Moshe Marcovich

These shall stand to bless the people on Har Gerizim…and these shall stand for curse. (27:12,13)

Interestingly, this parsha is filled with promises of blessing for good behavior and punishment and curse for disobedience. Nowhere, however, do we find the entreaty, “Please, Hashem, do not punish us for the wrong behavior we have committed. Overlook our sins.” Horav Moshe Swift, zl, emphasizes that the concept of reward and punishment is an integral part of Jewish doctrine. When you do something wrong, you pay for your sin. When you do a good deed, you are rewarded. Every action, every activity, every word, is all taken into account recorded and compensated. Furthermore, if we note the text, Hashem…

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Moshe Marcovich In Ki Savo, 5758

You shall inscribe on the stones all the words of this Torah. (27:8)

“All the words of this Torah,” according to Rabbenu Saadya Gaon, is a reference to the Taryag, 613 mitzvos. In the Talmud Sotah 32b, Chazal contend that actually the entire Torah was written on these stones. Furthermore, they were written in seventy languages, availing everyone the opportunity to study Torah. Thus, the Ramban remarks that the stones were either extremely large, or a miracle enabled the stones to contain the entire text. According to one opinion, these words were inscribed upon a layer of plaster that could not defend against the elements for as long as would have been possble…

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Moshe Marcovich In Ki Savo, 5758

Gaze down from Your holy abode, from the heavens, and bless Your people Yisrael. (26:15)

After the individual who brings Bikurim, first fruits, recites the Vidui, confession, he asks Hashem to bless him. Rashi explains this entreaty to mean, “We have done what You decreed upon us; now You do what behooves You.” This seems like an insolent way to address Hashem. Have we ever had a circumstance in which Hashem has not fulfilled His promise? Another question that seems to bother the commentators concerns the Maaser, when the person implies that he has done everything that Hashem has demanded of him. If he has done everything possible, why is he saying Viddui? We…

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Moshe Marcovich In Ki Savo, 5758

I have not eaten from it in my intense mourning. (26:14)

In the days of antiquity, pagan cults commonly based their religion upon death. They filled the caves of their departed relatives with stores of food and personal objects to accompany them on their journey through death. Jewish law vehemently forbids these rituals, refraining from providing any materials or provisions to the departed. We fashion our coffins from simple wood; we clothe the corpse in plain white shrouds. To paraphrase Horav Eli Munk,zl, “Judaism’s primary focus is upon life, that it be positive and productive.” In no way, however, are we lax in our care for the dead. We accord respect…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Ha'azinu

Ascent to this mount of Abarim… and die on this mountain… and be gathered to your people… because you trespassed against Me among the Bnei Yisrael… because you did not sanctify Me among the Bnei Yisrael. (32:49,50,51)

Perhaps Moshe Rabbeinu could have sanctified Hashem more emphatically. Why, however, is this considered to be a transgression against the Almighty? Did Moshe’s error constitute such an incursion against Hashem that hundreds of entreaties and prayers were not sufficient to effect his passage into Eretz Yisrael? Hashem refused to allow Moshe to enter the land, neither as a living being or as a corpse, as an animal or even an inanimate stone! He could not pardon Moshe’s error! Moshe’s behavior demanded serious consequences. Why? Horav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, Shlita, employs a practical approach to explaining this anomaly. Heads of state…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Ha'azinu

I put to death and I bring life; I struck down and I will heal. (32:39)

Hashem is the only source of healing. He strikes down, and He heals. Horav Yechezkel Abramski, zl, raised and addressed a pertinent question regarding the brachah of “Refaenu” which we recite in Shemonah Esrai. We say, “Heal us, Hashem – then we will be healed. Save us – then we will be saved, for You are our praise.” Why do we add the words, “For You are our praise“? Why is this the only brachah in which we emphasize Hashem’s unique involvement? Horav Abramski commented that in the field of medicine, one has the opportunity to attribute his recovery to…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Ha'azinu

Hashem will see and be provoked by the anger of His sons and daughters. (32:19)

Simply, the Torah is telling us that Hashem will be angry as a result of our iniquity. Horav Nissan Alpert, zl, makes a novel homiletic exposition to the pasuk, implying a valuable lesson. Hashem sees the iniquity, but that alone does not cause Him to become angry. After He sees how His children, Klal Yisrael, act when they do not get their own way, when they do not get their hearts desires, He is provoked to anger. It is one thing to make demands, to entreat Hashem for favors and hope that they are fulfilled. How do we have the…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Ha'azinu

Remember the days of yore, understand the years of generation after generation. Ask your fathers and they will tell you… when the Supreme One gave the nations their inheritance… He set the borders of the peoples according to the numbers of the Bnei Yisrael. (32:7,8)

In recounting Jewish history, Moshe notes that after the Mabul, flood, surviving generations attempted to build the Tower of Bavel. Hashem scattered them, dividing them into seventy nations. Each nation had its own distinct language, corresponding to the number of Bnei Yisrael, the seventy members of Yaakov Avinu’s family who later went down to Egypt. The Shem M’Shmuel remarks that the correspondence between the seventy souls in Yaakov’s family and the seventy nations of the world is significant in Jewish thought. Although today there are certainly more than seventy nations, after the Mabul initially seventy nations emerged. Likewise, when Yaakov’s…

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Moshe Marcovich In 5758, Ha'azinu

May my teaching drop like the rain, may my utterance flow like the dew. (32:2)

The Zohar Ha’Kadosh tells us that the “rain” is an analogy for Torah She’Biksav, the Written Law, and the “dew” represents Torah She’Baal’Peh, the Oral Law. Just as the former is celestial in nature, the latter is earthly and mundane in nature. We infer from this statement that the Written Torah contains principles and laws from a pure, Heavenly point of view, while the Oral Torah emphasizes rules and regulations from the perspective of earthly society. The commentators emphasize the various differences between dew and rain, suggesting their parallel to Torah study. Horav Eli Munk, zl, observes that while raindrops…

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Moshe Marcovich In Emor, 5758

You shall take fine flour and you shall bake it twelve loaves — on the Shabbos day, on the Shabbos day, he shall set in order before Hashem always. (24:5,8)

The twelve loaves of Lechem Hapanim symbolize the twelve tribes. They simultaneously represent a prayer for sustenance of the twelve shevatim and an expression of our gratitude to the Almighty for His sustenance. From the word “tamid“, “always,” we derive that the Shulchan, Table, is never to be without its twelve loaves. Just as the Kohanim were about to remove the past week’s bread in order to eat it, other Kohanim were at the same moment arranging the new weeks Lechem Hapanim on the table. What is the significance of the coincidence of these two actions? If a minute…

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These shall stand to bless the people on Har Gerizim…and these shall stand for curse. (27:12,13)

You shall inscribe on the stones all the words of this Torah. (27:8)

Gaze down from Your holy abode, from the heavens, and bless Your people Yisrael. (26:15)

I have not eaten from it in my intense mourning. (26:14)

Ascent to this mount of Abarim… and die on this mountain… and be gathered to your people… because you trespassed against Me among the Bnei Yisrael… because you did not sanctify Me among the Bnei Yisrael. (32:49,50,51)

I put to death and I bring life; I struck down and I will heal. (32:39)

Hashem will see and be provoked by the anger of His sons and daughters. (32:19)

Remember the days of yore, understand the years of generation after generation. Ask your fathers and they will tell you… when the Supreme One gave the nations their inheritance… He set the borders of the peoples according to the numbers of the Bnei Yisrael. (32:7,8)

May my teaching drop like the rain, may my utterance flow like the dew. (32:2)

You shall take fine flour and you shall bake it twelve loaves — on the Shabbos day, on the Shabbos day, he shall set in order before Hashem always. (24:5,8)

YEARS

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