Challenge – Page 13 – Peninim on the Torah

אשר שם האחד גרשם... ושם האחד אליעזר

Sruly Schnair In Yisro, 5779

And the name of one was Gershom… and the name of one (the other) was Eliezer. (18:3,4)

The Baalei Mussar, Ethicists, exhort us to live on the bare minimum in terms of material needs. The Tanna in Pirkei Avos teaches us the recipe for Torah living: Pas ba’melech tochal, u’mayim ba’meshureh tishte, “Bread dipped in salt, and measured water”; v’al haaretz tishan, “and sleep on the floor.” We can do without luxuries. When it comes to spiritual benefits, Torah achievements, one should not be mistapek b’muat, suffice with a little. We should be filled with a passion to achieve greater and even greater levels of erudition in Torah. Horav Reuven Karlinstein, zl, applies this rule to explain…

Home -> 5779 -> Beshalach

וידי משה כבדים ויקחו אבן וישימו תחתיו וישב עליה

Sruly Schnair In Beshalach, 5779

The hands of Moshe were heavy, and they took a stone, placed it beneath him, and he sat upon it. (17:12)

We can distinguish between those mitzvos that are incumbent upon man in his relationship with Hashem – bein adam laMakom; and those mitzvos that involve interpersonal relationships – bein adam lachaveiro. The basis for mitzvos bein adam laMakom is Hashem. He desires our service. The root of mitzvos bein adam la’chaveiro is V’halachta bidrachav, “You shall emulate His ways” (Devarim 11:22). Hashem interacts with our world by sharing our pain. With regard to interpersonal relationships, this trait is called nosei b’ol im chaveiro, sharing/carrying the burden with one’s fellow. During the Revelation that accompanied the Giving of the Torah on…

Home -> 5779 -> Vaeira

אמר אל אהרן קח מטך ונטה ידך על מימי מצרים

Sruly Schnair In Vaeira, 5779

Say to Aharon, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt.” (7:19)

So begins the Ten Plagues that shook up the underpinnings of Egyptian arrogance and obstinacy. Hashem instructed Aharon to strike the waters; later, he struck the water from which emerged the frogs and then the earth which produced the lice. Why Aharon, and not Moshe? Chazal explain that the Nile River had protected Moshe Rabbeinu when he was an infant. It would have been wrong for him to serve as the instrument to inflict a plague on it. Likewise, the earth concealed the Egyptian that Moshe had slain. The Torah considers it wrong to show ingratitude even to an inanimate…

Home -> 5779 -> Vaeira

וימתו הצפרדעים מן הבתים מן החצרת ומן השדת... ויסר הערב מפרעה מעבדיו ומעמו לא נשאר אחד

Sruly Schnair In Vaeira, 5779

The frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the field… He removed the swarm of wild beasts from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people – not one remained. (8:9,27)

The frogs (most of them) died. The arov, wild beasts, and arbeh, locust, did not. Kli Yakar explains that Hashem sought to teach that one who gives himself up for Kiddush Hashem, to sanctify Hashem’s Name, will be saved. Thus, those frogs that climbed into the burning hot ovens belonging to the Egyptians – lived. The other frogs, who did not enter the ovens, but rather “chose” to invade the country, the fields, the homes – died. The ones that risked death for the glory of Hashem were spared; the others were not. It was this lesson that Chananyah, Mishael…

Home -> Vayechi -> 5779

ראובן בכורי אתה... פחז כמים אל תותר

Sruly Schnair In 5779, Vayechi

Reuven, you are my firstborn… water-like impetuosity – you cannot be foremost. (49:3,4)

The Midrash (Yalkut Shemoni Mishlei 15, remez 953) teaches, “Because Reuven, Shimon and Levi accepted the rebuke of their father, Yaakov Avinu, they merited to have their lineage enumerated together with that of Moshe and Aharon” (Shemos 6:14). The first three sons of Yaakov achieved an enviable pinnacle of spiritual merit by accepting their father’s rebuke. The fact that Hashem rewarded them indicates that accepting rebuke is a challenging feat, a battle which they won, and one that apparently from which others not as strong as they might not have successfully emerged. There is no question that no one looks forward…

Home -> Vayigash -> 5779

ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו אני יוסף העוד אבי חי ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אתו כי נבהלו מפניו

Sruly Schnair In 5779, Vayigash

And Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef, is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, because they were left disconcerted before him. (45:3)

Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers, and, in the space of a few moments, G-d’s master plan became evident to all. All of the questions, pain and challenges that had transpired and that they had experienced became clear to them. Twenty-two years of ambiguity had been lifted from their eyes. Yosef asked, “Is my father still alive?” This question begs elucidation. How many times must they repeat to him that their elderly father was still alive and living at home? The Kli Yakar explains that Yosef thought that they might have mentioned an elderly father who was inexorably attached…

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5779

ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים

Sruly Schnair In 5779, Mikeitz

It happened at the end of two years to the day. (41:1)

So begins the salvation of Yosef HaTzaddik, which would have commenced two years earlier had Yosef not shown a deficiency in his bitachon, trust in Hashem. After all has been said and done, Yosef truly suffered as a slave and a prisoner. He spent a good portion of his formative adult life away from family, alone in a pagan, immoral world. How did he do it? How was he able to maintain his extraordinary fidelity to Hashem amidst the multitude of tzaros, troubles, that accompanied him for thirteen years. This was followed by nine more years during which he was…

Home -> 5779 -> Chayei Sarah

ואמר אל אדני אלי לא תלך האשה אחרי

Sruly Schnair In Chayei Sarah, 5779

And I said to my master, “Perhaps the woman will not follow me?” (24:39)

Life is not always a bed of roses. Disappointments are part of the Heavenly-designed world in which we live. How one reacts and responds to disappointments is the barometer of his acknowledgement that it is Hashem – not he – who runs the world. Accepting disappointment — and, in fact, growing from it — is the mark of a great person. When Avraham Avinu sent his trusted student/servant, Eliezer, on a mission to find a suitable mate for his son, Yitzchak (Avinu), he set forth one critical criterion which was non-negotiable: Under no circumstances was Yitzchak permitted to live with…

Home -> 5779 -> Vayeira

וישלח אברהם את ידו ויקח את המאכלת לשחט את בנו

Sruly Schnair In Vayeira, 5779

Avraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slaughter his son. (22:10)

A dear friend who became observant late in life, after raising his children to be devoutly secular Jews with little or no Jewish identity, was told by his daughter, “What bothers me most about your commitment to Orthodoxy is that you care more about G-d than you do about me!” A powerful accusation – if one is not Orthodox. One whose life is wholly regulated by the Torah understands that it is all about G-d. He comes first. This does not in any way suggest that frum people do not have feelings for family. If anything, they place a higher…

Home -> 5779 -> Noach

נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו

Sruly Schnair In Noach, 5779

Noach was a righteous person, perfect in his generations. (6:9)

One of the more well-known debates among Chazal concerns the nature of Noach’s righteousness: Was it the real thing, or was it relative to the evildoers of his generation? Some sages maintain that it is in his praise: Noach was righteous even in his generation, which was corrupt. How much more so would he have been righteous in the generation of Avraham Avinu, which did not suffer from such an ignominious population? Others feel that b’dorosav, in his generations, is a critique of Noach, suggesting that only in his generation, which was extremely wicked, could he have earned such a…

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אשר שם האחד גרשם... ושם האחד אליעזר

And the name of one was Gershom… and the name of one (the other) was Eliezer. (18:3,4)

וידי משה כבדים ויקחו אבן וישימו תחתיו וישב עליה

The hands of Moshe were heavy, and they took a stone, placed it beneath him, and he sat upon it. (17:12)

אמר אל אהרן קח מטך ונטה ידך על מימי מצרים

Say to Aharon, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt.” (7:19)

וימתו הצפרדעים מן הבתים מן החצרת ומן השדת... ויסר הערב מפרעה מעבדיו ומעמו לא נשאר אחד

The frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the field… He removed the swarm of wild beasts from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people – not one remained. (8:9,27)

ראובן בכורי אתה... פחז כמים אל תותר

Reuven, you are my firstborn… water-like impetuosity – you cannot be foremost. (49:3,4)

ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו אני יוסף העוד אבי חי ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אתו כי נבהלו מפניו

And Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef, is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, because they were left disconcerted before him. (45:3)

ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים

It happened at the end of two years to the day. (41:1)

ואמר אל אדני אלי לא תלך האשה אחרי

And I said to my master, “Perhaps the woman will not follow me?” (24:39)

וישלח אברהם את ידו ויקח את המאכלת לשחט את בנו

Avraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slaughter his son. (22:10)

נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו

Noach was a righteous person, perfect in his generations. (6:9)

YEARS

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