PERASHA NITZAVIM-VAYELECH
09/08/2023 02:13:33 PM
"Go please and argue, G-d will say, if your sins will be scarlet, they shall turn white like snow. If they will be red… they will be like wool. (Yeshaya 1, 18)
Turn white like snow.
On this verse in Yeshaya the holy Mekubal Rabbi M.A. of Pano ob'm said: This verse is surprising. When a person has a claim against his friend, it is clear that he will invite him to court to...Read more...
PERASHA KI TAVO
09/01/2023 02:18:40 PM
"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."
Read more...
PERASHA KI TETZE
08/25/2023 01:01:36 PM
Going out to war
"When you go out to war against your enemies and G-d your G-d will give him into your hand…" (21, 10)
The verse that opens our Parsha "When you go out to war" is said in the singular in order to each us that we can defeat our enemies only through unity, as our Sages ob'm taught, "The generation of Achav – they all were idol worshippers but because there...Read more...
PERASHA "SHOFTIM"
08/18/2023 12:45:51 PM
''Judges and policeman you shall appoint in all your gates.....'' (16,18)
Judges and policemen
The commentators such as the ''Shlah Hakadosh'', Rabbi Haim Vital and others note that the Mitzvah of appointing judges is presented to the singular person and is directed to ''You" as an individual and they therefore expand the...Read more...
PERASHA RE"EH
08/11/2023 10:26:43 AM
Initials of Elul- אלול - the month of repentance
"I alone am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine…" "אני לדודי ודודי לי..."(Shir Hashirim 6,3)
We know well what the Sages said that the month of Elul is alluded to in the verse of "אני לדודי ודודי לי..." – these have the initials of - אלול - the month of...Read more...
PERASHA EKEV
08/04/2023 02:15:00 PM
One hundred blessings
"And G-d will keep afar from you - ממך -all illness and all the bad sufferings of Egypt…" (7,15)
We know what the Tur wrote (Or Hachaim): David Hamelech instructed that one hundred blessings be made daily and thereby the plague that had erupted in his time wherein hundred young men had been dying daily stopped.
We can learn an allusion to this from this verse: "And G-d will keep afar from you - ממך -all illness" . In the merit of - מ מ ך - which adds up to 100 – the one hundred blessings that you make daily - the blessing of "And G-d will keep afar from you - ממך -all illness and all the bad sufferings of Egypt…" will be fulfilled.Read more...
PERASHA VAETCHANAN
07/28/2023 02:39:18 PM
''I implored Hashem at that time…. My Lord, Hashem/Elokim, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for what power is there… that can perform according to Your deeds and to Your mighty acts?'' (3, 23-24)
One more prayer
We know that Moshe prayed 515 prayers corresponding to the numerical value of...Read more...
PERASHA DEVARIM
07/21/2023 11:56:11 AM
"For I, says G-d, will be to her a wall of fire אש roundabout..." (Zecharya)
Building the third Beit Hamikdash
In his sidur Lev Sameach the Gaon Rabbi from Alesk explains this verse and writes: "When Jewish people pray properly and say the words properly, the angels in Heaven take those words and carve out stones for the Beit Hamikdash...Read more...
PERASHA MATOT-MASEI
07/14/2023 01:41:09 PM
From anxiety to chorus
"…they journeyed from Charada (anxiety) and they encamped in Makeilot (chorus)." (33, 25)
Rabbi Yosef Yisrel Deitsch, Chief Judge of Alasha Yarmat explained the verse that they journeyed from Charada and encamped in Makeilot – When a person has trouble he directs his heart to G-d in prayer that He will...Read more...
PERASHA PINCHAS
07/07/2023 12:49:16 PM
Peace - the source of blessings
"Therefore..See I give him My covenant: peace." (25, 12)
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 - it ends with "peace" to teach us that the blessings do not help at all unless there is peace amongst them.Read more...
PERASHA CHUKAT BALAK
06/30/2023 02:21:40 PM
The holy CHIDA ob'm writes in his book "Ptach Eynaim" that here our Rabbis ob'm are hinting to what is written in the Midrash (Kohelet) "Shlomo said, all of these (mitzvahs) I understand but the portion of the Red Heifer I researched and asked and inquired and lo "it is far from me", in other words, I did not succeed in knowing the reason...Read more...
PERASHA KORACH
06/23/2023 01:27:00 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...
PERASHA SHLACH
06/16/2023 01:35:35 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...Read more...
PERASHA BIHAALOTCHA
06/09/2023 02:57:08 PM
“And this is the workmanship of the Candelabrum…." (8,4)
The difficulty
Rabbi Shaul Yedidya, the Grand Rabbi of Modzhitz says: Our Sages tell us that when G-d commanded Moshe to make the Menorah it was hard for Moshe Rabenu and even though G-d showed him with His Finger how the candelabrum should be made, as it says, "this is the workmanship...Read more...
PERASHA NASSO
06/02/2023 02:24:11 PM
"G-d make His face shine upon you…." (6,25)
“There is nothing else except Him”.
A wonderful story of the extent of confidence a person must have that "there is nothing else except Him" (that appears in the sefer Tuvcha Yabiu):
"A man went with his wife to give birth. Since all the births until now had gone...Read more...
SHAVUOT
05/25/2023 01:44:10 PM
"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 said, "Every Torah scholar whose inner self is not like his outside shall not enter the Study Hall." Raban Gamliel's intention was...Read more...
PERASHA BAMIDBAR
05/19/2023 04:09:15 PM
In the merit of Kriyat Shma
"From twenty years old and upward every one that goes
)out into the public service … shall you… count them" (1,3
On the verse "From twenty years old and upward…shall you… count them" the Kisa Harachamim says, "This verse alludes to the fact that one who...Read more...
PERASHA BEHAR
05/12/2023 01:41:05 PM
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...Read more...
LAG BAOMER
05/05/2023 01:22:34 PM
I can exempt the entire world from Judgment"
The power of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai
Regarding the power of RASHBY, it says in the Gemara "Rabbi Yermiya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai: I can exempt the entire world from Judgment." In order to understand the enormous power of RASHBY let us look into what it says in the...Read more...
PERASHA KEDOSHIM
04/28/2023 02:02:49 PM
One Torah
"… and love your neighbor's well being as it were your own…" (19,18
In the gemara it is told about a gentile who came before Shamai. He said to him – Convert me, so you can teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot." He pushed him away. When he came to Hillel the Elder Hillel gave him wonderful advice and said,...Read more...
PERASHA METZORA
04/21/2023 11:55:57 AM
Two birds
" Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be purified, two living birds… and shall command to slaughter the one bird… as for the living bird he shall take it…" (14, 4-6)
Rashi explains that the reason the Torah commanded the leper to bring two birds for his purification: "Since the plagues come due to slander which...Read more...
SHABBAT PESACH
04/05/2023 11:26:55 AM
"Command Aharon and his sons, this is the teaching of the elevating offering, It is the elevating offering…"(6,2)
Lack of money/covering
On the verse "Command Aharon and his sons saying this is the teaching of the elevating offering…" Rashi explained per the Medrash Torat Cohanim "Command is only used to hasten. Rabbi Shimon said, the verse...Read more...
PERASHAT TZAV-PESACH
03/31/2023 01:27:26 PM
Ideas from the Haggadah
Who wrote the Haggadah?
Ha Lachma Ania
Rabbi Bunim of Pshischa said an interesting fact: The wording of the Hagaddah, especially the words of Baruch Hamakom Baruch Hu ברוך המקום ברוך הוא" show that Eliyahu Hanavi composed the Hagaddah, for we see many times that in...Read more...
PERASHA VAYIKRA
03/24/2023 01:44:26 PM
"… if any man of you would bring an offering from you near unto G-d…"(1,2)
An offering from you
"Your offering should be similar to the offering of Adam Harishon. Just as even though Adam Harishon had everything at his disposal he did not bring from stolen or looted items, so you.. do not bring an offering from stolen or looted items."...Read more...
VAYAKEL PIKUDEI
03/17/2023 02:06:36 PM
PERASHA VAYAKHEL
"And Moshe erected the Tabernacle…" (40,18)
I fell and I stood up
Our Sages ob'm say on the verse in the Torah (Bamidbar) "And it came to pass on the day that Moshe finished setting up the Tabernacle…" that it does not say "on the day Moshe set up the Tabernacle" to teach us that for all the...Read more...
PERASHA KI TISA
03/10/2023 10:45:08 AM
"This shall they give, every one that passes over to the counted ones, half a shekel in the weights of the Sanctuary…."
A coin of fire
Rashi writes here per the Midrash: "Hashem showed Moshe a likeness of a coin of fire whose weight was half a shekel and said to him: Thus shall they give. Sages in Israel ask – Why did G-d show Moshe a coin...Read more...
PERASHA TEZAVEH
03/03/2023 12:34:58 PM
PURIM : TZAV
"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...Read more...
PERASHA TERUMAH
02/24/2023 02:00:40 PM
''....spices for anointing oil and for the incense of aromatic spices.'' (5, 6)
Atonement for sins
"Something hidden (the Ketoret- Incense) shall come and atone for a hidden deed (= slander)."
Concerning the service of the Cohen Gadol on Yom Kippur we learn in the gemara (Yuma) "And it shall atone for him and for the members of his household and for the entire...Read more...
PERASHA MISHPATIM
02/17/2023 01:13:29 PM
And these are the ordinances… you shall place before them" (21,1)
In good faith
Rashi says on the spot that when we read ...''And these'' it means that the Torah wants us to know that these ordinances are in addition to the utterances that were given in the monumental event of the receiving of the Torah; this is to say that the first set of...Read more...
PERASHA "YITRO"
02/10/2023 01:03:54 PM
"And all the people were seeing the sounds... and the nation saw and they trembled and stood afar off."
"The people were seeing" or "he saw"
On this verse the Sar Shalom of Belz asks: Why does the verse begin in the plural "were seeing" and end in the singular "he saw"?
In order to explain this question the Rabbi Belz asks an additional question: It says in Sefer Yeshayahu that in the future when Mashiach comes the...Read more...