Vigilance to Wear Tzizis

Rav Chaim Shaul Kaufman, zt”l, once gave an incisive lesson regarding tzitzis. “In Menachos 41 we find that an angel pointed out to Rav Katina that he always wore garments which were not obligated in tzitzis. When Rav Katina inquired whether punishment is meted out for this, the angel replied that when Hashem is angry one is punished due to this. The obvious question is why? Why punish for failing to fulfill a voluntary mitzvah? “The answer is that failing to seek out ways to fulfill voluntary positive commandments displays a marked lack of ahavas Hashem. Yet one is not punished for this alone. But when Hashem is angry with him because he deserves punishment for some other reason, he will not be spared. This is mida k’neged mida. He only serves Hashem according to the letter of the law so he gets what he deserves. But one who is careful with voluntary mitzvos goes beyond the letter of the law. Correspondingly Hashem will have hold back the avenging angels even when he deserves punishment.” But the Chasam Sofer, zt”l, explains this differently. “Rashi in Chumash explains that—like the four cups we drink on Pesach—the four corners of tzitzis correspond to the four expressions of redemption mentioned in the verse. The last of these four expressions is 'ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם'—‘and I will take you as My nation;’ a reference to the giving of the Torah. “But there is a fifth expression, 'והבאתי אתכם אל הארץ'—‘and I will bring you to the land.’ The reason we do not have a fifth tzitzis tzitzis tassel corresponding to this term is so we will not mistakenly think that Torah is only obligatory in Eretz Yisrael. “Yet there is a difference between the mitzvah of tzitzis in Eretz Yisrael and outside the land. When we are in exile, which the gemara in Menachos 41 calls a time of anger, we are obligated to go out of our way to wear a four cornered garment which requires tzitzis. Failure to wear tzitizis when we are in exile results in punishment. But when we are redeemed from galus we will not need to be particular to wear a garment obligated in tzitzis.”

Offering Sacrifices Today

. The Minchas Chinuch, zt”l, explains that even those who argue nevertheless admit that the makom hamikdash retained its holiness since Dovid purposely did not conquer it. Instead he bought it, sanctifying it for all time.
Rav Shlomo Ulman, zt”l, the author of Yerios Shlomo, asked the Chasam Sofer, zt”l, if there was any way to permit offering korbanos on Har Habayis in our times.
“Presumably this is not possible,” the Chasam Sofer replied. “It is not feasible to offer korbanos there nowadays either because the government will not allow this or due to our defilement. Since we are all tamei mes, someone who goes on har habayis is liable to the punishment of kareis. So until the hidden cache of the ashes of the parah adumah is found, this is apparently forbidden.
“However, the Kaftor V’ferach, zt”l, records a fascinating story regarding this question which seems to teach that there are leniencies in this regard. When the author of Kaftor V’ferach journeyed to Eretz Yisrael he merited to make it to Yerushalayim. While there he showed his sefer to Rabbeinu Boruch who learned through the entire thing and offered a critique.
“When the Kaftor Vaferach mentioned that presumably one who enters the makom habayis today when we are tamei mes is liable for kareis, Rabeinu Boruch agreed but qualified this with a story. ‘In the year 5017, Rabbeinu Chananel of Paris wished to come to Yerushalayim and offer korbanos.’ I was in such a rush to go through the entire sefer that I was unable to ask him two obvious questions on this. Firstly, what about our tumah? Secondly, how can we be sure that the kohein designated to perform the sacrifice is truly a kohein, since we no longer have absolute assurances of the lineage of kohanim?
“But then I realized that at least tumah is not a problem since we are all temaim...”

The Laws of the Future

Many people wonder why there are so many halachos which don’t seem to have any application today. Of course on a simple level they explain the halachos of what used to be, and we can certainly learn various halachos from how these cases where dealt with. Nevertheless, why learn what is mostly not applicable today? The Chasam Sofer, zt”l, answered this question while dealing with a different query.
“Once a certain Rav asked me to explain what will happen to the parshah of Amalek in the ultimate future. Surely this evil nation will be eradicated, so why have verses discussing this in the Torah? To me this did not present a problem since there are many parshios in the Torah which will not apply in times to come on a simple level. Take Parshas Terumah, Tetzaveh and the like, which discuss the halachos of building the Mishkan. How could this possibly apply in the ultimate future?
“The answer can be understood through of our sages. They wonder why we learn the tractates dealing with sacrifices; after all, these halachos will not apply until Moshiach arrives. The gemara responds that although they are truly laws that will only apply with the coming of Moshiach, we should still learn and expound them since we will be rewarded for their study.
“The same is true regarding all other parshios that apparently no longer apply. We will receive reward for learning them since we can learn many lessons in the realm of derech eretz, mussar, and yiras Shamayim from them even if do not apply right now in the simple sense. Is learning lessons of midos tovos, derech eretz, and yiras Shamayim any less important than learning actual halachos?”

“Woe to the Children”

Once there were terrible decrees against the klal. After things began getting more and more pressured, an additional decree was passed that made things even harder. The Chasam Sofer, zt”l, was very upset by this final decree and was heard to say, “I have no choice but to complain on high.”
He gathered all the Jews of the city and gave a fiery discourse, “Our sages teach that when the Jewish people enter shul and recite אמן יהא שמה רבא מברך, a heavenly voice emerges and says, ‘Fortunate is the King who is praised in His house. What is it to the father whose children have been exiled? Woe to the children who have been exiled from their Father’s table.’
“Hashem doesn’t need the beis hamikdash or our sacrifices. Does He eat meat? Surely His entire pleasure is that He commanded us and we do what He said to fulfill His will. It follows that when we are in exile and still do Hashem’s will, He has the same pleasure from us as He did when the holy temple stood. It is even possible to give Hashem greater pleasure when we do His will despite the hardships of bitter exile. As our sages teach, the Jewish people are likened to a date palm which has only one heart. We too have only one heart for our Father in heaven.
“We see that He loses nothing from our exile. It is we who lose while in exile, since when we offered sacrifices on the altar, Hashem’s presence shined on us and we could easily attain ruach hakodesh. Due to our many sins we were exiled from our land, and we cannot ascend three times a year to fulfill our duty. This is the meaning of the heavenly voice. Hashem says, ‘What is it to the father whose children have been exiled?’ What does He lack when we are in exile? Nothing at all. He still gets at least the same pleasure when we do His will as He did before. But, ‘Woe to the children who have been exiled from their Father’s table,’ completely bereft of all spiritual good...”
Shortly after this the decrees were nullified, but the Chasam Sofer’s feet began to hurt him. He attributed it to having resorted to a sharp tone in his plea as we find in the gemara in Sukkah regarding Levi.

One Day at a Time

The Chasam Sofer, zt”l, learns a very practical lesson about one’s daily avodas Hashem from Sanhedrin 100. “Our sages teach that one should not worry about tomorrow since perhaps he will no longer live by then. Why worry about a world he has no part in? This is very valuable advice that shows how to overcome our yetzer hara. If one focuses on the long struggle he will have throughout his entire life, he can easily give up on himself. Just thinking about the unrelenting effort required to overcome the evil within is enough to discourage anyone, since who knows that he will be able to keep up the struggle?
“Instead, one should focus on the day he is in right now. He should act as though he only has this day to live, since he really has no guarantee that he has a moment longer. He should tell himself that just for that day he will refuse to listen to his yetzer hara. After all, one day is really not too difficult. The next day he should once again focus only on that day. In this manner he will be able to overcome his yetzer hara with relative ease.
“This is the meaning of the verse, 'ואתם הדקבים בה' אלקיכם חיים כלכם היום'—‘And you who cleave to Hashem your G-d, your are all alive this day.’ Those who wish to attain true dveikus with Hashem can do so through focusing exclusively on living and overcoming the evil within only on the day he is now living. In this manner he will truly cleave to his Creator and never need to feel overwhelmed by the task ahead of him.”
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, zt"l, also adjures us to live only in the present. In his words, "Yesterday and tomorrow are man's downfall. Today we may be inspired to come close to Hashem but yesterday and tomorrow hold us back."
This is one of the many paths Rebbe Nachman shared with us to come to joy when things are hard. Just focus on the present, as if we were born today.