- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayelech
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Nitzavim
The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Revital Bat Lea
3122
The Ramban and Seforno explain that the mitzvah is repentance. Most of the commentators take Chazal’s approach that it is referring to Torah and mitzvot in general. The midrash (Midrash Tehillim 119) picks up on the nuance of the words "lo nifleit hee mimcha" (literally, it is not out of grasp of you) and says that Moshe was saying that it is not objectively out of grasp and if it seems so, it is from you, meaning you did not toil over it. This midrash implies that when a person looks at the Torah as an external burden, it will appear distant. When one is willing to work on and connect to it, he will find that it is close, indeed within him.
The gemara has an interesting approach to the terms "in the heaven" and "across the sea." Rav says that Torah is not found in one who views himself above others or whose desires are spread out like the sea (Eruvin 55a). Good personal attributes such as humility and simplicity are conditions for accepting the Torah in such a way that it becomes part of a person’s lifestyle.
We will conclude with a difficult midrash on the words "lo nifleit he mimcha." It says that even if you need to have flesh cut off to allow you to learn Torah, you should have them take from you. The midrash says we do not actually do so, but how can it entertain such a possibility? The Radvaz (1052) rules that if a king says he will cut off one’s limb or kill someone else, he need not sacrifice his limb. His source is that the "ways of the Torah are the ways of pleasantness" (Proverbs 3:17), and it does not make sense that the Torah would require one to go blind or have a hand or leg cut off to save someone else.
This seems like a far-fetched occurrence nowadays, but the concept does arise frequently, for example, regarding donating a kidney, where there is little danger to the donor’s life, to save someone else. The Radvaz’s feeling, that his human moral intuition is an indication of what the Torah expects, provides another meaning for "it is not in the heaven." The Torah was given to people with their feet on the ground even as their heads strive for the sky. They are to apply the Torah in a manner that keeps it rational and "on the ground" even as it is lofty.
Let us pray that by keeping to this principle, we will merit to "find grace and good wisdom in the eyes of Hashem and man" (Proverbs 3:4), in the heaven and on the ground.

Properly Channeling the Desire for Spirituality
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Tishrei 6 5782

We Are All Standing
Rabbi Haggai Lundin | 24 Elul 5783

Living In The House Of Torah
Rabbi Stewart Weiss

Reward for Education
Rabbi Baruch Finkelstein | 4 Tishrei 5773

The Mitzva of Onah
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | 15 Shvat 5784

The Four “Exiles”
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Tevet 13 5781

Fasting on the Wedding Day
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Sivan 9 5779

Were there Fasts in the time of the Second Temple?
Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon | 5778
Daf Yomi Sanhedrin Daf 80
R' Eli Stefansky | 7 Adar 5785

Gold, Silver, Precious Stones – Closeness to Hashem – part III
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Adar 5785
