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...
PERASHA BISHALLACH
02/03/2023 10:03:03 AM
Incomparable
Just as verses 6 and 7 ("Your Right Hand…affrights every enemy…") summarizes the effect that their experience of the power of G-d over human might had on them, (-Your helping Right Hand which has shown itself in such extraordinary power frightens every enemy from attacking your protectees-) so this verse "Who is like You" summarizes the effect on them of having...Read more...
PERASHA BO
01/27/2023 12:36:21 PM
nd remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt when G-d your G-d brought you out from there… therefore G-d your G-d commanded you to fulfill the Shabbat day." (Dvarim 5, 15)
Read more...
PERASHA VAERA
01/20/2023 01:27:18 PM
These two cases of Judgment are parallel to the two times that Moshe asked G-d (at the end of the last Parsha) "Why?" - - "Why have You allotted misfortune to this people" and "Why did You send just me".
And G-d (Elokim) spoke...Read more...
PERASHA SHEMOT
01/13/2023 11:18:41 AM
"I shall be that which I Will be." "אהיה אשר אהיה" (3,14)
To see the light amidst the dark
The fact that G-d's Name comes from the words"אהיה אשר אהיה" comes to allude to us that He acts from Above with people as a person acts in This World Below. (Rabbi P. Friedman)
We have learned from the Nefesh Hachaim that "Just as a person determines in his heart and says G-d is the real...Read more...
PERASHA VAYECHI
01/06/2023 01:07:15 PM
"Through Asher, his food is rich שמנה לחמו...he delivers royal dainties." (49,20)
The assistance of Asher son of Yaakov
In the sefer Medrash Talpiot a wonderful idea is brought in the name of the Ari'zl that Asher the son of Yaakov studied Torah and Mishnah more than his brothers and therefore, in the merit of his learning, he merited to help all Jews in their times...Read more...
PERASHA VAYIGASH
12/30/2022 01:41:06 PM
The right order
"Then Yehuda came near unto him and said, O my Lord..." (44, 18)
He came near to pray (Breshit Rabba)
The Grand Rabbi, Rabbi Yechiel of Galina, the son-in-law of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz said:
This verse alludes to that which is said in the Gemara (Brachot): "A person should first arrange his praises to G-d and thereafter pray".
This...Read more...
PERASHA MIKETZ
12/23/2022 12:30:35 PM
2025 words and times 5
"And it came to pass at the end of two full years…"(41,1)
In the end of Parshat Miketz the Sages of the Authorized Tradition counted not only the number of verses in this Portion, as is done by every Parsha, but also the number of words in it: 2025. Many Jewish sages wonder about this: Why did the Sages of Tradition note the number of words specifically in this Parsha, something that we did not see in...Read more...
PERASHA VAYESHEV
12/16/2022 02:18:49 PM
The sale of Yosef
"And Yisrael loved Yosef more than all his children for he was son of... old age and he made him an embroidered cloak." (37,3)
"A person should never distinguish one son amongst his sons because thanks to the weight of two slai'm of wool that Yakov gave to Yosef beyond what he gave to his other sons, his brothers became jealous of him and in the end our forefathers went...Read more...
PERASHA VAYISHLACH
12/09/2022 01:44:50 PM
Why seven?
"And he himself passed before them and bowed himself… seven times until he came near to his brother." (33,3)
On that which is written in the parsha (before Yakov met with Esav) "And he himself passed before them and bowed himself… seven times until he came near to his brother" our Rabbis ob'm wonder. If a person wants to honor or appease someone, he...Read more...