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Home -> 5784 -> Lech Lecha

ואעשך לגוי גדול ואברכך ואגדלה שמך והיה ברכה

Sruly Schnair
In Lech Lecha, 5784

And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. (12:2)

Rashi explains the three terms/blessings of this pasuk; “And I will make you a great nation”: we refer to this when we say in Shemoneh Esrai – Elokai Avraham, G-d of Avraham; “And I will bless you” – refers to Elokai Yitzchak, “And I will make your name great,” alludes to Elokai Yaakov. Rashi adds, “One might think that they conclude the blessing with all of them, i.e., Elokai Avraham, Yitzchak, v’Yaakov.” To teach otherwise, the pasuk says, V’he’yeih brachah, “And you will be a blessing.” B’cha chosmin v’lo ba’haem, “With you, Avraham, they conclude the blessing and not with…

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Home -> 5784 -> Lech Lecha

ויאמר אברם אל לוט אל נא תהי מריבה ביני ובינך ובין רעי ובין רעיך כי אנשים אחים אנחנו

Sruly Schnair
In Lech Lecha, 5784

And Avram said to Lot, “Please let there not be a fight between me and you and between my shepherd and your shepherds, because we are brothers.” (13:8)

Klal Yisrael is destined to experience various galusim, exiles. The last exile is America, a country that has been good to us, despite its permissive and pervasive society. We are allowed to practice our religion, build mekomos HaTorah, institutes of Torah – schools, shuls which follow their unique Torah traditions. We need not fear a pogrom. While this does not mean that everything is great, it just shows that, in comparison to the previous exiles in our tumultuous history, America is by far the easiest. Yet, it is called galus, because we must contend with an almost constant attack on…

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Home -> 5784 -> Noach

ויולד נח שלשה בנים את שם את חם ואת יפת

Sruly Schnair
In Noach, 5784

Noach begot three sons, Shem, Cham and Yafes. (6:10)

Noticeably, Cham, who was Noach’s youngest son, is placed out of sequence. One would expect the three sons to be placed in the Torah in accordance with their birth order. In a response to a query posed by his chassidim, the Kotzker Rebbe, zl, addressed this question. Apparently, one of his chassidim fell prey to the external winds of change, and, in a short time, he left the fold. Since he had originally been one of them, the chassidim attempted to persuade him to return. When talking failed to effect a change in his behavior, they decided, or so they…

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Home -> 5784 -> Noach

ותשחת הארץ לפני האלקים ותמלא הארץ חמס

Sruly Schnair
In Noach, 5784

Now the earth had become corrupt before G-d, and the earth became filled with robbery. (6:11)

The Baal HaTurim writes that the gematria, numerical equivalent, of chamas (108) is the same as mei Noach, the waters of Noach – the Flood. The Aderes (commentary to the Baal HaTurim) asks: What relationship is there between chamas, theft, and the Flood? Where is the middah k’neged middah, measure for measure? (Hashem’s punishment has a distinct relationship to/similarity with the sin.) He quotes Chazal (Sanhedrin, Perek Chelek 108a) who teach, B’roschin kilkelu, with “heat” they created a spiritual blemish (sinned), with roschin, hot water (the Flood waters were unusually hot). Roschin alludes to their immoral behavior, falling prey to…

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Home -> 5784 -> Noach

כי מלאה הארץ חמס מפניהם והנני משחיתם את הארץ

Sruly Schnair
In Noach, 5784

Now the land was filled with robbery, and behold I shall destroy them from the earth. (6:13)

Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 31:5) distinguish between gezel and chamas. While both relieve the victim of his possessions, gezel refers to robbery of an item worth at least a shavah perutah, value of a perutah (smallest coin). Chamas, however, refers to robbery of an item which does not have the value of a perutah. This is how the people of that generation stole from one another. They came upon a man selling vegetables in the market. One by one the people would take less than the value of a perutah of a vegetable, until it was all gone. In other words,…

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Home -> 5784 -> Noach

כי אתך ראיתי צדיק לפני בדור הזה

Sruly Schnair
In Noach, 5784

For I have seen you as righteous in this generation. (7:1)

The Zohar HaKadosh (Zohar Chadash Noach 29a) relates that, when Noach exited the Teivah, Ark, and saw a world destroyed, he became morose and cried out to Hashem, “Master of the Universe, You are called Merciful. You should have had mercy on the world.” Hashem replied, “Roeh shatya, foolish shepherd – now you daven? You should have davened when I told you, ‘For I have seen you as righteous in this generation.’” Why, indeed, did Noach not pray that the Flood be rescinded and the world not be destroyed? Horav Tzvi Kushelevsky, Shlita, explains that Noach believed that the world…

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Home -> 5784 -> Noach

ויאמר ארור כנען עבד עבדים יהיה לאחיו

Sruly Schnair
In Noach, 5784

And he said, “Cursed is Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” (9:25)

Cham committed an unspeakable act against his father, Noach, and, in turn, Noach cursed his fourth son, Canaan. Rashi explains that Noach intimated to Cham, “You caused me to be unable to have a fourth son who would serve me. May your fourth son be cursed by serving the offspring of these greater ones: Shem and Yafes (for now they will have to care for me). The term eved avadim, a slave of slaves, requires clarification. After all, a slave is a slave. What difference does it make who his master is? Horav Aryeh Leib Heyman, zl, explains that Noach…

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Home -> 5784 -> Bereishis

בראשית ברא אלקים

Sruly Schnair
In Bereishis, 5784

In the beginning of G-d’s creating. (1:1)

Horav Yehudah Leib/Leibele Eiger, zl, grandson of Horav Akiva Eiger and son of Horav Shlomo Eiger, was drawn to chassidus (in contrast to the way in which he was raised). This was a time in which chassidim and misnagdim, those in opposition, were, to say the least, not on amicable terms. Rav Leibele went to Horav Menachem Mendel, zl, of Kotzk, the famous Kotzker Rebbe. Kotzk was a chassidus devoted to strict adherence to unvarnished truth. The Rebbe did not have a large following, because he had no tolerance for anything that was less than the truth. He did not…

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Home -> 5784 -> Bereishis

נעשה אדם בצלמינו כדמותינו

Sruly Schnair
In Bereishis, 5784

Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness. (1:26)

Chazal relate that, when Moshe Rabbeinu came to the above pasuk which records Hashem speaking in the plural, as if to say to His Ministering Angels, “Let Us” – together Hashem and the Angels – create man, he asked, “Why do You furnish a pretext for the heretics to maintain (as they do) that there is a plural of divinities?” Hashem responded, “Write: whoever wishes to err will err. Let them instead learn from their Creator Who created all, yet, when He was about to create man, He took counsel with the Angels.” Rashi adds that Hashem’s humility is demonstrated…

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Home -> 5784 -> Bereishis

ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו ויהי בהיותם בשדה ויקם קין אל הבל אחיו ויהרגהו

Sruly Schnair
In Bereishis, 5784

Kayin spoke with his brother Hevel. And it happened when they were in the field, that Kayin rose up against his brother Hevel, and killed him. (4:8)

The pasuk does not detail Kayin and Hevel’s conversation. Chazal (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 22:7) debate the source of their arguing with one another. First, they contended about the division of the land, with one taking land and the other taking movable property. This arrangement did not work. When Kayin, who had taken the ground, told Hevel, “You are standing on my ground,” Hevel countered, “Everything that you are wearing is mine.” This led to discord, which was the precursor to the first act of murder. A second opinion concerns the area in which the Bais Hamikdash would be built, with…

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