Peninim on the Torah – Page 166 – Hebrew Academy of Cleveland

ויקח קרח

Korach took, (separated himself). (16:1)

Korach had it all, but, it was not enough for him. He wanted more, or he simply did not want Moshe Rabbeinu to have it. Korach was a clever dissident who was able to attract a powerful following of supporters. First, he told the people that he was acting on their behalf. Since he already had it all, he had no need for personal leadership. He was taking a stand for “others.” He felt that the people were being exploited, and he was coming to their rescue. Kol ha’eidah kulam kedoshim, “The entire congregation is holy”; “Hashem is in their…

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לך רד כי שחת עמך אשר העלית מארץ מצרים...עשו להם עגל מסכה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5777, Ki Sisa

Go! Go down! For your people that you brought up from the land of Egypt has become corrupt …They hand made themselves a molten calf. (32:7,8)

The idyllic relationship that had emerged between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael when we overwhelmingly accepted the Torah at Har Sinai changed with the sin of the Golden Calf. After the chet ha’eigel – nothing has been the same. Had Moshe Rabbeinu not intervened, it would have been – deservedly – all over. Indeed, the sin continues to dog us to this very day since, in variations, we have yet to comprehend the repeat performances we have in some way presented. U’b’yom pakdi u’pokadeti aleihem chatasam, “And on the day that I make My account, I shall bring their sin to…

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וירא העם כי בשש משה לרדת מן ההר ויקהל העם על אהרן ויאמרו אליו קום עשה לנו אלהים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5777, Ki Sisa

The people saw that Moshe had delayed in descending the mountain, and the people gathered around Aharon and said to him, “Rise up, make for us gods!” (32:1)

One error, one simple mistake was all that was needed to precipitate Klal Yisrael’s tragic rebellion, their egregious demonstration of infidelity– the construction of the Golden Calf. How did a people who had recently received the Torah under circumstances that were unreal become so faithless, almost overnight? It was all due to a mistake, an error in judgment. They thought that Moshe was to have been back, but they erred. Once they exhibited fear, Satan was certain that he had ensnared them. They were putty in his hands. He seized the opportunity and created an illusion of a deceased Moshe…

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לדעת כי אני ד' מקדשכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5777, Ki Sisa

To know that I am Hashem, Who makes you holy. (31:13)

Chazal (Shabbos 11:B) teach, “Hashem said to Moshe, ‘I have a good (very special) gift in My treasury (where I keep My precious treasures). It is called Shabbos. I wish to give it to Klal Yisrael. Go and inform them.’” Shabbos is a precious treasure that Hashem saved especially for His children. We must learn to appreciate the unique nature of this gift, and, above all, how much it means to Hashem. The Tzaddik, Horav Avraham, zl, m’Porisav related in the name of the Chidushei HaRim, the meaning of, Leich v’hodiam, “Go and inform them” (which Hashem said to Moshe)….

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אך את שבתותי תשמרו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5777, Ki Sisa

However, you must observe My Shabbasos. (31:13)

Tishmoru is written in the plural, implying that the exhortation to observe Shabbos is being spoken to a group. The Chafetz Chaim, zl, commented, “It is not enough that you and your household observe Shabbos. You must see to it that other Jews also observe Shabbos.” Thus, it is not a singular command. Rarely do we find the Torah instructing us not only to personally observe, but also, to see to it that our observance influences others. I write this specifically because our observance, our valuing Shabbos, our sensitivity to this mitzvah is the only way the alienated Jew will…

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זה יתנו כל העבר על הפקודים מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5777, Ki Sisa

This shall they give – everyone who passes through the census – a half-shekel of the sacred shekel. (30:13)

Why was Klal Yisrael commanded to contribute a half-shekel coin? Would it have been so difficult to give a whole shekel? This question has been treated extensively by the various commentators. The gist of their commentary focuses on the need for each individual Jew to view himself as a mere half. No Jew is whole, alone and in and of himself. Horav Yoshiyahu Pinto, Shlita, offers a powerful insight into the half-shekel requirement. He explains that a Jew should view every occurrence, every circumstance, every issue that he faces, as being only half of the story. Another side to the…

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לא יבוא עמוני ומואבי בקהל ד' ... על דבר אשר לא קדמו אתכם בלחם ובמים...ואשר שכר עליך את בלעם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5777

An Amomite or Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem… because of the fact that they did not greet you with bread and water… and because he hired against you Bilaam. (23:4,5)

Two reasons are given as to why we may not accept converts from the nations of Ammon and Moav: A) They did not come forward to greet us with bread and water as we journeyed through the wilderness following 210 years of slavery; B) They hired Bilaam, the evil pagan prophet, to curse us. These are two good reasons, which are clearly quite different from one another. The first reason criticizes their lack of etiquette, of human decency. The second reason excoriates them for attempting to destroy one another. They are so distant from one another that they hardly belong…

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כי קבור תקברנו ביום ההוא

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5777

Rather, you shall surely bury him on that day. (21:23)

The prohibition against keeping a body unburied overnight applies even to one who has died of natural causes. The Talmud Yerushalmi Moed Kattan (2:4) states that one is not permitted to disinter the bones of a corpse unless it is for the purpose of reinterring them in a family plot. This prohibition is applicable, even if it means moving the bones to a cemetery that is more dignified than the original place where the body had been buried. Also, a person/neshamah would rather be buried in close proximity to family (Meshech Chochmah). The Meshech Chochmah seems to say that same-day…

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כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שומע בקול אביו ובקול אמו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5777

If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother. (21:18)

Einenu shomeia, “does not hearken/listen” is the given translation. The word einenu means much more than “does not (listen).” It means he is not a listener; he is unable to listen; his ability to listen is (sadly) impeded. The Torah should have written (simply), eino shomeia: “(he) does not listen.” The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh notes this change and derives from here that, when the yetzer hora, evil inclination, reigns over a person, or, rather, if the yetzer hora becomes part of this person, his ability to hear, listen, to accept, becomes so impeded that he is unable to listen. He…

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כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שמע בקול אביו ובקול אמו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5777

If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother. (21:18)

The Torah refers to the father of the wayward and rebellious son as an ish, a man, and then goes on to state the boy’s sin: he does not obey his father and mother. Why does the Torah refer to the ish/father as the boy’s progenitor, as having begotten him, but – in contrast – when it addresses his disobedience, he is considered to be son of both his father and mother? This inconsistency in and of itself might be the precursor for the boy’s degenerate behavior. Parents have a child; it is a boy! The father immediately takes charge….

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ויקח קרח

Korach took, (separated himself). (16:1)

לך רד כי שחת עמך אשר העלית מארץ מצרים...עשו להם עגל מסכה

Go! Go down! For your people that you brought up from the land of Egypt has become corrupt …They hand made themselves a molten calf. (32:7,8)

וירא העם כי בשש משה לרדת מן ההר ויקהל העם על אהרן ויאמרו אליו קום עשה לנו אלהים

The people saw that Moshe had delayed in descending the mountain, and the people gathered around Aharon and said to him, “Rise up, make for us gods!” (32:1)

לדעת כי אני ד' מקדשכם

To know that I am Hashem, Who makes you holy. (31:13)

אך את שבתותי תשמרו

However, you must observe My Shabbasos. (31:13)

זה יתנו כל העבר על הפקודים מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש

This shall they give – everyone who passes through the census – a half-shekel of the sacred shekel. (30:13)

לא יבוא עמוני ומואבי בקהל ד' ... על דבר אשר לא קדמו אתכם בלחם ובמים...ואשר שכר עליך את בלעם

An Amomite or Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem… because of the fact that they did not greet you with bread and water… and because he hired against you Bilaam. (23:4,5)

כי קבור תקברנו ביום ההוא

Rather, you shall surely bury him on that day. (21:23)

כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שומע בקול אביו ובקול אמו

If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother. (21:18)

כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה איננו שמע בקול אביו ובקול אמו

If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother. (21:18)

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