Parshas Vaeschanan: Following the Straight Path

If you would walk into your friendly neighborhood sifarem shop and inquire from the manager as to please show me the most transformative published works of Jewish literature in our entire glorious past, he probably would show you a set of Mishnias Gemara Right, a set of shots, definitely a set of Ram Bama, maybe, and his Yad Ha'a Zaka, perhaps the Mishni Brewer from the great Huff it's Chaim, and Maybe who could forget a set of Shulchan Arach from the great ribbiosave, cairo. These are sets, just to name a few, that have had such a strong impact on the way we live, even in modern times, as Jewish people. They are the principle and foundational works of our lives and there's a very interesting Common denominator that all of these works have. It's that they're all on a quest to summarize, clarify and deliver to the common folk All of the concepts of that topic. Much work has been put in to solidifying the Talmud, a gathering together of all of the sages and clarifying and bringing and writing it and organizing it and and publishing it for anyone to learn all of Torah Shabbat, most definitely in Rabbeinu HaGaldul's Mishnias. The same could be said a clarifying and organizing and delivering of All of the oral law. When it comes to Shulchan Aruch. There was a lot of different halachos. There was different halachos for Svardim, for Ashkenazim. There were so many different great poiskim and it became unclear which halachos and which gedolim to follow. So the great Rabbi Yosef Kair wrote the Shulchan Aruch. He actually first initially authored the base, yosef, and then further summarized it, organized it and then gave it to us. So we know how to live as Jewish people. And the theme here is that the works given to the laymen to further clarify what a Jew's avaita is seem to be more successful, more widely accepted than even some of the greatest, most in-depth, high-end Saffarium authored for that brilliant mind and those scholars looking to get into every single jot and tittle. Those are successful at times, but the greatest works deliver a breath of knowledge in an organized and very much clarified fashion. And really the Gemara and Makos already points to Amiroyim trying to summarize all of Torah into single words. There were different prophets that said I can summarize the Torah and establish it in just a couple of phrases, in but seven and three and even one in that saddic be'amunasah yech'ya that a righteous person lives with his faith. The entire Torah can be organized and summarized in that single phrase. And to kick off this week's idea. It seems like even the Torah itself gave us an organized and very much clarifying single statement for what we should be doing Perek Vav Pazik Yadzai. And here we go. Pashos v'eschana Shom'artish marunas mitzvah s'ashem ale'kech'em ve'edaisav, you shall surely observe the commandments of Hashem, your God, and his testimonies, vechukov ashertsiv vechoh, and his decrees that he commanded you. Verse 18, yodches ve'osisah hayoshar ve'hatoiv be'eneh hashem, and you shall do what is upright and good in the eyes of Hashem, le'man yitav lach. So it will be good for you. Uv'osav yirash t'osah orizatoy v'ashernishpa hashem la'av o'isachah, and you shall come and possess the good land that Hashem swore to your forefathers and Rashi and Ramban. In their legendary comments here they tell us that this is the mitzvah, the commandment that Lif nim mishuresetim to act in above the letter of the law. Ramban further expounds on this idea. But it means to do what is right in the eyes of Hashem, that it is not possible for the Torah to deliver every single scenario and tell you how to act. The Torah will tell us that you should act and look with a good eye upon your friend. But, torah, it would not be possible to go into each sugyah, each topic and say, oh, and if your friend should not be nice to you and steal your crayons, then you should make sure to overlook it and let your friend have your crayons or to steal them back. Whatever it should tell us to do, it can't go into every single instance. So, v'osisa yushal, do hayashar that which is straight, v'hatov that which is good. And this is the clarion call of the Jewish people. The Gomorrah further tells us there are actually specific scenarios and, like Adina de Bar-Metzra, in which case, in laws of real estate, if it's better for one person over the other and there's a certain way that it can work out for both, certain basic ases of a hayashar hatov would obligate a person to do above the letter of the law. Another example if one should loan money to someone and they have no money to pay back, but then you're obligated to take their land to repay this, if eventually, your person who's indebted to you finds the money for it, you should give him back the land, sell it to him and take his money. V'asisa, hayashar, v'hatov, do what is straight, what is good, act like a mensch and think about what the Torah wants from you, and that is the straight and good path. Now, I remember it was about a couple years ago when I traveled to a certain community for a celebration. It was a Simcha going on. I believe it was a Bar Mitzvah. It's a beautiful shoal and I always enjoy to look at the different design of the shoal. You can kind of tell, based on even the chairs and this layout and the sepharium shelves and the design of the parochas and the arnachaydesh, exactly what the feel of the shoal is If it's an older crowd, a younger crowd, a crowd more involved than Eretz Yisro, a crowd more involved in Torah study, a crowd more involved in different focuses of Chesed and kindness. And you can always feel it based on the layout and design of the shoal. And so there I was, standing in the shoal looking at the different tapestry of the arnachaydesh and the shoal's layout, and I looked up to the arnachaydesh and I saw that above their arnachaydesh they had the words the asesah and you shall do hayashar, that which is great, vehatoev and good, on top of their arnachaydesh. And I thought how fitting, what a beautiful pasha. But then I came across a piece from Rev Rukham Levavats here that made me now think twice about it. It says, rev Rukham, a really eye-opening piece that yes, there are these words that are so important for a Jew to do what is straight and what is right. However, there are two more words of the pasha that, if left out, will make the first three words totally pointless. It says, rev Rukham, that throughout our history as Jewish people, there has been much ebbs and flows in morality. Different mitzvos have come into question from the other nations trying to keep us from doing the mitzvos, keeping us from learning Tyra in the streets. Telling us that doing brisimila is a barbaric act and it's destroying the human body. Telling us that the laws of Shemitah actually, at times it's a good thing to do to let the land rest every seven years and some forms have even taken on the Jewish practice and they actually found benefit in this mitzvah. And says Rev Rukham, that if we're to follow the guidelines of our own minds or that of the other nations about which mitzvos makes sense, what is proper and what is straight, well who's to argue when they say that brisimila, the circumcision, is a barbaric act, says Rev Rukham. That's exactly why this is the reason and these are the words that should be remembered you shall do ha-yoshar v'ha-tov that which is straight and that which is good, be'ene ha-shem in the eyes of God. Clalius' trial lives, a life. This is a religion and this is a lifestyle of trying to do what is befitting and special and straight and good in the eyes of the creator of the world. For throughout time, that which is good has changed its definition quite frequently. Society and its way of thinking, its mode of what's accepted and what's not, changes every couple of years. Who can't forget the most aristocratic and upper class nation of the world turning into murderers? When the beautiful and accepting country of Germany changed their thinking that the Jewish people needed to be eradicated, they turned into monsters. At times, america authored laws about prohibiting alcohol or any sort of marrying same genders, and now, obviously, those laws they change as needed. But here we are cautioned and here we are told that it's not our Yosha and Tov that we should be following. That definition is subject to change, but it is what is straight and what is good in the eyes of the Almighty, the Aene Yashem. These are the half dollar reyachakamoichas that never change, these that you should put on to fill and never change, and these that we do at Brismila. They are immutable testimonies and laws and precepts that don't change and will never change. We are prohibited to add to them, to subtract from them. This creates for us a certain steadiness, because things do change so quickly as to what's accepted and what's not. But all we do is revert back to our holy Torah and see well, what does Hashem want from me here? And truthfully, there's a key word here, and that word is Yashres, is straightness. And all the time, throughout the Gomorrah, you'll find examples of the Amor Iraim asking what is the straight path for a person to find. You'll find Sphorim, titled the Safer Hayyashar, when in fact the Gomorrah tells us actually the Safer Devorah and Deuteronomy can be called the Book of Straightness. The Safer Hayyashar, yashres and Sphorah and Thot and Gomorrah is always what we're trying to accomplish. What is the plan that is the most true, the most trusted, the most clear, the most Yashar, the most straight? And in all the gray areas of our lives, we always go back to the Safer Hayyashar, the Book of Torah, the Almighty's laws and precepts. Again, not the human kind's definition of straightness and goodness, because how can it be a definition if it's subject to change? But no, the divine Yashres to do what is straight in the eyes of Hashem, that which really corresponds to what our own human nature is, to the goodness of what your friends want, to that which is good and that which corresponds to the life that the Clalius Royale will have peace and tranquility on the land of Eretz Yisrael, and we won't be booted from it. So, really, this line is a reminder, perhaps even a piece of rebuke, that do what is straight and what is good in the eyes of Hashem, lo yama shuhu yashar, be'en chah now, what is good in your own eyes, avomashuhu yashar. But that which is straight, be'en a Hashem. And when King Solomon and Kohelas Zayen Chavtas tells us to what human beings were actually created, in which mode of thinking was their initial steps? Truthfully, heimabik shukhe shboy nis. Rabbis, we were all created as straight, moving, following the line, attacking one goal, following the precepts of the Tyrael. But why does a person go astray? It is only because he has made so many calculations that has brought him off of the path of straightness and goodness. But, truthfully, we were created straight, created to do what is right. It's something that we know in our bones. So chuva just means coming back to doing what is straight Without much time to elaborate on the topic. Shop is rapidly approaching. But if you think about your life and how many decisions you have to make and the gray area on which you don't exactly have clarity from what the Torah asks of you, you should remind yourself. You should say what is the yashar and tov path? What is the straight and good path? But not in my own eyes. What is the straight and good path Be'en e'ashem in the eyes of hakalash barachu? What will bring joy and nachasruach to the creator of the world? Sometimes it can be hard to keep track with different amendments and laws, but what's allowed and what's not? As Jewish people, we can find comfort and clarity, remembering that, no matter what the question is, no matter the uncertainty, you open up a humash, you open up a gamarra, you go to your Rebbe. You think for a second. What is a straight path? What is the good path? What is the asesah ha'ayashar ve'atoyv Be'en e'ashem? Are those two ending words there? Bring meaning, significance and clarity to the entire sentence? Let us do what is straight and what is good, truthfully straight and truthfully good in the eyes of Hashem.