Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BEREISHIS 15
PARASHAS BEREISHIS 16
A Springtime of the Spirit 16
Let Us Make Man 18
Wholeness Is Within 20
PARASHAS NOACH 22
The Sign of the Olive 22
The Roots of Evil 24
Wine and Window Washers 26
Joint Efforts 28
PARASHAS VAYEIRA 38
Behind the Open Door 38
They Went Together 40
Scattered Apples 42
First Impressions 44
PARASHAS TOLDOS 54
A Question of Honor 54
The Spur of the Moment 56
Digging for Water 58
Esau’s Tears 60
PARASHAS VAYEITZEI 62
Bread Is for Eating 62
Body and Soul 64
Fourteen Sleepless Years 66
Asleep on Hallowed Ground 68
PARASHAS VAYISHLACH 70
The Roots of Strength 70
Heart to Heart 72
Diminishing Returns 74
A Few Small Jugs 76
PARASHAS VAYEISHEV 78
The Telltale Sign 78
Freeing the Spirit 80
Of Grapes and Pastries 82
PARASHAS MIKEITZ 84
Who Is the Real Mother? 84
Behind the Gray Blur 86
A Change of Heart 88
PARASHAS VAYIGASH 90
An Escort for Life 90
Tears of Joy 92
Missing Persons 94
First Things First 96
PARASHAS VAYECHI 98
A Father’s Blessing 98
Stolen Crafts 100
A Glimpse of the Future 102
A Blessing in Disguise 104
SHEMOS 107
PARASHAS BO 120
A Matter of Time 120
Choose Light 122
The Stroke of Midnight 124
PARASHAS BESHALACH 126
The Gateway to Freedom 126
An Eloquent Silence 128
A Cry from the Heart 130
VAYIKRA 173
DEVARIM 309
MOADIM 387
CHANUKAH 408
Switching on the Lights 408
The Essence Within 410
PURIM 412
Behind the Purim Mask 412
Lots of Joy 414
A Fistful of Flour 416
PESACH 418
The Right Staff 418
A Pledge of Allegiance 420
SHAVUOS 426
Payment in Full 426
Thunder and Lightning 428
A Kiss Is Not Enough 430
PARASHAS BEREISHIS
Yet for the Jewish people, this is the time of year when we
experience a great surge of renewal. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur, our neshamos were cleansed and our slates cleared, and we
realigned our priorities in life. But perhaps more than anything else,
Shabbos Bereishis gives us a true sense of a new beginning. As we
watch the Torah scroll rolled back to its very first parchment page, it is
as if we are witnessing the entire year being rolled back to give us a
fresh start. We open the pages of the Chumash and read about the
creation of the world with a sense of excitement that does not diminish
from year to year. If anything, it grows stronger. It is a springtime of the
spirit, a time when Jewish souls blossom and bloom.
The answer lies in the very first words of the Torah - “Bereishis,
in the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth.” Our
Sages point out that in Scriptures the word reishis sometimes refers to
the Torah. Therefore, they explain, we are also being told “with the
Torah, Hashem created the heavens and the earth.” What, however, is
the connection between the Torah and creation?
16
Bereishis: Bereishis
we take notice of this marvelous piece of architecture? And even if we
did take notice of this marvel of grace and solidity, would we have the
capacity to appreciate it fully? Surely not. Unless we were personally
involved in the actual building the bridge, we could not begin to
imagine the enormous amount of design, engineering and planning
that went into the bridge, not to mention the daunting complexity of the
actual construction.
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Ohr Shalom
18
Bereishis: Bereishis
The sage shook his head. “These are not the qualities you
should be seeking. It is all good and well if a man is handsome and
wealthy, but does he have a good character? Is he a fine person? As
for their being so entertaining, it is far more important that your
husband be a good listener than a good talker. Look for a fine man
who knows how to listen. He will bring you happiness.”
19
Ohr Shalom
Wholeness Is Within
The Hebrew alphabet is a rather feisty collection of letters.
Every once in a while, we find these letters vying with each other for
prime position in one verse or another. In fact, the very first verse of
the Torah was the occasion for one such heated dispute.
The first word in the Torah is bereishis, which begins with the
letter bet, the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The Midrash
relates that the aleph, the first letter in the alphabet, immediately
protested to Hashem. “Shouldn’t I be the first letter in the Torah?” said
the aleph. “Wouldn’t it be more fitting for the Torah to begin with me?”
Let us now consider the numerical values of the aleph and the
bet. The numerical value of the aleph in its most basic form is one, and
thus it represents the concept of unity. The numerical value of the bet,
however, is two, representing ambivalence and duality.
By opening the creation story with the letter bet, the Torah is
telling us that there were actually two disparate creations, the creation
of the spiritual heavens in which the presence of the Almighty is
manifest and the creation of a material world in which His presence is
often obscured.
“But why must it be this way?” the aleph protested. Why can’t
every part of creation, the spiritual and the physical, reflect the
presence of the Almighty? Why couldn’t the Torah start with the aleph,
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Bereishis: Bereishis
the symbol of ultimate unity in the world?
Not so, replied Hashem. Unity in this world can only derive from
faith. Only when people have faith can they rise above their
environment and see the presence of the almighty everywhere.
Therefore, the aleph would be the first letter in the First
Commandment, the article of faith.
“Indeed?” said the sage. “And what do expect to find here with
me?”
“Wholeness comes from within,” said the sage. “If you have
faith, you will find wholeness even in your place of business.”
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS NOACH
The answer lies in the singular nature of the olive among all
other fruits. The primary purpose of the fruit of the olive tree is not for
use as a food. It is meant to be crushed and squeezed and pressed
until its golden drops of oil are extracted. This oil is then put into a
candle and ignited, issuing forth . . . light!
22
Bereishis: Noach
When the bird brought back the olive leaf to Noah and his
family, the message conveyed was very sharp and profound. An entire
world had just been destroyed because it had become completely
physical, focused exclusively on promiscuity, greed and self-
gratification. Now, there would be a new start, a second chance. But
what was to prevent a recurrence of the old mistakes and the old
corruption?
The sign of the olive provided the answer. The new society
needed to encompass a totally different attitude, a totally different
perception of the physical world. People needed to understand that the
entire world was like an olive and that only by extracting its spirituality
could they keep it on an exalted level.
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Ohr Shalom
24
Bereishis: Noach
committed a sin, even a very serious sin. Hashem recognizes that
people are but flesh and blood and that sometimes it is exceedingly
difficult to control the impulse to transgress, to step over the line.
Sinners are not necessarily evil and incorrigible.
A ship was sinking, and land was just a faint line on the
horizon. The dust-encrusted life rafts were unfortunately all leaky, but
the passengers ran to grab them anyway.
One wise man ignored the rafts and prepared to plunge into the
water. “Don’t you want a raft?” asked the captain. “I can get you one.”
“No,” said the wise man. “If I know that I must swim with all my might I
have a chance of surviving. But if I mistakenly think I have a raft under
me, I am surely doomed.”
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Ohr Shalom
The door to the ark slowly swings open, and Noah steps out
onto dry land for the first time in forty days. He looks about him at the
endless expanse of ruination, and he realizes he must begin the work
of reconstruction immediately. What does he do? The Torah relates,
“And Noah, man of the earth, demeaned himself and planted a
vineyard; he drank of the wine and became drunk.” One thing led to
another. Noah’s son Ham took advantage of his father’s inebriated
condition and acted disgracefully toward him, thereby giving rise to the
curse of Ham and his son Canaan.
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Bereishis: Noach
Noah spent forty tempestuous days in the close confines of the
ark, and now for the first time, he once again sets foot on terra firma.
As he looks around at the vast wasteland, where is his head? What
thoughts and issues occupy his mind? What is the first thing he does?
He plants a vineyard. So that is his true nature! That is what lies
closest to his heart. And so by the very act of planting a vineyard Noah
had already debased himself, long before he actually became drunk.
And this debasement of his inner core, this lack of self-respect,
triggered the awful disrespect of his son Ham.
“What did you see there?” asked the sage. “I saw a foul-
smelling window washer,” he replied. “I see,” said the sage. “I’m afraid
I cannot accept you.” “But why?” the young man protested. “Is it my
fault that the fellow hasn’t had a bath in a month?”
27
Ohr Shalom
Joint Efforts
There is nothing miraculous about a rainbow. Its colorful beauty
derives from a simple natural phenomenon called refraction. Little
droplets of water suspended in the air near a waterfall or after a rainfall
capture and bend rays of sunlight in varying degrees. The result is a
colorful prism effect.
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Bereishis: Noach
After the Flood, however, a new dynamic took effect.
Henceforth, humanity had both the need and the ability to take an
active role in channeling divine grace from Above. The need to
participate reduced the flow of divine grace and resulted in a
diminished quality of life. But at the same time, people could be
creative and adapt, and therefore, there was always the potential for
self-renewal. Even if society should become corrupted, it would always
be able to find its way back to the Almighty.
“Why has he done better than I have?” the young man asked.
“After all, I was clearly more talented.”
“Indeed you were,” said the sage. “You absorbed every word I
spoke and understood it thoroughly. But you never developed the
ability to think on your own. Therefore, once you left me you were lost.
The other fellow, however, though not as brilliant as you, learned to
take what I taught and adapt it. That is a formula for success.”
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Ohr Shalom
30
Bereishis: Lech Lecha
ideology, but he was still connected by cultural ties to the pagan
society in which he lived. The style of his home, the clothes he wore,
his modes of language, the cultural timber of his daily existence were
all Mesopotamian. As long as he remained thus connected to the
corrupt society of his ancestors, he would never be able to reach the
highest levels of prophecy and attachment to his Creator. The only
choice was to break away and move to a different land. In a strange
land, even a corrupt pagan one, he could remain totally detached from
his cultural surroundings. Standing alone in Canaan in his stalwart
purity and righteousness, he could penetrate to the highest spheres of
Heaven. But not in the land of his fathers.
We all live in our own Mesopotamia, and no one can deny that
the sinister tendrils of the surrounding culture insinuate themselves
into the innermost crevices of our own hearts. We are not Abrahams,
of course, and we cannot be expected to extricate ourselves
completely from these entanglements. However, we can at least
recognize them for what they are and try to keep them at arm’s length
so that we can grow spiritually even as we live in such an environment.
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Ohr Shalom
Cloudy Vision
People who have experienced a miraculous rescue will usually
tell you that their lives are forever changed. Mundane matters that had
once loomed large and important, such as the pursuit of financial
success and status, are suddenly rather inconsequential, while
spiritual matters become the focal points of their lives. They begin to
think about mortality and eternity, about the rewards of kindness, of
tending primarily to the needs of the soul rather than the body. They
live with a new perspective, a new awareness.
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Bereishis: Lech Lecha
lifestyle and its destruction by a rain of fire and brimstone. Why were
they impervious to the miracles that took place in their behalf? Why did
they remain the as self-centered and greedy as ever?
“If I had the sense to shake the grime from my hair,” said the
drunk with a twinkle in his eye, “I’d have the sense to go home and
have a normal life.”
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Ohr Shalom
34
Bereishis: Lech Lecha
Idolatry demanded a considerable amount of obeisance from
people, but it also allowed them unlimited license. The idolatrous cults
espoused no systems of morality. They did not encourage self-
improvement and the striving for transcendent spirituality. Instead, they
allowed, and even encouraged, the indulgence of every carnal
impulse. The people of those times were steeped in greed and all sorts
of gratification, and they had little interest in ideologies that would
restrict their pleasures.
Why then was Abraham able to escape this mold? Because his
innate kindness and compassion led him to rise above base egotism.
Because he was able to look beyond himself, he recognized the truth
of the universe. It was his kindness that led him to faith.
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Ohr Shalom
36
Bereishis: Lech Lecha
Hashem. And he refused to accept these things from the king of
Sodom, because he was concerned that the king would claim the
credit for having given these gifts to Abraham, thereby bringing
dishonor to the Name of Hashem.
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS VAYEIRA
Let us take a closer look at this man Lot, a man so devoted to kindness
and hospitality that he is ready to defy all his neighbors in Sodom. But wait!
Sodom? How could a man of such high principles choose to live in a thoroughly
degenerate city like Sodom?
Here lies the key to Lot’s character. Lot had spent many years in the
household of his uncle Abraham. He had seen Abraham’s way of life, his
outstanding kindness, his legendary hospitality, his purity of character, and he had
seen how these qualities had earned Abraham enormous stature and prestige.
When he arranged his own way of life, Lot instinctively imitated the patterns of
Abraham’s life. Abraham had been kind, so he was kind. Abraham had been
hospitable, so he was hospitable. These became the pattern of his existence to
the point that he knew no other.
But it was all superficial. Lot’s kindness did not stem from deep conviction
or profound empathy with other people. All his acts of kindness were mechanical,
the products of habit. To have acted otherwise would have been disrupted the
equilibrium of his life. Underneath lay the true Lot, the greedy, self-centered man
intent on gratification and insensitive to the needs of others. When he had to
choose a place to live, this subterranean side of Lot’s character made sure he
would settle in a place suitable to his true character. That he chose Sodom, the
ultimate in greed and selfishness, reveals to us the nature of his true character.
Nevertheless, even in Sodom, the old habits persisted, and Lot continued
to go through the motions of hospitality - even at the risk of his life. It is a well-
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Bereishis: Vayeira
known psychological phenomenon that people are often willing to risk death rather
than disrupt the familiar patterns of their existence. Lot was such a person. He
was a creature of habit, albeit good habits, not a man of principle.
The Talmud (Taanis 5b) relates that Rabbi Nachman once asked Rabbi
Yitzchak for a blessing.
“Let me tell you a parable,” Rabbi Yitzchak replied. “A man was once
traveling through the desert. Hungry, tired and thirsty, he arrived at an oasis
where he found a fruit-laden tree and a stream of water beside it. He ate the fruit,
drank the water and rested in the shade of the tree. Refreshed, he rose to go. But
first, he wanted to bless this wonderful tree.
“‘Tree, tree, how can I bless you?’ he said. ‘I cannot bless you with sweet
fruit, for they are already sweet. I cannot bless you with ample shade, for you
already have it. I cannot bless you with a stream of water, for you already have
one. All I can say is, may it be the Will of Hashem that all shoots replanted from
you should be just like you.’
“So is it with you, Rabbi Nachman,’ he concluded. ‘You have Torah,
wealth and sons. All I can say is, may it be the Will of Hashem that your sons
should be just like you.”
In our own lives, we must ask ourselves if our values and the patterns of
our lives are only mechanical habits, or if they are the products of our convictions
and genuine sensitivities. We must remember that the children of Lot did not
emulate what he did. They emulated what he was. If we want our children to
follow in our footsteps, we must be like Abraham - what we do and what we are
must be one and the same.
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Ohr Shalom
Not at all. As Abraham and Isaac set out for the mountain, the
Torah tells us, “Vayeilchu shneihem yachdav. The two of them went
together.” What does this mean? Our Sages see this as a metaphor for
the feelings in their hearts, which beat together as one. Abraham fully
shared the joyous anticipation experienced by Isaac, who was as yet
oblivious to the true purpose of the journey. The enormity of what he
was about to do did not becloud Abraham’s mind and heart. On the
contrary, it exhilarated him.
And how about Isaac? What was the level of his faith? We
need look just a little further in the parashah to find the answer. As
they travel towards the mountaintop, Isaac questions his father about
the whereabouts of the sacrificial lamb. From Abraham’s response, it
becomes apparent that Isaac himself is to fill that role. And again, the
Torah tells us, “Vayeilchu shneihem yachdav. The two of them went
together.” Their hearts still beat together as one. Isaac not only
accepts his divinely ordained fate, he faces it with joy equal to that of
his father.
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Bereishis: Vayeira
But perhaps the most startling insight into the character of the
patriarchs comes at the very end of this astonishing episode. The
angel has stopped Abraham’s hand even as it already held the
slaughtering knife. Hashem has acknowledged Abraham’s supreme
faith and showered eternal blessings upon him and his offspring. We
can well imagine the transcendent ecstasy that gripped Abraham and
Isaac in the aftermath of this incredible spiritual experience. And yet,
when they return to the young attendants waiting with the donkeys in
the distance, the Torah again tells us, “Vayeilchu yachdav. They went
together.” Together in spirit as in body, the commentators observe.
Scattered Apples
Some days the thought of facing the world is just too
overwhelming. You are under the weather. The car doesn’t start. The
furnace has broken down. A stack of unopened mail sits on your desk.
You have a thousand things to do, and you don’t even know where to
begin. So what do you do? Do you deal with it? Or do you write the
day off and try to get off to a better start tomorrow?
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Bereishis: Vayeira
which it is attached is of an entirely different breed. It is like a piece of
clay which would lie inert were it not constantly stimulated by the soul.
This then is the anomaly of our existence. The soul wants us to
accumulate as much merit as possible to last us for all eternity. The
body wants to relax.
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Ohr Shalom
First Impressions
It is a blistering hot day. Abraham, that paragon of hospitality, is
sitting by the door anxiously looking for passersby that he can invite
into his home. Suddenly, he sees three dust-covered desert nomads
trudging down the road. Before he brings them into his house,
Abraham asks them to wash their feet, because he suspects they
might be pagans who worship the dust of their feet. Then he feeds
them lavishly.
But how could she judge who is worthy and who is not? How
could she know what lay within the hearts and souls of other people?
How could she determine their inner value?
This was the reason Sarah was reprimanded. She took one
look at these dusty wayfarers and instantly jumped to the conclusion
that they were worthless people whose blessings were equally
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Bereishis: Vayeira
worthless.
45
Ohr Somayach
46
Bereishis: Chayei Sarah
forever. Death is not the destruction of life. It is the completion of life.
If we integrate these ideas into our own lives, we will find that
we have much more happiness - and much more time. We must give
value and meaning to the years we spend on this earth, filling them
with honesty, integrity, love, kindness, study and spirituality. Let us
learn to appreciate the value of life. Let us be the beneficiaries of
Sarah’s legacy - to live a lifetime.
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Ohr Shalom
The Zohar writes that the Cave is “the very entranceway to the
Garden of Eden.” The Hebrew word machpelah means twofold. The
Cave is considered “twofold,” because it bridges the material and
spiritual worlds, linking them by serving as an entrance from one to the
other. The name of the city in which the Cave is situated, Hebron, also
bears the etymological roots of “connection.”
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Bereishis: Chayei Sarah
direction. This was how Sarah had “acquired” the Cave. She had lived
her life as the paragon of an intelligent and thoroughly spiritual woman
of the world, never compromising her purity, modesty or
righteousness. Such a woman deserved to find her final resting place
at the Gateway to Eden.
The truth is, we don’t need to. The gateway already exists. It is
called the Torah. If we establish the Torah squarely in the center of our
lives, right between the two conflicting worlds we represent, we will find
a perfect harmony such as we never thought possible.
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Ohr Shalom
50
Bereishis: Chayei Sarah
How fortuitous it was, they might think, that they both just
happened to be in the same place at the same time or that they both
just happened to have a mutual friend or that they both enjoyed the
same things and had similar points of view. But of course, there was
nothing fortuitous about it. Our Sages tell us that well before birth a
child’s future life partner is already determined in Heaven. There is no
random factor in the process of finding a mate. Everything is
preordained.
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Ohr Shalom
52
Bereishis: Chayei Sarah
cherish every year of her life as if it were her last.
In our own lives, we often stop and ask ourselves where the
years have gone. We are so busy getting settled and established that
we do not have the time to really live. Worse yet, when we do have a
little spare time, we lack the emotional and spiritual stamina to spend it
in a way that will bear long-term rewards. Instead, we indulge
ourselves with physical pleasures that vanish by tomorrow, leaving
nothing of value behind. But let us stop and reflect for a moment. None
of us will live forever. So what will be the sum total of our lives when it
is time to go? The decisions we make now will determine the answer.
Material pleasures and indulgences will not appear on that bottom line,
only the accomplishments of the spirit.
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Ohr Somayach
PARASHAS TOLDOS
A Question of Honor
How different can two brothers be? As different as black and
white. The Torah describes how the twin brothers Jacob and Esau
were already veering off in different directions from the time they were
together in the womb. Eventually, Jacob developed into a man of
accomplishment totally absorbed in spiritual and intellectual pursuits,
while Esau became a lusty creature of the wilds, a predator indulging
his every whim and desire. Esau is portrayed as one of the blackest
figures in the Torah, known for all time as “Eisav Harasha,” Esau the
Wicked, the epitome of evil, the nemesis of the Jewish people.
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Bereishis: Toldos
possibly get the key from under the pillow without waking him. I am
sorry. There is nothing I can do.”
The following year, Dama was again visited by a delegation of
the Sages.
“We need a parah adumah, a perfect red heifer to use in our
purification ritual,” they said to Dama. “This is a very rare animal, and
we are prepared to pay a fortune for it. Six hundred thousand shekels!
We have heard that just such a red heifer was born in your herd. Is this
true?”
“Indeed, it is,” he replied. “Can you bring it to us without
waking your father?” “I certainly can.” “Then the money is yours.
Hashem has rewarded your righteousness.”
The Sages, on the other hand, also went to great lengths in this
story. They paid an exorbitant sum for the mitzvah of parah adumah,
the ultimate example of a divine decree that defies human
understanding, a chok. They accepted the commands of Hashem that
they did not understand with the same enthusiasm and devotion they
accorded to the commands that they did understand.
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Ohr Shalom
Let us think for a moment. At which point did Esau disgrace the
birthright? When he actually ate the soup or when he agreed to sell the
birthright for a bowl of soup? It would seem that as soon as he agreed
to give it away for a pittance he had already shown his utter contempt
for the spiritual birthright of Israel. Why then does the Torah accuse
him of disgracing the birthright only after he ate, drank, rose and left?
Our Sages explain that Esau might have been so famished that
his behavior could be excused. It is quite possible that his discomfiture
caused him to lose his sense of proportion momentarily and agree to
sell his birthright for a bowl of soup. Perhaps he was not thinking
clearly at the time and agreed to do something on the spur of the
moment that went against his better judgment.
But if so, what happened later when his hunger was sated and
his thirst assuaged? Did he protest that his agreement had been made
under duress and that the transaction was null and void? Did he rant
and rage at what Jacob had done to him? Not at all. He just gulped
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Bereishis: Toldos
down the soup, stood up and stomped out. This was when he
demonstrated his disdain for the birthright. Had he shown any regret
he would have defined himself as an upright person, but he didn’t.
Therefore, the Torah records this moment for posterity as the act of
contempt for the birthright.
A rich man once visited the town’s poorest man late one night.
“Listen, my good fellow,” said the rich man. “You know I have
everything a person could possibly want. I have estates, carriages, and
the finest horses. But one thing I do not have is a child. Your situation
is the exact opposite of mine. You live in this little hovel and you
cannot even put a few crusts of bread on the table. But you do have
children. Ten of them.” The rich man paused.
The poor man looked at the rich man curiously. “So what is the
point?”
“I want to propose a deal,” said the rich man. “You give me one
of your ten children, and I will give you one tenth of everything I
possess. What do you say?”
The poor man was taken aback. He stood up and looked at the
faces of his sleeping family behind the partition. Which child could he
give away? This one? Surely not. That one? Impossible. And thus, he
looked at the faces of all his children and finally decided he could give
none of them away. He had no choice but to reject the rich man’s offer.
The next day, overcome with remorse for even having
considered the arrangement, he poured his heart out to his wife.
“Do not tear yourself down,” she told him. “It was the pressure
of our poverty to drive you to think about it. But when it came right
down to it, you couldn’t do it. You are a good man.”
In our own lives, we all know full well how we are driven by
impulse, by the spur of the beguiling moment. But what do we do when
the moment passes? Do we listen to that little voice of guilt that
Hashem has so kindly implanted deep in our brains, showing
ourselves to be essentially good people? Or do we plunge on ahead,
heedless and thoughtless, the helpless captives of our impulses? It is
this moment, when we have had the chance to pause and reflect, that
truly defines who we are and what we are worth.
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Ohr Shalom
What was so significant about the incident of the wells that the Torah
saw fit to record it for all time? What does it tell us about the person inside this
enigma named Isaac?
The commentators explain that the life work of each of the patriarchs
was to blaze a path along which the Jewish people would be able to draw
closer to the Creator. Abraham, the paragon of kindness, hospitality and
unbounded love, demonstrated that a relationship with the Creator could be
forged on the basis of a heart overflowing with compassion. But Isaac
perceived that more avenues were required, that it was far too limiting to
expect all future Jewish people to derive their spiritual and religious energies
from the emotional outpourings of the heart. What would happen if
circumstances deprived people of sufficient emotional resources? What if they
suffered burnout? Would they also lose their religious and spiritual bearings?
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Bereishis: Toldos
The young man was very excited. He had been invited to a Passover
Seder for the first time in his life, and he couldn’t wait to experience this
celebrated feast of freedom.
As the Seder began, the young man waited eagerly as the Haggadah
was read and discussed. “When would the feast begin?” he wondered.
Soon, he became impatient, but he was determined to stay. Finally,
the meal seemed about to begin, but to his dismay, all the people were just
eating matza and bitter greens.
Disgruntled, he slipped away from the table and made a quiet exit.
The next day, his host met him in the street. “Why did you leave?” he
chided. “Had you stuck it out a few more minutes you would have been
served the most wonderful feast!”
In our own lives, we all aspire to bring out the beautiful spiritual and
esthetic qualities we harbor deep in our hearts. But just when we feel we have
brought them, the grind of daily existence buries them once again under a
veritable mountain of rubble. It is terribly discouraging, but it is the way of the
world. Life is an unending struggle, and as our patriarch Isaac showed us,
determination and perseverance are the keys to ultimate success. Failure is
only a temporary setback, and if we dig hard enough and long enough we will
reach the sparkling water.
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Esau’s Tears
Disappointment can be utterly devastating. When a person has
high expectations, when he can practically taste the fulfillment of his
passionate desire, and then it is snatched away, the sense of loss can be
almost too much to bear.
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dominion over the physical world. Gone was the prospect of unbounded
pleasure and indulgence. His whole world shattered, and his profound
pain poured forth in the hot tears that coursed down his face.
Let us now shine the light of scrutiny upon ourselves. What brings
us to the brink of tears? What deep frustrations wrench at our souls? All
too often, our inability to achieve the material prizes for which we hunger
drives us to distraction. Even if they are small luxuries we crave, we are
frustrated when our aspirations are not fulfilled. But these are Esau’s
tears. They are not fitting for us.
A father went for a walk with his young son on a cold winter day.
“I’m very pleased with your progress, son,” he said, “and therefore, I have
decided to give you a reward.”
He drew a bright silver coin from his pocket and extended it to his
son. The boy’s eyes sparkled excitedly, and he reached for the coin.
Just then, his father slipped on a patch of ice. He fell to the
ground, clutching his twisted ankle. The silver coin fell from his hand. It
rolled away and fell into a drain.
The boy ran after the coin. He tried to retrieve it from the drain, but
to no avail. “It’s gone,” he called out in a distraught voice. “Father, can you
give me another coin?”
“No, I will not,” replied his father. “Here I am lying on the ground in
agony, and all you think about is the coin that rolled away. I see I was
wrong about you. You have a long way to go before you deserve a
reward.”
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PARASHAS VAYEITZEI
This is what Jacob feared, and this was behind his request to
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Hashem. He prayed that in his encounter with materialism he should
never lose sight of the true purpose of the material world. Bread is for
eating, and clothes are for wearing. They are not to be valued for
themselves and accumulated and hoarded until they become the very
purpose of life. Jacob prayed that he would remain focused on the true
values of life. He prayed that he would return to his father’s house “at
peace” with himself, protected physically but also complete spiritually. He
prayed that the Jacob who returned would not be a different Jacob from
the one who had left.
We are all passing through this world, on our way to a far better
place. Like our forefather Jacob, we should not allow ourselves to be
taken in by the illusions of materialism. We should always remember that
“bread is for eating and clothes are for wearing,” If we are fortunate
enough to be blessed with affluence, we should not view the accumulation
of wealth as an end in itself. Rather, we should use the freedom and
expansiveness that wealth provides as a means to achieve continuous
personal growth. In this way, we can enjoy material satisfaction in this
world while we accumulate spiritual wealth for the continuation of our
journey toward eternal life.
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What was the purpose of this spectacular vision? Why did this
crucial prophecy have to be transmitted in this particular setting? What
timeless message was implicit in the symbolism of the dream?
When the Creator formed man he breathed the soul into the body,
and miraculously, these two totally dissimilar entities were united into one
composite. Ever since, human beings have struggled with the inherent
conflict between these two antithetical aspects. The soul, trapped in a
material cage, unable to fly freely into the highest celestial spheres,
yearns to transcend its physical shackles, to elevate and spiritualize its
existence. The body resists fiercely, seeking instead to indulge its
corporeal impulses even when they result in the degradation of the soul.
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between the dust of the earth and the highest heavens, an inner harmony
of body and soul. How can this be accomplished? Only step by step, like
climbing the rungs of a ladder, building new achievements on the
foundations of earlier ones.
A king was leaving on a journey, and he did not want to entrust his
beautiful vineyard to his watchmen, fearing they would steal its succulent
grapes. After much thought, he decided to appoint two watchmen, one
lame and the other blind. The lame one would spy intruders and warn the
blind one to intercept them. They themselves, however, would be
incapable of climbing up and stealing the grapes.
As soon as the king left, the lame man called to his blind
companion, “Come to the sound of my voice. I will climb up onto your
shoulders and together we will feast on the king’s grapes.”
When the king returned and found a substantial number of grapes
missing, he called his watchmen to task.
“Your majesty,” said the lame man. “Look at me! I cannot even
walk one step. Do you think I climbed up to take the grapes?”
“Your majesty,” said the blind man. “Look at me! I cannot see a
thing. Do you think I climbed up to take the grapes?”
The king shook his head in disgust. He placed the lame man on
the shoulders of the blind man and judged them both together.
The soul and the body, the Talmud concludes, could conceivably
make similar arguments in their defense. “Look at me,” the soul could say
after death. “I am like a bird flying through the air, a creature of pure spirit
and light.” “Look at me,” the body could say, “lying there like an inert piece
of clay.” Therefore, Hashem brings the body and soul together and judges
them as one. In other words, we are a new entity, a composite of body
and soul, not one to the exclusion of the other. In this hybrid state, we are
completely responsible for our actions.
In our own lives, we must temper our search for spiritualism with a
healthy respect and appreciation for the material world. Instead of denying
the material side, we can seek to harness it for spiritual purposes, for
instance, by enjoying fine foods and wines in celebration of the Sabbath
and the festivals. If we acknowledge our material origins yet keep a clear
sight of our spiritual goals, we can climb Jacob’s ladder, rung by rung, and
achieve an internal harmony which will reward us with the deepest
satisfaction and fulfillment.
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How did this happen? Why did it take Jacob fully fourteen years to
travel from Beersheba to Bethel, a distance of less than one hundred
miles?
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inner self, the divine spark that resides in each and every one of us. It can
free a person from the shackles of materiality and allow him to connect
with the eternal truths of the universe, to see clearly, to think profoundly,
and to grow without limits. Asceticism removes the negative influence of
materiality, but choosing a positive path to greatness must come from
within.
The Torah, therefore, does not tell us about the years Jacob spent
in a life of asceticism. At the time, it would have been unclear if they were
leading to the ultimate goal of spiritual exaltation. But when we learn that
after these fourteen years Jacob attained a transcendent level of
prophecy, it becomes abundantly clear that those years were well spent
and worthy of mention.
A great sage once told his followers that anyone who refrains from
speaking for forty days and nights would earn the honor and privilege of
meeting the Prophet Elijah.
A simple man heard about this and decided to make the attempt.
For forty days, he spoke to no one, not his wife, not his children, not his
business associates. At the end of the forty days, the man eagerly awaited
his promised encounter. But nothing happened. A day passed. Then
another. And another. And still no sign of the Prophet Elijah.
Frustrated and upset, the man confronted the great sage with the
failure of his formula.
The sage smiled and shook his head. “Look out that window, my
friend,” he said, “What do you see?”
“A horse,” said the man.
“That horse has also not spoken for forty days, and he too has not
seen the prophet Elijah. It is not the silence that brings merit but the
spiritual elevation to which silence leads. Were you elevated by your
silence or merely muzzled?”
In our own lives, we can spend our entire day taking care of the
family, helping on a community project, studying Torah and all sorts of
other worthwhile activates, but what do we do when the day is over? If we
let loose and have a rollicking good time, we have obviously not gained
much on a personal level. But if at the end of the day we find within
ourselves a new awareness of Hashem’s presence, a heightened
sensitivity to others and a desire to express ourselves in acts of devotion
and kindness, we can be sure that our inner self has indeed been inspired
and transformed.
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“Oh, what a nothing I am,” he muttered under his breath. “What
a miserable ignorant nothing.”
The sage overheard his words and called him closer. “Young
man,” he said, “why do you consider yourself a nothing?” “Because I
am weak, a salve to my physical needs and desires.”
“I see. And why did you come here?” “To learn from you.”
“If you wish to stay here and be successful,” said the sage,
“then you cannot consider yourself a nothing. After all, if you are truly
nothing, how can you possibly retain wisdom? No, my young friend.
Humility is a very good trait, but know your own worth. Know the
sublimity of your soul and give it what it deserves.”
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PARASHAS VAYISHLACH
The Ramban explains that Jacob was not rejecting the name
Rachel had chosen. Rather, he was focusing on one specific aspect of
it. The word oni means both affliction and strength, and these two
concepts are very closely related. Strength is inevitably the result of
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affliction. Solid results of lasting value can only be achieved through
toil, sweat and tears. Therefore, Jacob chose to name his son Ben
Yamin, because the right hand symbolizes strength, which goes hand
in hand with affliction.
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Heart to Heart
Hatred has a very long memory. More than twenty years had
passed since Jacob had taken the blessings Esau thought were coming to
him, and Jacob had fled into the night, a fugitive from his own home. And
now, Jacob was coming home, no longer a lonely fugitive but a wealthy
man with a large family, and it was inevitable that Esau’s smoldering
hatred would burst into flames. And indeed, as Jacob drew closer to
home, the electrifying news arrived. Esau was fast approaching with four
hundred men armed to the teeth. Deeply concerned that he was unworthy
of divine protection, Jacob prepared for the worst.
And then came the turnaround. It could not have been more
dramatic. As we read in this week’s Torah portion, Jacob “bowed down to
the ground seven times until he approached, until his brother Esau. And
Esau ran towards his younger brother, and embraced him and hugged
him and kissed him, and they wept.” The danger had passed, and
everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.
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ve’ahavata l’reiacha kamocha, “love others as you love yourself.” But what
exactly did Hillel mean? The Torah is infinitely complex, full of concepts,
laws, and observances. Is loving others the overriding central theme of the
Torah, everything else being just explanation and elaboration? Was Hillel
giving the prospective convert a facetious answer? Or is there a real
connection between interpersonal relationships and all the rest of the
Torah?
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Diminishing Returns
It was the moment of truth. After thirty-four long years, the
dreaded confrontation between the brothers was about to take place.
Jacob had spent all these years in self-imposed exile to avoid Esau’s
murderous designs, and now he was coming home with his new family
and wealth, hoping that his brother’s anger had subsided. But
apparently, it had not. Esau had responded to the news of his brother’s
arrival by mobilizing his forces and marching to meet him with four
hundred armed thugs.
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You come to my assistance and deliver me from my brother, I shall not
think for a moment that my battlefield prowess and fearsome
reputation have saved me. I will recognize that everything is a gift from
You, although I have done nothing to deserve it, and I shall become
more diminished than ever.
A king sent his armies into the battlefield against his enemies.
One by one, his armies were victorious. Led by able generals, the
soldiers fought valiantly and not only defeated the enemies but also
conquered their lands. Presently, the king realized he was amassing
quite an empire, and he turned his attention to organizing his imperial
government.
For grand vizier of the new empire, he decided to choose one
of his generals, but which one? The competition was fierce, and many
delegations appeared before the king to recommend their respective
candidates.
Finally, the king chose a solid but rather undistinguished
general. “But why didn’t you choose one of the others?” asked the
queen.
“Surely there are a number of generals who are far more
talented than he.”
“You are quite right,” said the king. “But you see, the grand
vizier will accumulate a lot of power over the years. The man I chose
will know that those powers came to him only because he was loyal to
me, and he will become even more loyal. But those talented generals,
as you call them, are already so full of themselves and their own
accomplishments, they will think all that power is coming to them. Next
thing you know, they’ll want my throne as well.”
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writing his reports. After a while, he grew tired. He put down his pen
and sat back to watch the flowing waters. Suddenly, his pen fell off the
table and rolled across the floor, over the edge and into the river.
A young lieutenant lunged for the rolling pen, but the general
stopped him.
The general extracted another pen from his pocket and began
to write. An hour later, he stopped to rest once again, and once again,
his pen rolled off the table. This time, however, the general jumped off
his seat and scrambled after the pen. He caught it just before it rolled
off the veranda into the river, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.
“You are quite right,” said the general. “But you see this
particular pen was given to me by the king, and therefore it is very
special to me. You cannot measure its value in the same way you
would measure the others.”
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PARASHAS VAYEISHEV
But how can we tell which is which? Very rarely will the selfish person
admit he is motivated exclusively by greed and gratification. More often than
not, he will pretend to be acting in the interest of others, for greatest good.
How then is it possible to determine who is a true friend and who is a foe in
disguise?
Perhaps we can find the answers in this week’s Torah reading. As the
saga of Jacob’s sons unfolds, we encounter two women, one portrayed as
righteous, and the other as an adulteress. And yet, on closer examination,
there is a striking resemblance between them.
Tamar, the childless widow of Judah’s son Er, marries her husband’s
brother Onan. But Onan also meets an untimely death, leaving his brother
Shailah as Judah’s sole surviving son. Twice widowed and still childless,
Tamar wants to marry Shailah, but Judah refuses. Determined to give birth to
a child from the bloodlines of Judah, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute
and ingratiates herself to Judah himself.
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Sages tell us that Tamar knew prophetically that the Davidic dynasty was to
descend from her. Therefore, when her father-in-law refused to let her marry
his last son, she resorted to desperate measures.
Why did Potiphar’s wife try to seduce Joseph? Once again, our
Sages discern a desire to share in the ancestorhood of the Jewish people.
Potiphar’s wife knew great leaders of the Jewish people would be descended
from her and Joseph, and she wanted to fulfill that destiny. In actuality,
however, Joseph’s union was to be with her daughter, not her.
Apparently, then, both Tamar and Potiphar’s wife were striving to fulfill
their destinies as ancestresses of the Jewish people. Both also chose rather
unconventional methods to reach that destiny. Why then is Tamar admired as
a heroine and Potiphar’s wife remembered with contempt?
Tamar wanted to bear the future seed of the Davidic dynasty in order
to draw close to Hashem and reach exalted spiritual levels. This noble dream
inspired her. And when all her attempts failed and she faced death, she
bowed to the will of Hashem with humility and acceptance. She did not hurl
public accusations at Judah. Instead, she responded with tact and subtlety,
sending him his articles and relying on his own sense of decency and justice
to vindicate her. This was indeed a righteous woman.
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This story certainly makes for high drama, but why were all these
farfetched developments necessary? Why didn’t divine providence
manifest itself in a simpler way? Couldn’t Joseph’s release and rise to
power have been affected through more commonplace events?
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Joseph personified this approach. Unjustly accused and
imprisoned, he did not withdraw into himself to bemoan his awful fate.
Instead, he immediately became the heart and soul of the prison, always
there to help a stricken inmate. In this sense, he effected his own
emancipation even as he still remained confined within the prison walls.
And to drive home the point, Hashem contrived that his actual physical
release should also be the result of the kindness he performed for others.
In our own lives, we are often pummeled by the slings and arrows
of outrageous fortune. Assailed by financial difficulties, family and
childrearing problems, pressure in the workplace and all sorts of other
strains and stresses, we can easily find ourselves becoming gloomy and
depressed. So what can we do? How can we regain the equilibrium and
morale we need to deal with our problems constructively? By throwing
ourselves into helping families less fortunate than ourselves or an
important community project. For one thing, focusing on others
immediately relieves the distress of our own situations. But more
important, it elevates us spiritually and allows us to view our troubles in
the broader perspective of what has lasting value in the ultimate scheme
of things and what does not.
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It opened with basketfuls of the finished product, manufactured by
human hands.
“Ah, my young friend,” said the sage, “you are like a blind man.
All this superficial beauty obscures the true beauty of this place for
people like you. Don’t you see the surging sea and the soaring
mountains? Don’t you see the green valleys, the meadows, the
flowers, the butterflies, the birds that sing in the trees? Those are the
work of the Creator. Let me see one of your villa builders do something
like that!”
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PARASHAS MIKEITZ
As the story unfolds (I Kings 3), two women ask King Solomon
to settle a dispute between them.
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But let us think for a moment about this celebrated ruling. Did
King Solomon really expect them to believe that he was actually going
to slice the child in half? Was it possible that this wise and just king
would take the life of an innocent baby? Where did the people see in
this “the wisdom of the Lord”?
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appeared, they were convinced that Hashem’s guiding hand was
controlling events. They rose in rebellion against overwhelming odds,
and Hashem rewarded them with a stunning victory, the victory of light
over darkness.
Here may lie the key to the symbolism of the dreidel. The
dreidel has four distinct sides, representing the four directions of the
compass and the four basic forms of matter - earth, water, air and fire,
in other words, solid, liquid, gas and energy. A turn from above sets
the dreidel spinning, and its features are obscured in one dizzying blur.
But even as the eye beholds confusion, underneath everything comes
together to one focal point, the vortex from which all power emanates,
the unifying power of the Creator of the Universe. And then, just when
it seems as if the spinning will go on forever, it begins to slow down
and the mysterious Hebrew letters come into view.
In our own lives, we must all struggle with the trials and travails
of daily existence. Life is full of disappointments and disillusionment,
and sometimes, its seems beyond our ability to cope. Let us take
encouragement from the message of the Chanukah lights. We are not
helpless flotsam and jetsam cast helter skelter into the raging ocean of
life. At every moment, in darkness and in light, the loving hand of our
Father in Heaven is gently upon us guiding us to our destiny and our
fulfillment.
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A Change of Heart
There was no convincing the Egyptian viceroy. Jacob’s sons
kept protesting that they had come to Egypt in all innocence to buy
grain for their starving families, but the hostile viceroy would have none
of it. They were evil spies, he insisted, and he had them arrested and
thrown into the dungeon. Only one would be allowed to return home to
bring evidence of their innocence, while the others would languish in
prison.
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change of heart. What could this mean?
The brothers see in this a clear message from Heaven. A person must
always keep an open mind and not feel locked into his original
positions. No matter what, he must always maintain an objective
perspective. If he thinks he may have made an error, he should correct
it, though his ego may suffer somewhat. If even the arrogant and
haughty viceroy had changed his mind of his own accord, surely
Jacob’s sons could do no less.
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PARASHAS VAYIGASH
He chose to remind his father that during their last meeting they
had discussed the Torah laws regarding the ritual of the eglah arufah,
which is performed when a wayfarer is found murdered on the open
road and the assailant is unknown. The Torah (Devarim 21)
commands that the elders of the city nearest to the scene of the crime
come out and declare, “Our hands did not spill this blood!”
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soul. A wayfarer, separated from the support system of his home and
family, inevitably feels forlorn and demoralized. But when he is
welcomed into a home with warmth and affection, he once again feels
connected and secure. And when he is given a warm sendoff, he is
filled with renewed confidence and self-esteem. He holds his head a
little higher, his shoulders are squared back, and there is a buoyant
spring in his step. Such a person is an unlikely target for the predators
that roam the highways. It is the beaten-down traveler who feels
isolated and lost that is most vulnerable to attack. The restorative gifts
of hospitality can fortify and sustain a person for the long road ahead
to an immeasurable degree, and therefore, withholding these gifts is
tantamount to “spilling his blood.”
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Tears of Joy
It was a moment of the purest joy. After so many years of
estrangement and separation, Joseph and his brothers were finally
being reunited. Most poignant of all was the reunion between Joseph
and Benjamin, the only sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel. The Torah
describes this emotional reunion, how Joseph hugged his beloved
younger brother and burst into tears.
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permanence because they are experienced in the spiritual dimension,
which is timeless and unlimited.
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Missing Persons
For twenty-two years, Jacob had grieved inconsolably over the
loss of his beloved son Joseph. And now, his sons, returning from
Egypt, had burst in on him with the most amazing news. Joseph was
alive and well! Moreover, he had risen to the post of viceroy, becoming
for all intents and purposes the undisputed ruler of the fabled Egyptian
kingdom.
Now, after twenty-two years, his sons had returned from Egypt
with the news that the selfsame Joseph who had studied Torah with
his father was now the autocratic ruler of Egypt. Jacob did not believe
it. He had no problem, of coursing, accepting the objective fact that the
flesh and blood Joseph was still alive and breathing. But was he the
same person who had grown up in his father’s sanctified home? How
could it be that he had risen so high in the Egyptian power structure
without compromising his values and ideals? And if so, this man’s
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identification with the lost Joseph was no more than a superficial,
physical one, and his return could not compensate Jacob for his
terrible loss.
But then the brothers relayed Joseph’s word and showed him
the wagons Joseph had sent. According to the Midrash, these
symbolized a Torah discussion they were having shortly before they
were separated. Clearly, Joseph was sending a message to his father
that he had not succumbed to his new environment, that he was still
the same Joseph with same abiding devotion to the Torah and
everything for which it stands. Only then did Jacob understand that his
lost son had survived not only physically but spiritually as well, and “his
spirit was revived.”
The sage smiled sadly. “I would never have believed it, and I
still don’t believe it. My student has ceased to exist. The man who
owns the circus is an altogether different person.”
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This, too, was an unacceptable risk. Who can know what long
lasting damage can be caused by a brief exposure to immorality without
the proper fortification? Who can measure the insidious effects of a
momentary lapse of spiritual defenses?
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This is why Jacob decided it was critical to send Judah ahead to
prepare a house of study for his family. In this way, from the moment they
stepped off the wagons, his family would always have the opportunity to
withdraw into their own private island of purity and spirituality and thereby
be fortified against the influence of Egyptian society. They would always
have a place where they could reaffirm their own unique identities before
going out to take on the outside world.
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PARASHAS VAYECHI
A Father’s Blessing
It is an intensely Jewish and awe-inspiring spectacle. The father
lifts his hands, and the child bows his head. The father places his hands
on the child’s head, closes his eyes and begins to whisper his blessing. It
matters not if the father is a great sage or a simple man; the blessing
draws its power from the sincerity of the father.
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accomplishment, but we can attain it if we rise above the pettiness of
coveting what Heaven has chosen to grant someone else. If we look
inward at what we ourselves can be, we can focus on our growth and, at
the same time, relate to other people in a positive, giving and
compassionate way. If, however, we look outward at what others have
been given, we will never find contentment and the growth that it fosters.
Ephraim and Menashe found that rare harmony of achievement and
contentment, and we bless our children that they should find it as well.
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Stolen Crafts
How terrible the disappointment must have been for Simon and
Levi! How crushing! They had come to their father’s bedside together
with all their brothers with the expectation that they would receive the
old patriarch’s blessing, but all they received was a sharp reprimand.
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During the Shechem incident, Simon and Levi had displayed a
dark and violent side to their natures. They had shown themselves
capable of underhanded conniving and a disregard for human life. With
such decidedly un-Jewish traits, how could Simon and Levi take part in
building a nation whose very existence is predicated on spirituality,
kindness, truth and the nobler traits of the human character, a nation to
which violence and deceit are abhorrent? Simon and Levi, fully aware
of how they had dishonored the Jewish ideal through their own
shortcomings, were heartbroken at the prospect of losing for all the
eternity the opportunity to take part in the building of the Jewish nation.
But Jacob was a loving father, and in his blessing to his two
headstrong sons, he gave them profound reassurance. Your self-
image is wrong, he told them. Do not think of yourselves as violent,
deceitful people. Violence and deceit are an aberration to you, a craft
stolen from Esau. Do not despair. You have it in your power to purge
yourselves of this contamination and resume your honored place
among the other tribes of Israel. It is an undoubtedly a difficult thing to
do, but I give you my blessing that your efforts should be blessed with
success.
Two boys were expelled from school for pulling a nasty prank
on one of their teachers. As time went by, one of them became a
notorious criminal, while the other became a great sage.
Years later, the principal had occasion to meet the sage. “Tell
me,” he said. “You both started from the same point. How come you
are a sage and your friend is a criminal?”
“It’s very simple,” the sage replied. “When we were expelled,
my friend’s father ranted and raved at him and punished him severely.
But my father was wiser. He said to me, ‘You are such a fine, good
boy. What got into you to do such a cruel thing? It’s so out of
character!’ You know what? I realized he was right, and I never did
such a thing again.”
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“Gather around,” he says to his family, “and I will tell you about
the End of Days.” But then he goes on to speak of other matters. What
happened? The Sages tell us that Jacob attempted to reveal the end
of history to his family. But the Divine Spirit departed from him, and his
vision faded away.
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kindness would ultimately deprive them of immeasurable reward. If the
Jewish people had seen a clear prophetic image of the rewards in
store for them in the future, they would naturally be motivated to
persevere and struggle against all odds to fulfill the Torah and achieve
those rewards. In that case, though, they would be doing it for their
own benefit rather than out of love for Hashem. But as long as they
have no such images in their minds, their continued loyalty to the
Creator through the worst of times remains an expression of incredibly
powerful faith and love for Him, and their reward will be proportionately
bountiful.
A mother gave her two sons jigsaw puzzles and sent them off
to play.
A long while later, she went to check on the them. Both boys
had completed their puzzles.
One of them jumped up and ran to her. “Look, it’s all done,” he
said proudly. “Could you frame it and hang it on the wall?”
“Certainly,” she said. Then she turned to her other son and
asked, “Do you want me to frame yours as well?”
The boy shrugged and shook his head. “Nah. It was no big
deal. You don’t have to.”
The mother was perplexed. “But your brother wants his framed.
Why don’t you want the same for yours?”
“Well, I’ll tell you,” said the boy. “He didn’t look at the picture
before he did the puzzle, so I guess it was a pretty big deal for him. But
I looked at the picture first, so it wasn’t such a big deal.”
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A Blessing in Disguise
It was the moment of final parting, a time charged with emotion
and transcendent historical significance. Jacob lay on his deathbed,
his twelve sons gathered beside him, and prophetically, he
pronounced the individual blessings to each of his sons that would
define their individual future roles in the broader context of the Jewish
nation. Every word spoken in this room would resonate down the halls
of history.
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Before long, he was hanging on by a thread.
The next day, the boy returned with his parents to the
headmaster’s office. The boy hung his head in shame and murmured
an abject apology.
Both parents breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Look at it,” said the
headmaster, “as a blessing in disguise.”
In our own lives, we are all too often confronted with situations
that bring out the worst in us, and regrettably, we are not always
successful in overcoming our ignoble instincts. This is where we
should concentrate our greatest efforts. We all pray for a life full of
blessing, but if we think about it, the answer to these prayers is in our
very own hands. If we can vanquish the more disagreeable aspects of
our nature and achieve genuine personal refinement, we will indeed
enjoy a truly blessed life.
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SHEMOS
Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS SHEMOS
Anatomy of a Fire
The scene has always fascinated thinkers, artists and people
from every walk of life. Moses stands in the distance looking up in awe
at the mountaintop where a bush is burning vigorously - without being
consumed! Suddenly, the voice of Hashem speaks to him from amidst
this wondrous spectacle, commanding him to remove his shoes and
come nearer. This is the setting in which Moses is appointed as the
divine messenger to go down to Egypt and lead the Jewish people to
freedom.
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is another aspect to this fire which you cannot see. The Divine
Presence resides within this very fire. The terrible ordeal which this fire
represents will not destroy the Jewish people. On the contrary, it is a
crucible which will forge them into a great people, and cement an
everlasting bond between Myself and them, My chosen people. It will
make them strong spiritually, and it will lead on the golden path of their
destiny to the Giving of the Torah.
But why was it so difficult for Moses to view the suffering and
afflictions of exile as an indispensable stage in Hashem’s master plan?
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The next day, Moses saw Dathan and Abiram fighting each other.
“Villain!” Moses cried. “Why do you strike your fellow Jew?” They turned to
Moses with disdain and said, “So what do you propose to do? Will you
murder us as you murdered the Egyptian?”
But let us reflect for a moment. Was this the worst of their sins?
The Jews had been thoroughly contaminated by Egyptian society. Their
behavior was barely distinguishable from that of the Egyptians; their lives
were characterized by idolatry and immorality. Nonetheless, in spite of all
this dreadful sinfulness, Moses had found the Jewish suffering
inexplicable. But now that he saw two Jews fighting, he finally understood
the cause of the Jewish exile. How can this be?
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Shemos: Shemos
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Leadership Qualities
Moses, the chosen messenger of the Master of the Universe,
came riding out of the desert into the fabled kingdom of Egypt. With
nothing more than the staff in his hand and his brother Aaron at his
side, he strode into the royal palace, confronted Pharaoh and
demanded, “Let my people go!”
But let us stop and think for a moment. Wherein exactly lay the
greatness of Moses in his mission to Egypt? Every step he took, every
word he spoke, every move he made was choreographed by Hashem.
Hashem told him exactly when and where to go, exactly what to say,
exactly what to do. All Moses had to do was follow his instructions
faithfully. He had no personal input into any aspect of his spectacular
performance. Why then is Moses considered such a towering figure in
the history of the Exodus?
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slightest blink of his eye, he would have compromised his entire
mission. Hashem had sent Moses to demonstrate His absolute
mastery over Pharaoh, to show that Pharaoh was utterly nothing, putty
in the hands of Heaven. Therefore, had Moses felt any fear, he would
have acknowledged Pharaoh as an adversary, albeit an infinitely
weaker one, and thereby doomed his mission to failure.
“We take hostages,” said one advisor. “That will force them to
fight.”
“We plan ambushes,” said another. We cut off their escape
routes.”
Other advisers suggested yet other ruses to force the enemy to
fight.
“You are all wrong,” said one old advisor. “If the enemy flees
whenever your armies appear, what greater glory can there be?”
In our own lives, we often face trials and challenges that strike
fear into our hearts. Whether the threat is to our health, financial
security, family life or anything else, the effect can be frightening and,
indeed, devastating. But if we can find the strength to look at the world
in the broader perspective, if we recognize that we are all messengers
of Heaven doing his bidding here on the face of the earth, we will
discover that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. As long as we
connect ourselves to the infinite reality of the Creator, all our worries
pale into insignificance.
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PARASHAS VA’EIRA
“Why don’t you open your eyes?” a fellow prisoner once asked
him. “If you keep them open for a while, they’ll get used to the darkness,
and you’ll be able to see a little.”
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In our present exile, we are, thank Heaven, no longer physically
enslaved, but to a large extent, we lack the desire to break free. Our
spiritual senses have been dulled, and we have become immune to the
pain of exile. We are content not to “rock the boat.” As long as we enjoy
the comforts offered by contemporary society, we do not feel deprived of a
utopian Israel with a rebuilt Temple and all the Jewish people living
together in harmony and spiritual bliss. It is a deprivation to which we have
been immunized by the long exile, but a tremendous deprivation
nonetheless.
A great sage was staying at an inn far from his home. Late at
night, he sat down to say the Tikkun Chatzos, the lamentations over the
destruction of the Temple that pious people say after midnight. The sage
was so moved by the words of the lamentations that he burst into tears.
The innkeeper came running. “Rabbi, rabbi, what happened? Why
are you crying?”
“Because our holy Temple was destroyed,” said the rabbi. “Ah, if
only the Messiah would come already and take us all out of this exile!
Don’t you dream of such a day?”
The innkeeper fidgeted. “Well, what about my inn? What would
happen to it? And what about my goats and my chickens? Will I have to
leave them behind?”
“Your goats! Your chickens! Forget about them. Think about the
wonderful life that awaits us in Israel.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, rabbi. I’m doing fine right here. I’m not
sure I want to change things so much.”
“But don’t you ever have trouble from the local riffraff that call you
a zhid and steal your chickens in the night?” the rabbi asked, trying to find
a way to inspire the simple innkeeper to yearn for redemption.
“Yes, you are right,” said the innkeeper, his brow darkening for a
moment, but he immediately brightened. “I have an idea, rabbi! Let’s send
all the riffraff to Israel, then we can live here in peace. That would be a
fine redemption!”
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The Sages tell us that for Moses to strike the river and turn it into
blood or to generate a plague of frogs from its bowels would have been an
act of ingratitude. During the decree of infanticide, Moses had been
concealed among the bulrushes of the Nile, and in effect, the river had
saved his life. How could he now afflict it with plagues? Furthermore,
Moses had struck down an Egyptian taskmaster who had been tormenting
a Jewish laborer and buried the body in the soil. Therefore, it would have
been an act of ingratitude for him to transform the soil into lice.
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to counteract this tendency, the Torah repeatedly emphasizes the
importance of expressing thanks. Indeed, the Hebrew word for gratitude is
hakaras hatov, acknowledgment of the favor. Acknowledgment is the key,
regardless of whether the benefactor is another person or an inanimate
river.
A great sage was having dinner with one of his young disciples in
a hotel dining room.
“The owner of this hotel is a fine person,” remarked the sage.
“Look at this dinner he prepared for us. And the service!”
“Well, what do you expect?” said the young disciple. “He is getting
paid very well for it.”
“Naturally, he has to get paid,” said the sage. “He has expenses,
you know. That’s the only reason he takes our money. But he is such a
considerate, wonderful host.”
“He takes more than to cover expenses,” the young man
persisted. “He makes quite a tidy profit here.”
“Of course, he makes a profit,” said the sage. “Otherwise, how is
he to support his family? Nonetheless, he is such a warm host. But you,
my young friend, have thought of every which way to avoid being grateful
to him. Do you why? Because you are afraid that acknowledging the good
in others may make you indebted to them and thereby diminished. But the
opposite is true. Recognizing the good in others makes you a better
person.”
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Where did all these frogs come from? Did they descend on
Egypt in swarms, like the predators and the locusts of later plagues?
Our Sages tell us that they did not.
It all began with a single frog emerging from the river. The
Egyptians struck the repulsive creature in an attempt to kill it, but to
their shock, the frog split into two exact replicas of the first, like an
ameba undergoing binary fission. The Egyptians then struck these two
frogs, and they, too, executed an immediate two-for-one split. The
Egyptians flogged the frogs again and again, but all they accomplished
was a rapid geometric proliferation of slimy creatures that
metastasized into an all-encompassing plague that gripped Egypt in a
reptilian stranglehold.
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But the question still remains: Why indeed did Hashem choose
to send the plague in this fashion? Why didn’t he simply unleash a
massive flood of frogs on Egypt as he would eventually do with the
predators and the locusts?
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PARASHAS BO
A Matter of Time
Egypt reels under a barrage of plagues. Pharaoh’s stubborn
resistance is finally crumbling. The Jewish people sense the long awaited
end of their enslavement. Hashem is about to take them out of bondage
and forge them into His chosen people, the recipients of His holy Torah.
Indeed, even before the final plague is administered to the Egyptians,
Hashem already gives them their very first mitzvah as a nation.
“Time is money!” we are told, but a wise man once turned this
adage on its ear and said, “Money is time!” Time, not money, is the
fundamental currency by which the value of all things is measured.
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the calendar. When designating the new month, the Beth Din declares,
“Mekudash, mekudash! Sanctified, sanctified!” Hashem gave the Jewish
people the power to sanctify time by what they say and do, not only to
give it worth but to imbue it with holiness. Rosh Chodesh, the first day of
the new month, has the status of a minor festival, reminding us that we
can consecrate all the moments of our lives. By living in a way consistent
with Torah values and ideals, we consecrate our time and preserve it for
all eternity. This mitzvah, therefore, does indeed represent some of the
most transcendent spiritual concepts in the Torah. This mitzvah, delivered
with the gift of time, was indeed a most fitting beginning for the special
relationship between Hashem and the people He had chosen as His own.
In our own lives, we can also take comfort in the metaphor of the
lunar cycle. The flow of time is a harbinger of hope, both for ourselves as
individuals and for all of us as a people. But even as we wait for the future,
it is within our power to sanctify the present, to give meaning and value to
our time by the manner in which we live. We can mold our time into a
bridge to an illuminated future.
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Choose Light
What is the worst calamity that can befall a person? What agonies
are the most difficult to endure? To find the answer, we need only look at
the plagues that afflicted the Egyptians when they refuse to let the Jewish
people out of bondage.
While all the Egyptians were trapped in the darkness, life for the
Jewish people continued as usual. As with all the other plagues, they were
completely impervious to the effects of the catastrophes to which Egypt
was being subjected. And yet, the Torah tells us that during the plague of
darkness “the Jewish people had light in all their dwelling places.” Why
was it necessary to tell us that the Jewish people were unaffected by the
darkness? Furthermore, what is the significance of their having light in
“their dwelling places”? Surely, they enjoyed light wherever they were.
In Egypt as well, the Jewish people did not appreciate fully the
wonderful gift of light until the plague of darkness struck Egypt. Watching
the Egyptians immobilized by the darkness, they were suddenly extremely
grateful that they had light to illuminate their lives.
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Ohr Shalom
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Shemos: Bo
not lose heart. Reason and good sense had absolutely nothing to do
with it. No matter how absurd continued resistance appeared to wiser
heads, he would refuse to capitulate.
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PARASHAS BESHALACH
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Shemos: Beshalach
cleansing them of their baser elements, purifying the core of the
people who would stand at Mount Sinai and receive His holy Torah.
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An Eloquent Silence
If ever there was anyone caught between a rock and a hard place,
it was the Jewish people on the shores of the Sea of Reeds. With their
backs to the churning waters, they watched in wide-eyed horror as
thousands of Egyptian chariots thundered towards them, murderous steel
blades flashing in the sun. Desperately, the people plunged into the
depths of the sea, and wonder of wonders, Hashem parted the waters and
led them through to safety.
At the Sea of Reeds, this realization struck the Jewish people with
great clarity. For so many years, they had suffered the cruel agony of
Egyptian shackles, their backs bent in backbreaking labor, their hearts
and spirits shriveled inside their tortured bodies. It seemed as if the
Creator had forgotten them. But now, in the most stunning miraculous
display, He had split the sea to lead them to safety. Suddenly, they
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Shemos: Beshalach
realized He had been watching over them all along, that His love for them
stretched back hundreds of years to the Patriarchs. The pain and suffering
had been an indispensable feature of the “iron crucible” of Egypt in which
the Jewish people were molded and formed. From the perspective of
hindsight, their suffering was not random, and the silence was very
eloquent indeed.
A young boy was wheeled into the operating room for a serious
procedure. He was frightened but all alone. He yearned for the comforting
hand of his father, but his father had been barred from the sterile
operating room.
I want my father, the boy thought desperately. I want him here. But
his father did not come, and the boy was terribly upset and resentful. How
could his father abandon him at this time, the most trying of his entire life?
The operation was successful, and the boy was returned to his
room. There stood his father, tears streaming down his face. He hugged
and kissed his son with a greater outpouring of love than ever before.
“My son, my precious son,” he said. “How sad that you had to be
in that operating room all by yourself, but I was in constant touch with the
doctors. You did not leave my thoughts, not even for a moment.”
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Ohr Shalom
Just then, Hashem said the Moses, “Why do you cry out to me?
Tell the people to get under way.”
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Shemos: Beshalach
result of a conscious decision to plead with Hashem. He already knew
that the salvation of the Jewish people was assured. Rather, it was a
reflex reaction, a spontaneous outburst of supplication in response to
the very real distress of the people. Because of his intense love for the
Jewish people, Moses could not separate himself from their emotional
condition. As the quintessential leader, he felt the anguish of his
people, and he responded in kind.
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PARASHAS YISRO
To Capture a Feeling
What would have convinced George Washington to drop
everything and go study Torah in a synagogue in Rhode Island? Would
spectacular Jewish victories and miraculous deliverance from their
enemies have inspired him to walk away from the White House and his
palatial estates in Monticello?
What prompted Jethro to give up his royal honors, his power, his
estates, his luxurious lifestyle, his wealth? What had he “heard” that so
transformed him? Our Sages tells us that he heard about the miraculous
splitting of the sea followed immediately by the war against Amalek. The
Ten Plagues and the Exodus had apparently not been sufficiently
impressive to make Jethro leave the comforts and privileges of Midian.
The commentators explain that the splitting of the sea was a most
phenomenal miracle. Our Sages tell us that the spectacles witnessed by a
maidservant at the sea were greater than the visions of the exalted
prophet Ezekiel. It is, thus, quite understandable that hearing of this
miracle would motivate Jethro to join the Jewish people. But what was so
inspiring about the war against Amalek? Was the victory in this war more
miraculous than the Ten Plagues and the Exodus?
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How could such a thing happen? How could the tremendous
miracles Hashem performed for the Jewish people have has so little effect
on Amalek? The prophet (Joshua 5:1) assures us that the surrounding
nations had heard about the splitting of the sea. Surely, Amalek had not
missed this major news event. And yet, for no logical reason but pure
malice, they chose to attack the Jewish people in the desert. Clearly, the
overwhelming evidence of miracles was not enough to transform people
and turn them away from evil. If there was a will to deny the miracles, a
way would always be found. Barbarism and immorality would continue to
exist despite the revelation of the awesome power of Hashem.
The war with Amalek had shown Jethro that the discovery of the
existence of the Creator could not be expected to have a lasting effect - if
any effect at all. Only by translating that discovery, and the accompanying
thrill of inspiration, into a concrete commitment could he transform his life.
Only breaking with the familiar patterns of his life and going into the desert
to join the Jewish people could guarantee a transformation. The forfeiture
of his royal privileges in Midian was but a small price to pay.
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Do not covet? How did this commandment find its way into this
august group? Is coveting in the secrecy of one’s heart an abomination
against Hashem or society comparable to the other commandments?
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Shemos: Yisro
greater fulfillment in life than accomplishing this divine mission, all else
becomes trivial. If a wretched person truly believes his mission in life is to
shine in his state of wretchedness, he will not covet another person’s good
fortune. The tenth commandment enjoins us to bow to the divine wisdom,
to accept His guidance in every aspect of our lives and not to covet that
which Hashem has chosen not to give us.
A mother returned home with her son from a visit to the optician.
The boy wore a new pair of glasses with shiny, stylish gold frames, which
he proudly showed off to all his siblings. A short while later, the mother
found one her younger sons sulking in his room.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Why are you so glum? Has
anyone done anything to hurt you?”
“Yes,” the boy declared. “You did! You bought him glasses, but
you didn’t buy any for me.”
The mother was taken aback for a moment, and then she
gathered her little boy in her arms. “Do you know why he got glasses?”
she said. “Because he doesn’t see well. Without those glasses, he can’t
see the blackboard. But you are so lucky. You have such sharp vision,
you can read the smallest letters from far away. Why would I get you
glasses?”
In our own lives, we are all too familiar with the pressures of living
in a materialistic society where the quality of life is often measured by the
possessions we accumulate. The tenth commandment offers us the
means by which to rise above this myopic vision. If we connect to the
universal will of the Creator and direct ourselves towards the
accomplishment of our mission in life, we will find a serenity and fulfillment
that will enrich us far more than the gratification of any of our covetous
desires.
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Spontaneous Consensus
The six hundred thousand people gathered around Mount Sinai
didn’t discuss it beforehand. They didn’t consult with each other and
decide on a consensus response. As we read in this week’s Torah portion,
Moses descended the mountain as Hashem’s messenger and offered the
Torah to the Jewish people. They asked no questions, held no
conferences. And yet, they responded in one spontaneous outcry, “We will
do it!”
How could such a thing happen? How could six hundred thousand
people spontaneously utter the identical response? Whoever heard of
even six Jewish people being of one mind, let alone six hundred
thousand?
Let us read a little further in the Torah. “And Moses referred the
words of the people back to Hashem.” Here again, we are puzzled. Why
would Moses have to convey the response of the Jewish people back to
Hashem? Didn’t Hashem know on His own what the Jewish people had
said?
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Shemos: Yisro
Had the Jewish people related to the Torah as a set of instructions
to govern and improve their material lives, they would undoubtedly have
responded with a plethora of questions, opinions and suggestions. But
they understood that the Torah functions on a much more profound level,
that it is the channel which connects the divine spark within each of us to
the Master of the Universe, that it provides the wings on which our spirits
can soar to the highest spheres of Heaven. In this light, there were no
divisions among them, and they responded with a spontaneous
consensus.
This then is what the Torah is telling us. “And Moses referred the
words of the people,” he explained their universal agreement, “back to
Hashem,” by attributing it to their total focus on connecting with Hashem.
In our own lives, we all appreciate the ideals and values of the
Torah. We know that the timeless wisdom of the Torah is as fresh and
relevant to contemporary life as it was three thousand years ago. We
know that it prescribes a way of life full of wonderful benefits and rewards.
But do we also realize that “this thing flies”? But indeed it does. If we
connect with the Torah on a spiritual level, we can transform ourselves
and enrich our lives in ways we never thought possible.
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PARASHAS MISHPATIM
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Shemos: Mishpatim
expansion of our souls, minds and spirits. This was not slavery in the
negative sense. It was the priceless gift of absolute attachment to the
Creator of the Universe. It was an opportunity to bring ourselves to the
highest levels of existence and fulfillment.
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Old Memories
Certain things in life are given, at least for people reared
according to Judaic values and ideals. Compassion for the weak and
downtrodden. Sympathy for those less fortunate than ourselves.
Kindness to the disadvantaged. Hospitality to strangers. Why then
does the Torah, in this week’s portion, find it necessary to tell us to be
kind to converts? Would it occur to anyone to act otherwise to a
newcomer?
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Shemos: Mishpatim
A wise old rabbi was trudging though the snow-clogged streets
of a little village. Finally, he came to the house of one of the richest
men in the village. He knocked on the door and waited patiently.
A servant opened the door and, seeing the old rabbi,
immediately invited him in. But the rabbi just shook his head and asked
to see the master of the house.
In no time, the rich man came hurrying to the door. “Rabbi, why
are you standing outside?” he wanted to know. “It’s so cold out there.
Please come in where it is warmer.”
“Thank you so much,” said the rabbi, “but I prefer to stay out
here. Can we talk for a moment?”
“Why, certainly, certainly,” said the rich man. He shivered and
pulled his jacket closer about him.
“Well, you see, it’s like this,” the rabbi began. “There are a
number of poor families in this village who don’t have any money -”
“I’m sorry for interrupting, rabbi,” the rich man said. His teeth
were chattering. “You know I always contribute to the poor and hungry.
Why can’t we talk about this inside? Why do we have to stand out
here?”
“Because these people need firewood,” the rabbi explained. “I
am collecting for firewood for poor families.”
“So why can’t we talk inside?” asked the rich man.
“Because I want you to feel what they are feeling,” said the
rabbi, “even if only for a few minutes. Imagine how they must be
shivering in their drafty little houses with the ice-cold furnaces! The
more you give me, the more families will be spared this dreadful cold.”
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Gilded Bondage
This is where it was all leading. The miraculous ten plagues. The
triumphant Exodus from Egypt. The incredible parting of the sea. The
spectacular revelation of the Divine Presence on Mount Sinai. The
declaration of the Ten Commandments. Everything was pointing toward
the acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people. And now it had all
come to pass. It was time to get down to the business of learning what the
vast Torah was all about.
So what were the first laws Moses taught the Jewish people in the
desert encampments? Did they describe the observance of the Sabbath
day? The celebration of the festivals? The guidelines for kosher food?
Not at all. Moses begins by telling the people about a Jewish thief
who is sold into bondage in a Jewish home for six years so that his victim
can be repaid. What is so critical about these laws that they are given
such high priority?
Let us take a closer look at this Jewish bondsman. What if after six
years, when his term of bondage expires, he decides to stay on? After all,
the Torah instructs the Jewish master to share all the comforts of home
with his Jewish bondsman. What if the bondsman finds this situation
secure and pleasant and doesn’t want to leave? The Torah tells us he
must be brought to the doorpost. Then his ear, which heard Hashem say,
“The Jewish people are My servants,” not servants of servants, must be
drilled through with an awl.
Why does the Torah prescribe such a harsh punishment for this
bondsman who chooses to remain in his master’s house?
But that was not the primary purpose of the Exodus. Hashem had
not wrenched them free from the grasp of the Egyptians simply to give
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Shemos: Mishpatim
them the creature comforts of life. He brought them forth to spiritual
freedom, to a state of personal liberation in which each individual would
have unlimited opportunities to rise to the highest levels of spiritual
achievement. He brought the Jewish people forth from Egypt so that they
could connect with their Creator, so that the divine spark within each of
them would flare into a splendid spiritual flame.
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PARASHAS TERUMAH
We can safely assume that Moses, the greatest man who ever
lived, made the most valiant attempt to fulfill the commandment of
making a menorah, that he exerted himself to the full extent of his
considerable talents and abilities. And yet he failed. Surely, then, it
was not humanly possible to create such a menorah by any means
short of a miracle. If so, why did Hashem command Moses to produce
a menorah when He knew failure was guaranteed? Why didn’t
Hashem produce the menorah miraculously right from the beginning?
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Shemos: Terumah
The commentators explain that a profound lesson is being
taught here. Every person in the world is obligated to accomplish as
much good as he possibly can. He is obligated to provide for his
family, help those less fortunate than himself, and support institutions
of Torah and charity. This is called hishtadlus. Although a person
knows that in the final analysis Hashem controls the world and
everything that happens in it, he should not say, “Why should I bother
when it is all up to Hashem anyway?” Hashem wants all people to
exert themselves to the full extent of their abilities, as if it were all up to
them. Then - and only then - does Hashem reward their efforts.
True, the Holy Ark carried itself, and it is for this very reason
that the rods must never be removed. Don’t delude yourself, says the
Torah, into thinking you don’t need to lift up the rods because it won’t
make a difference anyway. The omnipresent rods are there to remind
you that you are always obligated to do your utmost - no matter what.
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The commentators explain that the Mishkan was far more than
a physical abode for the Divine Presence in this world. It was also
meant to symbolize the spiritual abode each Jew constructed in his
own heart and soul wherein Hashem would dwell. In the pagan world,
the gods supposedly lived in the temples, and the people lived in their
homes. The people would visit the temples to pay their respects to the
gods and then return home to their own private lives. But this was not
the Jewish concept at all. The Jewish people did not expect Hashem’s
presence to be restricted to the Tabernacle, a temple to be visited and
left behind. The construction of the physical Tabernacle was a
symbolic expression of the desire of the people to be forever bonded
with the Creator, to build an indestructible temple for Him in their own
hearts.
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In this light, we can understand why they had to bring their own
lumber. In order for the act of the construction of the Tabernacle to
retain its full transcendent value, it needed to come entirely from the
Jewish people, an unreserved invitation to Hashem to come among us.
Therefore, it would have been inappropriate to ask Hashem to provide
the lumber for the construction. He could send manna from heaven to
feed the Jewish people and cause water to flow from a rock to slake
their thirsts, but for Him to provide the lumber for the Tabernacle would
have diminished its symbolic significance. The preparation of the
lumber was in and of itself a declaration of the love of the people for
Hashem.
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A Heart of Wood
It was breathtakingly beautiful, but ordinary human eyes never
feasted on it. Secluded in the Holy of Holies, the holy Ark of the Torah
was visited only once a year - by the High Priest on Yom Kippur, the
holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Nevertheless, the Arks glittering
beauty, transcendent holiness and aura of mystery loom large in
history and legend.
But that is not how the Torah describes it. “And they shall make
an Ark of cedar wood,” the Torah declares. Then the Torah goes on to
describe how this Ark is to be constructed. A wooden ark is placed
inside a golden ark. Then a second golden ark is placed inside the
wooden ark. The rim is then covered with gold, effectively
encapsulating the wooden ark entirely in gold. The Talmud explains
that this is meant to signify that a true Torah scholar is equally pure
within and without.
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connectedness with the earth, the prosaic, the mundane. Just as a tree
is rooted in the soil, so is a person rooted in the physical world and the
society of other people.
“And where are you going my child?” asked the old man. “I am
going to see a very great sage,” he replied, mentioning the name of a
famous luminary. “I always wanted to see what an angel looks like.”
The old man smiled. “Then you are making a mistake. The
sage you mentioned is not an angel. He is the ultimate of what a man
can be, and believe me, that is greater than an angel.”
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PARASHAS TETZAVEH
Induced Holiness
How is this week’s parashah different from all the other parshios in
the last four Books of the Torah? Parashas Tetzaveh is missing
something that appears in every parashah from Shemos and on - the
mention of the name of Moses. From the time he first appears in the
hallowed pages of the Torah as a baby in a basket floating among the
reeds of the Nile River, Moses’s name is mentioned thousands of times in
every context. But not this week. Not even once. Why?
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state of priestly sanctification, without which he would not have been
qualified to perform the Temple service. According to the Talmud, a
Kohein who omitted even one of these special garments was considered a
zar, a non-Kohein, with regard to the service. The priestly garments, then,
are the epitome of external stimuli by which a state of holiness is induced.
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rules of simple decency a little bit. Not so, says the Torah. Even at the
supernal moment when the Kohen Gadol enters the Holy of Holiest,
the closest point of contact between a mortal and the Master of the
Universe, he must still remember the rules of basic decency. He must
wear bells upon the hem of his robe to announce his arrival.
The young men entered the sage’s house, hung up their coats
and washed their hands before coming to the table. For several hours,
they were transported to a world of transcendent wisdom and
mysticism, and their hearts were set afire with the yearning to become
part of this world.
“It is really quite simple,” said the sage. “When you washed
your hands before coming to my table you looked around for a towel
but couldn’t find one. Instead, you wiped your hands on a coat that
belonged to one of your friends. Being in a hurry to hear words of
wisdom does not exempt you from the rules of simple decency. If you
were a true scholar, you would have understood this yourself. I’m very
sorry, young man, but you have no place in my academy.”
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PARASHAS KI SISA
Strength in Numbers
When the census-taker made his rounds in ancient Israel, he
didn’t bring a calculator or an abacus on which to record the number of
persons in each household, nor did he distribute questionnaires for the
people to fill out and return. Instead, he collected a half-shekel from
every Jew in the land, and by counting the coins in his bag, he arrived
at the new population figure.
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An individual, no matter how brilliant and talented, is limited in
his scope, but the power and potential of a unified community are
virtually limitless. In this case, the whole is undoubtedly greater than
the sum of its parts. The individual who connects with the community
assumes an additional, higher identity as part of this greater whole.
Flaming Desire
Things don’t just happen by themselves. And yet, when the Jewish
people built a golden calf while Moses was away on the mountaintop
receiving the Torah from Hashem, something very strange happened. The
Midrash in this week’s Torah portion tells us that the people threw their
golden ornaments into the flames and a fully formed golden calf emerged.
Amazing! Why would such a thing happen? Surely, this must have been
an aberration. Surely, something like this could not happen again.
But wait. Let us peek into next week’s Torah portion. Lo and
behold, the same thing happens. The people are building the Tabernacle,
Hashem’s earthly Abode. The time arrives for the construction of the
golden candelabrum, the mystical symbol of wisdom that will illuminate in
the Inner Sanctum. The construction of this transcendent vessel is
exceedingly complicated, and to make matters even more difficult, the
entire candelabrum is to be made from a single ingot of gold. Although he
gives it his best effort, Moses cannot accomplish this baffling task. Finally,
Hashem tells Moses to throw the gold into the fire and the candelabrum
will emerge by itself. And this is exactly what happens. What is the
connection between these two strange phenomena? Is it coincidence that
they transpired one right after the other?
When Moses did not return from the mountaintop on schedule, the
people were confused and disoriented, and they instinctively turned to
their old idolatrous habits for reassurance. In their distress, they were
overcome with a burning desire for the illusory comforts of the idol worship
to which they were accustomed in Egypt. This desire was so strong, the
Torah tells us, that all they had to do was throw their golden ornaments
into the fire and the golden calf emerged.
But just as the will of a human penetrates all barriers to attain its
sinister goals, it can also be channeled to the good. If a person is inspired
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to reach for the highest spiritual goals, his very desire will generate a
mystical energy that will carry him there, one way or another. This is what
Hashem was teaching Moses. Nothing stands in the way of the
indomitable human will, not even the near impossibility of forming the
intricate candelabrum from a single piece of gold. The fire of his
enthusiasm would create the candelabrum even if his hands could not.
This was the true reversal of the sin of the golden calf. The flaming
desire to sin had generated the abominable idol. But now Moses
channeled his flaming desire in the opposite direction, and by doing so, he
created the perfect vessel of wisdom and spiritual illumination.
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Before the sin of the golden calf, the people were accustomed
to a very high level of spiritual light, and therefore, they were not
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blinded by the supernal light of Moses’s face. But after they sinned,
their spiritual light was greatly dimmed, and they became accustomed
to living in spiritual darkness. Therefore, when they beheld the
luminous face of Moses, they had no choice but to turn away.
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But there was a ray of hope. Moses pleaded with God not to
destroy the Jewish people, to give them one more chance, and God
relented. He commanded them to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle) as a
dwelling for the Divine Presence amidst the people. This would
reestablish the severed connection. God also commanded them to
assign the entire project to a particular master artisan, a thirteen-
yearold boy named Bezalel, whom He had “filled with divine wisdom.”
The clue lies in the way God identifies him − Bezalel the son of
Uri the son of Hur. The Torah ordinarily identifies people only by the
patronymic, the father’s name. Yet here we are told his grandfather’s
name as well. The commentators conclude that God selected Bezalel
in the merit of Hur, his grandfather.
Hur, the son of Moses’ sister Miriam, was the only one who had
stood against the mob and tried to stop the madness, and they killed
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him. It seemed at the time that his death had been futile, a terrible
waste. But in retrospect, we see that he did not die in vain. Because of
his great act of heroism, because of his willingness to sacrifice his life
to preserve the connection between God and the Jewish people, his
grandson Bezalel was endowed with the transcendent spiritual intuition
necessary to build the Mishkan and reestablish the severed
connection.
“How long have you been doing this?” asked the sage. “Six weeks.”
“I see,” said the sage, “Tell me, young man, when you were a
child, did your mother make markings on a wall chart to measure your
growth?”
“Yes, she did,” said the young man. “And how often did she measure
you?” “Once a year. On my birthday.”
“And what if you had measured yourself every day?” asked the
sage. “What would the results have been?”
In our own lives, we invest so much time, effort and energy into
our personal growth, our children, our families, our personal
relationships, our businesses and professions, and quite often, we do
not see any tangible results. It is easy to fall victim to despair when we
do not see our efforts bear fruit. But if our intentions are altruistic and
we aspire to a higher good, we can be assured that our hard work will
not be in vain.
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PARASHAS VAYAKHEL
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the Divine Wisdom must be absolute, unquestioning, without
rationalizations, because we cannot possibly know all the factors which
enter into the divine decision-making process.
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prepared lay down their lives to defend it.
When the Jewish people left Egypt for a homeland of their own,
they were not simply exchanging one terrain for another. They were
leaving behind a corrupt society steeped in idolatry, magic and
superstition and preparing to build a sanctified society predicated on a
special relationship with the Master of the Universe. This was the
overriding feature of the new Jewish society, the value that would
make the Holy Land a true home for the Jewish people.
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Slowly, he rises to his feet and clears his throat. “Mr. Chairman, I
will pass right now. But I will tell you this. Let everyone give what his heart
moves him to give. Total up what you have raised and calculate the
shortfall. I personally pledge to cover the deficit, no matter how large it is.
Before we walk out of here today, you will have your building.”
But what did they do wrong? Surely their offer, to cover the entire
deficit, was the most magnanimous of all. They actually guaranteed that
there would be no shortfall in the collection. What could be better?
The commentators explain that the error of the princes was in their
skewed perspective. Covering the deficit is a wonderful offer if one is
concerned about the recipient. But in the case of the Tabernacle, the
recipient was the Creator of the Universe. He did not need the assistance
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of the princes or anyone else. The commandment to donate to the
Tabernacle was a singular privilege granted to the Jewish people for their
own benefit. Their gifts were meant to accomplish their own spiritual
enrichment, not the Almighty’s material enrichment. Had the princes truly
appreciated the essence of this commandment, they would have rushed
to donate as much as they could rather than sit back and offer to cover the
shortfall.
In reproof, therefore, the Torah deleted the letter yod from the
word nesiim, princes. The mystical teachers explain that the letter yod
represents Hashem’s immanence in all of creation. Had the princes been
truly sensitive to Hashem pervasive presence, it would never have
crossed their minds that He needed them to cover His deficits.
In our own lives, we sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that
our religious observances are our gift to Hashem. We’ve spent so much
time in the synagogue, we might tell ourselves, we’ve prayed, we’ve
studied and we’ve performed so many different commandments. What
more can Hashem want from us? Haven’t we given Him enough? But the
truth is that Hashem doesn’t really need anything from us. After all, who
gained from all these things we’ve done, we or Hashem? It is we who are
enriched by living according top the Torah values and ideals. It is we who
are the recipients of the greatest gift of all.
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PARASHAS PIKUDEI
A House of Hearts
If we were to count up all the verses in the Torah that describe the
construction of the Mishkan in minute detail, beginning with Parashas
Terumah and culminating with this week’s Torah portion, the number
would reach into the hundreds. Why does the Torah pay such
extraordinary attention to the construction of a building that existed only in
Biblical times and was eventually replaced by the Temple, which was of
totally different dimensions? What message does this painstaking
description convey to us today?
This was also the offer of the Nesiim, and it would seem that it,
too, should have been greeted with appreciation and gratitude. But it was
not. The Torah castigates them subtly by omitting a letter from their name
(35:27). Our Sages point out that, although their intentions were noble,
they should not have postponed their contribution until the very end. But
the question remains: Where exactly did they err? What was wrong with
offering to guarantee that there would be no deficit?
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wanted the Mishkan to be constructed of the outpourings of Jewish hearts.
The gold and silver of the donations were simply the conduits by which
these sentiments were infused into the structure of the Mishkan. The
Nesiim, however, took a cool, pragmatic attitude, and for this lack of
passion and irrepressible fervor, the Torah takes them to task.
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A Time to Wait
What happens when a construction project is finished right on
time or even somewhat ahead of schedule? Is it immediately put into
use so that it can begin serving the needs of the owner or earning him
revenue? Or is it allowed to remain empty for a while? These
questions are really rhetorical. No one would dream of leaving a major
construction project idle for even the shortest time after completion. He
would want an immediate return on his heavy investment.
And yet, this is not what happened when the Jewish people
constructed the Mishkan. It was a magnificent edifice, agleam with
cedar wood, aglitter with gold and aglow with opulent hangings. The
fixtures and utensils were all made of gold and copper and exquisitely
designed. This structure, standing as a glittering crown jewel at the
center of the Jewish encampment, would be the dwelling place of the
Divine Presence, the royal abode of the King of Kings.
The work on the Mishkan began right after Yom Kippur, the day
Moses came down from the mountain for the second time. Three
months later, the elements were complete. The beams had been
carved and gilded, the hanging fully woven, the fixtures and utensils
crafted. All that remained to be done was to bring all the elements
together and erect the Mishkan. Yet for some reason, God did not
instruct Moses to erect the Mishkan until the month of Nissan, three
months after all the elements were completed. What was the reason
for this delay in making the Mishkan operational?
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more day, as Aaron begged them to do? What was the rush? It was
just impatience and impulsiveness. They got an idea into their heads
and had to act immediately.
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS VAYIKRA
But the questions still remain. How could a minuscule drop of salt
added to a sacrifice appease the overwhelming desire of the sea to be
closer to Hashem? How was that adequate compensation for being
distant from Hashem?
But this is not what Hashem expects of us. He does not want us to
make our spiritual growth dependent on what we consider ideal
conditions. In any setting, no matter how distant, no matter how difficult,
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He wants us to yearn to connect with Him. Moreover, it is this very
yearning which will bring us closer to Him and forge that powerful spiritual
connection. The aching desire in our hearts spans any chasms of time
and space and brings us right into Hashem’s enfolding embrace. In this
light, we can understand Hashem’s words of consolation to the waters of
the seas. True, they would have to remain in the lower world while the
waters of the heavens rose to the upper world. But this did not necessarily
mean that they would be estranged from Hashem. The solution was in the
salt.
A king had two sons. One of them lived in the palace and served
as the chief minister of the kingdom. He met with his father daily and
conferred with him on a wide variety of state and other matters. The
second son served as the king’s ambassador to an important but very
distant kingdom. Every other year, he returned to the palace for a short
visit, but for all the rest of the time, he remained in the faraway land.
After a number of years, the king grew old and feeble, He decided
to address the question of the succession to the throne. He called in his
ministers and informed them that he had chosen a successor.
“The son who is closer to me,” he said, “shall sit on my throne.”
The ministers nodded sagely. It was as they expected. The chief minister
would make a good king.
“Send for my son right away,” the king continued. “He must travel
a great distance to come back here to the palace.”
The ministers were baffled. “But you just said that you had chosen
the closer son, your majesty!”
“Indeed I have,” said the king. “The chief minister is a good, loyal
son, but he is with me all the time. He is not excited when he comes to
see me. The ambassador, however, may live far away, but he yearns to
see me with all his heart. No distance can affect our closeness.”
In our own lives, we can all reach deep within ourselves for that
pinch of salt that represents our very being and identity. If we dedicate
that salt to our relationship with our creator, we can gain untold spiritual
riches no matter where we find ourselves.
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Adam was the first man in the world, and in his mind, his
decision to eat the forbidden fruit was a private decision. He thought it
affected no one but him. But he was wrong. His one sinful act had
tremendous ramifications for all future generations. It introduced death
to the human experience
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decisions. Every act we commit has far-reaching implications for the
spiritual condition of our environment. This is what a person should
have in mind when he brings a sacrifice to the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem. He must realize that, like Adam, he mistakenly considered
his sinful act victimless, affecting only himself. But he was really “from
among you.” His sinful act affected others as well, and it is the purpose
of the sacrifice to repair the damage he has wrought.
The waiter who brought the meal noticed that the passageway
was damp, and as he approached the young man’s door, he saw water
pulsing out from under his door. He bent down to smell it, and to his
horror, he discovered that it was seawater. In a panic, he banged on
the young man’s door, but there was no response.
“What are you doing?” screamed the captain. “Do you want to
kill all of us? Do you want to sink this ship?”
“What are you talking about?” the young man retorted. “This is
my private cabin. I paid for it, and I have the right to do anything I want
in it.”
In our own lives, we are all living in cabins on the great cruise
ship of life. We may sometimes think we are independent individuals,
answering only to ourselves. But as the popular saying goes, we are
indeed all connected. The things we say or do, a harsh word, a
thoughtless act, a spiritual transgression can harm the people around
us. On the other hand, a warm smile, an act of kindness, a word of
encouragement can touch, move and inspire. Our acts may cause a
ripple effect whose extent cannot be measured. And even if we
manage to keep certain behaviors in total isolation, they still leave a
mark in the spiritual world. We may think we are “Adam,” but let us
always remember that we are really “from among us.”
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PARASHAS TZAV
Gratitude Unlimited
What do released prisoners, recovering patients, seafarers and
caravan travelers all have in common? These people have all been in
perilous situations, their very lives endangered, and having come through
safely, they are required to express their gratitude to Hashem by bringing
a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Temple in Jerusalem. The procedure for the
thanksgiving offering, the korban todah, is described in this week’s
portion.
Let us think for a moment about a phrase most polite people use
very often and very casually. What exactly do we mean when we say
“thank you” to someone who has done us a good turn? What have we
actually given him by thanking him? And why is he gratified? The answers
lie in a deeper understanding of gratitude and thanksgiving. In essence,
an expression of gratitude is an acknowledgment. By saying “thank you,”
we declare that we recognize what the other person has done for us, that
we value it and that we do not take him for granted. This is all he needs in
return for what he has done - recognition, no more, no less. But a sincere
expression of gratitude can only result from a genuine appreciation of the
value of what we have received. Without this appreciation, the words
”thank you” are but an empty, meaningless formality.
If this holds true in our relationships with other human beings, how
much more so in our relationship with our Creator. We are endlessly
beholden to Him for all the good He does for us, and as a result, we
should be endlessly grateful. Unfortunately, however, we live in a
benighted world of illusions and delusions, and we often fail to recognize
the innumerable gifts and bounty that flow to us from Hashem’s generous
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hand. And even when we pay lip service to it, how deeply do we actually
feel it? How real is it to us? The only things we face with stark reality are
life-threatening situations. In the face of danger, our affectations and
pretensions quickly dissipate, and we realize how dependent we are on
our Creator for our safety. As the old adage goes, “There are no atheists
in a foxhole.” It is only when we are ultimately delivered from danger that
we are capable of expressing genuine gratitude.
In our own lives, we all too often take for granted all the blessings
we enjoy, and we forget to express our gratitude to our Creator, the
Source of all this bounty. Indeed, when we experience hardship, we are
inclined to confront Hashem, saying, "Oh, why do we deserve this?" But
when we experience good fortune, are we as inclined to thank Him?
Common courtesy, of course, requires that we acknowledge Hashem’s
bounty, but if we offer words of gratitude to Hashem in all situations, we
will also discover a deeper dimension to our appreciation and enjoyment
of the blessings of life.
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Temple and presented to Hashem in the form of a thanksgiving
sacrifice. This sort of inspiration can be channeled to foster an
everlasting closeness.
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And yet, I this week’s Torah portion we read that Hashem told
Moses to “command Aaron and his sons” regarding the daily olah
sacrifice. Why did the priests have to be “commanded”? Why wasn’t it
enough for them to be “told,” as was usually the case? Our Sages tell
us that Hashem was forewarning the priest not to cut corners in order
to reduce the considerable expense of bringing an animal every
morning and every afternoon.
But why was this necessary? Why would the priests even
consider such a thing? After all, there was no cost to them personally,
and there was plenty of public money for the sacrifices.
Not so, the Torah warned. It was not the place of the priests to
make such judgments. If the Torah commanded that two animals be
brought daily, the commandment was to be obeyed without question.
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“Your first major responsibility in your new post,” said the king,
“will be to arrange the parade in honor of my birthday next week. Find
out how it is done every year. The information is in the palace records.”
“The poems were very beautiful,” said the king, “but it is not for
you to substitute poems for the customary observance. You are not a
chamberlain for me.”
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honor or prestige. It did not occur to him to assert his ego through even
the slightest deviation from Moses’ instructions.
One day, the older brother decided he could not endure the
situation any longer. He returned to the sage to ask his advice.
“I don’t understand it,” he complained. “I am as learned and
talented as my brother, if not more, and my sermons are at least as
good. Why do they flock to him and avoid me?”
The sage smiled. “You know, my son,” he said, “your brother
was here a few months ago, and he asked me the exact same
question. Apparently, the same question is on both your minds, and
the people in your city see it. When your brother asks the question,
people admire his humility and flock to him. When you ask the
question, people are put off by your self-importance and stay away.”
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PARASHAS SHEMINI
The Hebrew word the Torah uses here to portray Aaron’s silence,
domeim, has two other meanings - the state of being inert and singing.
What common thread connects silence, inertia and song?
Let us consider for a moment the most desirable state that all
people seek. The American Declaration of Independence actually hits the
nail on the head when it speaks of “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.” Everyone wants to be happy, but how is this achieved? Does
a lot of money deliver happiness? More often than not, it accomplishes the
exact opposite. Does physical gratification deliver happiness? Hardly.
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with himself and his environment, he is happy. But harmony does not
derive from external sources. It emanates from within, from serenity of the
soul. Our senses, however, are the enemies of harmony. They constantly
bombard us with a variety of stimuli to which we are inclined to react, and
thus our harmony is disrupted. We cannot be at peace with ourselves if
we are at the mercy of a volatile world.
In our own lives, we can also seek to achieve, to the best of our
abilities, some semblance of inner harmony. The key is to recognize the
source of true happiness, which does not come from external sources but
from within. When we embrace Torah values and ideals, we insulate our
inner selves against the vicissitudes of the world around us, and we are
rewarded with a harmonious and immeasurable enriched life.
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Forbidden Waters
Certain practices are just too vile and despicable for civilized
people to endure, especially when it comes to food. The thought of
chewing and swallowing the repulsive little vermin that live under rocks
or in stagnant pools of water would make anyone gag. And yet, when
the Torah in this week’s portion delineates the organisms we are
forbidden to eat there is a detailed mention of all sorts of reptiles,
vermin and other loathsome creatures. Why does the Torah find it
necessary to forbid something we would find repulsive in any case?
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rewarded for refraining from eating vermin. Certainly, we are not
naturally predisposed to eating the slime of the earth. But when the
Torah imposes a legal prohibition on these selfsame vermin they
suddenly become strangely appealing. And when we resist this
temptation generated by the commandment itself we are rewarded for
our compliance. In this way, the Talmud tells us, Hashem rewarded us
with additional merit simply by imposing a prohibition on the most
loathsome foods imaginable.
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Genteel Ambiguity
Vulgar language is not acceptable according to the Torah. We
are always expected to speak with refinement and decorum, but the
Torah does not tell us this explicitly. Rather, the Torah lets us know by
inference in the context of the story of Noah’s ark.
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language are all good and well, but not at the price of allowing the
least bit of ambiguity into the prohibitions. Clarity overrides all other
considerations in the presentation of the laws. There is no room for
genteel ambiguity.
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PARASHAS TAZRIA
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that as long as it is still within the womb it continues to enjoy the
unrestrained radiance of the Divine Presence, that it continues to
experience the entire Torah with perfect clarity, that it can observe the
entire world from end to end with unrestricted vision.
In our own lives, we sometimes need to take a step back and ask
ourselves if we are allowing our neshamah to breathe or if we are burying
it under an avalanche of physicality. After all, the only true, eternal,
indestructible life we possess is the spiritual life of our neshamah. And if
we concentrate on removing the physical “blockages” that restrict its
spiritual consciousness and perception, we will be rewarded with a surge
of spiritual vitality that will invigorate and enrich our entire lives.
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Skin Deep
It first appears on the skin as a sickly white lesion, and then it
begins to spread. It looks like leprosy, but it is not. The Torah in this
week’s portion identifies as tzoraas, a strange phenomenon that
appeared when the Holy Temple existed. These lesions were not life
threatening, yet the Torah views them with utmost seriousness. The
afflicted person was put under priestly observation, and if his condition
deteriorated, he was quarantined. What is the significance of the
tzoraas lesions?
Our Sages tells us that these lesions afflicted those who spoke
malicious gossip and slander. They caused innocent people to be
estranged from their friends and neighbors. Therefore, they
themselves must suffer the isolation of quarantine. The questions,
however, still remain. Why does the quarantine have to result from skin
lesions rather than some other affliction?
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Vayikra: Tazria
A weary traveler was trudging along a dusty road, thinking
about where he could spend the night. Far off in the distance, he saw
the towering walls of a city, and he wondered if this would be a good
place to seek hospitality.
As he approached the city, he saw a sage sitting under a tree.
“Tell me, good sir,” said the traveler. “Do you know this city?” “Indeed I
do,” said the sage.
“Then perhaps you could tell me what kind of people live here?”
“I certainly can,” said the sage. “But first tell me what kind of people
live in your own city.”
“My own city?” said the traveler, his eyes shifting back over his
shoulder. “It is an evil place. The people are nasty. They watch you all
the time with suspicious eyes, and they whisper about you behind your
back. Stay away if you know what’s good for you.”
“Well, I am afraid you are out of luck, my friend,” said the sage.
“Unfortunately, you will find exactly the same kind of people here.”
A short while later, a second traveler approached the city. He
too saw the sage under the tree and decided to inquire about the
inhabitants.
“I will be glad to tell you,” said the sage. “But first tell me what
kind of people live in your own city.”
“My own city?” said the second traveler. “It is such a wonderful
place. The people are kind and considerate. They are always eager to
help each other in any way they can.”
“I’m happy to tell you, my young friend,” said the sage, “that
you have come to the right place. Those are just the kind of people you
will find here. I think you will find this city a most compatible place.”
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Surrounded by Mirrors
The city gates swing open, and a solitary man walks out,
carrying a bundle of food and personal belonging on his shoulder. The
gates swing shut behind him. He walks to a secluded spot, puts down
his things and sits down to contemplate his fate in the solitude of his
isolation. As we take a closer look, we notice strange skin lesions that
resemble leprosy. Who is this man, and why has he been banished to
sit in isolation outside the city? And why does he have lesions on his
skin?
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“The problem, my friend,” said the sage, “is that your son does
not see the good in other people. Therefore, when you say you see
good in him, he doesn’t believe it. Spend more time pointing out to him
all the goodness you see in other people. Once he sees that, he will
believe that others may see goodness in him.”
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Vayikra: Tazria
state of holiness in the world. In ancient times, people were on a very
high level of holiness. When they spoke maliciously and ruinously, they
tore a gaping hole in their holiness, leaving a big black hole, and the
negative energy that flowed into that void manifested itself as tzaraas.
In our day, however, the level of holiness is not high enough to trigger
such a phenomenon.
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PARASHAS METZORA
But the question still remains: Why isn’t it enough for the priests
to take him aside and talk to him about the virtues of humility and the
evils of malicious speech? Why is there a need for the hyssop?
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true humility.
“It’s just human nature,” said the principal. “You hear the
stories, but somehow, you never relate them to yourself. Listen to me.
Tomorrow, bring a wheelchair into your classroom and leave it there
for a few days. In their own minds, they will begin seeing themselves in
the wheelchair. Mark my words. In a week, they will all be wearing their
helmets.”
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Nothing Wasted
Nothing is as painful as the loss of a child. The wound it leaves
in the heart of the parent is so deep, so jagged that no amount of time
can ever heal it. And if that child was a shining young star, beautiful,
talented and accomplished, the pain is that much greater to bear. The
pain Aaron felt at the sudden demise of Nadab and Abihu, his two
brilliant sons who perished while bringing unauthorized fire into the
sanctuary, must have been excruciating.
With this in mind, let us take a close look at this week’s Torah
portion. The reading begins with a description of the sacrificial service
conducted by Aaron, the High Priest, on Yom Kippur. The Torah
prefaces these instructions with the following words, “And the Lord
spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they
drew near to Hashem and died . . . With this shall Aaron come into the
sanctuary, with a young bullock as a sin-offering . . .”
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that they acted out of tremendous although somewhat misguided zeal.
The commentators explain that anything a person does for the good
takes on a life and an existence of its own, even if its effectiveness is
not immediately apparent. The act, the word, the thought still exist, and
at some time and place in the future they can affect important results.
Nothing is lost. Nothing is wasted.
“All these years, I had thought I was grinding grain, that I was
helping make bread. But now I see that all that terrible hardship was a
total waste. That is simply too much to bear.”
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A Matter of Opinion
The two festivals of Pesach and Shavuos come in such rapid
succession they almost seem like one extended celebration. Indeed,
some commentators compare the intervening days between Pesach and
Shavuos, when we count down to the Omer, to Chol Hamoed, the
Intermediate Days of the Festivals. By rights, this should be one long
period of uninterrupted festivity - but it is not.
The days of Sefiras Haomer, the Countdown to the Omer, are also
days of mourning and sadness. We mourn a catastrophe that befell the
Jewish people in Talmudic times, shortly after the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem. The Talmud (Yevamos 62) tells us that a plague
broke out among the disciples of Rabbi Akiva during the period between
Pesach and Shavuos, killing twenty-four thousand of them.
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manifested itself in the intellectual sense.
The Talmud tells us that just as no two people are exactly identical
in their appearance, they are also not identical in their outlook and
opinions. Every person has his own particular way of looking at things,
and no one else in the world has exactly the same perspective. When
Rabbi Akiva taught his disciples, each one absorbed the teachings
according to the nuances of his particular perspective. This was, of
course, as was to be expected. But how did they view the opinions of their
colleagues?
This is where the “disrespect” came into play. They could not
acknowledge the possibility that other people’s perspectives might also
have validity. Each one considered his own opinion the absolute truth and
the opinions of his colleagues as erroneous. This attitude reflected a lack
of objectivity and intellectual honesty. They were so enamored of their
own wisdom that they could not see the wisdom of others and respect
their opinions. The transmission of the truth of the Torah to future
generations, however, required intellectual purity and integrity, and these
disciples were found lacking in that respect. Therefore, in order to prevent
the chain of transmission from being compromised, these disciples
perished in a plague.
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moment and deprived of the supreme and enduring pleasures of the
spirit. At the end, it falls off the final precipice and disintegrates into
nothingness.
A weary traveler, thirsty and covered with dust, sat by the side
of the highway in the broiling sun. Suddenly, he heard a rumble in the
distance. He looked up and saw a cloud of dust approaching. As it
drew near, he saw that it was a beautiful carriage drawn by four
handsome white horses. As the carriage drew nearer, it came to a halt,
and a rich man stepped out.
“My good fellow,” he said to the weary traveler, “can I offer you
a ride? It is much to hot to walk when you can ride in comfort.”
“Thank you, sir,” said the traveler, “but I must decline your kind
offer.”
“But why?” said the rich man. “I am not asking you for anything.
I’m just offering to help a man in obvious distress.”
“And I thank you for it,” said the traveler. “But you see, we are
not traveling in the same direction. You are traveling south, but I am
headed north. We have different destinations.”
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PARASHAS KEDOSHIM
A Critical Difference
Why do we cringe when our flaws and shortcomings are
pointed out to us? Why do we find criticism such a bitter pill to
swallow? Logic would seem to dictate the exact opposite. We all want
to be the very best we can possibly be, to reach our full potential.
Therefore, it is important that we know our flaws in order to correct
them, and we should be happy to have them pointed out to us. Why
then do we cringe? Why do we feel humiliated?
Criticism itself does not humiliate. After all, very few people
consider themselves absolutely perfect. Rather, it is the manner in
which the criticism is delivered that humiliates. Very often,
unfortunately, it is delivered in a mean-spirited, malicious manner,
whereby the critic demeans us in order to make himself appear "holier
than thou." It is a put-down, and we instinctively recoil.
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close down their stores for Shabbos - except for one grocer. No matter
how much pressure was brought on him, he refused to budge.
The grocer burst into tears. “You are the first one to try to see it
from my side,” he managed to say between sobs. “Everyone scolded
and berated me, but before you, no one tried to understand me.”
After that day, it did not take long before the grocer agreed to
close his store on Shabbos. A few kind words had been effective
where threats and invective had failed.
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Vayikra: Kedoshim
Do not think for a moment that occult practices are a harmless,
nondenominational spiritual experience. They are a rejection of the
Almighty, just like cursing your parents instead of blessing them is a
rejection of the people to whom you owe most in the world.
Upon returning home, the young man visited a great sage and
told him about the guru.
“Interesting,” said the sage, “but tell me, how did he treat his
wife?” “Well, he was a little sharp and abrupt with her.”
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PARASHAS EMOR
Give Me Liberty
A famous pre-Revolutionary American once said, “Give me
liberty or give me death!” Not all would agree that life without liberty is
not worth living, yet we all acknowledge that liberty is a priceless gift.
But what is liberation and why is it so precious? Is simply casting off all
restrictions a virtue? Should a mother aspire to be liberated from
caring for her infant child?
Furthermore, our Sages tell that “the only free person is one
who studies the Torah.” But how is Torah study liberating? If anything,
its many prohibitions and restrictions would seem to be quite
restrictive.
Let us look into the very first verse of this week’s Torah portion
for the answer. “And Hashem said to Moses, ‘Say it to the Kohanim,
the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them, ‘You shall not
contaminate yourselves . . .’” Say it to the Kohanim . . . and you shall
say to them . . . There are no superfluous words in the Torah. What
then is the point of this apparent redundancy?
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Ohr Shalom
But the question immediately jumps out at us. Why did the
Torah see fit to derive the guidelines for the minyan from the number
of slanderous spies? Could this information not have been conveyed in
some other fashion?
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The forces in the spiritual world also follow the same pattern. If
a group of ten men could produce results of such destructive intensity
that calamity would befall millions of Jews, this was clearly an
extremely potent spiritual force. Clearly, the connection effected by the
critical mass of ten Jews was so powerful that the group became far
greater than the sum of its parts. Surely, this selfsame force could also
be harnessed for the good to create the proper spiritual environment
for prayers and readings of special sanctity.
The battle began, and the army held fast, fighting desperately
for every inch of territory, But as the battle wore on, the superiority of
the enemy began to take its toll. First the right flank caved in, then the
left flank. The center held out for a while longer, then it too collapsed.
Only one battalion entrenched on a hilltop held out. They fought
furiously and with utmost bravery until they broke through the enemy
lines. They attacked the enemy’s communications and command
posts, wreaking such havoc that the battle ground to an inconclusive
halt.
The soldiers in the heroic battalion all received medals and
commendations, eventually becoming the subjects of military legend.
“How could your few men have accomplished such an amazing
feat?” the captain was asked at the ceremony.
“It’s quite simple,” said the captain. “Before the battle, we all
made a pact that we were willing to die for each other and the
fatherland. We all connected and became one solid group, not just a
collection of individuals. There is no limit to what a group of men can
do.”
In our own lives, we often tend to withdraw into our own insular
little worlds, enjoying the comforts and pleasures of our homes and
hearths with only a tangential relationship to the community at large.
By doing so, however, we forgo the opportunity to be part of a greater
good. But if we connect with others in the community, if we forge
alliances for the accomplishment of important goals for the community,
we can tap into the enormous spiritual power of the group and reap the
benefits in every aspect of our lives.
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49 Days, 11 Hours
It’s really a matter of simple arithmetic. Seven times seven is
forty-nine. Add one, and you get fifty. A young schoolchild shouldn’t
have any problems making this easy calculation. Yet it would appear
that the Torah does not trust us to get the answer right.
The Torah reassures us that all is not lost. Even if you waited
until the eleventh hour, it is still not too late. You may have missed the
opportunity to climb the fifty steps to perfection in the methodical,
laborious and reliable step-by-step process. But you need not despair.
You can still make the leap in one glorious bound. If you can generate
within yourself one burst of transcendent inspiration, you can be
catapulted right to the top of the fifty-step ladder in one day, in one
exhilarating moment.
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This is what the Torah is telling you. “Until the morrow of the
seventh week, you shall count fifty days.” You can still accomplish a
complete fifty-day count on the morrow of the seventh week. It will just
take more effort.
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And yet, this is exactly what Aaron the High Priest was required to
do at the dedication ceremony of the Levite tribe in a process called
tenufah. And he did it! It was an incredible feat, and it earned him the
honorary title High Priest. According to the Midrash, he was called High
Priest, because he was greatest of all the priests in physical strength. No
one else among the priests could have managed this astonishing feat, but
he did.
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Vayikra: Emor
For Aaron, God’s command was more galvanizing than the
greatest personal crisis. When God told him to lift the Levites, He did not
say it would be accomplished by a miracle. He told Aaron to lift, and Aaron
ran to do it. And as he was lifting the Levites, achieving physical feats that
staggered the imagination, God decided to perform a miracle to help him
complete the task in one day. A lesser man would have declared, “This is
an impossible task” and thrown up his hands in defeat. God would not
perform a miracle for such a man.
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PARASHAS BEHAR
A Place of Refuge
How low can a Jew fall in status? Even when a Jew is overcome
by such difficult circumstances that he is sold into slavery, he still retains
some of his former dignity and identity. At least, he finds himself in the
home of a co-religionist with a similar life style. However, enslavement to
a gentile resident of Eretz Yisrael, to bear the yoke of an alien master, that
is the ultimate social degradation possible for a Jew. How can this
unfortunate slave maintain his ties to family and tradition under such
conditions? The Torah, at the end of this week’s portion, directs him to
hold fast two commandments - spurning idolatry and keeping the Sabbath.
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little, the pile of tobacco in the square began to grow quite large.
The rabbi immediately called for another contraband item, and
once again, he was greeted by incredulous protests. But he persisted, and
slowly but surely, a second pile materialized as well.
“And now,” ordered the rabbi, “bring me all your bread!” This time,
however, all his persistence was to no avail. Not a single crumb appeared.
“Master of the Universe!” the rabbi cried out to the heavens. “How
wonderful are your people! Look at all this contraband. All the police
forces and threats of execution could not prevent them from collecting this
material. But one word from You forbidding bread on Passover, spoken
over three thousand years ago, and there in not one crumb in the whole
city!”
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Ohr Shalom
But let us take a closer look at the question. “What will we eat
in the seventh year?” Surely, they meant the eighth year, not the
seventh. Everyone knows that each year’s harvest provides the food
for the following year. The sixth year’s harvest thus assured them of
food for the seventh year. The seventh year’s harvest would have
provided the food for the eighth year, and therefore, leaving the land
fallow placed the eighth year in jeopardy, not the seventh. Why then
did they express concern about what they would eat in the seventh
year?
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the door.
“To ensure that their own grandchildren are also taken care of.”
“Aha!” said the sage. “And so on. And so on. I would certainly like to
see that one grandchild for whose benefit all these generations have
been working so hard. No, my friend. That is not the reason why you
work so hard. The real reason is that no matter how much money you
have you do not feel secure. Deep in your heart, you feel that the more
money you pile up the greater your guarantee of being wealthy for the
rest of your life. You are living in a fantasy.”
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Small Coincidences
Fire and thick clouds descended on Mount Sinai as millions of
Jewish people trembled in awe at the foot of the mountain. And then
the voice of the Almighty spoke directly to all the people, the first and
last time that such an incredible divine revelation would occur in all the
history of mankind. What did the Almighty say to the Jewish people on
that historic day at Mount Sinai? He gave them the Ten
Commandments.
But what about the rest of the Torah? Where and when was
that given to the Jewish people? In fact, all the rest of the Torah was
also given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. The encampment
remained at the foot of the mountain for over a year, and during this
time, Moses taught the entire Torah to the Jewish people, and the
process of study began.
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others) of the divine origin of the Torah. First of all, do laws of the
sabbatical year sound like something people would make up? And
even if we could conjure up some motivation for instituting such laws,
how exactly did they plan to deliver on the three-for-one crop in the
sixth year? This was not written by men. It couldn’t have been.
A man, who had business in a distant city, bid his wife farewell,
left his apartment and went out to the street to find a taxi. To his
delight, a taxi was standing at the curbside. At the airport, he found a
skycap waiting to take his luggage just as he opened his door. His
ticket was waiting for him at the counter, and once again, he was
delighted to discover he had been assigned his favorite seat. What
wonderful coincidences, he thought.
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PARASHAS BECHUKOSAI
One might have thought, therefore, that when the Creator chose to
establish His Abode among the Jewish people it would spell the beginning
of the end for His special relationship with them. Although, He certainly is
all-seeing and all-knowing, when the shortcomings and foibles of the
Jewish are not brought into the spotlight of the Divine Presence, so to
speak, they are not as easily dismissed. When Hashem actually dwells
among the Jewish people, a higher standard of behavior is required;
anything less would be “revolting” to Him. From the side of the people,
furthermore, one might have thought that the thrill of having the Divine
Vayikra: Bechukosai
Presence among them would eventually dissipate, and the people would
take it for granted, once again causing Him to be “revolted,” so to speak.
Therefore, Hashem reassures us that this will not happen. The
relationship would grow ever stronger, breeding respect not contempt.
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Intrinsic Rewards
What do we really gain after the struggles of a lifetime? Even
under the best of circumstances, life is but a bubbling brew of joy and
grief, of success and failure, of hope and despair. We accumulate
wealth and possessions, and we leave them all behind. So where are
life’s rewards? Are the brief experiences of pride and pleasure, the
occasional highs, sufficient compensation for all the effort we invest in
life?
“The reward for a mitzvah,” the Sages say, “is the mitzvah.”
What does this mean? The sacred texts find a correlation between the
word mitzvah and the word tzavsa, which means connection. The
performance of a mitzvah, they explain, connects you directly to the
Almighty. The more mitzvos you do the more closely connected you
become. This connection itself is the highest form of reward to which
we could possibly aspire, and its achievement is entirely within our
power. Conversely, anything we do to weaken this connection is its
own greatest punishment.
In our own lives, material goals and rewards can easily distract
us, and we may find that we are expending inordinate amounts of
physical and emotional energy in that direction. But life is ephemeral,
and those rewards will not accompany us when we are done. Only the
rewards of the spirit enrich us in a meaningful and lasting way.
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“One day this war will come to an end,” one refugee said to the
other, “and we will go home and resume our lives. I have a photograph
of my house that I look at from time to time. It brings me comfort.”
He drew out a crumpled photograph from his pocket and
showed it to his companion.
His companion nodded. “Nice. But mine is even more
comforting.” He drew out his own photograph and handed it over.
“But this is a picture of a bombed-out house!” exclaimed the
first man. “How can this be comforting to you?”
“This war has gone on for a long time. It is caused a lot of
chaos. Who knows what we will find when we return? Who knows how
hard it will be to recover our property? My house is devastated, and I
don’t think anyone will bother to rebuild it and move in as long as this
war is raging. I will reclaim it when I return and take the greatest
pleasure in rebuilding it.”
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BAMIDBAR
Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS BAMIDBAR
But was this indeed a fair system? Was it right that for all
generations no member of another tribe could aspire to the priestly duties
of the Levites? What happened to upward mobility? How can this be
reconciled with our contemporary conception of justice?
The answer lies in the difference between the Jewish attitude and
the contemporary secular attitude. In the secular view, the purpose of
each individual’s existence is solely for personal fulfillment. Therefore, if
all people are inherently equal, their purposes are also equal, and no one
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should be allowed to take precedence over someone else.
In the Jewish view, on the other hand, all people are united in one
common purpose, the fulfillment of the divine plan for the world. Each
person in the world has a divinely assigned role which will allow him to
contribute to the universal effort to fulfill the will of Hashem. Some roles
are, of course, more prominent and prestigious than others. But in the
greater scheme of things, everyone is of equal importance, since
everyone’s contribution is essential towards achieving the greater
common goal.
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Bamidbar: Bamidbar
society, a person who stands on his principles and refuses to
compromise in order to curry favor with others.
The Torah does not seek to make people into hermits and
monastics. Rather, the paradigm of a true Torah Jew is one who brings
the light of Torah to society with a sincere smile on his face and
tempered steel in his heart, a gregarious recluse.
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Why did God put off the organization of the encampment until
the end of the second year of the Jewish people’s sojourn in the
desert? Why did He allow chaotic conditions to prevail for so long?
Each tribe had its own outlook and personality, which gave it a
singular perspective on Torah and Jewish issues. Had the tribes been
assigned to different sections of the encampment, there was a high
likelihood that their ideological differences would lead to factionalism
and dissension. At the same time, ideological differences among the
tribes could also be a potential source of great national strength. The
various perspectives could engender lively exchanges and debates.
So how could the ideological differences be used to create a strong
intellectual, emotional and spiritual vitality without leading to
factionalism?
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But this condition could only be allowed to continue for a limited
time. Otherwise, the tribes would truly melt together into some kind of
a composite that lacked the focused strengths and virtues of each
individual tribe. Therefore, God instructed the tribes to separate into a
structured encampment in the second year, after the Mishkan had
been built. The tribes would thus retain their individual character and
still remain bonded to the rest of the Jewish people by their common
connection to the divine Abode in their midst.
“They certainly did,” said the sergeant. “Tell me, if you are
called on to support the infantry in battle with artillery fire, will you rush
to do it?”
“But will it help at all if you now that your friend is in the infantry?” “I
suppose it would.”
“There you go,” said the sergeant. “Starting with all the men
together leads to greater sense of commitment.”
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PARASHAS NASO
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Bamidbar: Naso
In our own lives, we are confronted by this paradox all the time.
The prayers are exactly formulated, the times and modes of mitzvah
performance are strictly delineated by Halachah. Tinkering, modifying
and improvising are sometimes tempting options for frustrated people,
but they are strictly forbidden. Where then is the room for individual
expression and creativity, for the development of a personal
relationship with the Creator?
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A Drink of Wine
What is the greatest blessing to which a person can aspire in
this world? For Jewish people, at least, the answer seems to be peace.
How do people in Israel greet and take leave of each other? Shalom,
the Hebrew word for peace. What is the traditional Jewish greeting?
Shalom aleichem, let there be peace unto you. Peace, always peace.
Jewish people know full well that without peace there is nothing.
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is the ideal mode of living. The Nazir felt himself out of balance, drawn
to worldly temptations to an inappropriate degree. Therefore, the Torah
allows him to go temporarily to the opposite extreme in order to regain
his balance. Once that period is over, once he recaptures his inner
harmony, he “should drink wine.”
“Indeed?” said the principal. “Do you think removing him will
bring you peace?”
The principal shook his head. “I’m afraid you are wrong.
Removing this troublemaker from your class will bring you silence.
Making him a functioning, contributing member of the class would
bring you peace.”
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Moreover, the Torah tells us that one who takes the Nazirite
vow is required to bring a sin offering. What was his sin? Our Sages
explain that it is sinful to proscribe the legitimate forms of pleasure,
such as drinking wine in moderation, that Hashem has made available
to people. If so, why indeed should one who sees the degradation of
an adulteress take the somewhat sinful Nazirite vow rather than follow
a more spiritual path?
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penetrate our defenses, we must act immediately. This is no time for
contemplation and deep thoughts. A fire is raging, and we must spring
into action. Once the fire is brought under control, we can return to our
exalted introspection. But first we must take drastic action.
What would she do with egg? She had plans. This single egg
would change her life. She would place under her neighbor’s chicken
until it hatched. Then she would take the precious little chick and take
care of it until it grew into a strong, healthy chicken. Her chicken would
lay more eggs, which would then hatch and become more chickens.
She would sell some of her surplus chickens and buy a goat with the
money. Then she would sell the goat’s milk and save up the money to
buy more goats. Before too long, she would be a rich woman living.
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Guaranteed Investments
Gifts are not worth much if the recipient cannot keep them. In
fact, that is the very meaning of the word “gift,” something that is given,
something that may used in any way the recipient sees fit. If so, how
do we explain the Torah’s choice of words when describing the
mitzvah of giving tithes and gifts to the Kohein, the one who performs
the priestly duties for the community? Listen closely to the words of the
Torah. “And all that a man gives to the Kohein shall be his.” (5:10)
Well, if he gives it to the Kohein, then it is obviously his, isn’t it?
The only way a person can safeguard his money and make
sure he always retains it is by using it in a way that will bring him
eternal reward. When he gives some of his to a beggar who cannot
feed his family. He has earned himself eternal reward. When he gives
to the Kohein who ministers to the spiritual needs of the community, he
has earned himself eternal reward. When he supports institutions of
Torah, he has earned himself eternal reward. This is what the Torah is
saying. “And all that a man gives to the Kohein shall be his.” Only
when he uses his money for a higher purpose does it become truly
“his.” Only then is his investment guaranteed.
A great sage once visited a very wealthy man. “They say you
are very rich,” said the sage. “Is it true?” “I’m afraid it is,” said the man.
“I am one of the wealthiest men in the country.”
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The man took the sage into his back room and opened some of
his account books for him.
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The Torah relates that God told Moses with regard to each clan
individually to count them and delineate their assignments. Strangely,
however, the Torah speaks about the clan of Kehas at the end of last
week’s portion and the other two clans at the beginning of this week’s
portion. This is highly unusual. The Torah does not normally divide one
cohesive subject between two weekly portions. What is the message
here?
For the same reason, the command to count is given with the
unusual word naso, lift up. This was the message to the clan of
Gershon. Lift up your spirits. Do not feel disheartened because you
were given a lesser assignment. It is not a reflection on your worth. It
does not mean that you are inadequate. Do not be discouraged. You
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too are descended from the great Levi. You too have royal blood
flowing in your veins and immense spiritual energy in your hearts. You
too have a great and glorious destiny. For whatever reason, one
brother may sometimes be given preference over another, but you
must never use this as the measure of your own worth. Doing so will
only cloud your own judgment and cause you to lose sight of your own
inherent greatness. Focus on how you can improve yourself.
Concentrate on your own spiritual growth, and you will never go wrong.
With a sigh, he walked into the bathroom to wash his hand and
face. As he splashed water on his face, he cried out in surprise. He
had found his glasses! They were perched on his forehead. He must
have pushed them up before he fell asleep and forgotten about it.
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PARASHAS BEHA’ALOSCHA
What was the purpose of all this constant relocation? And why
was it done in a manner so unpredictable and fraught with such
difficulty? Why did God force them into such a trying nomadic
existence?
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license, then life will be just perfect.” Or: “When we get married and
settle down in a place of our own, then life will be uninterrupted bliss.”
And what about their relationship with the Creator? “I know I have to
improve,” they say. “Just let me get past these hurdles, and then I will
concentrate on it.”
“Because it is so cold,” said the young man. “Then close the window,”
said the sage.
The young man closed the window but still was not studying. “What
now?” asked the sage.
“My dear young man, if you had wanted to, you really could
have studied in the cold. And if you don’t want to, you can find a
reason under any circumstances.”
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A Taste of Heaven
It didn’t cost anything. They didn’t have to work for it. They
didn’t even have to go anywhere to pick it up. For the entire forty years
the Jewish people spent in the desert, they did not have to worry about
where their next meal was coming from. It fell from the heavens in the
form of manna. When they stepped out of their tents in the morning,
there it was, covering the fields like a shimmering crystalline blanket on
a bed of moist dew.
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and discover the divine truths of the universe, there is nothing more
exhilarating and fulfilling than the Torah, the divine water of creation.
In this light, we gain new insight into the manna. This “bread of
the angels” was more than just a simple physical food. It was a piece
of heaven, sparks of spirituality captured and transformed into a
physical form, but spiritual in its essence nonetheless. Those who
sought spirituality, who were attuned to the spiritual pulse of the
universe, were able to connect with this angelic food and experience
the most exhilarating and fulfilling tastes imaginable. But those focused
completely on the physical world could not relate to the singular nature
of the manna; they were completely oblivious to the taste of heaven it
delivered. To them, the manna was a bland and boring substitute for a
good piece of steak.
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Towards the end of this week’s portion, we read that Aaron and
Miriam took their brother Moses to task for separating from his wife.
Why was it necessary, they contended, to withdraw from ordinary life?
After all, they were also blessed with the gift of prophecy and they still
had normal spousal relationships. At this point, the Torah interrupts the
story to tell us about Moses’s humility. Then the story is continued.
Hashem reprimands them severely for their slander, and Miriam is
punished.
The commentators explain that very often people who set off in
pursuit of spiritual greatness remove themselves from human society
and isolate themselves from contact with other people. This, however,
is not the path towards spiritual growth that the Torah advocates. Such
people may indeed expand their awareness of the Creator, but at the
same time they are also expanding their awareness of themselves. By
focusing on their own goals, ideals and aspirations at the expense of
other people, they are inevitably channeling their lives into a selfish
direction. This is not what the Torah wants.
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to advance his own personal spiritual goals, regardless of how his wife
was affected. Therefore, she took him to task for being so focused on
his own goals that he became insensitive to the needs of others, in this
case his own wife.
Not so, the Torah bears witness. Moses was the ultimate
humble man, without a single selfish bone in his body, and his decision
to separate from his wife was clearly not for his own aggrandizement
but for the greater good of the Jewish people.
“Oh, the words of the sage are like the sun,” said one of the
students. “When I listen to him I realize that I am absolutely nothing.
That’s all I am. A great big nothing.”
His friend nodded sagely. “I know exactly how you feel. I feel
exactly the same way. When I sit at his feet, listening to the pearls of
wisdom pouring from his lips, I realize am just a nothing, a living,
breathing nothing.”
The new student was very moved and inspired. “Me, too,” he
cried out. “When I look at the glowing face of the sage, I realize that I
too am just a nothing.”
One of the older students turned to the new student and fixed
him with an eagle stare. “Listen to this!” he exclaimed. “This fellow has
just arrived in the academy, and already he presumes to be a nothing.”
In our own lives, we often find ourselves taking the high ground
in various circumstances and professing moral indignation about the
behavior of other people. In such cases, we would do well to take out a
little time for introspection and examine our motivations. If there is
even the least bit of self-interest involved, if we seek to show that we
have a higher standard than other people, then we would do better to
remain silent.
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Lighting the Menorah was far more than the simple act of
illuminating the physical space of the Sanctuary in which it stood.
Every morning, when Aaron ignited the seven holy flames, he also
sparked a new outflow of incandescent spiritual illumination that lit up
the world. The Menorah was the prism through which the divine light
concealed in the physical world shone forth into the open, where it
could be perceived by people of high spiritual achievement and
sensitivity.
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expression through his act of kindling the Menorah. For this he
deserved immense praise.
“Why are you doing this?” one of the congregants asked him.
“Your father was highly successful. Why change so many things? Why
don’t you follow in your father’s footsteps?”
In our own lives, we cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap
of becoming repetitive in our religious practices. Life is full of mystery,
surprises and unprecedented opportunities for finding the divine light in
the world around us and giving it expression through our own deeds.
No two people are alike, no two days, no two moments. If we seek out
their special qualities and address them with spirituality, we can find
inspiration and closeness to Hashem every day that we live upon this
earth.
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Perpetual Illumination
Every parent and teacher knows that children must be praised for
special efforts and accomplishments, not for what is expected of them as
a matter of course. Praise loses its value if it is too easily given. And yet,
in this week’s portion, after Aaron and his descendants are given the
honor of lighting the Menorah, the Torah praises Aaron for performing this
ritual “as Hashem had commanded him to do.”
Rashi quotes the explanation of the Sages that Aaron was being
praised for not altering the performance of this mitzvah. But the question
still remains: What was so remarkable about his abiding by the rules in a
fairly straightforward matter such as lighting the Menorah? What motive
would he have had to do otherwise?
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But if they could recapture that inspiration every single day, their
enthusiasm would never flag.
The Menorah was the symbol of the divine light in the mundane
world. Every day, when Aaron stood before this golden beacon, he saw
beyond the glittering arms and glowing flames. He saw the splendid
spiritual radiance it represented, and he was struck anew by a sense of
indescribable awe. Therefore, in the context of his performance of this
mitzvah, the Torah praises Aaron for the superb level of inspiration that
infused all his priestly duties and activities.
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PARASHAS SHELACH
Hard Choices
The vast Jewish encampment stands at the edge of the desert on
the threshold of Canaan. It is a time of incredible excitement. After
centuries of bondage in Egypt, the Jewish people are finally returning as a
nation to their ancestral homeland. They know that Hashem has promised
them the land, but they also know they will have to fight a war of conquest.
They choose twelve outstanding men, one from each tribe, and send them
off to reconnoiter the land before they invade. The results of this ill-fated
expedition are disastrous, to say the least.
The Torah tells us that the Jewish people asked Moses to send
the spies, and as always, Moses presented the question to Hashem.
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with the temptations and challenges of life, and it would certainly be easy
to deal with it by withdrawing into a monastic life of sheltered meditation.
But that is not what we are meant to do. The Torah teaches us to live
spiritually at the very center of civilization. It teaches us not to run away
but to face the issues squarely and make the hard choices.
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Gentle Reminders
The universal image of the devout Jew is a praying figure
wrapped in a tallis, but it is not the tallis that is significant. Rather, it is
the long fringes on each of its four corners. At the conclusion of this
week’s Torah portion, we read that these fringes were to be dyed a
particular shade of blue called techeiles. What was the significance of
this particular shade of blue?
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Torah realizes full well that no matter how spiritual we want to be, no
matter how much we would like think of Hashem, we still live in the
mundane world. We have to earn a living and pay the mortgage and
take care of the children, and we cannot realistically expect to keep our
minds focused on Hashem at all times.
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Our Sages tell us that they were among the greatest and finest
leaders of the respective tribes.
Let us look into this week’s Torah reading for the answer.
When the spies returned from their mission, they made a very
revealing comment, “We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that
is how we appeared in their eyes.”
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felt intimidated and overwhelmed. They shriveled within, unable to
believe that they were worthy of yet another display of spectacular
miracles. And so they chose to slander the land in order to deflect the
Jewish people from their plans of conquest and to persuade them to
remain in the relative safety of the Desert.
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Heart Palpitations
One might have thought that after their first attempt at
espionage ended in such a major disaster the Jewish people would
learn their lesson. Yet at first glance, it seems they didn’t.
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Bamidbar: Shelach
melt away before us.” The spies gauged the morale of the defenders
and found them quaking with fear. Victory would be easy. The purpose
of their mission was not to devise strategies, select invasion routes or
target points of attack. Their purpose was to reassure the invaders that
the battle would go easily in their favor.
The man paused. “But tell me, can I live like this?”
The sage laughed. “My good friend,” he said, “the closer you
get to the Creator the more comfortable you will become with your
faith.”
In our own lives, we know the feeling very well. We have faith
in the Almighty, but our hearts are in our mouths until everything works
out. These feelings do not mean we do not have faith. It is quite all
right to be anxious about the outcome. But if we want to reduce the
feelings of anxiety, the only answer is to draw closer to the Almighty.
The more strongly we feel His presence around us the more secure we
will feel.
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Reverse Spin
Spies never had it so good. Ordinarily, spies devote at least as
much time and effort to avoiding detection as they do to the collection
of vital information. But the spies Moses sent to reconnoiter the Holy
Land did not need to worry at all about detection. They were traveled
the length and breadth of the land and gathered all the information
they needed, and yet, no one paid them the slightest attention.
Wherever they went, they encountered one funeral procession after
another. It seemed that just about every Canaanite in the land was in
mourning.
That, however, was not how the spies interpreted the situation.
They were among the most prominent and distinguished leaders of
their respective tribes, and they understood full well that the rash of
funerals could not be mere coincidence. Instead, they saw them as a
negative reflection on the land. “Why are so many people dying all
around us?” they said to each other. “Why do we see only funeral
processions wherever we go? This must be a very harsh land, a land
that devours its inhabitants.”
But what had the spies done wrong? Did they lie? Did they
invent any stories that were not true? All they said was that they
encountered funerals wherever they went, and they offered their
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interpretation.
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS KORACH
One-sided Arguments
The stakes were high, the tension unbearable. Although Moses
had his hands full from the very beginning, nothing like this had ever
happened before. Contentious, argumentative, hard to satisfy, the “stiff-
necked” Jewish people had tested him again and again, yet they had
never challenged his authority. But now the aristocratic Korach and his
followers were contesting Moses’s right to lead, and the budding conflict
threatened to rip the community to pieces. Only the miraculous absorption
of the dissenters into the bowels of the earth averted catastrophe.
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Bamidbar: Korach
weaknesses of each argument, bringing everyone closer to the common
goal. In this light, these were truly the arguments of “Hillel and Shamai,”
since both were equal partners in this intellectual enterprise.
On the other hand, Korach and his followers were not engaged in
a quest for the power. They were motivated only by the quest for personal
power. They were not interesting in engaging Moses in an intellectual
debate to clarify the issues. They simply wanted him out of the way so that
they could grab the reins of power. Therefore. Moses was not a partner in
this argument, and the Mishnah rightfully refers to it as “the arguments of
Korach and his followers.” Such an argument, which would readily
sacrifice truth for personal gain, has no staying power.
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Bamidbar: Korach
emotions in our prayer, if we experience an uplifting personal connection,
then our prayer connects us to Him, regardless of whether or not we
receive a positive response to our request. Prayers that result in personal
growth are successful prayers. Sometimes, that very personal growth can
effect changes in the divinely ordained order of things, but the efficacy of
the prayers does not depend on these changes.
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“All the people are holy,” Korach and his followers declared.
“Why do you place yourselves above them?” Surely, they contended,
Hashem would want the power and the privilege spread about more
equitably.
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all-embracing love for the people that earned him the privilege of
wearing the priestly vestments.
The service itself may have been easy, but getting to the
required level of worthiness was not. It required a lifetime of effort.
Unfortunately, the rebels had to learn the hard way that there is no
easy way in.
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How could such a thing happen? How could one of the leading
Jewish sages of his generation stoop so low as to rebel against
Moses? The commentators explain that it all began quite innocently.
Korach had a strong desire to be close to the Almighty, and he strove
to achieve that goal through the study of Torah and the performance of
the commandments. But then he saw that there was another avenue
open to Moses and Aaron, an avenue that was closed to him. Moses
and Aaron had the special privilege of serving the Almighty in the
Mishkan, of entering the inner sanctums and treading on the most
hallowed ground on the face of the earth. Korach was filled with a
righteous envy. How he longed to serve the Almighty at the highest
level possible. How yearned to be as close as possible to Him.
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This is jealousy in its pure form, concerned that someone might have
something better.
A poor traveler once passed through the village and spent the
Sabbath there. Friday night, he stood at the back of the synagogue
waiting for someone to invite him for the meals. The president was
talking to the rabbi.
Just then, the president turned around and saw what had
happened.
“Did you see that?” he said to the rabbi furiously. “How dare
that fellow extend an invitation before me. Maybe I wanted him as my
guest!”
“My good fellow,” said the rabbi. “If you are really motivated by
feelings of hospitality, then you should be happy for the traveler who
now has a good place to stay. If you are upset, it must be that you
were more concerned with your own pleasure than with the needs of
the guest.”
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Faint Perception
Korach says to Moshe, “Why do you elevate yourself above the
congregation of Hashem?” Korach claimed that Moshe was acting
haughtily. How could he possibly have accused Moshe, the humblest
of all man of vanity, wasn’t this rather absurd?
“What do you mean”, said the Rabbi? “Why did you look at
those other Jews that refused to share the siddur with others? Why
didn’t you look at those who were willing to give up their precious life
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support for their faith?”
In our own lives, all too often we too see others with our own
warped sense of pointing out the failings of others. We are simply
trying to justify our own weaknesses. Let’s try to cultivate a positive
sense of hi-lighting other peoples good points, thus accentuating our
own positive traits.
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PARASHAS CHUKAS
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Bamidbar: Chukas
“Certainly not! You have to live with a native family in their hut, just
as exactly as they live. No running water. The most primitive conditions.
But you will learn the language.”
The businessman took his foreman’s advice, and within a few
short months, he was indeed fluent in the language.
This is where Moses differed from King Solomon. Moses was the
most humble man that ever lived. Completely devoid of an independent
ego, he was able to attach himself to the Torah with a totality that was
impossible for any other human, including the wise King Solomon.
Therefore, he alone was able to fathom the profoundly obscure meaning
of the ritual of the red heifer.
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Leadership Qualities
He brought down the wrath of Heaven on Egypt until Pharaoh
agreed to let the Jewish people go. He led them out to freedom. He parted
the sea and led them through. He brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai
to receive the Torah. He guided them through the desert for forty years.
But at the last moment, when they stood poised on the threshold of the
Promised Land, his leadership came to an end. Moses passed away
without stepping a foot into the Promised Land.
We find the answer in this week’s Torah portion. After Miriam died,
the miraculous well from which the people had slaked their thirst in the
desert vanished, and they were left without water. They maligned Moses
for taking them from the gardens of Egypt into an arid wasteland. Hashem
told Moses to assemble the people and speak to the rock, which would
then give forth water. Moses called the people together. “Listen, you
rebels,” he declared angrily. “Can water come out of this rock?” Then he
struck the rock with his staff and water flowed. But Moses had erred.
Instead of speaking to the rock, he had struck it. And for this, Hashem
decreed that Moses would not enter the Promised Land.
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thoughts, convictions and motivations were never controlled by the ebb
and flow of public opinion. Therefore, since he was not really one of them,
he did not have to share the unfortunate fate of the people when they
erred and sinned.
A man once asked a great sage for his opinion of some popular
political leaders.
“They are like dogs,” he replied. The man was puzzled. “Like dogs?
Why?”
“Very simple,” said the great sage. “When a man walks down the
street with his dog, the dog always runs ahead, yapping excitedly. But
when he gets to the corner, he doesn’t know which way to turn. So he
stands and waits for his master to catch up. Once his master chooses the
new direction, the dog is off and running once again. These leaders you
mentioned have no opinions or convictions of their own. They sniff the air
to discover in which direction the wind is blowing, and then they are off
and running. Some leaders!”
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Miriam’s Well
Without water, life cannot survive. Nonetheless, millions of
Jewish people survived in the parched and barren desert for forty
years. How was this possible? Only through a miracle. During their
travels through the desert, the Jewish people were accompanied by a
rock from which an abundant supply of water constantly flowed. It was
called Miriam’s Well, because it existed in the merit of Moses’ older
sister Miriam, who was a righteous woman and a prophetess in her
own right.
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Husbands and wives separated in order to avoid producing children
who would be drowned, but Miriam persuaded her parents to have
faith and remain together. As a result, her brother Moses, redeemer of
the Jewish people, was born. Miriam was the famous midwife Puah,
who crooned to the infants when they were born.
“Don’t worry,” the wagon driver reassured him. “All will be well.” “But
how do I know that?”
In our own lives, we find it easier to have faith when things are
going reasonably well. When we seem to be on the road to success
and encounter trials and struggles, we have faith that we will ultimately
succeed. But what happens when things are falling apart, Heaven
forbid? What happens when they become stormy? Those are the times
that test our faith. Those are also the times when our faith can spell the
difference between hope and despair.
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PARASHAS BALAK
Forever a Donkey
How is it possible for a pompous fool to have the gift of prophecy,
to communicate directly with Hashem? This question immediately springs
to mind as we read the amazing story of Bilaam in this week’s parashah.
Bilaam had immense powers. He could marshal awesome cosmic forces
to serve his designs. He could foresee the future all the way to Messianic
times. And yet he seems to have been an evil, money-grubbing buffoon
ridiculed by his own donkey. How could this be?
Our Sages tell us that Bilaam did not earn his gift of prophecy
through any merit of his own. Rather, it was because Hashem did not
want the gentiles to have any excuses for their rejection of the Torah. He
did not want them to say, “We are not to blame. The Jewish people had
Moses as their prophet, but we had no one.” Therefore, Hashem gave
them a prophet of comparable power in the corrupt person of Bilaam.
But the question still remains: True, Bilaam did not attain prophecy
because of his fine character and spiritual qualities. Nonetheless,
shouldn’t the very experience of communicating with Hashem have
wrought fundamental changes in his character? How could he remain
such a silly fool after perceiving the grandest prophetic visions?
The commentators point out that the word used to describe the
initiation of contact between Hashem and Bilaam is almost identical to the
word describing the initiation of contact between Hashem and Moses, and
yet they are worlds apart. “Vayekar Elokim el Bilaam,” the Torah (23:3)
states. “And the Lord chanced upon Bilaam.” It was like a chance
encounter, brusque, businesslike, and distasteful. Not so with Moses.
“Vayikra el Moshe,” the Torah (Leviticus 1:1) declares. “And He called to
Moses.” Hashem calls out to him with excitement and awaits him with
anticipation, so to speak.
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lies the key to the difference between Moses and Bilaam.
It is possible for two people to have the same experience, and yet,
one will be deeply affected while the other remains indifferent.
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Bamidbar: Balak
genuinely righteous people if our motives are less than righteous, if we
seek recognition, gratitude or even gratification.
“This is such a busy town,” observed the sage. “You must have
guests in your home all the time.”
“Oh no,” said the wealthy man. “There are plenty of very
reasonably priced guesthouses in town. There is never a problem.”
The sage immediately jumped to his feet and called to his
attendant.
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Balak led Bilam to a high promontory from which they saw the
entire Jewish encampment. Balak gleefully rubbed his hands together
in anticipation of Bilam’s potent curses, but to his astonishment,
blessings rather than curses poured forth from Bilam’s mouth.
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be more glaring. Once again he was unsuccessful, and therefore, he
narrowed his focus even more by cursing the people even though he
was unable to highlight any particular fault. But even these curses
were ineffectual, because Hashem protects the righteous.
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PARASHAS PINCHAS
Perhaps we can find the keys to this dilemma in this week’s Torah
reading. After a close brush with disaster at the hands of Balak and
Bilaam, the Jewish people are corrupted by the Midianites who send their
own daughters to entice the Jewish people into sin. The Torah exacts a
terrible vengeance for this treachery, ordering the Jewish people to crush
the Midianites mercilessly. And yet, the Torah tells us to be grateful to the
Egyptians, even though they enslaved the Jews for centuries, because
they provided hospitality to our people in times of distress. How
incongruous this seems as first glance! The Egyptians who oppressed,
enslaved and tried to annihilate the Jews are to be treated with kid gloves,
while the Midianites are to be crushed?!
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sought the physical destruction of the Jews, and every decree was
designed to accomplish that end. The Midianites wanted to subvert the
Jews spiritually, and that is far more destructive. The direction, the goal,
the very life of the Jew is spiritual, and therefore, the attack of the
Midianites was direct and against the very essence of the Jewish people.
If the Jewish people are to be the crown princes of the world, it will
not be their material possessions which qualify them but their spiritual
achievements. The freedom we enjoy in the United States today is
certainly a wonderful thing, but it also presents a serious danger. We have
been lulled into a sense of complacency. Our spiritual walls have been
breached, and we are under a relentless cultural attack. We are indeed in
exile, an exceedingly insidious and subtle exile. Our only defense is to
dam up the breach in our own personal lives, to saturate our lives with the
Torah spirit, to reaffirm our unswerving commitment to Torah values and
ideals. Our very survival as a nation is at stake.
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No Little Things
What is the image that comes to mind when we think of the
ideal national leader? Someone who has a grasp of the issues, who
can see the big picture. Someone who is strong and courageous, who
can hold his own in the arena of international affairs in times of war
and peace. Someone who has a vision for the future and the ability to
make it happen. Someone who, through his words and actions, can
inspire and galvanize his people.
For forty years, Moses had fulfilled this role. During all this time,
as he enjoyed daily prophetic encounters with Hashem, Moses was
constantly growing in holiness until he reached a point where he was,
according to the Midrash, half human, half angel. Even so, whenever
the people had challenged the divine will, he had fathomed their
motivations and defended them. Even as he ascended from the
mundane to the celestial, the gulf between him and his people had
never widened to the point where he could not relate to them. Now that
it was time for a change in leadership, Hashem chose Joshua who
also excelled in his sensitivity to the nuances of each individual’s spirit.
This was the fundamental quality that Hashem wanted for a Jewish
leader.
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Bamidbar: Pinchas
his trapped and starving guerillas. “If we can fight our way out of this
corner,” he announced, “I will issue a large bonus to each man. You
will have enough money to buy all the bread and meat and fruits and
vegetables you need to recover your strength.”
The next day, the one of the general’s aides stormed into his
tent. “Sir, a whole group of the men took their bonus money and
wasted it!”
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Ideally, the first from of peace leads to the second. What starts
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Bamidbar: Pinchas
as a marriage of convenience blossoms into a marriage of love.
“Indeed?” said the doctor. “Are you telling me that both of you
have the same symptoms?”
“Oh no,” said the sage. “I feel perfectly fine. It is my wife who is
ill. But when she becomes fatigued and out of breath, I feel as if I am
suffering as well.”
In our own lives, we all yearn for the gift of peace which will
allow us to savor life’s blessings. But what sort of peace do we seek?
A peace of accommodation and expediency may give us some respite
from the hurly-burly of existence, but in the end, it is superficial. Deep
down, we are still at odds with the world around us. All we will have
accomplished in doing is putting a lid on it. Our true goal should be to
achieve a deeper peace, a peace that connects us with our people, our
world, our Creator, a peace that enriches us with the transcendent
serenity that comes from the sense of being complete.
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At this time, Moses does not think of his own desires and
yearnings. Rather, his thoughts are with his people, the unruly but
beloved flock he has guided through many crises during his tenure as
leader. What will happen to the people when he is gone? he wonders.
“Please appoint a leader for them,” he pleads with God, “one who will
go out and come back at the head of the people, so that they will not
be like sheep without a shepherd.”
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and martial skills. He can easily forget that it is only by the grace of
God that he has lived to see this day and glory in it. This is where the
Jewish king must exert himself to the greatest extreme. He must
“come back” at the head of his army, showing his followers that a
faithful Jew returns from battle with an even greater feeling of humility
and the most profound gratitude to the Almighty for protecting him and
granting him victory over his enemies.
This was the kind of shepherd Moses was for the Jewish
people for so many. This is the kind of leader he prayed would be his
successor.
Terrified, the young man spent the next two days deep in
prayer, pleading with God to spare him from an untimely death.
“I have good news, my friend,” said the doctor on his next visit.
“There is nothing seriously wrong with you. It seems it’s just a
seasonal allergy.”
In our own lives, we often tend to ascribe our good or ill fortune
to happenstance. We sometimes look at the world as a place of
random events, and whether we suffer or prosper is governed by sheer
chance. To do so, however, would be dangerous self-delusion. Real
security derives only from faith and the knowledge that we are all in
God’s hands.
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PARASHAS MATTOS
Personal Tragedies
Two men commit identical crimes. Both are convicted and
sentenced. One remains in confinement for twenty-five years, while the
other goes free after six months. How is this possible?
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personal connection to the High Priest, whether or not they had actually
ever met, and learning from his example, he began to develop those
positive character traits he had been missing before.
Therefore, when the High Priest died, the exiled killers who had
become so attached to him were devastated. Each of them, in his own
way, felt he had suffered a deep personal tragedy. This catharsis sealed
forever the bond between the erstwhile killers and the saintly High Priest,
thereby completing the process of their expiation. After mourning the
death of the High Priest, the exiles were fully rehabilitated.
The High Priest’s mother, however, was concerned that the exiled
killers would not relate to her son in a direct personal way but rather as an
abstract symbol in distant Jerusalem, and therefore, they might pray for
his death. Therefore, she brought them food and small gifts. Let them
meet the High Priest’s mother and enjoy her cookies and chocolates. Let
them see him as real flesh-and-blood human being. Let them relate to him
as a living, breathing father. It was important for their own rehabilitation,
and at the same time, it would protect her son from malicious prayers.
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But what if the one making the vow could rescind it at will?
Would a vow still have the same credibility? Obviously not. The force
of a vow derives from its permanence and inviolability. And yet, the
Torah laws regarding vows, about which we read in this week’s Torah
portion, feature a mechanism by which one can be released from a
vow. Surely then, this mechanism reveals a very fundamental flaw in
the vow.
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man. But the Torah uses an altogether different criterion. “A person,”
according to the Torah, is someone who has foresight, who considers
not only the instant gratification of the here and now like an animal but
also the future ramifications of all his actions.
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As the people stood poised to cross the Jordan River and begin
the conquest of Canaan, the tribes of Reuven and Gad approached
Moses and asked to be allowed to settle in the lush grazing lands of
TransJordan. Moses instantly responded with a sharp rebuke, “Would
you have your brothers go to war while you remain here? Why would
you discourage the Jewish people from crossing into the Land that
Hashem has given them?”
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sedition in the bud.
A ship was sailing on the high seas when the captain noticed
that it was listing to starboard. He quickly sounded the alarm and sent
his first mate to investigate.
The first mate went below deck to look for the source of the
problem. On the very lowest level, there were a number of fourth-class
cabins occupied by indigent travelers. He noticed water seeping out
under one of the doors.
The first mate yanked the door open and was met by a surge of
seawater. In the center of the cabin, a young man was sitting on a
chair near a gaping hole in the wall, through which water was pouring
in.
“What are you doing?” screamed the first mate.
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PARASHAS MATTOS-MASEI
So what does the Torah tell us about such a man? How are the
courts to deal with him? Should we just shake their heads sadly and
move on? Or should he have to suffer consequences?
How are we to understand this law? After all, what did this
hapless fellow do already? He had not intended to kill anyone. He had
not even known that anyone was in the vicinity. He had just swung the
axe with perfectly innocent intentions, and the blade had flown off and
killed someone. Should his whole life be ruined for such a small thing?
Does he deserve to be banished for the rest of his days?
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negative actions and behaviors.
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DEVARIM
Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS DEVARIM
As he reviewed all the turbulent events that took place from the
time of the Exodus until their arrival on the threshold of the Promised
Land, Moses uttered a groan of lamentation. “Eichah?” he declared. “How
can I bear it?”
What did Moses see in the past and present that convinced him
that a great national tragedy lay in the future? How did he discern the
eventual breakdown in the relationship between the Jewish people and
the Creator?
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Devarim: Devarim
that he alone controls his destiny. Therefore, when he perceives an
attack, he has no time or patience for conciliation and the niceties of
ethical conduct. He is prepared to fight tooth and nail for his rights.
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Ohr Shalom
Payment in Full
After forty long years in the desert, the Jewish people stood
poised to conquer the Holy Land. But there were complications. Two of
their most formidable foes were untouchable. The Torah forbade the
Jewish people to attack the nations of Ammon and Moav; they had to
circle around to the north even though the direct path of invasion led
through the lands of these two nations. The Torah did, however, allow
the Jewish invaders to make threaten and intimidate Moav, as long as
they stopped short of actual combat.
Our Sages find the answer in an incident that took place five
centuries earlier. During a period of famine, the Jewish patriarch
Abraham, his beautiful wife Sarah and his nephew Lot went to seek
food in Egypt. The pharaoh at that time had a roving eye. Whenever a
beautiful woman caught his fancy, he would kill her husband and take
her into his harem. Sarah caught his fancy, which led him to focus on
Abraham, who had escorted her to Egypt. Had he known Abraham
was her husband, he would have killed him on the spot, but Abraham
claimed he was her brother and was spared.
The question arises: Why does the Torah protect Ammon and
Moav only from an actual assault? Why does the Torah permit threats
and other intimidating actions Moav? True, the Torah does forbid the
Jewish people to threaten and intimidate the nation of Ammon, but that
is not a reward for Lot’s actions. It is a reward for his daughter’s efforts
to conceal the shameful paternity of her children (which is a subject for
a different discussion). Lot’s reward for his silence was limited to a
protection from assault against his descendants. Why was this so?
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The commentators explain that the deficiencies in Lot’s reward
were measure for measure for the deficiencies in his act of kindness.
Lot was indeed silent when Abraham told the Egyptian pharaoh that he
was Sarah’s brother. But he did not have the sensitivity and
consideration to reassure Abraham that he could count on his silence.
He could have told Abraham, “Don’t worry. You can count on my
silence. I won’t give your secret away.” But he did not. And so,
Abraham’s heart must have been beating wildly throughout that tense
confrontation with the pharaoh. Therefore, the Torah only protects
Lot’s descendants from actual harm but not from threats and
intimidation.
“Tell me, did I treat you kindly?” said the rich man, “Oh, yes,”
said the pauper.
“Could you have been any kinder to you than I was?” The
pauper fidgeted. “Do you want me to be honest?” “Certainly,” said the
rich man.
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS VA’ESCHANAN
But what about his own life? Esau looked upon his father as an
angel and respected him for it, but he himself was not yet prepared for
the angelic existence. He was a down-to-earth man, and his lifestyle
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Devarim: Va’eschanan
reflected it. When it came to marriage, he chose women that suited his
own inclination.
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Ohr Shalom
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Devarim: Va’eschanan
rewarded Moses for turning to look at the bush. What was so
praiseworthy about turning to look at a burning bush that was not being
consumed? Wouldn’t it have piqued the curiosity of any passerby?
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Ohr Shalom
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Devarim: Va’eschanan
you dwell in your homes and when you are traveling on the road, when
you go to sleep and when you awaken.” True love is total connection.
Therefore, when we affix mezuzahs to our doorposts, when we place
tefillin on our heads, close to our brains, and on our left arms, close to
our hearts, we cement our close connection with Hashem and show
our consummate love.
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Ohr Shalom
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Devarim: Va’eschanan
of such claims fades. Why should people accept the word of self-
proclaimed prophets whom they have never seen with their own eyes?
Why should they make the leap of faith?
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Ohr Shalom
These are the only two mitzvos for which the Torah specifies
the rewards of fulfillment. In general, the Torah does not speak about
specific reward for the performance of mitzvos. All we are told is that if
we follow the commands of the Torah loyally and sincerely we will be
abundantly blessed, but we are not told how each individual mitzvah is
rewarded. In these two cases, however, the Torah tells us that
observance is rewarded with long life. Why does the Torah single
these out for special mention? And why is their reward identical?
On the other hand, sending off the mother bird before taking
her eggs is just about the easiest mitzvah to fulfill. Just one wave of
the hand to shoo away the mother, and the mitzvah is done. What
could be easier?
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Devarim: Va’eschanan
measure the value of a mitzvah by our own yardsticks. A difficult
mitzvah is not necessarily more valuable than a simple one. Each
mitzvah provides a singular opportunity to connect with the Almighty,
and if it’s performed with the proper spirit, it is equal to all others.
Two men came to visit a great sage whom they had not seen in
many years. The sage, who was already old and feeble, did not
immediately recognize them. He looked more closely, and finally the
light of recognition appeared in his eyes.
“But sir,” the second man protested. “How come you don’t
remember me? I was also there when you came to our town. I also
gave you money for the orphanage. In fact, I gave you five times as
much money as my friend here did. How come you remember him but
not me?”
“My dear fellow,” said the sage, “I don’t remember how much
money your friend here gave me. But I do remember that as soon as I
finished speaking he ran up to me with tears streaming down his face
and pressed an envelope into my hand. I could see his heart breaking
with compassion for the unfortunate children in the orphanage. Many
other people also came forward with envelopes and donations but
without the tears. I don’t remember them.”
In our own lives, our state of mind is more important than the
actual deeds we do. If we contribute to a good cause, we gain the
favor of the Almighty not by the size of our donation but by the feelings
and thoughts in which our donations are wrapped. Whether caring for
an elderly parent or sending off a mother bird, our passion, love and
devotion are the true measures of our achievement..
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PARASHAS EIKEV
No Easy Matter
In ancient times, many of the more enlightened Romans were
fascinated by the purity, spirituality and truth of Judaism - but very few
of them actually converted. The burden of the Torah - submission to
divine authority, circumcision, Sabbath and festival observance, dietary
laws, ritual purity - was simply too heavy to bear. In our own times as
well, many secular Jews feel drawn to traditional observance, but only
a limited number of them can bring themselves to make the
commitment. Without question, keeping the Torah is no easy matter.
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Devarim: Eikev
wonder of these rare occasions. If a sunrise occurred only once every
twenty years, we would rise before dawn to watch the spectacle with
bated breath, and we would be humbled by the awesome Presence of
the Creator. But a sunrise occurs every day, and we have learned to
take it in stride.
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Ohr Shalom
Everlasting Blessings
As Moses gets ready to hand over the reigns of Jewish
leadership, he admonishes the people not to become complacent. He
reminds them of the rebelliousness of the Jewish people in the
wilderness, how they constructed a golden calf even as Hashem
prepared to give them the Torah. In particular, he singles out his
brother Aaron, as the object of Hashem’s wrath for his involvement in
this unfortunate incident. As retribution, Aaron’s children died.
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Devarim: Eikev
their immortal souls, and therefore, a fitting retribution was to remove
the everlasting blessing of children.
The sage nodded gravely. “It must be very difficult for you
indeed,” he said. “I can well imagine how excited you must be at the
prospect of running a major corporation, but it is all fleeting, an ego
trip. Children, however, will give you permanence. Through them you
will exist for all eternity. Don’t risk losing your eternity. That is my
advice.”
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Ohr Shalom
Scattered Apples
When we want to do some serious studying, what sort of
environment do we seek out? Do we sit ourselves down in the center
of all the hullabaloo of daily life? Or do look for a quiet corner where
we can concentrate on our studies without being disturbed?
Why did Moses enjoin them to ponder the words of the Torah
during their daily activities? Would it not have been more appropriate
to set aside a quiet time each day for Torah study? Furthermore, how
does Torah study “lengthen our days”?
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Devarim: Eikev
will really get down to living, you will enjoy the wondrous pleasures of
living right now, every day, throughout the day. And you will discover
that you have “lengthened your days on the earth.”
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Ohr Shalom
A Father’s Love
The sadness still lingers in our hearts. Just days ago, we fasted
and grieved over the destruction of Jerusalem. We read the lurid
accounts in the Book of Lamentations, and we shed a tear over our
ancestors who suffered so terribly in ancient times. And then our
thoughts turned to our own situation, still mired in exile and divine
disfavor, still surrounded on all sides by foes and detractors who seek
our downfall.
But the time for grieving has passed, and now it is time to be
consoled. The seven weeks between Tishah b’Av and Rosh Hashanah
are known as the Weeks of Consolation. For the Haftorah during this
period, we read passages of solace and hope from the Book of Isaiah,
whose glowing prophecies paint a picture of the pure joy, thanksgiving
and music we will experience when this exile comes to an end.
A man from a big city took his family for a long visit with a
brother that lived on a farm. Early one morning, the man’s young son
went out to the fields and saw his uncle plowing.
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Devarim: Eikev
continued to plow. “Just wait a little while,” he said, “and you will
understand.”
“Why are you ruining those beautiful stalks?” the boy protested.
“Why are you tossing those kernels into the ground?”
Time passed, and fresh stalks grew from the ground. “Watch
closely,” said the farmer. He cut down the stalks and ground them into
flour. Then he made the flour into dough, which he formed into loaves.
He put the loaves into the oven, and soon, the kitchen was filled with
the savory smell of fresh bread baking.
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Ohr Shalom
A Simple Thing
Ask most people if keeping the Torah is a simple thing or a
hard thing, and just about all of them would say it is hard. Not that it
isn’t supremely rewarding. Not that it isn’t absolutely wonderful and
exhilarating. Not that they would ever dream of having it any other
way. But simple it isn’t.
And yet, in this week’s Torah portion, Moses tells the Jewish
people, “And now, O Israel, what does God your Lord expect of you
other than to fear . . ., to walk in all His ways, to love Him and to serve
. . . with all your heart and all your being?” What a question! Moses
starts off as if he is asking for something simple. “What does He
expect of you other than . . .,” he says. But then he follows with a long
list of demands that holds the Jewish people to the highest standards
of religious dedication. How do we explain this seeming anomaly?
One day, a sage appeared in the palace and asked the king to
let him attempt to cure the young prince. The king agreed.
The sage took off his clothing, climbed under the table and sat
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Devarim: Eikev
down across from the prince.
“Why are you here?” said the prince. “Can’t you see I’m a rooster?”
“Well, so am I,” said the sage. “I’m a rooster, too.”
“Oh,” said the prince, and he fell silent.
Presently, the sage began to eat some ordinary food. “What
are you doing?” said the prince. “I thought you were a rooster!”
“Oh, but I am,” said the sage.
“Then why are you eating human food?”
“Why not?” said the sage. “I can eat any food I like. Just
because I’m eating human food, I can’t be a rooster? Why not? Here,
have some.”
The prince looked at the sage doubtfully. Then he nodded and
took some of the proffered food.
“You see?” said the sage. “We ate human food, and we’re still
roosters. It’s no big deal.”
The next day, the sage put on some clothing.
“What are you doing?” said the prince. “Roosters don’t wear clothes!”
“And why not? If I want to wear clothing, I’ll wear clothing.
Roosters can do whatever they like. Here, why don’t you put this on?”
Little by little, the sage cajoled the prince to abandon his
roosterly behavior and act like a human being. One day, at long last,
the prince emerged from under the table, and he was cured.
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS RE’EH
Why did Hashem allow this false prophet to display “signs and
omens”? In order, the Torah explains, “to test us, to determine if we still
love Him with all our hearts and souls.”
The solution to this puzzle can be found earlier in the Torah when
Bilaam attempts to curse the Jewish people. “But G-d, your Lord, did not
want to listen to Bilaam,” the Torah tells us. “And G-d your Lord
transformed the curse into a blessing, because G-d your Lord loves you.”
Why did He find it necessary to transform the curse in to a blessing? Why
wasn’t it sufficient to nullify the curse and render it impotent and
harmless?
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Devarim: Re’eh
love. His beloved is pure and good and beautiful, a paragon of virtue and
grace. Because of His love for the Jewish people, Hashem found the very
sound of Bilaam’s curse abhorrent, even if defanged and rendered
harmless. Only by transforming the curse into a blessing was His love
fulfilled and satisfied.
Unfortunately, the same can happen to our love for the Creator.
Therefore, in order to revive our love, He sends false prophets who speak
dreadful, blasphemous words. And if there is still some love in our hearts,
we clap our hands over our ears, unable to listen.
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Ohr Shalom
In this week’s portion, the Torah tells us that even under such
circumstances we are forbidden to harden our hearts and turn away
the needy. “Do not begrudge it when you give it to him,” the Torah
admonishes us. “Rather, do it warmly with an open hand, for this is
why Hashem with the ability to give, for there will never cease to be
destitute people on the face of the earth.”
The questions leap out at us. When the poor man is standing in
front of me seeking help, what difference does it make to me that there
will always be poor people on the earth? Should the knowledge that
there will never be a world without poverty somehow inspire me to be
more charitable?
“It is for our own benefit,” Rabbi Akiva replied. “Helping the
poor elevates us.”
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Devarim: Re’eh
The wealthy man continued on his way and saw the great sage
coming toward him.
“Good morning,” he called out in greeting.
“Good morning,” the sage replied. “I saw what you just did.
Very commendable. “But tell me, did you remember to thank him?”
The wealthy man was bewildered. “Surely, he meant to ask me
if he thanked me?”
“No, I meant exactly what I said,” the sage replied. “You have
much more to be thankful for than he does. That poor fellow had to
swallow his pride to ask you for a handout. Before you know it, all that
money you gave him will be gone, and he’ll be back to begging on the
street. At least, he will manage to fill the hungry bellies of his family for
a few days, and that is a good thing. You, however, have gotten
yourself a wonderful deal, my friend. You have justified your wealth
and shown yourself to be a fine gentleman. And the merit of your good
deed will last you forever. Who got the better of this deal my friend?
Who should thank whom?”
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Ohr Shalom
Constructive Destruction
The goal was nothing less than total destruction on a vast
scale. Moses warned the Jewish people that when they crossed into
the Promised Land they would encounter all sorts of pagan idols and
places of worship. These intolerable abominations were to be
immediately eradicated. Pulverize every idol and graven image, he
exhorted them. Burn down their asheirah trees. Destroy their altars
and temples. Wipe out every trace of the idolatry prevalent in the land.
The exhortation concludes, however, with a rather strange directive,
“You shall not do so to Hashem!”
Why did Moses find it necessary to tell the people not to mount
a campaign of destruction against Hashem? Who would ever dream of
wantonly destroying Jewish places of worship?
When Moses told the Jewish people to attack the pagan culture
with utmost violence, to uproot, pulverize, smash everything in sight,
they had good reason to be concerned about how this would affect
their character. Would formerly gentle, refined people become
brutalized and violent?
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Devarim: Re’eh
to turn that same destructiveness against Hashem’s holy places. You
shall remain the same high-minded, refined people that you were
before.
The match began. Punches and blows flew through the air.
Most missed their mark, but some of them landed. After two rounds,
both fighters were bleeding profusely from cuts to the face. The crowd
loved it and screamed with delight at every new burst of blood.
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Walk Behind Me
How far back is “behind”? In Hebrew, there are different words
for “behind” that address this question. The word achar indicates a
short distance behind, while the word acharei indicates a long distance
behind.
The years fly by. One day, he takes stock of his life and comes
to the shocking realization that he has frittered away his best and most
vigorous years on matters of little consequence. He suddenly
perceives how far he has drifted away from the Almighty, and he is
discouraged. Where can he begin? How can he ever make up all that
ground he has lost? How can he ever hope to achieve the closeness
with the Almighty that derives from lifetime of spiritual exertions.
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Devarim: Re’eh
were slippery and rickety, against an extremely high wall. The ladder
reached to the roof.
“The first young man that reaches the roof,” declared the king,
“will have won the hand of the royal princess in marriage. But anyone
who attempts the climb and fails will be sent to the dungeon.”
“You have won my daughter’s hand,” said the king. “But how
did you know about the hidden spring?”
“I didn’t,” said the young man. “But I knew that the king’s offer
was not frivolous. If the king laid down the challenge, it must be
somehow possible to accomplish it. So I refused to give up, no matter
what.”
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS SHOFTIM
Critical Followers
Shul politics are nothing new, and the hapless victim is usually
the rabbi. If he is not extra careful, the president and the synagogue
board will find fault in what he says, what he does, how he dresses,
anything. Even if the rabbi is much wiser and far more learned than his
congregation, he is not immune.
But what about the illustrious rabbis of earlier times, the great
luminaries whose immortal works infuse our lives with meaning and
direction? Did they also suffer from shul politics?
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Devarim: Shoftim
In our own lives, regrettably, we all too often see the tendency
to denigrate our leaders as a means of self-aggrandizement.
Sometimes, we are even guilty ourselves. But if we can condition
ourselves to recognize these criticisms for what they are, we will find it
easier to focus on the many positive qualities of our devoted
community leaders and rabbis. Not only will we then be able to give
them their due respect, we will also discover greater inner satisfaction
and a higher sense of self-worth for ourselves.
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Ohr Shalom
The answer lies in our egotism. Doctors and pilots are there to
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Devarim: Shoftim
serve us. Accepting them on good faith may result in physical restrictions,
but it does not require us to surrender our personal independence in any
way. We are still in control of our destinies. They advise. We make the
decisions. Such faith comes easily.
The sage smiled sadly. “No, my young friend, you do not have
questions. You have answers. You have decided that you want to live a
certain lifestyle, and in order to do so you have to be an atheist. Now that
you’ve come up with this answer, you have found questions to support
your foregone conclusion.”
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Ohr Shalom
The Torah compares people to “the trees in the field.” People are
also dominant and exceptionally beautiful fixtures on the natural
landscape of the world. Some of them, endowed with special talents and
abilities, are even more outstanding. They exude an aura of wisdom and
integrity that seem to make them ideal choices to serve as the magistrates
of society.
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Devarim: Shoftim
any other subversion of perfect justice, he has become an abomination,
and all his cleverness, wisdom and charisma mean nothing.
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Not so, says the Torah. There is still a need for atonement.
Exact measurements are taken from the spot in which the body was
found to the surrounding towns and villages. The responsibility for
atonement falls on the one closest to the scene of the crime. Their
elders must bring a calf and perform the ritual of the eglah arufah, and
they must say, “Our hands have not spilled this blood.”
We see the town elders declare that they did not shed this
blood, when no one really suspects them of murder. At most, they may
have allowed the stranger to pass through their town without offering
him proper hospitality. Still, the entire town needs atonement for the
unexplained death of an unidentified traveler. Clearly, all life is
precious beyond measure. And just when we are studying the rules of
engagement in war, we must bear in mind that we cannot allow
ourselves to be brutalized and desensitized. We cannot allow
ourselves to forget the infinite value of a single life.
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Devarim: Shoftim
“This other little boy?” asked the sage. “Is he badly hurt?” “I’m
afraid he is,” said the woman.
“Then how can you feel so calm and relieved? Aren’t you upset
you that an innocent young human being is enduring so much pain and
suffering?”
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Ohr Shalom
PARASHAS KI SEITZEI
Tough Love
The mood in the courtroom is somber. The parents wring their
hands as they listen to the deliberations. Somewhere their son went
wrong. The fine upstanding young man they had expected him to become
has never materialized. Instead, he has developed into an incorrigible
young ruffian, robbing and stealing to satisfy his gluttonous appetites, a
degenerate, anti-social, destructive menace to society. Who knows what
havoc he can wreak if given free rein? Therefore, as we read in this
week’s portion, the Torah decrees that he be put to death before he can
do any more damage.
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Devarim: Ki Seitzei
his whims and desires. And what was the result? A wayward son who has
become a menace to society.
Therefore, the Torah requires that the parents bring their son to
the court and denounce him. They are the ones who failed him, and they
must acknowledge their responsibility and thereby set an example for
others.
Two little boys were playing in the park, while their mothers sat on
a bench nearby. Suddenly, the bigger boy pounced on the smaller one
and began to pummel him. The victimized boy’s screams brought the
mothers running.
The bully’s mother squatted down in front of her son. “What
happened, my little darling?” she purred. “Something must have upset you
terribly to make you react in this way. What was it? What made you so
angry?”
“If you really love your son,” said the victim’s mother, “you would
teach him that no matter what upset him there is no excuse for what he
did. If you taught him that lesson he would grow up to be a better person.”
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Perfect Bliss
What are proper grounds for divorce according to Jewish law?
The Torah is somewhat cryptic on this question. “Should she not find
favor in his eyes,” we read in this week’s Torah portion, “for he found in
her a wicked thing, then he may write her a bill of divorce.” What does
this mean? How did she “not find favor in his eyes”?
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find other women attractive? Shouldn’t all other women pale beside his
wife who is the sunshine of his life? The answer is as obvious as it is
tragic. All is not well on the marital front. Something is amiss.
Something has gone awry. The marriage is malfunctioning. Certainly,
every effort must be made to rectify the situation and repair the
marriage, but unfortunately, the possibility of divorce is also an option
that cannot be ignored.
The king stroked his chin thoughtfully, then he nodded. “Well done,” he
said.
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Devarim: Ki Seitzei
his loan. But he doesn’t mind. On the contrary, he prefers it this way,
because it will perpetuate his power of conquest.
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Double Standards
Dishonesty is an affront to Heaven and mankind. It is a
violation of the divine will, a transgression of the most basic standards
of morality. The Torah places tremendous emphasis on honesty,
especially in business transactions and consistently demands that we
deal with integrity and fairness and never cheat another person.
In this week’s portion specifically, the Torah enjoins us, “Do not
keep two different measures in your house, one large and one small . .
. keep a whole and just measure.” Obviously, the Torah is legislating
against merchants cheating their customers. But the question
immediately arises: Why would a dishonest merchant keep two sets of
measures, one true and one false? Why wouldn’t he simply use the
false measure at all times?
“Do not keep two sets of measures,” the Torah tells us, for by
doing so we not only deceive others but also ourselves. Living by a
double standard forces us to sacrifice our integrity, to lie to ourselves,
to infuse our lives with chronic dishonesty. Rather, the Torah tells us,
we must “keep a whole and just measure.” We must live our own lives
and view others with the same whole and consistent measure, for a
justice that is not universal is not justice at all.
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straggles who fell behind the main body of the people. They did not
meet the Jewish people head on with bravery and courage as did their
other enemies. But the Amalekites themselves would certainly have
disdained an enemy who stooped to such shabby tactics, and yet they
did not hesitate to use those selfsame tactics to further their own ends.
This is the epitome of evil, and it must never be forgotten.
Presently, a young boy came to join his father, who was sitting
beside the man praying so fervently. In order to get to his father, the
boy had to squeeze by his neighbor and unintentionally jostled his
shoulder.
The man flung the tallis off his head and turned on the boy in
fury. “What is the matter with you?” he snapped. “Don’t you have
respect for your elders? Can’t you see there’s a person sitting here?”
The young boy flushed crimson and ran off to his mother. “Tell
me, my friend,” said the boy’s father. “Didn’t you just say in the
Shemoneh Esrei that you are an empty vessel full of shame? How
could you do that to a child if you really consider yourself a nothing?”
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PARASHAS KI SAVO
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Devarim: Ki Savo
G-d has shown the Jewish people in taking them from slavery to
freedom, from misery to joy. Therefore, his expressions of gratitude
must also extend to events that happened in distant times and distant
places, because in reality, they all part of one continuous pattern of
divine benevolence to the Jewish people.
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Forty years had passed since the Jewish people had received the
Torah at Mount Sinai, forty years under the guidance of Moses, the
greatest prophet who ever lived. Why then wasn’t this special pledge of
allegiance to the Creator and His Torah taken at some time during
Moses’s tenure as the leader of the Jewish people? Why leave it to his
successor? Furthermore, why was the pledge encapsulated in the single
word “Amen”? Why wasn’t each and every individual required to make an
explicit statement of allegiance of his own?
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unrestricted by the limits of his gratitude or the boundaries of his intellect.
His connection with the Almighty transcends the human condition entirely
and derives directly from the absolute spirituality of the divine spark in the
human soul. It is a total sublimation of the self in the Infinite. This
connection as expressed by the single word Amen, explains the Talmud,
is far greater than the blessing itself.
With this in mind, we can gain new insight into the purpose and
tone of the solemn gathering on Mount Eival and Mount Gerizim. During
their years in the desert, the Jewish people had existed in a celestial
oasis, fed by manna from heaven and guarded by pillars of cloud and fire.
Their faith, instead of being much tested, was continuously reinforced by
the miracles which characterized their everyday lives. But now the
situation was about to change drastically. Once they crossed into the
Promised Land, they would have to engage the physical world in the
conventional manner. They would till the soil, ply the seas and frequent
the marketplaces. No longer would they walk on a cushion of miracles.
A king wanted to test the loyalty of two of his ministers. “What will
you do for me?” he asked the first minister.
“For you, your majesty,” said the first minister, “I would move
heaven and earth. I would battle your enemies and bring you vast riches. I
would build you palaces in every city and I would provide food and
entertainment from morning until night.”
“And you?” said the king to the second minister. “What would you
do for me?”
“Absolutely anything you wish,” he replied.
The king beamed. “You, my good minister, are a truly loyal
servant!”
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Let us now look for a moment into this week’s Torah portion.
The Torah describes the terrible consequences of the disloyalty of the
Jewish people to their Father in Heaven. How does the Torah
characterize this disloyalty? “Because you did not serve Hashem your
Lord with joy.” How can this be? How can the Torah deliver such harsh
punishment for the failure to achieve a high standard of excellence?
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trait, a true blessing. The insistent voice of our conscience reminds us
who we are and where our responsibilities lie. Whenever we step over
the line, this same little voice berates and chastises us, and more often
than not, it robs us of the pleasures of sin. No matter how far we stray,
guilt is our lifeline to Hashem.
A king was angry with his son for neglecting his princely duties.
He decided to discipline him by banishing him incognito to a remote
village. When the prince arrived in the village of his banishment, he
was mortified. The place was a collection of rude huts without the most
basic comforts and refinements of polite society. There were no books
or works of art for miles around. The people were vulgar and ignorant.
The stench in the streets was overpowering.
A year passed, and the king began to reconsider his decree of
banishment against the young prince. But first, he sent spies to see
how the prince was faring.
The spies arrived in the village, but it was a while before they
located the prince sitting among a group of peasants in a barnyard.
The once handsome and elegant young prince was filthy and dressed
in vermin-infested rags. He was stuffing his face with half-raw meat,
the red juices running down his chin. Every few minutes, he would roar
with laughter at one or another of the coarse peasant stories that were
being bandied about. The spies immediately returned to the palace to
report on what they had seen.
When the king heard their report, he wept. “If my son is happy
among the peasants, he will never be a prince.”
In our own lives, we know all too well how difficult it is to avoid
occasional missteps and lapses. After all, we are only human. But let
us never forget who we are and what is expected of us. If we listen to
the little voice of our conscience, if we embrace our guilt and use it as
a lifeline to bring us back to Hashem, we will always remain royal
princes and princesses and the doors to the palace will always be
open to us.
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Until this very day? What can this possibly mean? The people
had just spent forty years learning Torah from Moses in the desert
under the most wondrous conditions. A cloud pillar had stood guard
over them during the day, and a pillar of fire in the night. They had
eaten manna that fell daily from heaven and drunk water from a rock
that accompanied them on their from encampment to encampment.
Did Moses really think that the people were oblivious to all these divine
manifestations? Did he really think they had turned a blind eye and a
deaf ear to everything?
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important, he devoted day after day, month after month, year after year
to teaching them the concepts and nuances of the Torah.
After all this time, however, the Jewish people had, to a certain
degree, come to take him for granted. They enjoyed the incredibly
breathtaking privilege of having Moses as their leader and teacher, but
familiarity had sapped them of their breathlessness. Only now, during
the waning hours of the last day of Moses’ life, did they realize the
sheer grandeur of what they were about to lose. Only now did their
eyes and ears open fully.
“Come with me,” said the sage, and he led him into the
marketplace where a one-legged man sat leaning against a wall.
“My good fellow,” said the sage, “would you give me a bagful of
diamonds if I could restore your leg?”
“I would give two bagfuls,” he replied, “even if I had to spend
years stealing them. I would do anything to be relieved of my legless
misery.”
The sage turned to the young man. “Would you still make that
deal?”
The young man shivered and shook his head.
“Go home,” said the sage. “You don’t have to seek riches. You
have it already.”
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PARASHAS NITZAVIM
Family Values
We have heard a great deal recently about family values. For a
while, the phrase was mocked and ridiculed. Then it enjoyed a shift in
popularity, and everyone claimed to be its champion. Today, it is
universally acknowledged in our society that family values are
important. But what exactly are family values, and how are they to be
transmitted to our children? These questions remain points of serious
contention.
Let us look into this week’s portion to see what the Torah has
to say about this subject. The Jewish people are standing on the
Plains of Moav, about to enter the Land of Israel. Moses, however,
knows that he will not enter the Land and that he is about to die. “I
have placed before you life and death, blessings and calamity,” he
admonishes the people from whom he will soon be parted, “and you
shall choose life, in order that you may live, both you and your
children.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
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“It is very simple, rabbi,” said the shoemaker. “Friday night, you
come to the table exhausted from your holy efforts. You rush through
the meal, give the children a few minutes of your time and go to sleep.
On the other hand, the highlight of my whole week is Friday night when
I can linger over the meal, sing songs with my family and review the
events of the week in the light of the wisdom of the Torah. The spirit of
Shabbos is alive in my home, and my children love it.”
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The Midrash tells us that Moses spoke these words to allay the
anxieties of the Jewish people. As we read in last week’s Torah
portion, they had just heard a long litany of curses, a list of all the
horrible misfortunes that would befall them should they stray from the
path of righteousness. The situation seemed utterly hopeless. After all,
they were only human, subject to periodic failings and shortcomings.
Surely, at some point they would inevitably stray. And then they would
face disaster. What a disheartening thought! Calamity was suspended
over their heads by the flimsiest of threads, and it was only a matter of
time before it would crash down and destroy them.
But the question still remains: By telling the Jewish people that
they need not be concerned, wasn’t Moses actually defeating the
entire purpose of the curses? The threat of the curses was intended to
keep the people from straying, but without fear what was the good of
the threat?
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recognized the fearsome curses as a powerful deterrent, and they also
accepted that, should they ever slip, they would have to suffer the
consequences. But what if their sinful lapse resulted not only in
suffering but actual rejection by Hashem? That would be the ultimate
calamity! The specter of hopelessness threatened to demoralize the
people even as they stood on the threshold of the Promised Land, on
the verge of experiencing the fulfillment of their dreams.
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This then is what Moses was telling the Jewish people. When
will Hashem bring the castaways back to the Holy Land? If they are “at
the ends of heaven.” If their striving is for spirituality, if they reach out
to grasp the fringes of heaven so that they can pull themselves ever
upward. But if they are “at the ends of the earth,” if they reach out for
the illusory enticements of the material world, they will not be worthy of
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redemption.
There was once a sage who had only small group of disciples,
but he was exceedingly wise. After a while, his fame spread, and he
began to receive many requests for admission to his academy.
The sage shook his head. “None of these are critical. We can
accept the devious and make them devout, the sinful and make them
sincere. But we must have someone who has a genuine desire to
grow, someone whose heart and mind are attuned to higher
aspirations. That is more important than anything else.”
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Devarim: Nitzavim
The atmosphere in the operating room was extremely tense.
The young, beautiful girl in her bloom of her youth had been diagnosed
with a tumorous growth. Frantically the surgeon was attempting to
point the section pump to extra blood seepage. Perspirations poured
down his brow. His assistant, a young surgeon was watching all the
activity sipping on his coffee. What a beautiful girl he muttered. The
surgeon exploded, “You idiot, our head is involved in the sinews and
blood vessels, and you are busy with nonsense, where is your head?
This girl’s life in hanging in the balance.”
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PARASHAS VAYEILECH
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Devarim: Vayeilech
contributing to the act that determines its true value. Thus, the Torah
designates the identical reward for when we are following our base
instinct in the easiest of all mitzvahs, or we are countering it in the
most difficult. It is the spirit that truly counts.
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Devarim: Vayeilech
A man once sent his young son to school in a distant city. The
man had spent a long time collecting great books he felt would help
the boy develop his intellectual faculties, and as they stood on the
platform by the waiting train, he handed the boy the tightly wrapped
package.
“My son, these are the works of some of the greatest writers
that ever lived,” he said. “Absorb them, and you, too, may become a
great person.”
The boy nodded dutifully and took the package, although it was
obvious that he did not relate to what his father was saying.
Father and son spoke for another fifteen minutes, and when the
departure whistle sounded, they embraced and bid each other
farewell.
As the train pulled out of the station, the man noticed the
package of books lying at his feet. His son had forgotten to take it.
The man bought a ticket and boarded the next train with the
package in hand. Six hours later, he arrived at his son’s school, sought
him out and handed him the package.
The boy was mortified. “I’m so sorry that I forgot it, father. The
last minute rush, you know. But why did you have to travel so far
yourself to bring it to me? Surely, you could have sent it by messenger
or the post!” “Of course, I could have, my son. I saw that you are still
too young to appreciate the treasures within these books. But I knew
that if you saw me travel six hours just to bring them to you, you would
realize that they are of tremendous importance to your future.”
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PARASHAS HAAZINU
Let look for a moment into the first portion of the Torah, which
we will be reading in just a few weeks. After the serpent subverts
Adam and Eve and causes then to be expelled from the Garden of
Eden, Hashem curses him, “And you shall eat dust all the days of your
life.”
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this precious gift, the opportunity for mortal man to bond with the
divine, is one of the greatest kindnesses that He has ever bestowed
upon his people.
In our own lives, when we stand before Hashem and pour out
our hearts in prayer, it is important for us to realize that the very act of
prayer is its own reward, that the relationship we form with Hashem
through intense spiritual communication is far more important than
many of the things for which we pray. Hopefully, during this season of
hope and prayer, Hashem will grant us all long life, health, prosperity
and joy. But it important to remember than even before all these
blessings are delivered to our doorsteps, we have already been
immeasurably enriched through the very act of prayer.
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Devarim: Haazinu
salvation. Only then will we deserve to be redeemed.
“You must help me!” she wailed as tears ran down her cheeks.
“My husband is desperately ill.”
“If you insist,” said the sage. He closed his eyes and pursed his
lips. After two minutes of silence, he opened his eyes. The woman
looked at him with breathless expectation.
“Go home in peace, my child,” said the sage. “Your prayers will
be answered. As long as you placed your trust in me, there was no
hope. But the hopelessness in your heart led you to our Father in
Heaven. He is the only One who can give you what you need.”
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Total Dedication
Last impressions are impressively lasting. They linger on long
after other images and memories have faded away. Parting words are,
therefore, exceptionally important and are usually chosen with the utmost
care. So what are the parting words of the Torah?
What is the significance of the last phrase, “before the eyes of all
Israel”? The Sages explain that this is a reference to the Tablets of the
Law which Moses smashed “before the eyes of all Israel” when he came
down from the mountain and saw they had made a Golden Calf.
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harmful if it leads to allow dangerous criminals to go free. Telling the truth
is generally positive, but should we reveal the truth if it will cause others
unnecessary pain and embarrassment? The ideal then is to subjugate all
our tendencies to the service of Hashem so that everything becomes a
force for the good.
Moses, more than anyone else, had refined himself to the point
where every fiber of his being was attuned to the service of Hashem
rather than to his own needs and desires. What would a lesser man have
done had he come down from the mountain to find the people worshipping
a Golden Calf? A lesser man might easily have reacted with kindness and
sympathy. Perhaps they should be treated with compassion. Perhaps they
should be given the Tablets in any case to guise them gently in the right
direction.. But not Moses. Moses suppressed any feelings of mercy and
compassion and reacted with righteous indignation. This is the positive
message with which the Torah concludes. As much as it hurt him
personally to break the Tablets, he reacted with total dedication to
Hashem.
In our own lives, we are forever faced with situation where political
correctness and various social sensitivities incline us to certain courses of
action. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Before we rush
down these paths, we should first stop and reflect. Are these seemingly
high moral attitudes misdirected? Are they truly leading us to do the right
thing? Let us put them to the test. Only if they support the values and
ideals of Hashem’s Torah can we be sure that they will lead us in the right
direction.
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ROSH HASHANAH
In the same vein, the sounds of the shofar are the expressions
of the soul in the purest form. They encompass all sorts of thoughts
and emotions that are too sublimely spiritual to be clothed in human
speech. The call to repentance, the exuberant joy of Yom Kippur night,
the mysterious tremble of spiritual longing in the soul of every Jew
when he hears the shofar, all these and countless others find
expression in the sounds of the shofar.
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A Breath of Air
The shofar has a strange voice, jarring yet enthralling. It cannot
rightfully be called music, nor can the shofar itself be considered a musical
instrument. And yet, the shofar plays an exceedingly prominent role in
Jewish observances. Its voice accompanied the Giving of the Torah, and
subsequent momentous occasions, such as declarations of war, are also
accompanied by the sound of the shofar. It is considered the perfect
sound to awaken the slumberer from his spiritual torpor, the quintessential
call to repentance.
Wherein lies the secret power of the shofar? True, the shofar, a
ram’s horn, is reminiscent of Abraham’s preparedness to sacrifice his only
son Isaac on the Akeidah, but surely the sound itself must have some
visceral force even for those unaware of the connection to Isaac.
When the Creator first formed man from the dust of the earth, the
Torah tells us that “He blew the breath of the Lord into his nostrils.” This
brought the man to life, and this represents his very essence, the breath
that flows through his body. The unadorned breath of life, free of the
artificial manipulations of speech, is the most expressive form of
communication. A gasp, a sigh, a scream are more eloquent than pages
of prose, because they don’t tell about what is inside us, they actually are
what is inside us.
In this light, we gain a new appreciation for the role of the shofar.
The shofar dispenses with all the affected trills and warbles of musical
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instruments. Its sound is the unadorned magnification of the human
breath. The barely audible sound of breathing heard on a very high
decibel level shocks us, because we are suddenly confronted with our
very beings. It is traumatic and disconcerting, but it can also be uplifting.
Deep down, on a very primal spiritual level, we are reminded of who and
what we are. We are awakened from our slumber, and we are moved to
repent.
For this very reason, the shofar has such a ubiquitous role in
Jewish observance. We need to approach all momentous occasions as
real people, devoid of the airs and layers of affectation in which people
ordinarily clothe themselves. We need to remove the barriers of artificiality
that stand between us and our Creator. The shofar accomplishes this as
nothing else can. It presents us with the primal substance of everyman,
the pristine essence of humanity as it was formed by the Creator. When
we listen to the sound of the shofar, we are in touch with ourselves.
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Wordless Prayers
High noon on Rosh Hashanah. The people tremble in fear and
trepidation. What will the future bode? Will it be life or death? Health or
sickness? Riches or poverty? All morning, songs and prayers rocked
the synagogue walls, and now, the Mussaf prayer, the highlight of the
day, begins. Suddenly, the sounds are muted, and the prayers become
ethereal murmurs fainter than the softest whisper. Why is this so? Why
don’t we give free rein to our emotions and shout our prayers with all
our might?
“Go then in peace,” says the High Priest. “The Lord of Israel will
surely grant your wish.”
Surely not everyone who prayed in the Tabernacle had his wish
granted. Yet something about Hannah’s reply convinced the High
Priest that her prayer had been favorably received before the Heavenly
Throne. What convinced him of this?
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attempt to achieve Hannah’s exalted state of prayer
“Not good enough,” said the sage and shook his head. He
pointed to another. “How about you?”
“Not good enough,” said the sage and shook his head again.
He pointed to another. “How about you?”
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SHABBOS SHUVAH
This process also applies to our relationship with G-d, but with
a slight difference. G-d never becomes estranged from us. His Hand is
always outstretched to His wayward children. But we sometimes
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become estranged from Him. When we commit a sinful act, we drive a
wedge into our relationship with G-d. The guilt and embarrassment we
feel creates a sense of distance from G-d, and in this state of
estrangement we may find it easier to commit more sinful acts, which
create even greater estrangement - until we may suddenly find
ourselves, Heaven forbid, disconnected from G-d. But we can reverse
this process. Step by step, we can draw ourselves closer to G-d and
reestablish the spiritual attachment that our souls so desperately
crave.
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YOM KIPPUR
Jonah’s Dilemma
The sun is already beginning to set in the western sky. As the
precious final minutes of the holiest day of the year slip away, we reach
one of its celebrated high points - the haftorah reading which relates the
story of Jonah and the whale.
From the belly of the whale, Jonah cries out to Hashem in anguish
and despair and pleads for deliverance. Hashem answers Jonah’s prayer.
The whale spits him out onto the shore, and he sets off at once for
Ninveh, where his message is greeted with consternation. The people don
sackcloth and repent, and the city is spared.
Our Sages tell us that Jonah was concerned for the welfare of the
Jewish people who, at that time, were also guilty of grievous sins in spite
of the repeated warnings of the great prophets. They explain Jonah feared
the people of evil Ninveh, a nation of degenerate pagans, would heed his
prophetic warning and repent, causing the Jewish people, the custodians
of the Torah, to suffer by comparison. They would stand indicted before
the bar of Heavenly justice with nothing to say in their own defense.
Therefore, Jonah chose to flee rather than bring down retribution on the
heads of his people.
But the questions still remain: Did Jonah think he could frustrate
the divine plan by fleeing on a ship? Did he think Hashem would find no
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other way to offer Ninveh the option of repentance? And even if he
thought his flight could somehow benefit the Jewish people, what right did
he have to suppress the prophecy entrusted to him?
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SUKKOS
This joy was realized to its fullest when the Beis Hamikdash in
Jerusalem was still standing. The streets bursting with throngs of
excited people from near and far. The air perfumed by the aroma of
the sacrificial offerings and the burning incense. The sounds of music,
singing and dancing reverberating through every window and doorway.
The spectacle of an exalted people united in a common outpouring of
love and gratitude to the Creator of the Universe.
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our spark of the divine. When our souls cleave completely to their
Source and Creator, we are in a state of perfect existence, and we
experience joy. However, when our sins and misdeeds come between
our souls and their Divine Source, we feel the anguish of
estrangement, and our joy is extinguished. Consequently, all the
commonplace vexations of life become magnified far out of proportion
to their true significance in the greater scheme of things. Therefore, in
order to achieve true and perfect joy, we must erase the taint from our
sublime souls so that they can again cleave perfectly to the Creator.
Only then can we achieve fulfillment and the joy that results from it.
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Time Capsules
Philosophy is an intimidating subject. Most of us would rather
deal with concrete intellectual and emotional issues, something into
which we can get our teeth - and our hearts. And yet, during the
Festival of Sukkoth, amidst our most joyous celebrations, our Sages
instituted the reading of King Solomon’s Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), an
often brooding work that agonizes over the philosophical problems of
existence. What is the connection between this work and the
transcendent joy of Sukkoth? What message does it carry that could
not have been delivered in a more conventional form?
Let us look a little further into the words of King Solomon. “For
everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under
Heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to
uproot, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to grieve, a time to
dance.” These lines, so clearly profound and meaningful, have been
quoted and paraphrased and borrowed for poems and songs the world
over. But what do they really mean? What insight into the meaning of
time is immortalized in King Solomon’s enigmatic words?
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sweeps us along through the passages of life. It is the framework in
which we live, the receptacle of our experiences. We create terms and
classifications - years, days, hours, minutes, seconds - in a vain
attempt to gain a modicum of control over time, but it remains
uncontrollable. We feel its relentless flow through our very beings.
There is no stop button, no pause button. The unstoppable tick of the
clock controls our lives. But what is this thing called time? Is it merely
the passive blank canvas on which we paint the stories of our lives? Or
is it something of far deeper significance?
“All is emptiness,” King Solomon tells us. The only reality is that
which can be contained and preserved in time. The accumulation of
material possessions has no real value. It does not connect with the
synergies of time. It is no better than a boulder by the riverside, left
behind by the rampaging current. Only the way we live and the things
we do penetrate to the core of time and are carried along with us
through and beyond our lifetimes.
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Jewish Citizenship
Citizen has always been a title of honor not easily attained. In
the city-states of ancient Greece and especially in the Roman Empire,
citizenship was a highly prized distinction. It was a recognition of social
and economic status and a guarantee of special rights and privileges.
But what does citizenship signify in Jewish society?
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Moadim: Sukkos
The sage lifted his kindly, wise eyes, greeted the traveler
warmly and invited him to sit down. The chair groaned angrily under
the traveler’s bulk, but fortunately, it did not collapse.
“If you would forgive me,” said the traveler, “I would like to ask
a personal question.”
“A very good question,” said the sage. “But let me respond with
a question of my own. Where is your own furniture?”
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SHEMINI ATZERES
Sitting in the sukkah after having only just been purified and cleansed
of sin by Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are transported for seven
beautiful days to a transcendent world of pure spirituality. And then on the
eighth day we celebrate the Festival of Shemini Atzereth. And what is one of
the central features of this festival? A formal, elaborate prayer for rain!
Furthermore, after having shown such disdain for the ways of nature
and such faith in divine guidance, why are we suddenly so worried about
rain? What happened to our faith?
The answer lies in the first Torah portion of the year, which is read on
the Shabbos immediately after Shemini Atzeres. The evil serpent brings down
the wrath of Hashem upon himself by cleverly inducing Eve to eat from the
Tree of Knowledge, and for this, he is condemned to “crawl upon his belly and
eat the dust of the earth.” The commentaries find this punishment perplexing.
Being relegated to eat dust is certainly not a very pleasant fate, but it also has
its positive aspect. At least, with dust being in such abundant supply, the
serpent would never again want for food! Why didn’t Hashem give him a
punishment that was totally and exclusively negative without even the
slightest redeeming feature?
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are granted. In fact, the Talmud tells us that the Creator “desires the prayers
of the righteous” and therefore withholds some of their needs in order to
induce them to pray. The connection between the human and the divine
through the act of prayer is clearly an end in itself, far greater than the
fulfillment of any particular wish expressed in the prayer.
A courtier was telling his friend about the latest palace politics. “The
minister of war seems to have gained favor over the minister of the treasury,”
he said.
“Indeed? How do you know?”
“Because the king fed the minister of the treasury table scraps, but
the war minister was treated to a royal feast.”
“It certainly appears you are right. But tell me, exactly where did they
dine?”
“The minister of the treasury dined at the king’s table, but the minister
of war’s feast was sent to his rooms.”
“Aha! Then you are mistaken, my friend. The minister of the treasury
is really the favorite - by far.”
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Ohr Shalom
During the time of the Talmud, there lived a couple who had
never been blessed with children. The husband wanted desperately to
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have a child to carry on his name, and the thought of divorce crossed
his mind. However, he still loved his wife, and he was unsure if it would
be proper for him to seek a divorce under the circumstances.
The day arrived when husband and wife would part ways, and
she would return to her father’s house.
“My dear wife,” the man said, “I have nothing but the highest
esteem for you. You have always been good to me. Please look
around and take whatever you cherish most back to your father’s
house.”
During the meal, she gave him to drink strong wines and he
soon fell into a heavy slumber. She summoned her servants, and they
carried off her husband with his bed to her father’s house.
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CHANUKAH
It seems that the more we illuminate the external world the greater
the pall of darkness that fall over the internal world. As people become
more and more distracted by the glitter of the outside world, they lose
sight of the inner glow, the spiritual light, the inexhaustible fount of
mystical energy that can truly illuminate the world in every sense of the
word.
This was at the root of the struggle between the Greeks and the
Jews. The Greeks were the ultimate materialists, fascinated by the beauty
of form as captured in sculpture, art and architecture. The Greek purpose
of life was to extract as much pleasure as possible from the world - by
beholding its beauty and tasting its delights. As the Greek conquerors
spread across the civilized world, many peoples became enchanted by
their siren song - including a large proportion of the Jewish people.
But the Torah represented the antithesis of the Greek way of life,
and a stalwart nucleus of Jews led by the Hasmoneans rose up to defend
it. Form, according to the Torah, is only the handmaiden of substance; the
glorious physical beauty of the world is there to facilitate inner growth.
Without the inner spiritual beauty, however, outward beauty is but a hollow
shell - and worse. It is a seductive light that lures the wayfarer to his
doom.
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Moadim: Chanukah
Our Sages tell us that the menorah was certainly not needed to
illuminate the Temple. The lights of the menorah represent inner
substance, not outward form. They represent the light that shines from the
pages of the Torah, not the light of fashionable boulevards. They
represent the Presence of our Creator who infused each of us with a
spark of divine light that glows at the center of our being. An iron menorah
makes this statement very loudly, although a golden one makes it with
more elegance and dignity.
The radiant Chanukah lights carry this message down through the
generations and centuries right into each and every one of our homes.
Jewish law forbids the use of Chanukah lights as reading lamps and the
like, because they are not meant for physical illumination. They are
symbols of a light that guides our hearts and souls rather than our eyes. In
this age of blinding light, the little Chanukah flames encourage each of us
to turn inward, to switch on our inner light and let it show us the way to
eternal life.
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Not at all. It was to preserve the pure flame of Jewish
spirituality from contamination by the Greeks. They did not fight for the
bricks and the mortar of the Temple but for the pure light that burned
within, and therefore, their first act was to restore that light.
Had the tables been turned, the Greeks would have focused on
restoring the architectural beauty of the Temple, but to the Jewish
people external esthetics were secondary to the restoration of spiritual
purity. Therefore, the light that was miraculously restored was
established as the immortal symbol of the Jewish victory.
“I am not sure,” said the sage, “but I suspect you may be.” He
strode over to the carriages and peeked inside.
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PURIM
The very name of this festival - Purim - also leads us to ask: What
does this mean, and what is its significance? The Megillah tells us that the
name derives from Haman’s having thrown lots, purim, to determine the
fate of the Jewish people. This seems very perplexing. Why is this festival,
which celebrates the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish people from
the threat of total annihilation, named for a seemingly minor detail like the
casting of lots?
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Let us consider for a moment the following two scenarios: A poor
man knocks on a rich man’s door and asks for a meal. “Come in,” says the
rich man. “Have a seat. You’ll have something good to eat in a few
minutes.” He then calls the finest restaurant in town and orders the most
expensive meal on the menu. He puts a rush on the order and tells the
restaurant to charge it to American Express.
Another day, the same poor man knocks on the same rich man’s
door and asks for a meal once again. This time, the rich man invites him
into the kitchen and asks him to take a seat. He peels fresh vegetables to
make a pot of soup. He puts up a steak to broil and prepares several
delicious side dishes. Then he takes out a fresh loaf of warm bread and
slices it. When all the preparations are done, he places the meal in front of
the poor man.
In which case does the poor man feel better, more esteemed,
more loved? Without question, it is in the second case. By taking the
trouble to attend to all the details himself, the rich man shows his affection
and concern for the poor man. And the poor man, in turn, is inspired to
feel a much stronger gratitude and affection for his benefactor.
Hashem could quite easily have sent down lightning bolts from the
heavens to strike down Haman and all the other oppressors of the Jewish
people. But instead, He chose to take the trouble, so to speak, of
manipulating ordinary events to affect their miraculous deliverance. The
Jewish people were stunned by the Creator’s display of transcendent love
for His people, and in turn, they were inspired to respond with their own
outpouring of love and a renewed acceptance of the Torah without any
reservations whatsoever.
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Lots of Joy
Two and a half thousand years ago is a very long time, and
Persia is very far away. Nonetheless, the dramatic events that took
place in that distant place at that distant time are still celebrated with
undiminished joy by Jewish people the world over. The festival is
called Purim, and it is characterized by merriment, masquerades and
an exhilarating joy unequaled at any other time of the year.
Two and a half thousand years ago, the Jewish people reached
the lowest point of their history since leaving Egypt nearly one
thousand years before. The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was razed to
the ground. The city and the land lay in ruins. The kingdom was no
more, and its people were carried off into captivity. Fifty years later, a
Persian minister named Haman, a man of Amalekite descent, paid the
King of Persia a large sum of money for the right to exterminate the
Jewish people once and for all. The situation seemed hopeless. But
fortuitously, the new Queen of Persia was a secret Jew, and she
cleverly engineered Haman’s downfall. The Jews then rose up against
their oppressors and slaughtered them, and disaster was averted.
The questions are obvious. Why is the festival named for such
a seemingly minor aspect of the entire harrowing episode? Why does
this festival warrant a more exuberant outpouring of joy than all
others? Why does masquerade play such a prominent role in the
Purim festivities?
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which chronicles the Purim story. Yet this is the very message of
Purim, that the seemingly natural course of events actually conceals
the guiding hand of Providence.
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A Fistful of Flour
If vengeance is sweet, as the old saying goes, then Haman
must have been licking his fingers. Ever since Mordechai had refused
to bow down to him, Haman had thirsted for revenge, and now it was
at hand. He had paid ten thousand talents of silver into the coffers of
King Ahasuerus for the rights to exterminate all the Jews of Persia lay
in his hands, and now nothing stood in the way of his evil designs.
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Moadim: Purim
to Him.
The family of a great sage made a lavish party for him on the
occasion of his eightieth birthday. All his children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren came, each bearing a special gift. After the guests
had all left, the sage drank a glass of tea with one of his disciples near
the mountain of gifts.
“Which gift was the most precious?” asked the disciple. “The
rare books? The works of art? The luxurious garments?”
The sage shook his head. He rummaged through the gifts and
held up a makeshift hat constructed of sticks and paper. “This was
made by my five-year-old granddaughter,” he said. “She was not
showing me her generosity nor her cleverness nor her good taste. All
she was showing me was her love. That is the most precious of all.”
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PESACH
Aaron cast his staff to the ground, and before the astonished
eyes of Pharaoh and his ministers, the staff morphed into a slithering
serpent. Pharaoh signaled to his wizards, and they too cast their staffs
to the ground. Their staffs too morphed into serpents, duplicating
Aaron’s feat. But Aaron had the last word. His serpent reverted to its
original form as a staff and swallowed the serpents of the wizard.
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symbol. The essence of every Jew, his soul, his spirit, his conscience,
is the connection between the mundane and the divine, between
Heaven and the earth, the outer extremities of existence. Our mission
in life is to connect Heaven and earth, but when our symbolic staff is
placed in a polluted environment such as Egypt, it is transformed into a
serpent, the symbol of pure evil. In other words, argued Moses, the
Jewish people had fallen to such a low level through no fault of their
own.
A young prince was playing in the fields with the children of the
royal servants. They were all splattered with mud and having a very
good time.
In our own lives, the strains and stresses of everyday life and
the allure of popular culture tend to drag us down from our natural
state of spiritual elevation. But we are nonetheless deeply rooted in the
hallowed traditions of our heritage. And when we hear the approach of
our Father in Heaven, the King of Kings, on the festival of Passover,
we are uplifted and inspired, and even if it is only for a short time, we
become once again the shining princes and princesses of His chosen
people.
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A Pledge of Allegiance
There’s something about the Passover Seder which touches the
hearts of all Jews, no matter their level of observance. Statistics show that
only 55% of American Jews attend a synagogue on Yom Kippur, yet over
70% celebrate the Passover Seder. How can this be explained? Why
would Jews who are totally removed from traditional Jewish observance
gather faithfully every year to commemorate the release of the Jewish
people from Egyptian bondage some three thousand years ago?
Perhaps we can find a clue to this puzzle in the very first of the
Ten Commandments. “I am Hashem your Lord, who brought you forth
from the land of Egypt,” Hashem declared from the smoldering peak of
Mount Sinai as He called upon the Jewish to have faith in Him. Clearly,
the awesome divinity revealed during the Exodus from Egypt was to
inspire faith in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. But the
commentators are perplexed. Surely, the creation of heaven and earth
was a far more awesome display of divinity than the Exodus. Why then
didn’t Hashem expect the Jewish people to have faith in Him because of
creation?
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Over the years and the centuries, this feeling has become deeply
ingrained in the national Jewish consciousness, and for all generations,
the story of the Exodus has become a source of solace and
encouragement for the Jewish people. And thus, the Passover Seder is
celebrated by nearly all Jews, regardless of their level of observance.
In our own lives, as we celebrate the Passover Seder and lift our
glasses of wine to commemorate our liberation from bondage, let us
remember that in all times and all places our loving Father in Heaven is
watching over us. No matter how dark the future may seem, we are never
forgotten. Let us only resolve to face all our trials and tribulations with an
abiding faith in divine providence, and we will discover profound harmony
and tranquility in every moment of our existence.
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A Time to Sing
In their most desperate moments, with the turgid sea blocking
their way and the fearsome Egyptian chariots bearing down on them
from behind, the Jewish people saw the hand of the Almighty reach
down from the heavens and pull them to safety. Suddenly, the sea tore
itself asunder. Its waters rose up to form two towering walls and a dry
passageway n between, and thus they remained until the very least
Jewish child had passed through. Then they tumbled down upon the
pursuing Egyptians and sent them to a watery death.
But the question immediately arises. Only one week earlier, the
Jewish people had also witnessed manifestations of divine power such
as mankind had never seen. For months, they had watched the
Egyptians beset by the most supernatural plagues. They had seen
rivers turn to blood, frogs, locusts, hailstorms, the death of all the
firstborn of Egypt. These too were absolutely stunning miracles, which
ultimately forced Pharaoh and the Egyptians to capitulate and release
the Jewish people from bondage. Why then did they not sing Shirah as
they marched out of Egypt, free at last?
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Moadim: Shevii Shel Pesach
But after they walked through the sea to safety and saw the
battered corpses of the drowned Egyptians washed up on the shores
of the sea, they came to the realization that the domination of the
Egyptians had been no more than an illusion. They were powerless
pawns in the divine plan, and there was no point of being concerned
about them at all. Finally, they understood that Hashem alone controls
the world, and this stunning revelation inspired them to sing the Shirah.
A man was fleeing through the silent streets of the city in the
dead of night. A short distance behind, three thugs pounded after him.
They brandished weapons in their hands and shouted dire threats as
they ran. The man was more frightened than he had ever been in his
life, but he knew that if he would reach his father he would be safe. His
father would protect him.
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SHABBOS HAGADOL
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Moadim: Shabbos Hagadol
The count decided to investigate Judaism. He traveled incognito to
Vienna, where he studied intensely and eventually converted to Judaism.
He returned to Vilna in disguise to live as a Jew, but he was discovered by
the authorities, arrested and burned at the stake. His ashes were gathered
by Jews who buried them, and put up the monument reading: “Count
Potocki - Ger Tzedek - Righteous Convert.”
What had the count seen that so transformed him? He saw the
Jew in his true state, defined by his spiritual status rather than his
mundane condition. He saw the Jew transcend the darkness of the corrupt
world by enveloping himself in the sanctified mantle called Shabbos. He
saw the Jew illuminated with the inner light of his neshamah and revealed
as the prince he truly is. He saw a supernatural spectacle, but one so
familiar to those who experience it every week that they sometimes forget
how supernatural it really is. For someone who experiences it for the first
time, however, it is a revelation.
In Egypt, the enslavement of the Jews had not only deprived them
of their liberty. It had demeaned them, contaminated them, robbed them of
their self-esteem, of their exalted self-image as Hashem’s chosen people
and the descendants of the Patriarchs. But on the Shabbos before
Pesach, they were already emerging from this condition. And when, in full
public view, they obeyed Hashem’s command and tied up the sacrificial
lambs, which the Egyptians worshipped as gods, they finally broke free of
the yoke of spiritual bondage. In this condition, the experience of the
Shabbos once again brought out their inner essence and revealed their
true identity as great princes of the spirit.
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SHAVUOS
Payment in Full
She had once been a princess, privileged and pampered all her
life, but now Ruth was reduced to scrounging in Boaz’z fields for a few
stray stalks of barley. When Boaz saw the destitution and poverty of
this righteous convert, he told her, “You shall be rewarded in full from
Hashem, under whose wings you have come.”
The commentators explain that the extent of the reward for any
deed we do is always in direct proportion to the value we attach to it. If
you do a mitzvah because they feel obligated to do so. Or if you feel it
is worthwhile to take off a little time from your daily schedule and
spend it on a visit to the synagogue or a religious ritual. Very little of
the soul is invested in such observances. The reward is, therefore,
essentially physical in nature, commensurate with the deed. But if your
motivation emanates from the depths of your soul, if you are imbued
with a burning desire to form an eternal bond with the Creator, then
your reward is also eternal and limitless.
When Boaz saw that Ruth, the daughter of the King of Moab,
was willing to turn her back on all the riches and glory of her exalted
position and pick stray stalks in the field in order to connect with
Hashem, he knew that her reward would be limitless and she would
receive payment in full.
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Moadim: Shavuos
One of the card players caught sight of the pious traveler.
“Welcome,” he said. “Would you like to join our game?”
“No, thank you,” said the pious man. “I don’t gamble.” “Then
would you like to buy some of my beautiful merchandise?” asked the
card player.
“I have no money.”
“Well, what if I sell you my share in the world to come?” said
the card player with a wink.
“I can only spare a few small coins,” the pious traveler replied.
“Fine, I accept,” said the card player. “It’s a deal.”
That night, the card player tossed and turned but could not fall
asleep. What had he done? How could he have sold his share in the
world to come for a pittance? Had he indeed fallen to such a low level?
He resolved to abandon gambling and turn his life around. In the
morning, he would buy back his share in the world to come.
“I’m very sorry,” said the pious traveler the next morning. “I will
not sell it back to you for a few small coins. I want payment in full.”
“How much do you want?” asked the former card player. The
pious traveler named an exorbitant sum. The former card player was
incensed. They argued back and forth and finally agreed to seek the
guidance of a great sage who happened to be staying in the inn at the
time.
“I have to agree with the other gentleman,” said the sage to the
former card player. “He is not being unfair at all. When he bought your
share in the world to come you were an irreverent, dissolute card
player, and it really wasn’t worth more than the few small coins he paid
for it. But now that you turned over a new leaf and care so much about
your share in the world to come, it suddenly has immeasurable value.
Why should he sell it to you for a few small coins?”
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Moadim: Shavuos
essence of the Torah and through it to connect with God.
The sage was waiting for him at the top of the stairway.
“Welcome, my son,” he said. “We have been waiting for you. I am
happy to see that you have found your way here.”
“If you were waiting for me,” said the young man, “why was the
door locked? Why didn’t anyone respond to my knocking or my calls?”
The sage smiled. “It was a test, my son. If you had not
discovered the coal grate and clambered through the cellar, you could
not have been a worthy member of our group.”
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How and when was Ruth’s loyalty expressed? Her famous words
immediately come to mind: “Do not press me to abandon you, to turn back
and leave you behind. Wherever you go, I shall go. Wherever you sleep, I
shall sleep. Your people are my people, your Lord is my Lord.”
But if we look into the Book of Ruth, we find that Ruth’s loyalty had
already become evident even before she spoke these famous words. We
read: “And Arpah kissed her mother-in-law, and Ruth embraced her. And
[Naomi] said, ‘Behold, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and her
gods. Follow your sister-in-law.’ And Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to
abandon you . . .’”
How did Naomi know Arpah had decided to return but not Ruth?
The clue seems to have been in their different reactions to Naomi’s appeal
that they return home. Arpah kissed her, but Ruth embraced her. The
Talmud (Sotah 42b) tells us that Goliath was vanquished by David
because the Holy Blessed One said, ‘Let the child of the one who kissed
be vanquished by the one who embraced!’ Clearly, there was a great
difference between Arpah’s kiss and Ruth’s embrace, a difference with
important ramifications for the future.
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will be your burial place.” The question immediately arises: Why did He
find it necessary to do this? The Jewish people had just accepted the
Torah unconditionally with the immortal declaration of “Naaseh venishma!
We will do, and we will hear!” Why was it necessary to force them to do
something they had already agreed to do?
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TISHAH B’AV
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perspective, a frame of mind diametrically opposed to the Greek mindset.
What was the answer? Let us look into Jeremiah’s own words as
he describes his own awful suffering in Lamentations: “I am the man who
experienced pain through the rod of His wrath. It was me that He led off
into a darkness without light. Only me did He strike back and forth with His
hand all though the day . . .” Yet suddenly, in the midst of his long litany of
tribulation, a note of hope suddenly bursts through. “Yet this remains in
my heart, and therefore, I can hope. That Hashem’s kindnesses they are
not ended, that His mercies are not eliminated. They are renewed every
morning, how great is Your faithfulness!” Hashem’s kindness has not
stopped, it has only gone into concealment. Even in the depths of despair,
Jeremiah grasps at the slender but inextinguishable ray of hope. This
terrible calamity that had befallen the Jewish people did not mean His
kindnesses had come to an end, that the future was forever sealed. The
road back might be long and difficult, but it was open and unobstructed.
Crying over the past connects us to what we have lost and makes
it possible to regain it in the future. It reaffirms the value of our special
relationship with our Creator and reassures us that we will be able to
repair it. But all this is predicated on a profound and transcendent faith in
Hashem, far beyond the conception of even the great Greek philosophers.
When the Egyptian princess found the infant Moses crying in the
bulrushes at the riverside, she said, “This must be a Jewish child!” But the
question arises: During that particular time, the decree of drowning had
been extended to include all male infants in Egypt, Jewish or not. How
then did she know the child was Jewish? A sage of the previous
generation explains homiletically that she identified him by the sound of
his crying. Jewish crying is never a capitulation to despair. It is a blend of
sorrow and hope.
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Creative Mourning
The embers were still smoldering. The rubble that had once
been the magnificent Holy Temple in Jerusalem still bore the marks of
the Roman battering rams and sledgehammers. The echoes of the war
cries and the screams of the innocent still hung in the tortured air. It
was a time of excruciating tragedy, of abysmal despair. And at this
very time, the Sages declared, “Whoever mourns for the destruction of
Jerusalem will merit seeing it rebuilt!”
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It was more a spiritual concept than a physical structure. The
destruction of the Temple is a spiritual loss rather than an architectural
loss. We no longer have this sublime point of contact with Hashem,
and this has left us with an aching void in our hearts. But when we
grieve for the destruction and turn to Hashem for solace, the act of
mourning itself creates a new and deepened bond with Hashem,
bringing us ever closer to Him. And thus, when we grieve for
Jerusalem, we rebuild its essence in our hearts.
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