Parshas Va'eschanan: Seeking Hashem From Wherever You Are

AI summary (may contain mistakes)

What does it mean to seek Hashem "from there"? The Baal Shem Tov reads it as from wherever a person has fallen, and another reading has a half-hearted search grow into seeking with all the heart. A Baal Shem Tov teaching, brought at the end of Parshas Masei, makes the three arei miklat good thoughts, Torah and tefillah, and mitzvos, a refuge from the yetzer hara. The double Nachamu points to a double comfort when Moshiach comes.

Key points

• One reading: even a half-hearted search for Hashem grows into seeking with all the heart.
• Torah and mitzvos are a hiding place from the yetzer hara, even before overcoming it.
• For the Yismach Yisrael, the double nechama ends both the punishment and the barrier from Hashem.

Topics

• Shabbos Nachamu
• Yetzer Hara