Gaea's

Posts Tagged ‘Dvar Torah’

The latter portion of Parshat Chukat discusses Jews’ victory over the Amorite king Sichon, whose capital city was Cheshbon. The Torah tells us that Cheshbon was originally a Moabite city, but that it had been captured by Sichon along with a large portion of other Moabite territory. There is a famous midrash on this passage based on the fact that the word “moshlim” can also mean “ruler” and the name “Cheshbon” also means “accounting.” The midrash says “Those who are rulers (moshlim) over their evil inclination would say ‘Come and take an accounting (Cheshbon)’ – take an accounting of your deeds; think about what you gain from good deeds and what you lose as a result of bad deeds.” Very often, a midrash is not merely a homiletical tangent, but has a close connection with some aspect of the text. What is the connection between Sichon’s conquest of Moab and the battle against the evil inclination? Read the rest of this entry »

Our Parsha, Tzav, informs us that the priests’ first task of the day was to remove the ashes from the offering sacrificed the previous day (Leviticus 6:3). Is there any significance to this being the priests’ first order of business with which to start the day

Rabbi Avi Weiss explains that the priest begins the day by removing the ashes to illustrate the importance of his remaining involved with the mundane. Too often, those who rise to important positions separate themselves from the people and abandon the everyday menial tasks. By starting the day with ash-cleaning, the Torah insists it shouldn’t be this way.

 A few years ago a couple appeared before Rabbi Gifter, asking him to rule on a family dispute. The husband, a member of Rabbi Gifter’s kollel (an all day Torah learning program) felt that, as one who studied Torah, it was beneath his dignity to take out the garbage. His wife felt otherwise. Rabbi Gifter concluded that while the husband should in fact help his wife he had no legal religious obligation to remove the trash. The next morning, before the early services, Rabbi Gifter knocked at the door of the young couple. Startled, the young man asked Rabbi Gifter in. No, responded Rabbi Gifter, I’ve not come to socialize but to take out your garbage. You may believe it’s beneath your dignity, but it’s not beneath mine! This message comes to us courtesy of the sacrificial ashes.

Parshat Vayikra includes instructions “if a leader has sinned” (4:22).

The Talmud interprets “if” to be derived from the word “fortunate” (asher and ashrei), which would make the Passuk (verse) read, “fortunate is the leader that has sinned”. How does that make any sense?

Rabbi Twerski explains in Living Each Week that it’s referring to the generation being fortunate to have a leader that admits when they make a mistake. As Moshe exemplified, the Torah values truth over all else.

Even though there might be ways to justify being less than truthful, Moshe resisted those temptations, and always spoke the truth, even to his possible detriment (Leviticus 10:20). If our leaders establish a precedent for truth, we would be fortunate to have them as our role models, and would not hesitate to admit when we’re wrong. Truth really does set you free (to correct mistakes, that is).

We were all given human traits to help us deal with people, situations, and life in general. This week’s Parsha contains a crucial element to understanding those traits. Parshat Tetzaveh describes a golden plate (Tzitz) that Aaron wore, which bore the words “holy unto G-d”(28:37). Doesn’t that seem like a brazen thing to be placing on one’s forehead?

The appearance of such an ornament would seem anything BUT holy. So what does it represent? Read the rest of this entry »

Parshat Terumah is the beginning of the building of the Mishkan, where G-d would dwell among the Jews as they traveled in the desert. To build the Mishkan materials had to be collected, and G-d commanded the Jews to collect several types. After listing the need for metals, wools, hairs, skins, and wood, the Torah tells us that they collected “oil for illumination” and “spices for the anointment oil and incense”. Why does the Torah suddenly need to tell us what the materials were to be used for, when it hadn’t discussed it thus far? Read the rest of this entry »

Parshat Mishpatim begins the daunting work of laying the law for the Jews. Hidden among the many laws is a law that states: “if” one lends money, it is required to be interest free (22:24). After detailing broad laws of slavery, injuries and damages, why would the Torah choose to mention a law that would only apply to a few people? Read the rest of this entry »

Parshat Yitro describes Yitro hearing of the travels and trials of the Jews, Yitro being moved to convert, coming to Moshe for the conversion, and then leaving Moshe. If Yitro was so moved, why would he ever leave a situation where he’s surrounded by G-d, clouds, heavenly food, and Moshe as a teacher? And how could Moshe, as a leader, allow Yitro to just leave the camp? After all, he was the only Jew NOT to have witnessed the giving of the Torah! Read the rest of this entry »

Parshat Beshalach includes the famous splitting of the Sea (14:21), where Moshe led them into the water, and the sea split for them.

Psalms 114 offers that “the sea saw, and ran”, and commentators explain that what the sea saw was Yosef’s remains, and withdrew in their merit. As Rabbi Shmulevitz asks, what was so special about Yosef’s remains that the sea split because of them, rather than because of Moshe or the Jews?

Rabbi Shmulevitz answers by introducing a fundamental concept in Judaism: avoiding temptations. Yosef was in a position where he might have been tempted to sin (with Potifar), and rather than be placed in a position to overcome his urges, he avoided those urges altogether, even placing himself in danger by leaving an article of clothing behind. This great act is not only an example for us today, but it’s also the reason why the Jews were faced with crossing the sea in the first place. Had human logic prevailed, the Jews would have headed straight to Israel, which would have taken them 4 days. However, that might have tempted the Jews to consider returning to Egypt, so G-d had them go the long way, which included crossing the sea. The splitting of the sea and Yosef’s life join efforts in conveying a critical

lesson: Avoid conflict as much as you can. Whether it’s our internal temptations, friends, parents, spouses or those we share borders with, the Parsha offers us 3000 year old advice that we still holds true

today: Avoid conflict by minimizing confrontations.

Reading the story of how the Jews became enslaved to Egypt in Parshat Vaeira, and having the benefit of knowing how the story ends, we can wonder why the Egyptians were punished for enslaving the Jews, when we know that the Jews needed to be enslaved, either as part of the decree, or as the process of becoming a cohesive nation? Read the rest of this entry »

Despite being set in the midst of a corrupt Egyptian society, the Jewish community was flourishing with schools, synagogues and social networks, and assimilation was virtually non-existent, and it was because they made a pact amongst themselves not to change their names, style of dress, or language. With these safeguards, they were able to keep a healthy distance. As Rabbi Shraga Simmons explains, at the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Shemot, the tide turned: Immediately after the old generation died, the Jewish People spread throughout Egypt and the assimilation began. They dropped their Jewish customs and blended into secular society. Immediately, verse 8 reports the rise of anti-Semitism in Egypt. What makes this so unusual is that hatred of one group for another is typically due to what sociologists call “dislike of the unlike.” The Egyptians didn’t mind as long as the Jews kept to themselves. It was once they began to resemble “regular Egyptians” that the anti-Semitism began. The dual loyalty issue had reared its ugly head. Anti-Semitism is often generated with the perception that Jews have power and influence. Read the rest of this entry »