PERASHA NITZAVIM
09/23/2022 01:46:29 PM
And G-d your G-d will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love G-d your G-d..."
Children's upbringing and the month of Elul
On the verse in our Parsha "ומל ה' אלקיך את לבבך ואת לבב זרעך לאהבה את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבך" the Avudram wrote, and the Baal Haturim brought down, that the first letters of the...Read more...
PERASHA KI TAVO
09/21/2022 09:30:51 AM
"And you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the soil..." (26,2)
Gratitude
On the verse "And you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the soil" Rashi says "From the first" - A person goes down to his field and sees a fig that has ripened, he ties a band around it as a sign and says, - This is bikurim."
The source is...Read more...
PERASHA KI TETZE
09/02/2022 01:11:52 PM
War against whom?
Rashi explained the verse "When you go out to war...." as follows: "This refers to an optional war"- and it is well known how the rabbis in the holy books explained that this alludes to the war against one's Evil Inclination.
We learn from Rashi that a Jew's main war against his Evil Inclination must be not only pertaining to the 248 positive commandments and the 365 negative...Read more...
PERASHA SHOFTIM
08/26/2022 02:07:19 PM
ואני אתנהלה לאטי לרגל
"…and I will lead myself on slowly in accordance with the pace of the work which is before me…"
ELUL
Our Sages found an allusion to the month of Elul in the verse that Yakov Avinu said to Eisav before they separated from one another, "... ואני אתנהלה לאטי לרגל..."
The initials of those words...Read more...
PERASHA RE'EH
08/26/2022 02:05:39 PM
ROSH HODESH ELUL
"The blessing, that you listen to the commands of G-d..." (11,27)
"They who join hands for wicked ends shall not go unpunished" -"יד ליד לא ינקה רע"
The holy Rabbi Meir of Prishmilan ob'm said that the custom of drinking and saying "L'chaim" is auspicious for...Read more...
PERASHA EKEV
08/19/2022 02:41:41 PM
"And it shall come to pass as the consequences of your hearing these legal maxims and carefully carrying them out that G-d your G-d will keep the covenant and the love..." (7,12)
"You Shlomo may have the thousand" (Shir Hashirim)
Gavriel and Chana were married for twenty five years and did not yet merit to have children, but Gavriel, who was a...Read more...
PERASHA VA'ETHANAN
08/12/2022 12:42:32 PM
Loving G-d
"And you shall love G-d... with the whole of your heart and with whole of your soul and with the whole of your fortune." (6,5)
There is a famous question: Love is a feeling that is aroused in a person's heart. How can one force a person to love his G-d?
Hagaon Rabbi Akiva Eigar explained according to...Read more...
PERASHA DEVARIM
08/05/2022 01:45:16 PM
‘’Unlimited Blessings’’
"May G-d, the G-d of your fathers add to you a thousand times as many as you now are and bless you…"(1, 11)
They (the Children of Israel) said to Moshe, why are you giving an allotment to our blessings? He told them – those are mine but He will bless you as He spoke to you. (Rashi)
The...Read more...
PERASHA MATOT-MASSEI
07/29/2022 12:56:56 PM
And Moshe spoke to the heads of tribes of the Children of Israel… This is the word that G-d has commanded." (30, 2)
Keep your promise
Our Parsha begins with the mitzvah of vows, as it says, And Moshe spoke to the heads of tribes of the Children of Israel… This is the word that G-d has commanded. If a man vows a vow unto G-d or swears… to bind a fetter to his will he many not make his word void, he must do according to...Read more...
PERASHA PINCHAS
07/22/2022 01:21:55 PM
Therefore..See I give him My covenant: peace." (25, 12)
The source of blessings – Peace
We learn in the Mishna, "Rav Shimon ben Chalafta said, "G-d did not find anything else that maintains blessings for Israel other than peace, as it says, "G-d gives strength. G-d blesses His nation with peace."
Therefore in the Priestly blessing at the end of all the blessings...Read more...
BALAK
07/15/2022 01:37:53 PM
"...G-d his G-d is with him and the homage to a king מלך is in him." (23, 21)
From a curse to a blessing
It says in Sefer Hagan that one makes a blessing he must say it aloud so that his friend will answer Amen. If he does so, even if G-d forbid a curse was decreed on him it will change from a curse into a blessing,
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PERASHA CHUKAT
07/08/2022 11:28:10 AM
The merit of one who performs kindness
"... fear him not for I have delivered him into your hand.... and you shall do unto him as you did unto Sichon king of the Amorites..." (21,34)
The Parsha of Chukat ends with a description of the victories of the Children of Israel over the two kings in the Eastern side of the Jordan River – Sichon the King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan.
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PERASHA KORACH
06/30/2022 05:05:40 PM
And Korach presumed, the son of Yitzhar the son of Kehat the son of Levi…." (16,1)
Family Lineage
One of the grandsons of the Grand Rabbi Yechezkel of Kozhmir left the straight path of his ancestors and rabbis to the point that his wife could not live with him and demanded a divorce.
After several days the wife appeared with her husband by Rabbi Eliyahu Kletzkin the Rabbi of Lublin and...Read more...
SHLACH
06/23/2022 04:18:51 PM
"And they came to the Valley of the Cluster of Grapes and they cut down from there a vine with one cluster of grapes and they bore it upon a carrying-pole between two…" (13, 23)
Specifically two
On the words "and they bore it upon a carrying-pole between two" our Sages ob'm ask: Why did the Torah write "between two"? If it says "they bore it...Read more...
PERASHA BIHAALOTCHA
06/17/2022 11:47:32 AM
"And Moshe cried unto G-d… O G-d heal her, I beseech You." (12,13)
Praying for patients
In the time of Rabbi Yonatan Eibshitz a terrible plague of cholera erupted. The doctors could not find any remedy for the terrible disease that did not skip over homes of the Jews.
The community leaders approached the Rabbi...Read more...
PERASHA NASO
06/10/2022 03:02:15 PM
And they shall lay My Name on the children of Israel… I shall bless them." (6, 27)
The blessing of the Kohanim in love
The numerology of the initials of the words "ושמו את שמי על בני ישראל" add up to 389 which is the numerology of אהבה שלום – love, peace.
The Chatam Sofer says that sometimes a person is blessed by righteous people of his generation but nevertheless...Read more...
PERASHA BAMIDBAR
06/03/2022 11:52:06 AM
"And the Levites… were not allowed to number themselves amongst them – בתוכם" )
"Any Torah scholar whose inner self is not like his outside shall not enter the Study Hall."
Concerning that said in the Masechet Avot, "One should raise many disciples" Rabeinu Ovadia of Bartenura explained, "Raise many disciples" – This is compared to Raban Gamliel who...Read more...
PERASHA BECHUKOTAI
05/27/2022 02:04:38 PM
"… and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." (26,8)
To silence the prosecutors
Rabbi Moshe Arye Leib Litch Rosenbaum, author of Matta Diyerushalaim, said: The first letters of these words "ונפלו אויביכם לפניכם לחרב" spell out ELUL אלול.
The Torah alludes to us that when the Jews repent in the month of Elul, they silence thereby all the...Read more...
PERASHA BEHAR
05/20/2022 11:55:33 AM
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai
Reviving the Dead
The Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch zy'o used to say: The day of Lag Ba'omer is a day that is auspicious for medical recoveries and salvation! The initials of the words "a king Who is a loyal and merciful Doctor" - "מלך רופא נאמן ורחמן" spell out "מרון" and in the merit of the righteous Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who is buried in Meron G-d sends...Read more...
EMOR
05/13/2022 01:00:14 PM
Tremendous power
"Hillel said, do not detach yourself from the public…" (Pirkei Avot, Ch. 2)
The holy book Noam Elimelech (Dvarim) explains that the source of Jewish souls in Heaven is called "All of Israel" and it says "the reason that before we perform a mitzvah or pray we say "Lishem yichud Kudsha… bishem kol Yisrael…." Is because there...Read more...
PERASHA KEDOSHIM - MI SHEBERACH
05/06/2022 11:24:21 AM
"... and love your neighbor's well-being as your own..." (19,18)
The Aruch Hashulchan wrote that when a person hears that they are announcing a "Mi Sheberach for someone else he should answer Amen and thereby he fulfills the mitzvah of "love your neighbor's well -being as your own."
Hagaaon Rabbi David Moskowitz, Av Beit Din of Banihad related: Once the well known Gaon...Read more...
ACHAREI MOT - SHABBAT MEVARCHIM
04/29/2022 02:01:49 PM
Clinging to G-d
"And G-d spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aharon; it was in their coming near before G-d…"
In one verse the Torah mentions "after the death of the two sons of Aharon" and immediately thereafter goes into the details of Laws pertaining to the Service of the Cohen Gadol on Yom Kippur.
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PESSAH
04/21/2022 03:12:22 PM
את משפטי תעשו ואת חקתי תשמרו ללכת בהם אני ה' אלקיכם
“My ordinances you shall do, and My statutes you shall observe, to walk with them, I am the L-rd, your G-d.” (18:4) The Ksav Sofer commented on the words, “to walk with them”, that a person needs to walk from one level to the next level. That is, a person should constantly...Read more...
PESSAH
04/14/2022 03:41:19 PM
Why is This Night Different?
מה נשתנה הלילה הזה
In many homes with young children, parents and siblings may feel a little overwhelmed when a kid comes back from school with a small tome of Torah ideas to say at the table. As the child lays out pages and pages of ideas from their teacher, parents silently sigh to themselves, “Do...Read more...
PERASHA METZORAH: SHABBAT HAGADOL
04/08/2022 05:20:13 PM
"And on the eighth day… his foreskin shall be circumcised." (12,3)
His kikar in his hand
Our Rabbis ob'm said: Rabbi Yitzchak said, Rabbi Ami said: When a male comes to the world, his kikar is in his hand. The word male- "זכר" alludes to "זה כר"- i.e. every boy is born with his kar – his loaf of...Read more...
PERASHA TAZRIA
04/01/2022 11:02:28 AM
"This is the teaching of the leper מצרע on the day of his becoming pure…." (14,2)
Where's his Torah?
On the words "This is the teaching of the leper מצרע on the day of his becoming pure" the Chovat Halivavot says that when a person talks slander about another person his mitzvahs...Read more...
PURIM: TZAV
03/18/2022 02:17:40 PM
"The paupers' eyes are lifted up to the Megillah reading"
The time of Megilah reading is auspicious to livelihood and blessings
In the sefer Ateret Yehoshua of the holy Rabbi of Jikov it is brought down that the Megillah reading is auspicious to a good livelihood The Rabbi explains this according to what our Sages said "The paupers' eyes are lifted up to the Megillah reading".
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PERASHA ZACHOR FROM VAYIKRA
03/11/2022 01:27:42 PM
"… if a man of you would bring an offering near unto G-d…" (1,2)
Not from theft
It says, "Your sacrifice should be similar to the offering of Adam Harishon. Just as Adam Harishon who owned everything did not bring an offering from theft or from robbery, so you too…. do not bring an offering from theft or from robbery....Read more...
PERASHA PIKUDEI
03/04/2022 12:36:44 PM
"These are the schedules of the Tabernacle המשכן the Tabernacle of the Testimony משכן העדות which were listed according to the command of Moshe…" (38, 21)
Why hasn't He returned it?
Rashi asks – Why does it say משכן twice? And he answers – This is an allusion to the Temple that was pawned...Read more...
VAYAKHEL-SHKALIM
02/25/2022 12:03:13 PM
"….then shall they give a ransom each one for his person… half a shekel in the weights of the Sanctuary…" (30,12-13)
All Jews need one another
We must know that the fact that Moshe was commanded to collect half a shekel from the Children of Israel and not a whole shekel contains therein great intentions. The Torah thereby came to tell every...Read more...