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You shall harden your heart or close your hand against your destitute brother…for in return for this matter, Hashem your G-d, will bless you in all your deeds and in all your undertaking. (15:7,10)

The Torah tells us clearly that one who gives tzedakah should not concern himself with his momentary financial loss, for Hashem will bless him in return.  Moreover, the contribution that he gives will be the source of his blessing.  The Chofetz Chaim commented on this pasuk with a story that serves as an analogy, giving greater meaning to the pasuk.  Once an illiterate farmer  from a small village came to the market with his usual sacks of grain.  Due to the farmer’s limited scope of education, his mathematical acumen was, at best,  poor.  For every sack that he emptied into…

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For you have not yet come unto the resting place or to the heritage. (12:9)

Rashi explains that “menuchah” refers to the Mishkan in Shiloh.  Interestingly, during its tenure in Shiloh, it was forbidden for Jews to offer korbonos on bamos, private altars.  The Mishkan in Shiloh was a national sanctuary.  Consequently, all korbonos were to be offered there.  Horav Mordechai Ilan, zl, notes the word menuchah, resting place, was applied to a place of restriction and discipline.  No longer were people permitted to do as they pleased, offering korbonos when and where they desired.  Now there were regulations to uphold, standards to be maintained, and rules to which they needed to adhere. We Jews…

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The blessing; that you listen…and the curse; if you do not listen to the commandments of Hashem your G-d. And you stray from the path that I command you today, to follow gods of others. (11:27,28)

The Torah considers one who strays from the path of Hashem to be  an idol-worshipper.  He who serves idols is tantamount to one who repudiates the entire Torah.  Idolatry is a rejection of the Almighty. One who does not firmly believe and accept Hashem as the Supreme Ruler and Creator of the world apparently spurns His mitzvos and Torah. In Megillas Esther 2:5, the pasuk refers to Mordechai as “Ish Yehudi.”  The Talmud in Megillah 12b explains the term “Yehudi” as an appellation describing one who is “kofer b’avodah zarah,” denies idol worship.  Mordechai was called a Yehudi, not because…

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Behold, I set before you today, a blessing and a curse. (11:26)

We seem to expect the individual to defer his needs to the needs of the community. Is this the way it should be?  A community is composed of  individuals.  Are we to assume that if we reach the majority of the tzibbur,  we are successful in achieving our goals, even if a segment of the community continues to be alienated?  Will the individual be judged by the actions of the community or by the nature of his own deeds? The Torah appears to be telling us that the individual is more important  than we  think.  In fact, the community depends…

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Behold, I set before you today, a blessing and a curse. (11:26)

Why did Moshe wait forty years to notify Bnei Yisrael that they stood at the threshold of receiving a blessing?  Why was this blessing not offered during their entire stay in the wilderness?  In a departure from the standard pshat, interpretation of the pasuk, Horav Nissan Alpert, zl, says that Moshe was not informing the people that they would receive blessing.  Rather, he was telling them that the moment had arrived when they, themselves, were able to effect blessing.  They could now serve as a vehicle for generating blessing.  They were now a m’kor of brachah, source of blessing.  Accompanying …

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