Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat Re'ehRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Re'eh · ראה · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:06Parashat Re'eh. This week's parashah has 126 pesukim,0:10and it numbers as number three for the parashah with the most amount of mitzvot in the Torah.0:17It's the beginning. Parashat Re'eh begins the second part of Sefer Devarim that we mentioned by Sefer Devarim,0:23which is basically talking where the Torah now spends more time talking about0:30mitzvot, which runs from now until Parashat0:33Ki Tavo. And we know when we get to Parashat Re'eh, which means to see, we already are seeing on the calendar0:38that the days of Elul are right around the corner.0:41This week's parashah, we divide it into seven parts.0:45Number one, the Torah tells us about the mitzvot when entering Eretz0:50Yisrael. Number two are the mitzvot when eating meat.0:53Number three, Torah warns against imitating the0:57non-Jews. Number four, the Torah tells us about the Jewish antagonists.1:01And then number five, the Torah tells us about the kosher animals.1:05Number six, the laws of ma'aser and1:08tzedakah. And number seven, the Torah tells us about the shalosh regalim, the three holidays.1:13Fifty-five mitzvot in this week's1:16parashah. Like we mentioned, it makes it the third parashah with the third most amount of1:22mitzvot, 17 mitzvot aseh and 381:25mitzvot lo ta'aseh. And they number from number 436 until 490 in Sefer1:30HaChinuch. Let's get now to the parashah a little bit more in depth.1:33The first part of the parashah we mentioned is the mitzvot to the Jewish people when entering Eretz1:40Yisrael. Torah tells us when we enter Eretz Yisrael, we have an obligation to declare curses and blessings.1:47Now this part is going to be elaborated on more in Parashat1:51Ki Tavo, but Torah tells us already when we enter Eretz Yisrael, we must declare these curses and blessings,1:56and they are to be declared that the curses on Har Gerizim—excuse me—the blessings on Har Gerizim and the curses on Har2:04Eival. The Torah then tells us that when we enter Eretz Yisrael, and after we kill the non-Jews, we wipe them out,2:10we must completely destroy any trace of2:14avodah zarah. Nothing must be left over.2:15Then the Torah tells us that when we enter Eretz Yisrael, there will be a designated spot2:20in which all of us have to bring our korbanot, our sacrifices, to that spot,2:24whether it's the Beit HaMikdash eventually in Yerushalayim, or the Mishkan when it traveled from the Gilgal2:29to different places in Eretz2:33Yisrael. That is the central location. We must bring our korbanot. We may not bring it anywhere else.2:37And then the Torah tells us about mitzvot when eating meat.2:40Now, you should know, up till now, meat was forbidden for the Jewish people when they were in the desert,2:48unless— They brought it as a korban.2:51Okay, that's very important to know.2:53Only if they brought it as a korban, then they're allowed to eat from the meat,2:56just like korban shelamim, you eat from the meat of the korban.3:00Nobody in the desert was allowed to eat meat just by slaughtering the animal;3:03they had to bring it first as a korban.3:04So now, Torah tells us that when we enter Eretz3:07Yisrael, we already are permitted to have basar ta'avah. It's called basar ta'avah, which is regular meat.3:12However, there are a few mitzvot that Torah tells us with eating meat.3:15Number one is, and that is shechitah, to slaughter the animal.3:20And this is very interesting because here is one of the places where we use as a proof3:26for Torah shebaal peh. The pasuk says,3:31Vezavachta mibekarcha umitzonecha asher natan Hashem lecha ka'asher tziviticha. You shall slaughter from the cows and from the sheep that Hashem has given you, like the way I commanded you.3:37Nowhere in the Torah does it say how to do3:40shechitah, but the Torah clearly says that you should slaughter like the way I commanded you.3:43Clearly there's something beyond the Torah shebichtav that teaches us somehow halachot.3:47One of them is the halachot of3:51shechitah. Also, Torah tells us we are not permitted to eat the blood of an animal.3:54It doesn't make a difference if the blood that comes out or the blood that's absorbed in the meat of the animal.4:00We must make sure that all blood is coming out,4:02and that's why we do the process of melichah, salting the meat to get rid of any blood even in the limbs of an animal.4:09We move on now to the third part of this week's4:11parashah. Torah warns us not to imitate the4:14non-Jews. Torah tells us that be careful,4:16if you start imitating them, you may end up like them.4:18These goyim even burn their own children,4:21and that's what happens4:22when a person follows a little bit. Eventually there's no end to how much he could follow the ways of4:29non-Jews. And then Torah tells us, be careful not to add or subtract any of the4:34mitzvot. Now, we had this mitzvah already.4:36We already had in Parashat Va'etchanan not to add and subtract the4:38mitzvot. This one is a little bit different.4:40This mitzvah is telling us that within the mitzvah itself, we may not add and/or subtract,4:45meaning the Torah tells us that in the tefillin shel rosh... You have four compartments.4:51You may not add onto the mezuzah to make it now five compartments.4:54The Taz tells us by Sukkot, we bring lulav, etrog, hadassim, and aravah,4:59four different types.5:00You may not add a fifth type, or a sixth type, or make it only three.5:04That's the difference in this week's mitzvah of not adding, subtracting, to the one that we had in5:15Parashat Bechukotai, which is adding onto the mitzvot or subtracting from the mitzvot, the taryag mitzvot of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Move on now to the fourth part of this week's parashah, which we labeled Jewish antagonists,5:23and that is those are people from the Jewish people who make trouble for the Jewish people,5:28and they're all5:30chayav mitah. Number one, the Taz tells us about a false prophet, the navi sheker.5:33If a person should come and he brings proofs, and he makes proofs, like the way Parashat Shoftim, next week's parashah, tells us5:38how a person could prove himself to be a prophet,5:42and then after proving himself to be a prophet, he starts telling us things that are against the Torah.5:50Now, this is important.5:54If he tells us something that we have to do against the Torah forever,5:58if he starts declaring that the Torah, this mitzvah in the Torah doesn't apply anymore,6:02then we may not listen to6:04him. But if he tells us to do something against the Torah only momentarily,6:07like the way Eliyahu Hanavi did by telling us to bring korban outside of the Mishkan,6:12outside the Beit HaMikdash, on6:14Har HaCarmel, that we are obligated to listen to.6:16But if he decides to change it forever, we may not listen to him.6:20And when we find out that the person is a false prophet,6:23the Taz tells us we must execute him,6:25and his punishment is, we execute him by chenek, by choking.6:30The second type of person the Torah mentions is a mesit.6:33What is a mesit?6:34That's a person who entices other people to do idolatry.6:38And the Torah tells us we may not have mercy on him.6:41We must do everything that we can to catch these people6:46who are trying to incite other Jews to idolatry.6:48And the Gemara explains that the way we do this is that if a person comes6:52and he whispers to another Jew to try and entice him to do6:56avodah zarah, then what we must do is we must ambush him7:00to get two witnesses to catch him telling another Jew7:04to bring him to do7:07avodah zarah. And then, when we catch him, we have the two witnesses who heard him,7:11then we execute him through sekilah.7:14And the third part the Torah tells us,7:16the third type of antagonist the Torah tells us is about7:20the city known as ir hanidachat, which is translated as wayward city.7:24What is that?7:25That's if we find out that there's a city within the borders of Eretz Yisrael7:30where they're worshipping7:31avodah zarah. So the Sanhedrin sends,7:33they send and they bring people from there,7:36and they see if,7:39and they try each person,7:40they see if people are really worshipping7:42avodah zarah. If they see that the majority of the city has worshipped7:47avodah zarah, the majority number of people in the city has worshipped7:51avodah zarah, then we send two talmidei chachamim to the city,7:55according to the Rambam,7:56who try to educate the people to try to do7:59teshuvah. If they refuse—8:00So, do teshuvah and continue doing the avodah zarah. Then the Torah tells us that we go to the city and we execute everyone in the city through sword,8:09of course, the people who worshipped avodah zarah. Normally, a person who worships avodah zarah gets killed through8:14sekilah. Here, in Ir Hanidachat, they're executed through a sword, through cherev. We chop off their neck, their heads,8:20and the city must be completely burnt and may never be rebuilt again.8:26That's a special mitzvah of the8:29Ir Hanidachat. And not only that, anything that belongs to that city, even property that belonged to good people in that city8:34who didn't even live in that city but was borrowed in that city, must be completely destroyed and never, that city may be rebuilt again.8:42And now we move on to the next part of this week's8:45parashah. But really, from this point in this week's parashah, which is Aliyah Revi'i, the parashah takes a turn,8:52and the Torah begins by saying,8:57Banim atem laShem Elokeichem. You are children to Hashem, your God. And the Torah tells us three categories of mitzvot which have characterized the Jewish people throughout all the generations.9:07And the three parts are, which is five, six, and seven in this week's9:12parashah. Fifth part talks about kosher animals.9:15The sixth part talks about ma'aser and9:18tzedakah. And finally, the seventh part talks about the Jewish holidays,9:21which all Jews are known: keeping kosher, eating kosher, special dietary food.9:26Number two is that the Jews are known for giving charity.9:30And number three is, of course, the Jewish holidays that we celebrate specific times.9:34And let's begin with the fifth part of this week's9:37parashah. Torah tells us about the kosher animals.9:38It begins by telling us about the kosher mammals.9:43Torah tells us that there are only ten kosher mammals,9:45and Torah specifies what these ten kosher mammals are.9:48And it tells us that there are three signs that we should know if an animal... is a kosher type animal or not.9:55Number one is if it's ma'aleh gerah, which means it chews its cud.9:59After eating the grass, it will go into the second stomach and then will come back out to the mouth.10:04The animal will chew it again and will come back down to the third and finally to the fourth stomach of the animal.10:12Number two is mafris parsah, which means it has split hooves10:15where the feet are, they are split.10:17And finally, number three is shosa'at shesa, which means that it must have a nail,10:22split nails.10:24See, a dog also has fingers and it's split, but that's a paw,10:27soft. It must have a nail, like you ever see the feet of a cow or a10:33sheep, it's like a nail, similar to the donkey, but the donkey's feet are only one, it's not split.10:39The kosher animals must be hard like a nail and also must be split.10:45Then the Torah tells us the signs for kosher fish, and there are two signs.10:50Number one is it must have a סנפיר, which is fins.10:54Number two is it must have a10:55קשקשת. קשקשת means scales.10:57If it has סנפיר and קשקשת, that is a kosher animal, a kosher fish.11:02And the third type of mammals the Torah tells us about that are kosher are birds.11:09For birds, in the Torah there are no signs, although the Gemara, Masechet Chulin, tells us the signs.11:13And if you want, we are working on a video, baruch Hashem, of all the different types of animals,11:19of what's kosher and what's not kosher.11:21The video will be titled, Why is kosher meat so expensive?11:24And that you'll find all the details that you need to know regarding kosher and not kosher meat.11:28But the Torah tells us basically there are the twenty non-kosher birds.11:35What these twenty non-kosher birds are, Torah tells us.11:38If we know exactly what these twenty non-kosher birds are, then everything else would be permitted.11:43The problem is that nowadays we are not sure exactly what these twenty non-kosher birds are,11:47and that's why we're limited to a certain amount of birds that we can eat.11:50Then we move on to the sixth part of this week's parasha.11:52Torah tells us about the laws of ma'aser and11:55tzedakah. Torah begins this section by saying,11:59Aser te'aser, and the Chachamim explain,12:01Aser by making sure to take off ma'aser by tithing.12:05This is a segulah for tit'aser, for becoming very wealthy.12:09And the Torah tells us in this week's parasha specifically about the maaser sheni,12:15which is after separating 10%, whatever we have left over, we separate another 10%12:19that's called maaser sheni, and that maaser sheni, that 10% that we separate from our grains,12:23must be taken to the city of Yerushalayim and eaten there.12:27If the city of Yerushalayim is too far that we're worried that the food or the fruits may spoil12:32by the time we get to Yerushalayim,12:34Torah tells us we may transfer it on to money,12:37and that money is taken to Yerushalayim,12:39and in Yerushalayim over there we purchase with that money12:44animals which are eaten as maaser sheni.12:47However, Torah tells us that maaser sheni is not applicable in the third and the sixth year in the shemitah cycle.12:58On the third and sixth year, instead of maaser sheni, we separate maaser ani,13:02which is again a second 10%. Instead of us eating in Yerushalayim, we give it to the poor.13:07Torah tells us another three mitzvot that have to do with13:11aniyim. Number one is shemitah,13:13and that is not just the land that anybody can eat,13:17but we have to forgive loans.13:19If we have lent people money,13:21after the seven years of shemitah are done,13:24and there's a fixed calendar for this,13:26we must forgive all loans that we've lent to other Jews.13:30Number three is the Torah tells us13:32a mitzvah of giving charity to Jewish people and also lending money.13:36There's a mitzvah in the Torah to lend money to Jews in need,13:40and finally Torah tells us a mitzvah in this section13:43about gifts that we must give to the Jewish slaves when we liberate them.13:49We learn parashat mishpatim that if we have a Jewish slave,13:51he's liberated after six years.13:52Here the Torah tells us that when you let him go free,13:56ha'anek ta'anik lo,13:57you must send him out with gifts and presents.13:59And now we finally move on to the last part of this week's14:03parasha, the three, the shalosh regalim, the three holidays.14:06And the Torah begins this section, like we do when we read it in the14:09Torah, with a section called Kol14:12habechor, where the Torah speaks about the firstborn animal that must be brought as a korban.14:16The question is, what is this doing over here?14:18So the Sforno explains that just like the bechor,14:22giving the first of our property to HaKadosh Baruch Hu14:25is an expression of thanks to Hashem,14:29so too the holidays are mentioned here specifically14:32are our form of expressing our thanks to HaKadosh Baruch Hu,14:37thanking Him with the things, with the material that we have.14:40That's how we thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu.14:42In fact, he says that's why we don't see dates14:46mentioned here in parashat14:48Re'eh regarding the holidays.14:49Torah tells us by seasons14:50because we're supposed to take from whatever we have in that season14:53and present it as a korban.14:54And the three holidays we know:14:56Pesach, Torah tells us about korban Pesach14:58and not eating14:59chametz, and that we should eat matzah during the seven days of Pesach.15:02Then Torah tells us15:04we count seven weeks15:05and we celebrate the holiday of15:07Shavuot. And finally, Torah tells us,15:09Vesamachta bechagecha,15:10the holiday of Sukkot,15:12and the Torah there also alludes to Shemini15:15Atzeret. And we come to the lesson of this week's15:18parasha. The last two pesukim in this week's15:20parasha end with the following words:15:21Shalosh pe'amim bashanah15:22yera'eh kol15:23zechurcha et penei Adonai Elohecha15:26bamakom asher yivchar. Three times a year,15:27all men have to appear in front of Hashem15:29in the place that He chooses.15:30When? Bechag hamatzot,15:32bechag15:33hashavuot, uvechag hasukkot, in the holiday of Pesach,15:35in the holiday of15:36Shavuot, and the holiday of Sukkot.15:37Velo yera'eh penei Adonai15:39reikam, and you should not come empty-handed to Hashem.15:41What should you present?15:43Ish kematnat yado,15:44kebirchat Adonai Elohecha15:46asher natan lach. Each person should present whatever he could give15:48to the best of his ability.15:50He should bring some sort of15:51offering to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.15:53So Torah tells us specifically,15:55when we come to Yerushalayim on the three holidays,15:58we're coming to greet Hashem.16:00We should not come empty-handed. Hashem doesn't expect us to give beyond our means.16:05Whatever we're able to give, we have the obligation to give because we're coming to greet Hashem.16:10Now, if Hashem expects us to give a gift, we're coming to greet Him,16:14how much more so when Hashem comes to greet us?16:17And those are the days of Rosh Hashanah16:20and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, hachamim tell us that Hashem comes to us. We don't go to Him;16:25He comes to us. He's very close to us.16:27And now we're around the corner from the month of Elul, where we must prepare ourselves.16:33Hashem expects us, when we greet each other, we should have a gift for Him.16:38And our gift is we should prepare ourselves, whatever we could do, to our ability.16:43Hashem doesn't expect each person to give beyond his ability.16:47Ish k'matnat yado, whatever a person could give. But a person could give has to prepare for the coming of Hashem in these special days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.17:13Shabbat shalom.