PARASHA: Re Ah
08/06/2021 09:26:31 AM
The importance of charity
"You shall fear G-d…" (10,20)
Rabbi Shimon the son of Chalafta once attended a feast after a circumcision. At the end of the meal on his way out, he met the Angel of Death laughing. Rabbi Shimon said to him, "Why are you laughing?" The Angel of Death answered him, "Because at the meal the father of the baby announced...Read more...
EKEV
07/30/2021 12:09:59 PM
Basic and essential
"You shall fear G-d…" (10,20)
Hagaon Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, the Rosh Yeshiva of Branowich used to say: "It is a mistake to think that Fear of G-d is one attribute amongst many that a person should have and that someone without it is a person missing one quality only.
Actually, a person without Fear of G-d is not worthy of being called a Man...Read more...
Vaethanan - Shabbat Nachamu
07/23/2021 09:25:44 AM
"For I die in this land, I do not cross over the Jordan…"(4, 22)
His place in Gan Eden
The Migaleh Amukot wrote that before the passing of Moshe Rabeinu, G-d showed him his place in Gan Eden and the verse alluded to that in the words "עלה ראש הפסגה ושא עיניך ימה, וצפנה ותימנה ומזרחה." –...Read more...
DVARIM - SHABBAT CHAZON
07/16/2021 11:04:53 AM
"Thus says G-d – what iniquity have your fathers found… that they have gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are becoming themselves worthless" (Yirmiyahu 2,5)
Distancing
On the verse in the Haftara on Shabbat - "Thus says G-d – what iniquity have your fathers found in Me that they have gone far from me" - our Sages ob'm have explained how serious it is distancing from...Read more...
MATOT MASEI
07/16/2021 11:03:03 AM
The Three Weeks
"And all of your children/builders shall be taught of G-d…" (Yeshaya 54)
During these days "Between the straits" we mourn the destruction of the two Temples; but we also yearn and hope with all our hearts and souls that we merit very soon to the building of the third Temple in its total glory and majesty.
Read more...
PINCHAS
07/02/2021 12:12:12 PM
Pinchas son of Elazar the son of Aharon th Priest has turned My wrath... by jealously making My rights valid amongst them..." (25,11)
The portions beginning and ending with Ashrei entail the initials for "Those who love G-d detest evil" and by detesting evil a person merits to be saved from terrible damage that can come about from the...Read more...
BALAK
06/25/2021 02:42:30 PM
The power of Amen
" … G-d his G-d is with him and the homage to a king מלך is in him."
It says in the Sefer Hagan: …and when he makes a blessing he must bless out loud so that his friend will answer Amen and if he does so, and if G-d forbid a curse had been decreed against him, then the curse turns into a blessing.
We find an allusion to...Read more...
CHUKAT
06/18/2021 01:55:05 PM
What merit?
"… 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 the description of the victory of the Children of Israel over two kings east of the Jordan River, Sichon the King of Amora and Og the King of Bashan. It is surprising that after the decisive victory over Sichon Moshe Rabeinu was...Read more...
KORACH
06/10/2021 05:23:43 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...Read more...
SCHLACH
06/04/2021 01:24:47 PM
How is it permissible?
"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)
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...
BIHAALTOCHA
05/28/2021 10:40:44 AM
"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...Read more...
PARASHAT NASSO
05/20/2021 05:29:38 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...Read more...
BAMIDBAR-SHAVUOT
05/13/2021 04:07:33 PM
"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...Read more...
BIHAR BICHUKOTAI
05/06/2021 06:01:38 PM
"And if you shall say – what shall we eat in the seventh year? See, we may not sow…." (25,20)
If miracles are made for him
Our Sages say that when a Jew benefits from miracles, merits of his are reduced, as it says in the Gemara, "And if a miracle is made for him – merits of his are reduced."
Therefore Rashi says "A person mustn't benefit from miracles."
Accordingly, in his...Read more...
LAG BAOMER
04/29/2021 04:00:42 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 sefer Shmuot Tovot...Read more...
ACHREI MOT KEDOSHIM
04/22/2021 04:38:20 PM
"And Aharon shall bring near the hall the bull of the expiation offering… and effect atonement for himself and for his household." (16,6)
Before Whom will you have judgment and reckoning in the future?
According to what we learned in the Mishnah (Avot) "Akiva the son of Mihalelel says, look at three things and you will not come to sin – Know...Read more...
TAZRIA METZORA
04/15/2021 04:16:40 PM
"This is the teaching of the leper תורת המצורע on the day of his becoming pure…" (14,2)
His Torah
On the words "This is the teaching of the leper תורת המצורע on the day of his becoming pure" the Chovot Halivavot says that when a person speaks slander about his friend, his mitzvahs are taken away from him and the person about whom he...Read more...
To purify us from our impurity
04/08/2021 03:27:25 PM
"And you shall count unto you- לכם ….seven complete sabbaths shall it be." (Vayikra 23, 15)
To purify us from our impurity
We are now amidst the days of counting the Omer which, as we know, are days of preparation for receiving the Torah. We should therefore understand the holy obligation that rests upon us during these...Read more...
TSAV - PESSAH
03/25/2021 04:34:57 PM
Ideas from the Hagadah
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 Tana Dvei Eliyahu it says Baruch Hamakom Baruch...Read more...
Vayikra
03/18/2021 04:24:01 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
03/11/2021 01:46:11 PM
"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 seven days of the Miluim Moshe would erect the Mishkan and take it...Read more...
Ki Tisa
03/04/2021 04:46:54 PM
And he hewed two tablets of stone like unto the first…" (34,4)
Each person corresponds to one letter
The Migaleh Amukot wrote that the word Yisrael "ישראל" is initials for יש ששים רבוא אותיות לתורה – "There are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah". In...Read more...
PURIM-TETZAVEH
02/25/2021 06:00:27 AM
"The paupers look forward to the reading of the megilah" (Megilah 4)
The time of megilah reading is auspicious for good livelihood and blessings
In the sefer Ateret Yehoshua of the holy Rabbi of Jikov zy'o it is brought down that the megila reading is auspicious for a good livelihood.
The Rabbi explains...Read more...
Maghen Abraham - Thoughts From Mayer Sasson
02/12/2021 06:00:00 AM
"Now these are the social laws which you shall set …"
Sweetening the harsh Judgment
On this verse Onkelos translates "These are the judgments that you shall arrange before them". Our Rabbis see therein a clear allusion to the great work placed upon us to sweeten the harsh judgments (problems and suffering) that are made upon us. According to Onkelos Moshe is to arrange the harsh judgments to sweeten them....Read more...