Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg

(Devarim 1:17)"...Lo Saguru mipnei ish ki hamishpat lelokim..."
"...You shall not tremble before any man for the judgement is G-d's..."

When Reb Shmelke first moved to the town of Nikolsburg to be their Rabbi and Judge he immediately hung a staff and pouch up next to his stand. He said, "I want everyone to know, especially the Parnassim that my judgment will not be swayed by shochad (bribes) or individual relationships."

The staff and pouch were a sign to everyone that the Rabbi would not find immediate favor in their eyes. That he would leave town before judging a friend or confidant favorably without knowing the truth.


* The above image is a picture of Reb Shmelke's 6th generation descendant, Rav Mechel Lebowitz Shlit"a

* Here is a Wikipedia entry on Reb Shmelke: (link)

Eleh Hadevarim - AL"H

(Devarim 1:1) "Eleh hadevarim asher diber Moshe el kol Bnei Yisroel..." "These are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Israel"
The words Eleh as is mentioned above means 'these' in English. But what is it in the word eleh that Moshe has to specifically mention to everyone?

The Gemara Bava Metzia 156a says that "many people steal, some enter illicit relationships, but everyone speaks Avak Lashon Hara."

If one were to break up the first word of this weeks Parsha (Eleh) they would be left with three seperate hebrew letters. Aleph. Lamed. Hey. which stand for the words Avak Lashon Hara. Moshe is telling Klal Yisrael that Avak Lashon Hara is something that he has to speak to ALL of Bnei Yisrael about.

Devarim OR Devorim (Bees)

I was just perusing the Internet and while on one of my favorite sites (Revach.net) I found something that was very interesting and true.

The beginning of this weeks Parsha begins with the word Devarim. Rebbi Yehuda HaChassid however reads it differently. He suggests that perhaps the word is really Devorim (Bees). Moshe begins this parsha by bringing multiple admonishments against Bnei Yisroel. What R' Yehuda HaChassid is saying however is that his mussar was like dvash.

(I found it to be most interesting because the gematria of Mussar and Dvash are equal to each other at 306).
ASIDE: Rashi says that Moshe's mussar was in a sense his last will and testament to the Jewish people. When he was admonishing them he purposely neglected to mention the actual sins that they partook in and instead hinted to them by just mentioning the location where they took place.