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 5782MIND 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?
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 5782THE 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?
IT IS NOT WHO YOU ARE, BUT WHOSE YOU ARE
How fortunate we are that when we were enslaved in Egypt HaShem redeemed us!
This is the theme of our annual Pesach Seder. Ought we not ask ourselves why do we owe such gratitude to HaShem for redeeming us from Egypt, was it not HaShem who put us into Egyptian slavery? Perhaps we would be more grateful if He had left us alone.
THE MEN AND THE BOYS
The Baltimore community has been blessed with the good fortune of having the thoughts of Rav Tzvi Einstadter on Chumash recently published and available to all. The following was culled from Rav Tzvi’s second volume on Sefer Shemos.
In our Parsha the Torah states “And Moshe grew up and he went out to his brothers to share in their difficulties”. This verse indicates a direct correlation between Moshe becoming ‘grown up’ and his sense of responsibility to his brothers. To appreciate this connection let us consider the following.
SHABBOS; KEEPING THE WORLD ALIVE
This week’s Parsha, Vayakheil-Pikudei, opens with HaShem’s instruction to Moshe to instruct his people on keeping the Shabbos. “Six days shall your work be done and the seventh day shall be kodesh to HaShem” The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh asks why the Torah instructs us to work six days, there is no mitzvah to perform work on the week-days. He also notes that the Torah does not say we should work six days but rather that our work should be done on those six days. Why does the Torah not say to work six days?
Continue reading Vayakheil Pikudei 5781PLACING THE THRONE
This week’s Parsha, Ki Sisa, opens with HaShem instructing Moshe to count the Jewish people. However, instead of counting each person directly, he is instructed to collect a half shekel from each member and then count the shekalim, thereby indicating the number of people. The reason for this unique method is “that there should be no plague when the people are counted.” The implication is that there would be a plague if the people were counted directly. Why? If there is a mitzvah to be counted why should they be subject to a plague?
Continue reading Ki Sisa 5781A MODERN DAY MEGILLA STORY
This Purim, before reading the Megillah we will recite the bracha that reflects how HaShem did miracles for us in the days of old in this period of the year. The implication is that even today, thousands of years after the miracle of Purim, in this period of year, HaShem continues to perform miracles to protect us and save us from the evil design of our enemies.
Continue reading Terumah / PuЯim 5781BUILDERS HATE WRECKERS
This week we will read two Parshios; the weekly Parsha of Terumah and Parshas Zachor. On the surface there is no connection between these two Parshios, however, upon some thought they compliment each other so perfectly.
Rambam teaches us that the mitzvah to remember what Amalek did to us when we left Egypt is for the expressed purpose of inspiring our hatred towards him. What exactly did he do to us more than any of our other enemies throughout the course of history that earns them such distinct hatred? When Bilam foretells the destiny of the nations he indicates that all nations will survive the ‘end of days’ when the world will achieve its destiny except for the nation of Amalek. Regarding Amalek he states “Amalek was the first to make war against Israel and his destiny will be total decimation.”