The Berditchever - Kedushas Levi on Avos

Hope your Shavous was good, Please enjoy two selections and have a great Shabbos!

 

Pirkei Avos

 

Humility – A Lesson from Sinai
Avos Mishna 1:1 Moshe received the Torah from Mt Sinai:

 

The Kedushas Levi teaches us that:

 

We should pay attention [to the wording of this Mishna] and see that it should have said [that Moshe received the Torah] "on" Mt Sinai and not from "from" Mt Sinai.
It seems to me to explain this as follows: It is written (Bamidbar 12:3) "And the man, Moshe was more humble than any other person." Regarding [Moshe's position when he was] in Egypt he said about himself, "Who am I that I should [go to Pharaoh] . . . should I be the one to take [Bnei Yisroel] out?" (Shemos 3:11)

Yet, when the Holy One told Moshe that He was going to give the Torah through him and that he will be the Rabbi and teacher, master of all of all of Israel, Moshe did not refuse at all, where then was his humility?
However the truth is that it is a given, that Moshe Rabeinu saw the fact that the Torah was to be given on Mt Sinai and the reason for this location was as said by our Rabbis of blessed memory (Sotah 5a; Bamidbar Rabbah 13:3) because it was the most lowly of all the mountains. Moshe saw that the Torah was to be given on the lowliest and most humble of all [mountains], so he was immediately willing to have the Torah given through him. Due to his great humility his logic was as follows: he believed tat among Bnei Yisroel there was no one as lowly as he himself was, and the Torah, [as demonstrated at Sinai], was given on the lowliest and should therefore be given by the lowliest person as well. This then is the meaning of "Moshe received the Torah from Mt Sinai," and we asked previously where was his humility?

 

This is why the wording of the Mishna is "from" Mt Sinai [as opposed to "on" Mt Sinai] since Moshe learned from Mt Sinia itself that the Torah was given there and not on the other mountains because it was the lowliest of them, therefore Moshe was immediately willing to be the one through who Hashem would give us the Torah [since he saw himself as the most lowly person].1 (See also Toldos Yaakov Yosef Parshas VaYakhel 4, Kedoshim 8 where this same idea is taught presumably in the name of the Baal Shem Tov; See also Noam Elimelech Parshas BeHar)

The Migration of the Holy Jewish Home
Avos Mishna 1:4 And your house should be a house of meeting for the sages:

 

The holy Berditchever taught:

The houses of the Jewish people are destined to migrate to the Land of Israel in the future time of the coming of the Moshiachg may it be speedily in our days, Amen. We can derive this using the logical argument known as a fiorte from the Jewish houses of worship. Just as the synagogues whose primary purpose serves as places of reciting the Shema and prayer, and prayer is a commandment of rabbinic origin, and the Shema is likewise considered by some Talmudic opinions to be a commandment of rabbinic origin (See Berachos 21a Tosfos sv Hachi Garsinan Eleh) and in the future the synagogues are destined to migrate to the Land of Israel as is known (Megillah 29a), the Jewish houses which have had practiced in them, many more commandments of a Divine Torah origin such as the Mezuzah, the Grace after meals, Torah study and charity and many similar other commandments such as these, how much more so should they merit to migrate to the Land of Israel as well!

However which Jewish houses will be the ones to migrate to the Land of Israel? Those in which there was active practice and observance of the aforementioned commandments, however empty people, whose lives are empty of G-dly deeds and lack knowledge of their Creator, those who do not wish to fulfill the mitzvos in their homes, where Torah is not studied in sanctity, and who do not check the validity and kashrus of the mezuzos, and do not wish, heaven forbid to give charity, surely these homes will not merit to be uplifted and migrate to the Land of Israel. This is because they did not give Hashem any satisfaction and nachas ruach while they where here during the exile. Only those homes which cause Hashem a nachas ruach will merit to go to Israel.

Why then, did our Sages only mention synagogues when they spoke regarding these matters, why did they fail to mention Jewish homes? The meaning of our sages words can be explained by the Talmudic dictum, 'say this and you need not even mention that.' Surely, then it is is agiven that is the synagogues will migrate surely the homes will go to Israel as well. Understand this.

This is the meaning of "your house" should be equal in all respects to "the house of meeting" which is just another name for the synagogue. A house of meeting for Hashem as is taught in Shas (Berachos 5a) and the Mishna continues to explain which houses will be equal to synagogues? Therefore it says "for the sages," meaning to say that those houses belonging to wise sagacious home owners who have fear of Heaven and fulfill the mitzvos of the Torah, and the ethical teaching is now understood.

 

Kol Tuv,
R' Tal Moshe Zwecker
Director Machon Be'er Mayim Chaim
Chassidic Classics in the English Language
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