They’re Not Talking About You—It’s All Blessings

The Daily Strengthening from The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – When people speak about someone, they take away all the Torah of those who are speaking

“The enemy said: I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul will be filled with them. I will draw my sword; my hand will dispossess them.” (Shemos 15:9)

“Moav is my washbasin; over Edom I will cast my shoe; over the Philistines, shout in triumph because of me.” (Tehillim 60:10)

“Rabbi Yitzchak bar Elazar said: What wisdom made into a crown for its head, humility made into a sandal for its heel. ‘A crown for its head’—as it says: ‘The beginning of wisdom is fear of Hashem’ (Tehillim 111:10). ‘A sandal for its heel’—as it says: ‘The heel of humility is fear of Hashem’ (Mishlei 22:4). Therefore it says: ‘Fear of Hashem is the discipline of wisdom.’” (Midrash Mishlei 15:6)

Tuesday, 14 Cheshvan 5783 – When a person pursues in the name of Torah, there is no end to his wickedness

These are his holy words:

“The enemy said: I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul will be filled with them. I will draw my sword; my hand will dispossess them.” (Shemos 15:9), “Over Edom I will cast my shoe.” (Tehillim 60:10).

What does “my shoe” mean? Why not “my sword”? It says, “I will draw my sword”—it doesn’t say, “I will draw my shoe.” So say, “I will draw my sword,” “I will cast my sword”—why “my shoe”? Rather, it is the moment when Leah’s “shoes” connect with Rachel’s “crown.”

It is written: what humility made into a “heel” for its sole, wisdom made into a crown for its head. Wisdom is only the “heel” of humility—when a person lives with humility, people put him down and disgrace him, and he does not answer (those who disgrace him). The moment a person does not listen to the rebukes—he does not respond.

I didn’t hear at all (the humiliations against me). “I didn’t hear” are words of honor—Likutey Moharan, Torah 55—because all speech in the world is words of honor; only the combinations change.

Rebbe Nachman says that the Tzaddik builds, out of the very conflict, the Torah that you learned. When you argue with someone, when you speak about someone—then you vomit out the Torah you learned.

What’s burning inside you? What’s burning is the Torah! Because a person thinks it is a mitzvah (to pursue the other). The Chazon Ish writes in Emunah u’Bitachon that if a person becomes zealous “according to Torah,” then there is no limit to his wickedness.