Generation To Generation By Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser

“Al totzar es Moav v’al tisgar bom milchamah -- Do not distress Moav and you shall not provoke war with them”(Devorim 2:9)
Rashi explains that with reference to Moav the Torah
“Al totzar es Moav v’al tisgar bom milchamah -- Do not distress Moav and you shall not provoke war with them”(Devorim 2:9)
Rashi explains that with reference to Moav the Torah only prohibited Bnai Yisroel from waging war against them. However, as concerns Ammon, Hashem forbade Bnai Yisroel from even harassing or provoking this nation in any way.
What reason was there for this difference in attitude to the two nations?
Rashi expounds that this was a reward for the careful discretion of the mother of Ammon, who did not expose her father’s misdeed -- unlike her older sister who indelicately named her son Moav, meaning “from the father”.
Maran HaRav Shach ztl. points out that it is necessary for us to have a deeper understanding of the ancestry of Ammon and Moav, who were descendants of Lot and his two daughters. This incident happened thousands of years earlier. Is it possible, then, that something that occurred one time is powerful enough to affect all the generations?
HaRav Shach answers that all the maasim – actions -- that are done in creation are connected in one very long chain. We are not unique from our forefathers and foremothers; we are a link in the chain of all the generations since the beginning of time. Whatever happened thousands of years ago is linked to us in a practical way. Therefore, any deed that was performed even one time in history has the power to affect all generations till the end of time.
We find in a similar vein, that Moshe Rabbeinu was afraid of Og Melech HaBoshon, and Hashem had to direct him, “Do not be afraid of him.” Our chachamim question the source of that fear and point out that it stemmed from Moshe’s knowledge of Og’s assistance to Avraham Avinu. Despite the fact that it was a one-time deal that was never repeated, Moshe was afraid that the merit of this kindness would protect him many years later, notwithstanding all the evil deeds he had done in his lifetime.
A person’s maasim are relative to the entire world. As such, their impressions – whether good or bad – exist forever and do not diminish or disappear over time. For that reason, Moshe Rabbeinu was afraid of that one good deed that Og had done so many generations earlier.
A young avreich in Yerushalayim who frequented different shtiblach in his neighborhood, had never davened in Zichron Moshe. One afternoon, however, he had a strong compulsion to daven mincha in Zichron Moshe. As he passed one of the rooms where men were learning, he felt an inexplicable urge to enter and see what inyan in gemara the group was learning.
When he glanced over the shoulder of one of the baalebatim seated near the door, he was totally taken aback. He noticed that in the margins of the yungerman’s open gemara there appeared an unmistakably recognizable signature – that of his grandfather, a great talmid chacham who had perished in the Sho’ah. According to all reports, and the family’s deep distress, the grandfather’s Shas which contained all his remarkable haga’os had been destroyed in the Sho’ah. Yet, here in front of his very eyes, there appeared to be a personal copy of his grandfather’s gemara!
When the shiur ended, the avreich went over to the older man who had the gemara. The man explained that after the war a person approached him and gave him the Shas as a gift. His only request had been that he should take the Shas to Eretz Yisroel. And, stated the man, “From that day on the Shas has remained in my possession.” He was only too glad to return the set of Shas to the family.
The family’s simcha was understandably boundless. But they were even more amazed when, after checking through the entire Shas, they realized that the only daf which actually contained the grandfather’s signature was the one that was being learned that day in Zichron Moshe. From all the thousands of dafim upon which the grandfather had written his haga’os, only this specific daf included his personal inimitable signature that the avreich had recognized.
Hashgacha Pratis had led the avreich -- who never davened in Zichron Moshe -- to go in there on that day, specifically, when that particular daf was being learned in the shiur, so that the divrei Torah could be returned to its owner.
(Tuvcha Yabi’u)