תרי עשר - מיכה ו

This is part of the הפתרה of פרשת בלק. There is a direct mention to בלק in the פסוק.

This נבואה is in response to a feeling that כ''י may have- sometimes there are נבואות for either good or bad, and the same נביא can give both. It’s like ה' has moods and the נבואות are a reflection of ה'’s moods. So now it’s coming to say ח''ו that you should think that. ה'’s רצון is תמיד להיטיב. The נבואות depend on כ''י.

אברבנל In his previous נבואות, מיכה gave two opposite נבואות- that שומרון and ירושלים will be destroyed and that they will return back to their lands in the time of אחרית הימים. מיכה was afraid that כ''י would say that ה' changes all day- sometimes he is fighting with them and sometimes he is fighting for them. He’s like a master who has חרטה for his decisions, so he changes from good to bad. Therefore, the נבואות of a נביא, some are for good and some are for bad. מיכה comes to give this נבואה to tell us: ה' only wants to do good. He doesn’t ask us in return for anything which will tire us out, he asks us to do what is ישר and good. So it’s you who brings about the bad, it’s because of your own actions.

שפתי חיים "לסוסי ברכבי פרעה דמיתיך רעיתי" (שה''ש)- I compare you to the horses of פרעה’s horsemen, I compare you my loved ones. From יצ''מ, הנהגת הבריאה became מצליח on כ''י. By יצ''מ, פרעה’s horsemen didn’t have control over their horses. So from יצ''מ and on, we כאילו have control over ה'.

א It’s an open proclamation.

קום ריב- get up and have a וכוח. Really, it means to come with a clarification.

מ''צ את ההרים- אל ההרים. It’s a ל' of publicly.

אברבנל את ההרים- it should be so clear that even the mountains which aren’t בעלי נפש will understand.

רש''י הרים= אבות, גבעות= אמהות.

"אשא עיני אל ההרים"- אל תקרי הרים אלא הורים . There is a certain strength and solidity which mountains represent, just like our parents are to us. Mountains are the foundation of the world, just like our אבות and אמהות.

When כ''י need a ישועה, the אבות are the ones who must be informed.

ב אתנים- mountains. They are called this because they are strong. א''א was called אתן because he was the strength and יסוד of the world.

This is clarifying that everything is תלוי in your action.

הלאתיך- tire you out.

מה עשיתי לך- look at all the good that I did for you.

ומה הלאתיך- did I ask for things in exchange that tire you out? עבודת ה' doesn’t tire you out.

ה' judges us when we don’t take responsibility for things. The worst thing we could do is not take responsibility.

ר' חיים ש. מדרגתו של אדם נמדדת לפי אחריתו למעשיו- by seeing how much responsibility they take for what they did wrong.

דובנא מגיד מה הלאתיך- משל- a man is huffing and puffing, and you know he has the wrong bag because the bag he is supposed to have is light. נמשל- if someone comes to ה' all stressed out and tired, it means that he doesn’t have the correct bad of עבודה- עבודת ה' is געשמעק!

Sheet ישעי' You aren’t calling out to me. How do I know? Because you are tired out.

"נחלתי עדותיך לעולם כי ששון לבי המה"- gave over as an eternal inheritance Your תורה because they were the joy of my heart. R’ Scheinberg- What is the difference between שמחה and ששון? ששון is the external expression of שמחה, when your heart is so full of שמחה that overflows into your outer expression.

במדבר "ולא ראה עמל בישראל". The אוה''ח says on this that בלעם intended to say that they are busy with תורה and מצוות all day and they are עוסק בדברי תורה. But they don’t feel like they are עמל, they feel like they are earning.

The תורת חיים says that there isn’t a פינה in your life that isn’t governed by the תורה.

תהלים "פקודי ה' ישרים..."- ר' הירש says that ה'’s פקודים (מצוות) are in perfect accord with the בריאה, for example שחטing animals. This is good for the animal. You and your needs synchronize with the world and its needs.

ר' הירש ה'’s מצוות shtim with our personalities and blend with nature and the purpose of the entire בריאה. Someone who keeps ה'’s תורה has a quiet, joy and serenity that nothing can ever dim. The שמחת חיים of doing what you should has nothing to do with how long you live for.

ה'’s פקודים make you happy, but you must remember that the geshmak isn’t the reason we do them. We do the מצוות because כך הוא מצוה.

ד-ה are showing all of ה'’s טובות, from leaving מצרים to going into א''י.

אברבנל ד משה, אהרן and מרים represent the good that ה' did physically and spiritually.


רוחניות גשמיות
למד תורה לאנשים מן משה
כפרה ענן אהרן
למד תורה לנשים באר מרים


ה זכר... מואב- remember what he advised. בלק was afraid that כ''י was going to destroy them, so he hired בלעם to curse them. The פסוק is telling us to remember what בלק wanted to do to us.
Story- סטיפלר and Kiddush- make a double Kiddush, also from the twenty years of anxiety that ה' saved you from. We must also be thankful for the bad that didn’t happen. We must recognize that בעצם, this is the biggest חסד.

We say "בא''ה מלך עוזר ומושיע ומגן"- עוזר is day to day help, מושיע is a salvation and מגן is protection when you don’t even realize that it’s happening. This is the greatest.

We must realize that it is a huge נס that ה' foiled בלעם’s plans.

בלק asked בלעם to curse ב''י and בלעם answered, "מה אזעם לא זעם ה'"- how can I cause them harm if ה' doesn’t want to harm them? Every enemy knows this- if ה' isn’t angry, He won’t help them.

בלעם tried cursing כ''י three times, and it didn’t work. בלק told בלעם that he should cause כ''י to sin with the בנות מואב and ע''ז. This will anger ה' and He will send a מגפה.

שטים- the place כ''י were when the בנות מואב came to them. It is called this because here they did מעשי שדות.

למען דעת צדקות ה'- so you should see how much good ה' wanted to do for you.

ו Maybe כ''י will say …

אכף- how should I show my subservience to ה'?

בעגלים בני שנה- most supreme קרבן.

ח These are the three מצוות that מיכה said that כל התורה כולה could be placed into them.

מלבי''ם You can include the whole תורה by dividing it into באל''ח and באל''מ:
1. What is good to do מצד that you are a בן אדם- באל''ח-עשות... חסד .
2. What does ה' want from you- באל''מ- והצנע לכת....

ימי הספירה are days like חול המועד.

שפתי חיים He divides ב''י’s development as a nation into three שלבים:
1. ימי העבור- שעבוד מצרים
2. לידה- יצ''מ
3. ימי הגדול- the days between יצ''מ and קבלת התורה.
A fetus in the womb is hidden. It’s developing the most crucial part of your physical existence, however you can’t see it. It’s a משל to the way כ''י were in מצרים- ה' was taking care of us, it was just נסתר. We were a גוי בקרב גוי. We were being nurtured by the מצרים, so we were in danger. לידה is when the גוף and נשמה are born. What was the difference between the people in מצרים and the people by יצ''מ? By יצ''מ, we had our נשמה blown into us. Then they became a nation. But by לידה, you need tremendous intervention by ה'. So too by כ''י, we needed 100% intervention (like a fetus in distress), so ה' took us out. When a person goes into cardiac arrest, they shock his heart back to life. It is now artificially working, but the goal is for it to work again on its own. By יצ''מ, ה' shocked us back to life. We felt good, and in seven weeks when we accepted the תורה upon ourselves, we will feel like that on our own. This is why by ספירה we count up- during these days we should take what we got over פסח and work on ourselves so we can accept the תורה on שבועות on our own.

בית הלוי Explains the connection between משפטים (laws באל''ח that you can’t do, stealing…) and תרומה- before a person does צדקה with his money, he must make sure that his money doesn’t have a חשש גזל. Why? Because if there isגזל with his money, his צדקה doesn’t count. It says in ישעי', "והושג אחור משפט"- your משפט was held back, therefore your צדקה is also worthless. Therefore first, there are משפטים- all of the laws, and then ה' tells them to give צדקה.

It says in the פסוק, "עשות משפט" and then have אהבת חסד. You can’t give צדקה without knowing all the משפטים and מצוות עשה. The מצוות עשה are built on the מצוות לא תעשה and you need both. When it comes to the מצוות עשה, it is much more gratifying than to refrain from doing a מצוות לא תעשה. Ex. gym membership vs. money for צדקה. The חזון איש explains that psychologically, you feel better about doing something when you have something to show for it. This is only in this world, though. Before ה', both the מצוות עשה and מצוות לא תעשה are the same.

רמב''ם- יראה קודמת אהבה- if you want your אהבת ה' to be wholesome, it must be built on יראת ה'.

Real אוהבות חסד don’t hurt the people who they are doing the חסד for.

Sheet 3 ר' ירוחם לוויץ- he compares the משפטי העומות to the משפטי התורה. They are totally different:
1. משפטי העומות are by the agreement of human beings.
2. They go according to the times.
3. They go according to the place.
4. Depends on the conditions of the צבור.
5. They aren’t inherently obligatory, they are because of the need. Today they are accepted and tomorrow they are rejected.
They are a reflection of the people who designed them- full of contradictions.

This is not the case with the משפטי התורה though. They are the work of ה'’s hands. Not only aren’t they made up by human beings, the תורה is our foundation- הסתכל באוריתא וברא עלמא. ה' designed the people according to the תורה and its מצוות .

ר' ירוחם לוויץ says that if you think that ה' needed parents in order to make children: ה' knew that there was a מצוה of כבד את אביך ואת אמיך, and He knew that the תורה and the מצוות are necessary for our קיום.

Sheet 4 When it comes to משפט, it says עשות משפט. But when it comes to חסד, it says אהבה חסד. Why is there a change in the לשון? Because it’s not enough to just do חסד, you must love it. The difference between loving and doing is like the difference between ארץ and שמים.

כוכבי אור והצנע לכת עם אלקיך-
1. "אחרי ה' אלקיכם תלכו"- הולך אחרי מדותיו
2. "ואנוהו"- הוי דומה לו, מה הוא קובר מתים... מה הוא רחום...
One טעם doesn’t come out of two מקורות. There are two stages of working on your מדות.
1. You must do it.
2. You must be a חנון ורחום בעצם- got to have it as a part of you.

The reason why the חסד that we do doesn’t counteract שנאת חינם is because they can coexist. But שנאת חינם can’t coexist with אהבת חסד.

"הכל הולך אחר החתימה"- the first ברכה of ש''ע is the חתימה. This ברכה discusses א''א, who was the עמוד חסד. We see from here that everything can be traced down to חסד.

"והצנא לכת..."- this is the third of מיכה’s צווים. The מלבי''ם says that this is the whole יסוד of באל''מ. How? We said that you are supposed to go with ה'. In what way? "והצנא לכת...".

Sheet R’ Chaim Freedland was amazing in his צניעות, and he was even more amazing at hiding his צניעות- no one knew that he was hiding some of his מעש''ט. How did people know that there was more to him? All of the sudden, things didn’t match up or something came up and they realized that it was him. He had a principle that all עבודת ה' is based on צניעות.

Why is צניעות the foundation of all מעלות? Every person has to be an עבד ה'. There is a כלל, "מה שקנה עבד קנה רבו"- an עבד has none of his own identity. Being an עבד ה' means that anything I do is because I am מתבטל to the איבשתער. I am not just a person, I am a part of ה'. How does one reach this level? By breaking his אנכיות- self centeredness. When one realized that אנכי isn’t me, that I’m just a part of the master plan, he will become an עבד ה'. This is why "ואהבת לרעיך..." is the יסוד of כל התורה כולה, because a person is realizing that אנכי is not just me, it expands to other people. It says in ואתחנן, "אנכי עומד בין ה' וביניכם". The אנכי of a person is what separates him from ה'.

מהר''ל- how do you know if a person is doing his עבודה for ה' or because he has ulterior motives? If a person can be מצניע his מעשים, it shows that his עבודה is for ה'.

רחל saw in ר' עקיבא that he was a צנוע. She saw that he had the מעלה that it takes to be an עבד ה'. Although now he was an עם הארץ, she saw that he was able to do מעשים for פנמיות and would eventually do it for ה'.