.

Rabbi Akiva Eger explained that there is another pasuk which states: “I appoint heaven and earth this day to bear witness against you that you will surely perish quickly from the land to which you are crossing the Jordan to possess; you shall not have lengthy days upon it, for you will be destroyed.” (Devorim 4:26). The Ribono shel Olam invokes the shamayim and aretz to testify against Klal Yisrael if they do not keep the mitzvos.

Unfortunately, in our history, there have been many periods in which we, Klal Yisrael, have not kept the mitzvos and yet, the shamayim v’aretz have not come to testify against us, and therefore we are still around. Why are we still around when the pasuk says that heaven and earth will testify against us and that once they do testify, we will be speedily destroyed?

This can be understood based on the halacha derived earlier from the pasuk “V’im lo yagid…” (Vayikra 5:1), that a witness is only obligated to testify if he is called upon to do so. Although the Ribono shel Olam appointed the shamayim v’aretz as witnesses, He never summoned them to testify. That, said Rabbi Akiva Eiger beautifully, is the meaning of the above-cited pasuk in Malachi. “Ani, Hashem, lo shaneesi…” I, the Ribono shel Olam says, changed lo – meaning the word lo to include a vov. Since I changed the lo, the witnesses do not need to testify. Consequently, the end of that pasuk is fulfilled: “you, B’nei Yisrael, have not been destroyed.”

A beautiful ‘chap‘ by Rabbi Akiva Eiger, which the Lubovitcher Rebbe certainly enjoyed.

Klal Yisrael Does Not Need to See the Finished Product

My son Yakov told me a vort he saw in the sefer Tzror Hamor, which gives a unique pshat to a pasuk we read on Parshas Hachodesh. The pasuk begins “Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim…” (This month will be for you the first of the months…) (Shemos 12:2). The simple reading is that the pasuk teaches us that Nisan is the first month of the Jewish calendar. The Tzror Hamor had a different take on it.

The Tzror Hamor says that he saw in an old sefer that the Mitzrim (Egyptians) also used a lunar calendar, but that Rosh Chodesh was not at the beginning of the month, when the new moon appears, but rather it was in the middle of the month, when the moon is full. Therefore, the pasuk “Hachodesh Hazeh lachem rosh chadashim” introduced the innovation that the new month begins as soon as the “new moon” appears.

The Tzror Hamor points out that this is not only an astronomical concept, it is a hashkafic (philosophical) concept as well: The Mitzrim only valued the achievement of full potential. A full moon is significant because it has reached its full potential. However, when the moon is just a sliver it does not have significance. Klal Yisrael, says the Tzror Hamor, is just the opposite. When we see that sliver of the moon, we see the potential for an entirely different situation.

“Hachodesh Hazeh lachem rosh chadashim“, says the Tzror Hamor, is a basic lesson in Jewish hashkafa. By Klal Yisrael, we do not need to see the finished product. We don’t need to see the moon in its maximum configuration to appreciate it. We only need to detect the potential for future greatness and growth. The Mitzrim needed to see the full moon. The Jews give significance even to the sliver – knowing what it can develop into.

He explains that with this idea, we can better understand three different pesukim:

The pasuk in Parshas Vaera says, “V’samti p’dus bein Ami u’bein amecha; l’machar yiheyeh haos hazeh. (I am going to make a difference between My nation and your nation – the difference between them is tomorrow.)” (Shemos 8:19) We look at the tomorrow, the future, the potential. For the Mitzrim, it needs to already be there.

With this distinction, we can also interpret the pasuk (Shemos 17:9) “And Moshe said to Yehoshua ‘Choose for us people and go out and do battle with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the mountain with the staff of G-d in my hand.” The way to fight Amalek and what they embody is “tomorrow” – namely to look at people and be cognizant of their future potential growth. That is the way to fight Amalek.

Finally, the third pasuk involves the old question of the difference between the question of the chachom (wise son) and the question of the rasha (wicked son). The difference may be explained by the fact that by the wise son, the Torah writes, “When your son will ask you tomorrow…” (Devorim 6:20). By Yidden, there is always a tomorrow. The son who wants all the answers today, who says “I want it all NOW” is wicked. That is not the way it works.

The difference between Klal Yisrael and the Mitzrim is that we recognize the potential for growth and the potential for eventual perfection.

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 Vayikra is provided below:

• #003 The Korban Pesach Today
• #048 Is Shaving Permitted on Chol Ha’Moed?
• #091 Americans in Israel: Two-Day Yom Tov or One?
• #139 Confidentiality: The Prohibition Against Revealing Secrets
• #186 Shalach Manos and Other Purim Issues
• #232 Maror: A Bitter Problem?
• #276 Is Theft Permitted to Save a Life?
• #322 A Unique Erev Pesach & Its Broader Implications
• #366 Chametz She’avar Olov HaPesach
• #410 The Obligation to Testify
• #454 Eruv Tavshilin
• #498 Honey–Why Is It Kosher
• #542 Selling Chametz
• #586 Rabbinic Confidentiality
• #630 Gebrokts and Kneidelach
• #674 Saying Karbonos
• #718 Karbanos: The Basis for Tefillah
• #762 Standing During Davening
• #806 Voice Recognition – How Reliable?
• #850 Taking Medicines on Yom Tov
• #894 Pesach-Daled Kosos: Must You Drink All 4? And Other Issues
• #938 Davening on an Airplane/Train: Must You Stand?
• #981 Accepting Shul Donations from Non-Shomrei Shabbos
• #1026 Salt on the Table
• #1069 Should Yeshiva Bochrim/Kollel Members Say Karbonos?
• #1112 A Rabbi’s Dilemma–Reveal A Confidence and Get Sued or Remain Silent?
• #1155 Pesach Issues: Maos Chittin; Ta’anis Bechorim
• #1198 Blood On Your Finger/Gums: Is It Permitted To Suck It? And Other Maaris Ayin Issues
• #1242 Seder with the Zayde – Not as Simple As You Think and Other Seder Issues
• #1286 Oy! I Forgot To Have Kavanah in Sh’monei Esrei – Now What?
• #1330 Can One Sell Any Type of Chometz?
• #1374 Pesach Shalos You May Never Even Have Thought About
• #1418 The First Bracha of Shmoneh Esrai and the Bracha of Modim – More Important Than You May Have Thought
• #1462 The Institution of the Chazan in Halacha and Minhag
• #1506 Halachic Implications of Erev Pesach on Shabbos That Apply to Shailos the Whole Year
• #1548 Are There Exceptions to the Rule of Doctor Patient Confidentiality?
• #1592 Must Women Listen – Read the Haggadah?

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