Challenge – Page 6 – Peninim on the Torah

וזאת תורת המנחה

Sruly Schnair In Tzav, 5783

This is the law of this meal-offering. (6:7)

In Parashas Vayikra, the Torah addresses the laws of the Korban Minchah. The Torah (2:1) begins the laws of Korban Minchah with a word not used regarding any of the other korbanos nedavah, voluntary offerings: Nefesh, soul (v’nefesh ki sakriv). Rashi explains that, concerning a Korban Minchah, the Torah makes an exception, since this inexpensive korban is usually the offering which a poor man brings. Hashem says, “I will regard it (the korban of an ani, poor man) as if he had offered his very soul. Concerning the Korban Minchah, Chazal (Menachos 110a) teach, Echad ha’marbeh v’echad ha’mamit, ubilvad she’yichavein…

Home -> 5783 -> Tetzaveh

ואתה תדבר אל כל חכמי לב אשר מלאתיו רוח חכמה ועשו את בגדי אהרן לקדשו לכהנו לי

Sruly Schnair In Tetzaveh, 5783

And you shall speak to every wise-hearted person whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the vestments of Aharon, to sanctify him to minister to Me. (28:3)

The Torah refers to the craftsmen who fashioned the various vessels used in the Mishkan and the priestly vestments which the Kohanim were enjoined to wear when performing the avodah, service, as chachmei lev, wise-hearted people. The pasuk states that Hashem filled these men with chochmah, wisdom. Why was it necessary for these men to be invested with Heavenly wisdom? Ramban explains that the Bigdei Kehunah, priestly vestments, require that its manufacture be lishmah, for its purpose, and it is possible that it even required kavanah, intent, as well. In order that they understand what they are doing, Hashem infused…

Home -> 5783 -> Vaeira

קח את מטך והשלך לפני פרעה

Sruly Schnair In Vaeira, 5783

Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh. (7:9)

What “merit” did the mateh, staff, have that it was used as the medium for carrying out some of the plagues against Pharaoh and the Egyptian people? Rabbi Go’el Alkarif suggests a powerful mussar, ethical lesson, to be derived from here. Prior to Horav Yisrael Salanter’s public emergence as the preeminent founder of the mussar movement, he lived quietly in Memel, Germany, with an idea, an idea that would transform the Jewish world. His innovation was to focus on mussar also. In addition to studying Gemorah, Jews should also work on their middos, character traits, refining and honing them, so…

Home -> 5783 -> Vaeira

ולא יכלו החרטמים לעמד לפני משה מפני השחין ... ויחזק ד' את לב פרעה

Sruly Schnair In Vaeira, 5783

The necromancers could not stand before Moshe because of the boils … Hashem strengthened the heart of Pharaoh. (9:11,12)

Concerning the previous plagues, the Torah writes that Pharaoh personally strengthened/hardened his heart. Regarding makkas shechin, boils, the Torah attests, Va’yichazek Hashem es lev Pharaoh, “Hashem strengthened Pharaoh’s heart.” What had transpired to catalyze this change? Ramban explains that as long as he was surrounded by his magicians, Pharaoh was ashamed to concede the truth: he had lost control. Hashem was stronger. The Jewish people should be permitted to leave. Pharaoh the rasha, wicked, would never allow anyone to observe him in a moment of weakness. It might denigrate their perception of him as a deity. When Egypt was stricken…

Home -> Shemos -> 5783

הבה נתחכמה לו פן ירבה

Sruly Schnair In 5783, Shemos

Come, let us outsmart it lest it become numerous. (1:10)

Pharaoh no longer remembered how Yosef had brilliantly led the nation through a major economic crisis. He looked around and saw that the immigrant family of seventy Jews that had originally come from Canaan had now become a nation of thousands, growing exponentially. They had become too numerous and too strong. Something had to be done about them. He foolishly thought that he could contend with Hashem and control the destiny of Klal Yisrael. He was clearly wrong. When our nation received the Torah at Har Sinai, the Torah records the event. Va’yehi kol ha’shofar holeich v’chazeik me’od, “The sound…

Home -> 5783 -> Vayeitzei

ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע ... ויפגע במקום וילן שם

Sruly Schnair In Vayeitzei, 5783

Yaakov departed from Beer Sheva … He encountered the place and spent the night. (28:10,11)

Chazal (Megillah 17a) glean from the word sham, there, that this was the first time the Patriarch lay down to sleep. He had spent the past fourteen years “hidden” within the yeshivah of Shem and Eivar. I use the word “hidden” to underscore that Yaakov Avinu became a part of the yeshivah in such a manner that no one even knew he was there. He studied day and night, focused on one thing: learning Torah. The question that should be addressed is how Chazal knew that Yaakov was in the yeshivah. Simply put, after calculating Yaakov’s age at present and…

Home -> 5783 -> Bereishis

בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ

Sruly Schnair In Bereishis, 5783

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

Rashi comments, “All the potentials of heaven and earth were created on Day One, but Hashem commanded each to actualize on a designated day. The heavens had been created on the first day, but they were still in a state of flux. On the second day, when Hashem said, ‘Let there be a rakia, firmament,’ the heavens solidified, thereby creating a separation between the waters above (clouds) and the waters below.” We wonder why there had to be a process whereby the heavens required a day to congeal. Also, Hashem created light on the first day, but He did not…

Home -> 5782 -> Ki Savo

וענית ואמרת לפני ד' אלקיך

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5782

Then you shall call out and say before Hashem, your G-d. (26:5)

Bikkurim, offering the first fruits to the Kohen, symbolizes the Jew dedicating everything in his possession to Hashem. (Incidentally, our greatest possession is “ourselves.” Thus, we should keep in mind that we should wholly dedicate to Hashem, all of “ourselves”.) As part of the Bikkurim ritual, the one who brings the first fruits makes a declaration recording our history and salvation from such ignominious scoundrels as Lavan – who attempted to uproot the very underpinnings of our people by destroying Yaakov Avinu – to Pharaoh, the despot who enslaved us for over two centuries. He relates how we prayed, cried,…

Home -> 5782 -> Ki Savo

ובאו עליך כל הקללות האלה ... כי לא שמעת בקול ד' אלקיך לשמרמצותיו וחקתיו אשר צוך.

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5782

All these curses will come upon you … because you will not have hearkened to the voice of Hashem, your G-d, to observe His commandments and decrees that He commanded you. (28:45)

Halfway through the Tochachah, Rebuke, in the midst of the frightening curses, the Torah gives us two reasons for this formidable punishment: We did not listen to Hashem (i.e. did not perform His mitzvos); we did not serve Him with joy. Understandably, not listening, disregarding Hashem’s command, blatantly not observing His ordinances, is reason for such severe punishment. Should a Jew who serves Hashem without joy, whose observance is lackluster, be held in such contempt as to deserve these curses? Perhaps, we may suggest that the Torah is presenting only one reason: our lack of observance. The Torah, however, immediately…

Home -> 5782 -> Ki Savo

תחת אשר לא עבדת את ד' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב

Sruly Schnair In Ki Savo, 5782

Because you did not serve Hashem, your G-d, amid gladness and goodness of heart. (28:47)

Simply, this pasuk admonishes us for a lack of joy in performing mitzvos. We perform mitzvos, but without interest, excitement, passion and, most of all, joy. Is this a valid reason to become the victim of all these curses? One would think that observance should be the deciding factor. Yet, we see that indifferent observance is almost worse than nonobservance. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to quote and offer personal exegesis to explain the dynamics of joy and its inherent significance in determining the validity and worthiness of one’s mitzvah observance. I would like to take a…

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וזאת תורת המנחה

This is the law of this meal-offering. (6:7)

ואתה תדבר אל כל חכמי לב אשר מלאתיו רוח חכמה ועשו את בגדי אהרן לקדשו לכהנו לי

And you shall speak to every wise-hearted person whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the vestments of Aharon, to sanctify him to minister to Me. (28:3)

קח את מטך והשלך לפני פרעה

Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh. (7:9)

ולא יכלו החרטמים לעמד לפני משה מפני השחין ... ויחזק ד' את לב פרעה

The necromancers could not stand before Moshe because of the boils … Hashem strengthened the heart of Pharaoh. (9:11,12)

הבה נתחכמה לו פן ירבה

Come, let us outsmart it lest it become numerous. (1:10)

ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע ... ויפגע במקום וילן שם

Yaakov departed from Beer Sheva … He encountered the place and spent the night. (28:10,11)

בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ

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

וענית ואמרת לפני ד' אלקיך

Then you shall call out and say before Hashem, your G-d. (26:5)

ובאו עליך כל הקללות האלה ... כי לא שמעת בקול ד' אלקיך לשמרמצותיו וחקתיו אשר צוך.

All these curses will come upon you … because you will not have hearkened to the voice of Hashem, your G-d, to observe His commandments and decrees that He commanded you. (28:45)

תחת אשר לא עבדת את ד' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב

Because you did not serve Hashem, your G-d, amid gladness and goodness of heart. (28:47)

YEARS

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