This D’var Torah should be a Zechus L’Ilui Nishmas my sister, Kayla Rus Bas Bunim Tuvia A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my paternal grandfather Moshe Ben Yosef A”H, my uncle Reuven Nachum Ben Moshe & my great aunt Rivkah Sorah Bas Zev Yehuda HaKohein.
It should also be in Zechus L’Refuah Shileimah for:
-My father Bunim Tuvia Ben Channa Freidel
-My grandmothers Channah Freidel Bas Sarah, and Shulamis Bas Etta
-MY BROTHER: MENACHEM MENDEL SHLOMO BEN CHAYA ROCHEL
-Mordechai Shlomo Ben Sarah Tili
-Noam Shmuel Ben Simcha
-Chaya Rochel Ettel Bas Shulamis
-And all of the Cholei Yisrael, especially those suffering from COVID-19 and the Meiron tragedy.
-It should also be a Z’chus for an Aliyah of the holy Neshamos of Dovid Avraham Ben Chiya Kehas—R’ Dovid Winiarz ZT”L, Miriam Liba Bas Aharon—Rebbetzin Weiss A”H, as well as the Neshamos of those whose lives were taken by terrorists (Hashem Yikom Damam), COVID-19, and the Meiron tragedy.
-It should also be a Z’chus for success for Tzaha”l as well as the rest of Am Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael and in the Galus.
בס”ד
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Parsha Paradise/פרשה פרדס – Ki Sisa: What is Hashem’s Book? ?
Audio:
https://jewishpodcasts.fm/thedatabeis/32420
After the Cheit HaEigel, Moshe Rabbeinu Davened to Hashem on behalf of the B’nei Yisrael, famously urging that if Hashem wouldn’t forgive them, then He should just erase Moshe’s name from His book. The question is: What book was Moshe referring to? What is “Hashem’s book”?
P’shat:
Rashi most famously explains that Moshe was alluding to the entire Torah.
R’ Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explains that G-d’s “book” is a poetic reference to His “world-plan.”
Perhaps similarly, Ibn Ezra implies that it is a reference to the book of Hashem’s Gezeiros (decrees) of what will be in the world.
Sforno and Or HaChaim imply that it is the book of Zechuyos (merits). Perhaps similarly to that approach, Rashbam, Ramban, Da’as Zikeinim and others say that Moshe was referring to Hashem’s Sefer Chaim (Book of Life) which is inscribed on Rosh HaShannah [Rosh HaShannah 16B].
Remez:
Several sources (Da’as Zikeinim among others) point out that Moshe’s decree was partially fulfilled as his name was indeed wiped out from one Parsha, Tetzaveh.
R’ Ovadya Yosef supports this explanation with a Remez from our verse:
The words “מחני נא מספרך” (“Erase me from Your book”) can be read as: “מחני נא מספר כ”-“Erase me from Book 20,” and indeed, Tetzaveh is the twentieth Sidrah in the Torah.
Drash:
In line with an earlier approach, the Gemara in Rosh HaShannah [16B] implies that Moshe Rabbeinu opted to have his name removed from Hashem’s book of life for the righteous.
There, R’ Nachman Bar Yitzchak explains that our verse alludes to the three books that are opened on Rosh HaShannah.
(״וְאִם אַיִן מְחֵנִי נָא מִסִּפְרְךָ אֲשֶׁר כָּתָבְתָּ״)
״מְחֵנִי נָא״
The first phrase, referencing erasure or obliteration, alludes to the book of Resha’im (the wicked).
״מִסִּפְרְךָ״
The phrase, “Your book,” i.e. Hashem’s Book, is a reference to the book of Tzaddikim.
״אֲשֶׁר כָּתָבְתָּ״
The perhaps superfluous phrase “which You wrote” alludes to a third middle group, the book of Beinonim (mediocres).
Sod:
The Megaleh Amukos [100:1] explains that when Moshe requested to be erased from the book which Hashem had previously written, He was referring to the one book of the Five Books of Moshe in which Moshe’s name never appears, none other than Sefer Bereishis.
He cites the Gemara in Chulin [139B] which suggests that Moshe’s name is however alluded to in Bereishis [6:3] when Hashem prescribed only a 120 year lifespan mankind “seeing as [בשגם] he is but flesh.” The extra word “בשגם” shares a numerical value with the name Moshe who lived for 120 years.
(No, Moshe wasn’t “alive yet” in Bereishis, but Hashem could have and apparently might have written Moshe’s name explicitly in Bereishis when it went “to print.” Moshe was Hashem’s human scribe. They could have made it work)
May we all be Zocheh to do what’s appropriate in Hashem’s “book,” even if it means having our names erased from some of the pages, and we should be Zocheh to reach the end of the book with coming of Moshiach, Bimheirah BiYomeinu!
-Yehoshua Shmuel Eisenberg