Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parashat Re'eh 4

did verse 29 it shall be when Hashem your God brings you to the land to which you come to possess it then you shall deliver the blessing on Mount girizim and the curse on Mount eval where are they are they not on the other side of the Jordan River far in the direction of the sunset which means West in the land of the Canaanite that dwells in a plane far from gilgal Near The Plains of more it's a rhetorical question for you are crossing the Jordan to come to possess the land that Hashem your God gives you you shall possess it and you shall settle it you shall be careful to perform all the decrees and all the ordinances that I present before you today now it is always easy to follow Hashem when you need him so when the Jewish people are on the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River and they need Hashem to conquer the land they will of course say yes yes we will do for sure Hashem please help us but once they cross and once they possess the land and they settle it that's when the danger begins that is why it says when you come to the land and you settle it then you shall be careful to perform all the decrees this is also a reason why in last week's Torah portion we have the Mitzvah of after we have a full meal vegetable when you eat and you are satisfied then you should bless Hashem why then why not before because before you will bless Hashem anyway because that's a normal thing to do if you need something you ask for it and you say thank you and you say please so when a person is hungry he will recognize God and he will be subservient to him he will be humble it's when he is satisfied he has plenty then he tends to forget about Hashem now chapter 12 verse 1 we already mentioned that one of the ways a Jew can can become distant from Hashem is when he follows examples of the Nations that live around him they follow idols and he also follows foreign Gods just like them they do forbidden relations and he also does they do abominable Acts in in their eating in the for way of life and a Jew by turning away from his own religion will follow those of his neighbors so that's what uh verse chapter 12 is speaking about that we should destroy all foreign influence these are the decrees and the ordinances that you shall observe to perform in the land that Hashem the god of your forefathers has given you to possess it all the days that you live on the land you shall utterly destroy all the places where the Nations that you shall possess worship their gods on the high mountains and on the hills and under every leafy tree they used to worship trees that's where the Christmas tree came from they would take a tree or they would rather plant a tree and when the tree became big they would worship it they would gather large masses of people around it they would put gifts under the tree they would decorate the tree and pray to it so therefore we had to cut down every tree that was used for idol worship you shall break apart their altars and smash their pillars and their sacred trees these are the the trees that are called asherah you shall burn in the fire and their carved images show you cut down and you shall obliterate their names from that place so we mentioned that in the land of Israel you have to keep the Torah follow Hashem and destroy all the idols what about outside of the land so we say that outside of the land Hashem doesn't even have to tell us to keep the Torah because it's easier to keep the Torah outside why um for a few reasons number one when a Jew is outside of the land of Israel he feels vulnerable and because he feels vulnerable he needs Hashem he he wants protection and so he prays to Hashem often the Jewish people outside of the land of Israel for most of their history had laws that would limit them in their business that limited them in where they could live and would sometimes even give rights to non-jews to oppress the Jews and therefore outside of the land Hashem doesn't need to tell us you have to remember me of course you will remember me because you have no choice in the land of Israel the the Jewish people feel comfortable and they say I'm among the Jews I don't need to follow Torah because nothing will happen to me we are together we are one nation unfortunately not under God they think and therefore nothing can happen to us we're secure I'm Jewish already in my heart my neighbors are Jewish my family is Jewish there's no problem with intermarriage and therefore they feel that they can just live any way they want and don't need to follow Torah that's where Hashem says You must follow Torah and that's what we see nowadays majority of the land of Israel is occupied by people who don't keep the Torah and very often when they come out of the land of Israel they come to the United States or other countries all of a sudden they become religious and everyone is surprised why you are not really just there in Israel why all of a sudden in America you became religious and they don't know why but all of a sudden they have inspiration they see their among the non-jews they see that they are the minority they feel far from their roots and they have a natural desire to run to Hashem as every Jew does in times of danger and sometimes they say oh now that I am religious let me go and live in the land of Israel and they go back and again they become not religious sometimes why because again they enter that state where they feel comfortable they feel already protected and they forget about Hashem now in verse 4 we learn that offerings may only be brought in the mishkan and later in betamic dash you shall not do this to Hashem your God just like the verses before said that the Nations used to worship wherever they wanted they would find a tree they would find an animal they would find a rock and they would just bow down to it you shall not do this to Hashem your God rather only at the place that Hashem your God will choose from among all your tribes to place his name there shall you seek out his presence and come there we're not allowed to offer sacrifices anywhere we want under any tree or on any stone it can only be done at a communal place where the mishkan the Tabernacle or betamic Dash the temple and only in a in a way that is prescribed and there verse 6 shall you bring your elevation offerings and feast offerings the chalamim elevation offering is hola your Tides your ma'aser like and what you raise up with your hands which is tiruma your vow offerings and your free will offerings and the firstborn of your cattle of your flocks the bejor of an animal you shall eat there before Hashem your God and you shall rejoice with your every undertaking you and your households as Hashem your God has blessed you foreign prohibition of using private Alters is stated you shall not do like everything that we do here today that when you use a private altar at the time when they were permitted in between before uh the permanent Tabernacle was set up or after it was destroyed before betamic Dash was built private Alters were permitted but not like everything we do here today which means you cannot bring communal offerings or obligatory offerings if someone needs to bring a sin offering he cannot do it on a private altar rather every man what is proper in his eyes only voluntary offerings are allowed to be brought on private altars and again private Alters can only be used when there is no betamic dash or there is no mishkan but that is only before betamic Dash was built once beta mikdash was built the permanent temple in yerushalayim all private altars are forbidden and were not allowed to kill an animal with intent that I'm doing it for God that is forbidden and therefore if we invite a a rabbi to our home when we buy a new house or when someone is sick or something um an unfortunate incident happens and we want such a thing shouldn't happen again some people take an animal and shared him we have to be very careful not to say the word qurban not to say the word sacrifice or an offering not to say that I'm doing this for Hashem or for any other deity or for a spirit that will be either um prohibition of sacrificing outside of Jerusalem outside of the temple which is a very severe prohibition or it will be idol worship which is even a worse prohibition so the best is not to do such things at all there is no need to kill roosters or chickens or or lamb or or cows in your house um it's a non-jewish idea it's it's a very dangerous Idol worshiping idea and it may potentially um involve severe prohibitions of of idol worship and sacrificing outside of Jerusalem which are both punishable by correct or even worse shalom if a person wants success he should follow the Torah not offer sacrifices outside of Jerusalem um now verse 9 for you will not yet have come to the resting place or to the Heritage that Hashem your God gives you which means when you do come to your heritage and resting place and you do build the betamic dash then all offerings are permitted in Jerusalem in the temple but on a private altar not all offerings are permitted okay verse 10. you shall cross the Jordan and settle the land that Hashem your God causes you to inherit and he will give you rest from all your enemies around and you will dwell securely beautiful promises that were fulfilled again and again Jewish people came into the land settled it then due to their sins they were exiled and then again they were returned and built the beta mikdash second time and again due to their sins they were exiled and the betamintosh was destroyed second time and now in our recent times Jewish people came into the land again and were waiting for the coming of mashiach so that we can build the betamic dash again but what is stopping us as I mentioned before majority of the residents in the land of Israel are still denying God's existence majority is still don't believe in God majority still don't keep Shabbat don't keep kashu don't keep anything so even though we repossessed our land but we are far from perfect we are far from what it takes to be a nation of God of course Hashem does not judge those who are who don't recognize him he treats them as children uh ignorant children he focuses mostly on the religious Jews they are his Nation they are his chosen the observant Jews are the ones that sustain the world that support the world that Supply the world with blessing and the reason why we do have the possession of the land of Israel is exactly because of that so that we have a place for so many thousands of religious Orthodox Jews to live to raise their families to serve Hashem to learn Torah and to pray um so if you concentrate on the religious Jews then we are doing well we we we make Hashem happy about Hashem may we continue like that now verse 11. once the the promise is given that we will dwell securely in the land it shall be that the place where Hashem your God will choose to rest his name which means in betamic dash in Jerusalem there shall you bring everything that I command you now all offerings are permitted the elevation offerings hola the feast offerings and what you raise up with your hands and the choices of your vow offerings that you will vow to Hashem and you shall rejoice before Hashem your God you and your children and your workers and the Levites verse 13 beware for yourselves last you bring up your elevation offering in any place that you see again obligatory offerings like like hola are not permitted on private altars private Alters can only have voluntary offerings brought on them rather only in a place that hashan will choose among one of your tribes there shall you bring up your elevation offerings and there you shall do all that I command you um next paragraph teaches us about offerings that developed a blemish such offerings cannot be brought to Hashem rather they need to be redeemed they need to be bought out and then they become private property and an individual can eat them verse 15 however in all your souls desire you may Slaughter and eat meat according to all the blessing that Hashem your God will have given you in all your cities the contaminated one and the pure one may eat it like the deer and the Heart so on a simple level it means that if you want to eat meat personally you have permission to slaughter and to eat anytime you want however the rabbis learned from the the verse that it says the contaminated one and the and the pure one may eat it they see that it's not talking about regular animals because if it is regular animals why would you forbid the contaminated one to eat rather we're talking about an animal that was uh designated as an offering and therefore if it was brought as an offering a contaminated person wasn't allowed to eat it and now that it developed a blemish a moon a visible blemish it has to be redeemed and once it's redeemed you can Slaughter it and eat it and now the Torah needs to tell you that even though before the blemish a contaminated person wasn't allowed to eat it now that it has a blemish anyone can eat it verse 16 but you shall not eat blood you should pour it onto the Earth like water now um next paragraph speaks about food that has kedusha that has sanctity and therefore it must be eaten only in yerushalayim it is not an offering not not a Corban but nevertheless it has sanctity for example in your cities you may not eat the tithe of your grain the the word tithe in English means a tenth so when you separate the first tenth of your produce you give it to the levite and the Levites can eat it anywhere they want but when you separate the second tithe the second ten percent from your grain or from your wine or from your oil that is called Maser Shani and that needs to be eaten in yerushalayim so in your cities you may not eat massage off your grain your wine on your oil and also you cannot eat your firstborn of your cattle or your flocks first born you have to give it to kohen and Cohen has to bring it to Jerusalem offer it and then eat it and all your vow offerings that you vow and your free will offerings you may not eat in your cities rather you shall eat them before Hashem your God in the place that Hashem your God will choose and now verse 20 we speak about eating regular animals unconsecrated animals what is called hulin when Hashem your God will broaden your boundary as he spoke to you and you say I would eat meat I would like to eat meat I like meat for you will have a desire to eat meat and now because we spread out throughout the land of Israel many people live far away from Jerusalem so they cannot bring their animals to Jerusalem to sacrifice them give part to Hashem and take the rest and eat it's too much I can't travel a whole day two days five days two weeks just to eat meat so then Hashem says you can eat meat anytime you want anywhere you want take a regular animal unconsecrated animal Colleen and you can Slaughter to your heart's entire desire you may eat meat if the place where Hashem your God will choose to place his name will be far from you you may Slaughter from your cattle and your flock as I have commanded you and you may eat it in your cities according to your heart's entire design here we learn that the laws of proper Slaughter were commanded in the past these laws are not written in the Torah but but Hashem says as I have commanded you which means it was an oral transmission that Hashem commanded to motion Moshe told us how to slaughter an animal properly you take a knife you make sure it's perfectly smooth and sharp without any Nicks as you draw your nail along the knife surface on all three sides one side the other side and the The Edge the center you should not feel any bumps and any Nicks that your nail should not get stuck anywhere it should be smooth even better than glass and it should be sharp so sharp that it will Slaughter the animal from just one or two or three movements very quickly without having to cut it many times with a dull knife it needs to be smooth Not to cause any scratches on an animal and has to be sharp so that it cuts fast that the animal shouldn't feel any pain and there are many more laws for circuita and they are transmitted orally and again the Torah tells us about the prohibition of blood verse 23 only be strong not to eat blood for the blood it is the life and you shall not eat the life with the meat you shall not eat it you shall pour it onto the ground like water you shall not eat it in order that it will be well with you and your children after you when you do what is right in eyes of Hashem and here there are two commentaries that differ as to the explanation of of these verses why does the Torah speak so much about blood don't eat blood please don't eat it if you don't eat it will be good for you spill it on the water be strong don't eat it one commentator says the the the the by commentator I mean the rabbis of the talmud two thousand years ago the one of them said the reason why the daughter had to emphasize so much that we shouldn't eat blood was because the nations of the world at that time loved blood they would drink blood for breakfast lunch and supper it was a delicacy and also a staple food in some countries they still drink blood for breakfast every day and the Torah therefore had to say you will see people all around you drinking blood but you should not do it please don't do it it is a wrong thing to do so this that's the first opinion the second opinion says even at times when drinking blood is not practiced this commandment still applies why which means we still read these verses today please don't eat blood is going to be good for you strengthen yourself and don't drink blood to teach us about the great reward for all the mitzvot even something that most of us would not even consider drinking we would be disgusted by Blood we don't even want to look at blood certainly we don't want to touch blood and certainly we don't want to lick blood and certainly we don't want to drink blood and the Torah says if you don't drink blood it will be good for you it will be well with you and your children after you just buy listening to God and not drinking blood you will have a blessing and your children will have a blessing what did I do I wouldn't drink blood even if you pay me it teaches us that Hashem rewards us for listening to him even if we would do it on our own anyway just by thinking Hashem I'm doing it for you I would do it anyway but I'm doing it for you Hashem we receive a mitzvah and certainly for things that are difficult for us and we have a desire to do an Hashem says don't and we withhold ourselves just because Hashem said we get a great reward or something we don't need to do and we wouldn't do it ourselves like putting on to fill in and Hashem tells us do it and we say yeah but I have to run to work but still Hashem for you I'm gonna do and it's difficult certainly we're gonna get tremendous reward and therefore when we are faced with routine actions we shouldn't just do them because I want to do them that's my habit I do it anyway rather we should say Hashem I'm doing it for you even though I'm doing it anyway for myself add the intent Hashem I'm doing for you