When Esav set forth to attack Yacov, Yacov did three things.  He prayed, sent gifts to Esav as a bribe, and prepared for war.  How can it be that Yacov would think the others would work if prayer did not?  Rather we can learn from here a tremendous lesson in how to live.  We cannot rely on a miracle, certainly Yacov’s prayers were that the bribe or warfare would succesfully save him.  Also we cannot rely on our own devices either and the prayer is a needed component of success.

There is a law that one who is involved in performing a mitzva is exempt from doing a different mitzva at that time.  There is an interesting explanation given for this.  The posuk says “you shall do the mitzvos and live by them”.  This means that when we do the mitzvos we should put our entire life, being into doing the mitzva.  That being the case we cannot fulfil another mitzva because our entire essence is absorbed in fulfilling the first one that we had been doing.

The posuk when telling us about the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) bringing a sacrifice on Yom Kippur states the following:  “It shall atone for him, for his family, for all of the Jewish Nation” We can learn from here a tremendous lesson.  There are people who want to “fix the world” the first step to do so must be to fix oneself.  After one has perfected oneself they can work on their family, finally after that they can attempt to right all the wrongs in the world at large.  Unfortunately all too often it works the opposite, and people try to fix the world first.  Let us all try to make an impact and to improve the world we live in, but lets start by making ourselves into the best we can be.

In this week’s parsha the golden calf was made.  A group gathered and ran to Aron and told him that Moshe was late in returning from Mount Sinai.  He had said he would return after 40 days at the 6th hour of the day and now it was past that.  They therefore felt that they needed a substitute for him and the idol would be that.  The Chofetz Chaim points out that the cause here for this terrible sin for which we are still today being punished for was impatience.  They simply did not have patience for the one day that was between their calculations and the correct ones.  Let us try to correct this mistake and have patience for others and for ourselves.

There is a law by an earthenware vessel that if it had been used for food it absorbs some of that food and it never comes out.  It cannot be used again for a different type of food, but rather must be smashed.  This law is taught to us by the sin offering.  Since the law applies throughout, why is it specifically mentioned here?  The Kli Yakar answers that a person who sins absorbs the taste of sin within, the only way to get it out is to “smash” ie. a person feels such sincere regret that his heart is broken by the pain of sinning, than he can be purified and be a new person.  Let us try not to sin, but when we do let us regret out errors and resolve to correct them.

When Aron died he went up to his tomb to die and he was wearing the special garments of the Cohen Gadol.  There is a law that a Cohen is only allowed to wear the garments while performing the service in the Temple.  How than was he wearing the clothing for his death?  We are told that the death of a tzadik is a penance for the generation.  One of the primary roles of a Cohen doing the service is to provide atonement.  Therefore when Aron went to die he was essentially fulfilling his role as Cohen.

When Korach rebelled against Moshe, Dasan and Aviram joined up with him.  They consistently fought with Moshe and when he called them to come they continually refused.  Yet we see that Moshe when he wanted to get them he again sent messengers to them.  We can learn from this never to give in to discord.  Meaning that even though they have a reputation of being “fighters” we cannot assume that they will continue in that wicked path.  We must always try to have peace.

The Gemara asks, where do we find Esther (meaning the story of Purim) hinted to in the Torah?  They answer that it is from the posuk “I will surely hide my face” (the word for hide in Hebrew is Asther, which is very similar to Esther) the story of Purim was without any open miracles or display of G-d’s Hand.  It may seem at times that the fact that we do not see HaShem’s presence in our times is a very negative thing.  But the Gemara asks where is the hint from the Torah, if it is from the Torah it cannot be bad.  Rather when we keep our faith through trying times when it seems as if HaShem is hiding Himself from us it will be of tremendous benefit to our spiritual growth!

In the entire Megillas Esther (story of Purim) the name of HaShem does not appear even once.  The entire chain of events that occurred can seem to be a natural sequence of events (particularly if you bear in mind that the story spans over a decade).  Yet through all that the Hand of HaShem guided the events and brought them to their glorious close.  Salvation for the Jews! Let us have faith and trust in HaShem that even when things seem bleak and we do not see His Providence, know that He is still running all and everything will turn out for the best.

In this week’s Parsha Aron the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) was commanded regarding the clothing he must wear while performing the service in the Bais Hamikdash (Holy Temple).  The command draws to a close with Moshe being told that if Aron wears the correct garments he will not die when he leaves.  The basic understanding of this is that when he leaves the Temple he will not have been deserving of death because he followed the commandments correctly.  The Chofetz Chaim learns something slightly different.  When the time comes for us to leave this world there will be an evaluation as to how well we have followed the commandments that HaShem commanded us.  If we have followed them appropriately than even when we leave this world we will not have died.  Rather we will live on for all eternity drawing immense pleasure from being near HaShem.  Let us all attempt to behave correctly and thereby earn our place near G-d for eternal life.