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Home -> Matos -> 5782

נקם נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

Take vengeance for Bnei Yisrael against the Midyanim. (31:2)

The Torah is commanding Klal Yisrael to initiate a campaign of vengeance against the Midyanim, in order to put a stop to their pernicious influence on the Jewish people. Noticeably, the Torah uses strong language in issuing this command: Take vengeance. The Midyanim sent their young women to pervert the Jewish men. This action provoked a zealous and violent response by Pinchas. Klal Yisrael, as a nation, had never previously retaliated when subjected to physical aggression. We fought back, but never acted in vengeance. We acted passively, withdrawing from the fray. We neither seek — nor approve of — violent…

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Home -> Matos -> 5782

נקם נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים ... וישלח אתם משה אלף למטה

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

Take vengeance for Bnei Yisrael against the Midyanim… Moshe sent them a thousand from each tribe. (31:2,6)

Moshe Rabbeinu was the paradigm of a baal ha’koras ha’tov, one who acknowledges his debt of gratitude and repays it at his earliest convenience.  This is the definition that applies to everyone.  Moshe is not everyone.  He lived by a bar whose standards were much higher.  When Hashem instructed Moshe to initiate the ten plagues that debilitated Egyptian life, he respectfully bowed out from being the vehicle to strike both the water (Nile River, to transform it into blood and to bring up the frogs) and the ground (to bring about the plague of lice).  For both he had a…

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Home -> Masei -> 5782

והקריתם לכם ערים ערי מקלט ... ונס שמה רצח מכה נפש בשגגה

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Masei

You shall designate cities for yourselves… and a murderer shall flee there – one who takes a life unintentionally. (35:11)

The Arei Miklat, Cities of Refuge, served as home to two groups of Jews: Shevet Levi, the spiritual exemplars of our nation; and the rotzeach b’shogeg, one who committed unintentional murder.  The relationship between these two groups seems to be a bit of a stretch.  They are quite the opposite of one another.  The Bostoner Rebbe, zl, was one of the founders of the baal teshuvah movement in this country.  The Rebbe was called to address the annual Agudath Israel convention. He used his time at the podium as an opportunity to exhort observant Jews to reach out to their…

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Home -> Masei -> 5782

ולארץ לא יכפר לדם אשר שפך בה כי אם בדם שפכו

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Masei

The land will not have atonement for the blood that was spilled in it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. (35:33)

Why does the land require atonement?  Did it sin in any way concerning the murder?  Is it guilty of some form of murder?  Horav Zaidel Epstein, zl, explains that the strictures of the complaint against the land is in its passive response to the murder.  It acted with indifference, with cool detachment, as if the murder were nothing at all.  The land should have cried out and made demands.  Who ever heard of the land expressing its emotion with regard to a wanton act of murder?  The Mashgiach refers us to Hashem’s curse of Kayin’s act of murdering his brother. …

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Home -> 5782 -> Pinchas

פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן

Sruly Schnair
In Pinchas, 5782

Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen. (25:11)

When the Torah details Pinchas’ lineage, it does so only up until Aharon. In other instances, while the Torah does not list ancestors all the way to the Patriarchs, it does extend to the rosh ha’mishpachah, head of the family. For example, Betzalel’s lineage is recorded up to Yehudah, and Ohaliav’s is listed up to Dan. The Torah stops short of Yaakov Avinu. Concerning Pinchas, the Torah stops with Aharon. Why not mention Amram and Levi? [Simply, we could say that the Torah is addressing the Kehunah and Pinchas’ relationship to it. Amram and Levi were not Kohanim, since Kehunah,…

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Home -> 5782 -> Pinchas

בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם

Sruly Schnair
In Pinchas, 5782

When he zealously avenged Me among them. (25:11)

The zealot acts on behalf of Hashem. After being completely certain that he has expunged every vestige of personal interest and emotion, to the point that he truly feels that he is acting only for Hashem, then he can move forward by acting zealously. The commentators question the meaning of b’socham, among them, and its placement at the end of the pasuk. It is almost as if the Torah is conveying to us the criterion for kanaus, zealousness: it must be b’socham, among them. Simply, this implies that the kanai should view himself as being “among them,” a member of…

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Home -> 5782 -> Pinchas

ושם איש ישראל המכה... זמרי בן סלוא נשיא בית אב לשמעוני

Sruly Schnair
In Pinchas, 5782

The name of the Yisraeli man who was slain… was Zimri ben Salu, leader of a paternal house of Shimoni. (25:14)

Chazal (Sanhedrin 2a) teach that Zimri was the first Jew to fall prey to the sin of public debauchery. When one is first, he opens the door, releases the floodgates for those who use his example as the green-light for their immoral debasement. His real name was Shlumiel ben Tzurishadai. When he began to sin, he was called Shaul ben HaCanaanis.  Only after he had become completely dissolate was he called Zimri ben Salu. In Bereishis 46:10, Rashi explains that Shaul ben HaCannanis was the son of Dinah, Yaakov Avinu’s daughter, who was violated by Shechem. When her brothers, Shimon…

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Home -> 5782 -> Pinchas

אשר יצא לפניהם ואשר יבא לפניהם ואשר יוציאם ואשר יביאם ולא תהיה עדת ה' כצאן אשר אין להם רעה

Sruly Schnair
In Pinchas, 5782

Who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall take them out and bring them in; and let the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd. (27:17)

Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem to appoint his successor, presenting criteria for an effective leader, a person: who leads from the front; who takes the nation out and brings them in; who does not remain in the background. He then adds, “And let the assembly of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd.” Horav Aryeh Finkel, zl (Rosh Yeshivah Mir/Brachfeld), wonders why Moshe had to supplement his request for a leader with a comparison to a herd of sheep who are shepherdless. Was not his request sufficient in its own right, without the added analogy about sheep? The Rosh…

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Home -> 5782 -> Pinchas

ומנחתם ונסכיהם לפרים לאלים ולכבשים במספרם כמשפט

Sruly Schnair
In Pinchas, 5782

And their meal-offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers, as required. (29:18)

Simply, v’niskeihem, “and their libations,” refers to the libations of the two sheep of the Korban Tamid, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Chazal (Taanis 2b) note the Torah twice departs from the singular form, v’niska, which is used in five pesukim, one time in the above pasuk, where it is spelled v’niskeihem, in the plural (with an added “mem” at the end of the word). Also, in pasuk 31, the Torah writes U’nesachecha with an added yud. To add to the equation, we note the word k’mishpatam (pasuk 33), while it says k’mishpat throughout the pesukim….

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Home -> 5782 -> Balak

ויגר מואב מפני העם מאד כי רב הוא ויקץ מואב מפני בני ישראל

Sruly Schnair
In Balak, 5782

Moav became very frightened of the people, because it was numerous, and Moav was disgusted in the face of Bnei Yisrael. (22:3)

The Torah uses two terms to refer to Klal Yisrael: Am, people/nation, Bnei Yisrael, children of Yisrael. Moav was frightened of the nation due to their numbers, which imply a physical battle, a physical victory for the Jewish nation. Concerning the children of Yisrael, which is the term most often used to describe our People, Moav was disgusted. Fear means that one is afraid, but he still has hope for victory. A change of tactics might be necessary in order to quash the Jewish threat. Disgusted, the term which is used in a confrontation with the children of Yisrael, sounds…

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