Chukat 5786 | Rabbi Menachem Mendel Blachman

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── Shiur Outline ──
(0:07) Intro to Parshas Chukas and its timing
(1:27) The 24 wagons burnt in France
(2:39) Fasting tradition on Erev Shabbat Chukas
(4:32) Ramchal's letter on the Torah decree
(6:35) Rambam on divine vs human wisdom
(11:36) Call to learn on Erev Shabbat Chukat
(0:00) Current caution against intercity travel on Chukat

AI-Generated Summary (AI can be inaccurate. Check important information):

1. Erev Shabbos Chukas — This Friday is identified as a day of historical tragedy and potential din (judgment) due to the burning of the Torah in France.
2. The 24 Wagons — In the year 1242 (5004), twenty-four wagons full of Talmudic manuscripts and halachos were publicly burned in Paris.
3. Decree on the Torah — A shailas chalom (dream inquiry) by the Rishonim revealed that this event was a "decree of the Torah," linked specifically to the Friday of Parshas Chukas.
4. Individual Fasting — Because of the severity of this day, the Magen Avraham records a custom for individuals to fast on the Friday before Shabbos Chukas.
5. Business Caution — In Izmir, as recorded by the Chida and Rav Chaim Palaji, merchants would finish their work on Thursday to avoid the shuk (market) on this Friday.
6. Divine Sacrifice — The Ramchal teaches that the Shchina (Divine Presence) allows its "body," the Torah, to be burned to save Klal Yisrael from harsher decrees.
7. The Kitrug of Neglect — The source of this decree is a kitrug (prosecution) that arises when Jews prioritize hanaos ha'olam (worldly pleasures) over the Torah.
8. Dying in the Tent — The only antidote to this decree is for a person to be meimit atzmo (kill himself) over the Torah by making it the absolute focal point of life.
9. Seasonal Relevance — This Friday often coincides with the start of summer vacation, a time when the temptation to loosen one's limud haTorah (Torah study) is strongest.
10. Increasing Study — The practical response to this day of din is to add extra time to one's daily learning schedule and treat it as a yom iyun (day of intense study).

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Hi okay this is for פרשת חקת well actually here in ארץ ישראל it's

פרשת חקת I understand it's going to be חקת in a week from now.

So if you don't mind I'm going to be talking about your next week

and my this week.

There's a special הלכה for this week uniquely for the coming Friday which will

be your next Friday and this is brought down in the שבולי הלקט in

Hilchos Din Arba Tzomos הלכות דין ארבעה צומות 263 סימן רסג it's brought down

in the מגן אברהם in אורח חיים in 580 סימן תקפ Se'if Katan 9

סעיף קטן ט.

Let me read it to you.

And it says as follows:

ma she-era be-yameinu מה שאירע בימינו what occurred in our times ברוב עונותינו due

to our terrible sins asher garmu lanu אשר גרמו לנו that caused us venisrefa

Toras Elokeinu ונשרפה תורת אלוקינו the Torah of our Lord was destroyed and burnt

bishnas hamesh alafim ve-arba shanim בשנת חמשת אלפים וארבע שנים bishnas Hei Daled בשנת

ה' ד' that's a long time ago.

מבריאת העולם ביום שישי on the Friday of Parshas Zos Chukas HaTorah פרשת זאת

חקת התורה ve-esrim ve-arba'a kronos mlei'im sifrei ha-Talmud ve-halachos ve-aggados ועשרים וארבעה קרונות מלאים

ספרי התלמוד והלכות והגדות the twenty-four big wagons filled with Talmud,

Halachos,

and Aggados נשרפו בצרפת they were burnt in France obviously opposite Notre Dame.

Ka'asher shamanu lishmua ozen כאשר שמענו לשמוע אוזן as we heard ve-gam min rabbenu

rabbanim she-hayu sham shamanu וגם מן רבנו רבנים שהיו שם שמענו we heard from

the rabbis,

teachers that were there she-asu she'ilas chalom שעשו שאלת חלום something which was common

בימי הראשונים we have Rav Yosef Mi-Orleans רב יוסף מאורליאנש which has a whole

Sefer of Shailos U-Tshuvos min ha-Shamayim שאלות ותשובות מן השמים which he asked בחלום

he asked פסקי הלכה so here they asked בחלום im gzera me-eis ha-Borei אם

גזירה מאת הבורא what is the reason is this burning of the Torah in

France at the time a gzera me-eis ha-Borei גזירה מאת הבורא.

Ve-heshivu והשיבו להם and they answered them dah gzera de-oraisa דא גזירת דאורייתא yes

this is a decree on the Torah.

U-perusho ופירושו be-yom vav be-yom vav Zos Chukas HaTorah ביום ו' ביום ו' זאת

חקת התורה on Friday of Parshas Zos Chukas HaTorah היא גזירה it's a gzera.

U-me-oso hayom va-elech ומאותו היום ואילך from that day on and further kav'u yechidim

aleihem le-hisanos bo be-chol shana ve-shana קבעו יחידים עליהם להתענות בו בכל שנה ושנה

unique people were מקבל תענית to fast every year not on the day of

the month but specifically on erev Shabbos Chukas ערב שבת חקת be-yom shishi she-Parshas

Zos Chukas HaTorah ביום שישי של פרשת זאת חקת התורה.

Ve-lo kav'u yimei ha-chodesh ולא קבעו ימי החודש it had nothing to do with

the day of the month but specifically it had to do with the erev

Shabbos of Parshas Chukas ערב שבת של פרשת חקת.

Te-he afara aleinu le-kapara ke-ola muktara va-arav bnei Yehuda ke-minchas kerav ya-chal chata'a תהא

עפרה עלינו לכפרה כעולה מוקטרה וערב בני יהודה כמנחת קרב יכל חטאה.

In the Sefer Moed Le-Chol Chai ספר מועד לכל חי of Rav Chaim Palaji

רב חיים פלאג'י of Turkey gadol ha-dor bi-zmano גדול הדור בזמנו of the Sephardic

Judaism he writes מפורש he brings the באר היטב which quotes the מגן אברהם

and he quotes this Torah and he writes ובעירנו איזמיר in our city Izmir

which is in Turkey ve-hinneh ani zocher mi-kadmisa de-yalduso והנה אני זוכר מקדמיתא דילדותו

and here I remember when I was still a youth hayu kama anashim socharim

היו כמה אנשים סוחרים there were merchants hayu niza-rim she-lo latzeis afilu la-shuk היו

נזהרים שלא לצאת אפילו לשוק they wouldn't go in the street they wouldn't go

to the market לעסקם to do their business on erev Shabbos of Chukas ערב

שבת של חקת they would sit and דאוון fast and learn.

It was a day of דין and therefore they didn't go to work.

U-mah she-haya lahem la-asos be-erev Shabbos ומה שהיה להם לעשות בערב שבת whatever they

had to do business on Friday hayu osim me-taknim be-yom chamishi היו עושים מתקנים

ביום חמישי they would do it on Thursday.

Ve-hen ad hayom והן עד היום even today he writes rabbim nizharim she-lo leilech

me-ir le-kfar be-yom zeh רבים נזהרים שלא ללכת מעיר לכפר ביום זה don't do

intercity transit.

Ve-hen ad hayom rabbim nizharim she-lo leilech me-ir le-kfar be-yom zeh va-Hashem shomer am

Yisrael be-chol makom u-ve-chol zman she-lo te'uneh shum ra amen ken yehi ratzon והן

עד היום רבים נזהרים שלא ללכת מעיר לכפר ביום זה וה' שומר עם ישראל

בכל מקום ובכל זמן שלא תאונה שום רע אמן כן יהי רצון and this

seems to be an auspicious day a day of דין a day the דין

is so harsh that the Torah was burnt.

Zos Chukas HaTorah זאת חקת התורה it's a גזירה on the Torah.

One wants to understand multiple things here but specifically what is the idea what

is this גזירה on כלל ישראל that therefore our Torah is burnt.

So there's an unbelievable letter of the רמח"ל Moshe Chaim Luzzatto משה חיים לוצאטו

to his teacher Bassan מרי בסאן in Igros U-Te'udos Ramchal אגרות ותעודות רמח"ל os

pei vav אות פו and this he writes as follows this is obviously something

happened...

In Italy in his time very similar to this.

This is obviously much later,

there we're talking about literally 700 years ago,

more.

We're now for 5,786,

that was 5,004.

But this is obviously during the times of the רמח"ל and he writes as

follows:

אשר שאלני you asked me על עניין גזירת הספרים the גזירה on the ספרים

which were also burnt אשר במדינת הקומור found in Italy in the Vatican,

in Italy,

מדינת הקומור at the time was obviously under the Pope.

And he basically writes he wants you to understand,

he says עניין זה שגזירת התורה שהיו בעוונותינו הרבים כאין דבר בלא שורש everything

has a source ויסוד זה זאת חוקת התורה דוק גזירה דאורייתא.

And he says this,

I'm going to read certain words just that they are so frightening that I

don't want to elaborate too much.

השכינה מוסרת את עצמה לשריפת הדין החזק.

The שכינה itself gives itself over to מידת הדין that it should be burnt

to save להציל את ישראל.

We look at the idea and we know the חכמה of הקדוש ברוך הוא

as opposed to the חכמה of every other person.

רמב"ם writes on it there's a qualitative difference between the חכמה of me and

you and the חכמה of הקדוש ברוך הוא.

Our חכמה is nothing more than our experiences which created mental images.

We process those experiences,

make them into mental images,

we keep them in our brain and so we have a hopefully a good

search engine put together we become wise.

That's why the הלכה says that an elderly person even if he's a non-Jew

but since he has a PhD on life he has a דין of זקן

שקנה חכמה you have to stand up for him.

זקן ארמאי כמה הרפתקי דעדו עלוהי,

the man had multiple adventures in life.

That's חכמה.

You pick up information,

you pick up ideas simply by experience.

That's what we are.

We're like the bee processing whatever he's processing and out comes honey.

It's not me,

I'm the processing machine,

that's why honey is מותר otherwise it'd be a problem it'd be יוצא מן

הטמא,

a bee is a דבר טמא,

how can you eat honey?

The תירוץ is because it's not it's not him it's he processes it.

That's our חכמה.

By הקדוש ברוך הוא it's not that way because God had חכמה prior to

creation and there was no experiences.

The חכמה is an expression of His inherent self.

Ultimately therefore therefore when we talk of learning תורה we talk

of an expression of the inherent self of God.

לשון of the רמב"ם is He's the חכם,

He's the חכמה,

He's the יודע and He's the מדע.

He's all one.

לשון of the זוהר is איהו וחכמתיה חד,

He and His תורה are one.

Therefore we understand that when God sees that somehow כלל ישראל is really in

a bad place He literally gives His חכמה to have ייסורים to be burnt

במקומו ובכפרתו.

That's the לשון of the רמח"ל שהשכינה מוסרת עצמה לשריפת הדין החזק להציל את

ישראל.

This is what happens.

And the רמח"ל explains what this is.

He says אמת ודאי שקיטרוג גדול נתעורר על ישראל והיתה תורה צריכה להימסר על

ישראל אפילו לשריפה.

There was a terrible קיטרוג.

And what was that קיטרוג?

בזה אוכל לגלות אוכל לגלות הרבה.

But he says I'll explain it to you.

הנה זהו שיהיו ישראל ממיתים עצמם על דברי תורה שנאמר זאת התורה אדם כי

ימות באוהל.

If we are ממיתים עצמנו we take put things aside and we focus on

our לימוד התורה that saves us.

But we're not ממיתים עצמנו על לימוד התורה if we don't learn every point

possible.

And Torah's not the focal point of our existence,

then there's such a terrible קטרוג that God,

so to speak,

through His Torah has to have this כפרה for us and He burns Himself,

He burns His Torah.

And the רמח"ל writes at the end of that letter,

and he writes:

כי במקומות האלו—we're talking about Italy—היו קטרוגי התורה יותר.

That's why in Italy it was burnt because the קטרוג on Torah was so

great,

כי לא יותר לא המיתו עצמם—they didn't die for their learning,

they didn't live,

breathe,

and talk their Torah—והלכו אחרי הנאות העולם.

They simply follow the temporal pleasures of life and they did not understand that

the focal point of existence is לימוד התורה.

כי כן בכל איטליא—that's what he writes at his time.

It's a beautiful world,

very,

very,

very פרום,

but they're focusing basically on external pleasures and religion is something important,

but not what it is really important.

We hear something here which is important.

I think this is the week to think about it.

This is the week,

you know,

it's beginning towards vacation time,

you know,

the end of June goes into July,

schools are closing and vacation's starting.

And this is the exact time of the year where הקדוש ברוך הוא says:

People,

אין התורה מתקיימת אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה.

The problem is if we don't do that,

there are קטרוגים that arise and then terrible things have to happen.

I want to wish and pray that we should use this week,

this ערב שבת חקת,

spend that day on ממית עצמו באהלה של תורה—sit,

learn,

make it a יום עיון,

do something,

learn more than you usually learn.

If you have a half an hour a day,

add ten minutes.

Just learn.

Because this is Torah—כי הם חיינו ואורך ימינו ובהם נהגה יומם ולילה.

Have a meaningful פרשת חקת,

כל טוב.