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Vayakheil 5782
MASTER SPINNERS
The Parsha tells us how “all the women whose hearts inspired them with wisdom spun the goat hairs.” The Torah associates the spinning of the goat’s hair into yarn with the women whose hearts were inspired with wisdom. It would seem that there is some unique connection between women and their wisdom to the art of spinning the hair into yarn. Why should this art be unique to women?
Continue reading Vayakheil 5782Ki Sisa 5782
SMALL BUT PURE WINS THE RACE
Excerpted from the writings of my dear brother in-law, Rav Michoel Bodenheimer zt’l
There is a famous story which was told by Rav Shimon Schwab zt’l about his encounter with the great Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim, who was a Kohein, asked Rav Schwab if he was a Kohein or Levi, to which Rav Schwab answered that he was neither. The Chofetz Chaim proceeded to tell him why he and his ancestors were Koheinim and were chosen to serve in the Beis HaMikdosh and why Rav Schwab and his ancestors were not chosen. ”Moshe solicited the nation calling ‘All who are for HaShem come to me’ it was my grandfather who responded and not yours. The response to Moshe Rabbeinu’s call for action separated those who were to serve in the Beis HaMikdosh and those who would not serve.”
Tetzave 5782
CHANNELS OF LIFE
In this week’s Parsha there is an important principle found in Ohr Hachaim Haka-dosh’s commentary. HaShem instructs Moshe “And you, you shall bring close to you, your brother Aharon and his sons to serve Me as Kohanim…” How are we to understand the redundancy of the word ‘you’. Furthermore, it would have been more simply stated if it would say “And you shall bring your brother Aharon and his sons closer to the Kehuna…” What is the implication of “bring close to you”?
Continue reading Tetzave 5782Terumah 5782
THE ETERNAL RESTING PLACE
The Torah states “Let the people of Israel build for Me a Mishkan and I will reside in them.” Note that HaShem states that He will reside in them not in it. The implication is that when we build for Him a Mishkan we will be His place of residence. Behold, it is the nation of Israel that will be that place in which HaShem will reside.
Continue reading Terumah 5782Mishpatim 5782
GOING UP
In this week’s Parsha the Torah instructs us “You shall be men with a holy calling, therefore do not eat non-kosher meat”. The construction of the noun “men” is in the possessive form, indicating that the adjective “holy” is not modifying the noun. Otherwise, it would have stated “You shall be holy men”. Instead, the Torah is saying that we should be a people who strive to be holy, even if we have not yet achieved that state. What is holiness?
Continue reading Mishpatim 5782Yisro 5782
MIND THE GAP
Our Sages teach us that the reason HaShem chose Mount Sinai to be the location where He gave the Torah to His people was because it was smaller than the other more significant mountains. The Sages go on to teach us that Torah is given to those who are humble. Throughout our holy books there is tremendous emphasis placed on the importance of humility. There are many other fine qualities that we should adopt, why is humility placed ahead of those other qualities?
It must be clarified that humility should in no way be confused with poor self-worth or low self-esteem. The latter is detrimental to the health of a person and certainly of the Jew. HaShem is not interested in having a nation of people who do not believe in themselves. Quite to the contrary; He wants a nation whose people are driven to be-come great and to make a difference in the world. This can only be accomplished by people who believe in themselves. So then what is humility?
B’shalach 5782
ONE OF MANY GOLD NUGGETS
The splitting of the Red Sea was a seminal event in the development of Klal Yisroel. Our Sages teach us that even those who were least initiated in the realm of spirituality were exposed to revelations that even our prophet Yechezkel could not see. The Shira that was sung by our ancestors on the banks of the Sea was incorporated into the words of Torah. One cannot properly comprehend what great revelations were seen. We do know that there is much to learn and much to gain.
Continue reading B’shalach 5782Noach – 5782
Bo 5782
THE JEWS; THE PEOPLE WITH THE BIGGEST HEART
Our Parsha opens with Pharaoh granting Moshe permission to leave. “You may go serve your G.D, who is planning on going?” Moshe responds “With our young and with our old, with our son’s and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our cattle we shall go for it is a Holiday of HaShem” Pharaoh responds “Not so! Only the men shall go for that is what you are interested in!”
Pharaoh is suggesting that Moshe is lying by saying that his interest is to serve HaShem. His argument is that if your interest is to serve HaShem why must women and children go? The implication is that Pharaoh does not understand that serving HaShem is a family event. Pharaoh is a man of religion, albeit idolatry, why does he not understand?