Page 49 - choverestishrei5782

46 | Harav Daniel Schwab Harav Daniel Schwab | 47

Avraham and Sarah will live in a different world – a different ‘operating out, that command is also stated twice -- once with Avraham Avinu- “Hisaleich
system’ -- than the rest. So from the moment of the bris onward, Avraham, lifanai viheyey samim”, and again in Parashas Shoftim “Tamim tehiyeh”. Well, the
Sarah, and all their descendants, including us today, live and thrive only upon Maharam Schik asserts that also by “Tamim tehiyeh” there is a passuk excluding
miracles, above and beyond the world observed and foretold by the stargazing non-Jews: the passuk that explicitly states that the way of non-Jews is to seek
astrologers. out the stars and constellations for their prognosis of their lives. But the Jew
must be different, wholehearted -- even so much so that at times he will be
The Maharal tells us that, based on the Torah’s opening revelation that creation granted a Navi to help discern what Hashem wants from him. On the basis
took place in a period that consisted of exactly seven days, the natural world of this distinction explicit in the Torah, it would seem that this mitzvah of
runs with the number 7 embedded into it. Accordingly, there are not only 7 “Tamim tehiya” only applies to Jews. Such is the Maharam Schick’s answer to
days in the week, but 7 different oceans, 7 planets in the sky, 7 continents on the Rashbatz’ question.
the globe, 7 notes in the standard musical scale, 7 different colors to the visual
spectrum, etc. The number 8, on the other hand, represents an existence that But Rabbi Menashe Reizman gives another answer. The Midrash says that
is above nature. We are commanded to perform a bris milah on the eighth day when Hashem told Avraham Avinu “Heyei tamim” (“Be wholehearted, without
here in this world, highlighting our supernatural existence, the success of worry”), Avram was worried; he was afraid of not having the supernatural
“Operating System 8,” while yet still effecting and moving amidst this merely ability to fulfill this mitzvah of bitachon, of relying completely on Hashem
natural world of “Operating System 7”. without shrinking from doubt. How could he live in this world of worry, fright,
anxiety, and fear and manage still to be relaxed in bitachon with Hashem? That
The Ramban (“shikchas ha-esin” in the Sefer Hamitzvos) asks why the Rambam is precisely when and why Hashem gave him the mitzvah of bris milah. Avraham
does not count this mitzvah of “Tamim tehiyah››,of not worrying, as one of the now has a mitzvah to change himself physically and transport himself into
613 Mitzvos, as the Ramban himself does. But the Rashbatz asks back on the a totally different ‘world’, a different ‘operating system’. Prior to the bris, he
Ramban that, if this is indeed one of the 613, why does it only apply to Jews was living in the natural world (“Operating System 7”), whereas after entering
and not to non-Jews? For we have a ruling from the Gemara (Sanhedrin 59) that into the bris; he moves within the supernatural world of “Operating System
any mitzvah that is stated prior to Mattan Torah and then repeated at Mattan 8. Accordingly, the mitzvah of “Tamim tehiyah” is the exact outgrowth and
Torah applies to both Jews and non-Jews alike. Accordingly, this mitzvah purpose of the mitzvah of bris milah. This is why the Rambam doesn’t count
should apply to all people, yet we have no source that it does. In fact, the temimus as a separate mitzvah, as it is part and parcel of the mitzvah of bris
Gemara actually asks that same question regarding the mitzvah of bris milah, milah. Additionally, this is also why the mitzvah of “Tamim tehiyah” only applies
a mitzvah given to Avraham Avinu before Mattan Torah and then repeated in to Jews as it is an outgrowth of bris which explicitly only applies to Jews as it
the beginning of Parashas Ki Seiytzei. The Gemara answers that there is a special says “licha ulizarecha”.
passuk excluding non-Jews from bris,: “licha ulizarecha” -- only to you, Avraham
and the children who will be born afterwards from you, thus excluding non- So the next time you hear frightening news from the ubiquitous media or from
Jews from the mitzvah of bris milah. (It is noteworthy that, consistent with a concerned friend or family member, take a step back, take a deep breath, and
the answer of the Gemara here, the Rambam obligates the Bnei Keturah (non- tell yourself the truth. Think in your mind and know in your heart that all
Jews from Avraham and Keturah) in milah, as they were born after Avraham of the perilous predictions and the doomsday outlooks may be applicable to
received the mitzvah but before Mattan Torah.) those who live in Operating System 7, but not to us. For we live in Operating
system 8. Our ancestors flourished and propagated only because of miracles;
But while this answer from the Gemara only addresses the mitzvah of bris the eternal existence and survival of the nation of the Torah is only a product
milah, what about the mitzvah of “Tamim tehiyeh”? As the Rashbatz points
of Operating System 8.

Agudah Achasgudah Achas
A Agudah Achas