Challenge – Page 9 – Peninim on the Torah

והיה על מצח אהרן... והיה על מצחו תמיד לרצון להם לפני ד'

It shall be on Aharon’s forehead… and it shall be on his forehead always, to bring them favor before Hashem. (28:38)

The Tzitz, Head-Plate, was a unique addition to the Kohen Gadol’s vestments. When the Kohen Gadol wore it, the two words that were engraved on it: Kodesh l’Hashem, Holy to Hashem, served to gain Heavenly favor for blood or sacrificial body parts that were offered on the Mizbayach, Altar, while in a state of tumah, ritual contamination, allowing them to be accepted by Hashem. Tzitz meratzeh: the Tzitz caused ineligible offerings to become accepted. Whether this was only when Aharon/Kohen Gadol wore it on his forehead is the subject of a debate in the Talmud (Yoma 7b). One Tanna takes…

Home -> Vayechi -> 5781

בך יבורך ישראל לאמר ישימך אלקים כאפרים וכמנשה

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayechi

By you shall Yisrael bless saying, “May G-d make you like Ephraim and Menashe.” (48:20)

Yaakov Avinu assured Yosef that, throughout the ages, Jewish parents would bless their sons that they grow up to be like Ephraim and Menashe. Why should these two grandsons of Yaakov, children raised in the pagan, hedonistic society that Egypt epitomized, be the paradigms of Jewish parents’ hopes for their children? At first blush, the mere fact that they “made it” in Egypt speaks volumes about them and their upbringing. If so, Yaakov would be speaking only with regard to the galus Jew, who is challenged by the non-Jewish, assimilationist environment. This is obviously not the case. Yaakov spoke to…

Home -> Vayigash -> 5781

ואת יהודה שלח לפניו ... להורות לפניו גשנה

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayigash

He sent Yehudah ahead of him… to prepare ahead of him in Goshen. (46:28)

Rashi quotes the well-known Chazal: Yaakov Avinu sent Yehudah to prepare the way for the family. He sent Yehudah to establish a bais Talmud, house of Torah study, a yeshivah, from where Torah would be disseminated. No one questions that Yehudah was a capable leader, a spokesman for the family, but was he appropriate to be a Rosh Yeshivah? Levi and Yissachar were the two brothers who devoted their days and nights to spiritual pursuits. One would have expected that Yaakov would have selected either or both of them to be his emissaries to build a makom Torah. The answer…

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5781

וקמו שבע שני רעב ואחריהן ונשכח כל השבע בארץ מצרים

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Mikeitz

The seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. (41:30)

When Yosef described the sorry state of affairs during the years of hunger, he said that the hunger would be so devastating that no one would be able to recollect the previous wonderful years of abundance. This was represented by the seven lean cows swallowing up the seven healthy cows in such a manner that the presence of the seven healthy cows would not even be a memory. They would be gone, disappeared, as if they had never existed. Ramban suggests that Yosef was alluding to Pharaoh that the years of famine would be no ordinary famine, where one can…

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5781

ויקרא יוסף את שם הבכור מנשה כי נשני אלקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Mikeitz

Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe for, “G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” (41:51)

After years of overcoming challenges and adversity, pain and enslavement, Yosef is freed and overnight catapulted to undreamed of leadership, luxury and dignity. He marries and is blessed with his firstborn son whom he names Menashe. He chooses this name because of its relationship with nashoh, forget. Thus, Yosef declares: “This name (which implies forgetting) is my declaration of gratitude to Hashem for allowing me to be able to forget my hardship and my father’s household (which was, for Yosef, the beginning of his hardship). A cursory reading of the name and its implications leaves the reader perplexed. Is this…

Home -> Vayeishev -> 5781

וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayeishev

Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojourning. (37:1)

Chazal infer from the variation in the text describing Yaakov’s taking up residence, vayeishev, he settled, from that of his father, migurei, sojourning, which implies wandering that Yaakov sought to settle, finally to relax in one place with a roof over his head and not worry about what tomorrow would bring. No one questions that Yaakov Avinu had his fill of struggles and troubles. Would it be so terrible for him to have a little tranquility? Chazal, quoted by Rashi, say: Yaakov bikeish leisheiv b’shalvah, the Patriarch wanted to settle down in tranquility. As a result, Hashem sent the Yosef…

Home -> Vayeishev -> 5781

וישראל אהב את יוסף מכל בניו כי בן זקנים הוא לו ... וישנאו אתו ... ויקנאו בו אחיו

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayeishev

Now Yisrael loved Yosef more than all of his sons since he was a child of his old age… so they hated him … so his brothers were jealous of him. (37:3,4,11)

The controversy that ensued between Yosef and his brothers was much deeper than sibling rivalry. Certainly, it was understandable that their father favored the son born to Rachel Imeinu after years of barrenness. Yosef was an exceptional young man who studied Torah with his father and had much in common with him. Under normal circumstances, they would have overlooked their father’s love for Yosef, but they felt that Yosef was a rodef, pursuer, who was bent on destroying them and assuming their spiritual position. They simply could not ignore this. Nonetheless, we wonder how the brothers questioned the daas Torah,…

Home -> 5781 -> Vayishlach

ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו

Sruly Schnair In Vayishlach, 5781

Yaakov became very frightened, and it distressed him. (32:8)

Chazal (Midrash Rabbah 75:13) expound on Yaakov Avinu’s prayer to Hashem, a prayer that was generated by fear of Eisav. Chazal say, V’raah es Eisav she’hu ba mei’rachok, “When Yaakov saw Eisav coming from afar,” he immediately began praying more passionately, until Hashem assured him that all would be well. He would protect Yaakov. Apparently, the closer Eisav came to Yaakov our Patriarch became more fearful, until he actually saw him from afar, at which point he went all out in terms of the intensity of his prayer. Yaakov’s fear of confrontation begs elucidation. It is not as if Yaakov…

Home -> 5781 -> Vayishlach

ויותר יעקב לבדו ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר... ויגע בכף ירכו... והוא צלע על ירכו

Sruly Schnair In Vayishlach, 5781

Yaakov was left alone and a man fought with him until the break of dawn… and he struck Yaakov’s thigh… and Yaakov was limping. (32:25,26,32)

The encounter between Yaakov Avinu and the mysterious man is fraught with questions. First, how can the Torah say that our Patriarch was left alone? A Jew is never alone. Hashem Yisborach is always with us. Melo kol haaretz k’vodo, “The entire world is filled with His Glory.” Furthermore, Hashem promised Yaakov, V’Anochi eheyeh imach, “I will be with you.” Yaakov might have been distant from human encounter, but he certainly was not alone. Second, in the battle that ensued between Yaakov and the “ish”/angel of Eisav, why did the angel choose specifically to strike Yaakov’s ability to move, i.e….

Home -> 5781 -> Toldos

הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5781

The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Eisav’s hands. (27:22)

Yitzchak Avinu sensed a contradiction. The manner in which the “son” who stood before him spoke was gentle, pleasant and respectful. Hence, he assumed that it was Yaakov who stood before him. On the other hand, once he felt his hairy arms, he thought it was Eisav. Alternatively, the power of Yaakov’s voice was in his ability to plead with Hashem through the medium of prayer. Eisav was a “hands on” man; he lived with his hands – plundering and murdering. Nothing stood in the way of his hands. One question that weighs heavily on the reader: If Yitzchak questioned…

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והיה על מצח אהרן... והיה על מצחו תמיד לרצון להם לפני ד'

It shall be on Aharon’s forehead… and it shall be on his forehead always, to bring them favor before Hashem. (28:38)

בך יבורך ישראל לאמר ישימך אלקים כאפרים וכמנשה

By you shall Yisrael bless saying, “May G-d make you like Ephraim and Menashe.” (48:20)

ואת יהודה שלח לפניו ... להורות לפניו גשנה

He sent Yehudah ahead of him… to prepare ahead of him in Goshen. (46:28)

וקמו שבע שני רעב ואחריהן ונשכח כל השבע בארץ מצרים

The seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. (41:30)

ויקרא יוסף את שם הבכור מנשה כי נשני אלקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי

Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe for, “G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” (41:51)

וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו

Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojourning. (37:1)

וישראל אהב את יוסף מכל בניו כי בן זקנים הוא לו ... וישנאו אתו ... ויקנאו בו אחיו

Now Yisrael loved Yosef more than all of his sons since he was a child of his old age… so they hated him … so his brothers were jealous of him. (37:3,4,11)

ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו

Yaakov became very frightened, and it distressed him. (32:8)

ויותר יעקב לבדו ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר... ויגע בכף ירכו... והוא צלע על ירכו

Yaakov was left alone and a man fought with him until the break of dawn… and he struck Yaakov’s thigh… and Yaakov was limping. (32:25,26,32)

הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Eisav’s hands. (27:22)

YEARS

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