Moshe Marcovich

וירם משה את ידו ויך את הסלע במטהו פעמים

Then Moshe raised his arm and struck the rock with his staff twice. (20:11)

When Moshe Rabbeinu struck the stone, instead of speaking to it, as per his instructions from Hashem, his actions were considered to be sinful. As a result, he was not permitted to enter into Eretz Yisrael. The commentators offer a number of different explanations to shed light on Moshe’s error. Rashi says that altering Hashem’s command from “speaking” to “striking” was wrong. Other commentators attribute the error to his reaction, the derogatory manner in which he spoke to the people: Shimu na hamorim, “Listen, you rebellious ones/fools.” Whether the issue was becoming angry or referring to descendants of the Avos,…

Home -> 5778 -> Chukas

זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל

Moshe Marcovich In Chukas, 5778

This is the teaching regarding a man who would die in his tent. (19:14)

Chazal (Berachos 63b) render the above pasuk homiletically, “This is the Torah – a man who dies in a tent. The Torah is not acquired only (unless) a person kills himself over it.” Obviously, such a compelling statement warrants considerable commentary. Simply, it teaches that in order for one to succeed in Torah study, he must view it as the essence of his life – without which he cannot survive. One must be prepared to devote himself totally to Torah study. The Torah is the life source of the Jew. The Vishnitzer Rebbe, Horav Moshe Hager, zl, offers a profound,…

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זאת חקת התורה

Moshe Marcovich In Chukas, 5778

This is the decree of the Torah. (19:2)

Rashi explains the concept of chok, a mitzvah whose Divine rationale eludes us. While Hashem certainly has a reason for every one of the Taryag, 613 mitzvos, the reason behind every mitzvah is beyond our grasp. Understandably, one might say that not all mitzvos are beyond our ken. Ostensibly, specific mitzvos – such as Kibbud Av v’Eim, Honoring father and mother – are rationally based. The Rambam (Shemoneh Perakim) distinguishes between mitzvos sichlios, rational mitzvos (which supposedly anyone who possesses a modicum of intelligence can understand on his own), and mitzvos shlmiyos, mitzvos we accept and perform purely because we…

Home -> 5778 -> Korach

ויקם משה וילך אל דתן ואבירם

Moshe Marcovich In Korach, 5778

So Moshe stood up and went to Dassan and Aviram. (16:25)

Why did Moshe Rabbeinu denigrate himself to go to such miscreants as Dassan and Aviram? He was the quintessential leader of Klal Yisrael, the Rabban Shel Kol Yisrael, the nation’s Rebbe. They were nothing. Yet, he went to them. Why? Chazal (Sanhedrin 110a) derive from here that one does not sustain a dispute. If he can diffuse a controversy from growing, spreading, he should do everything possible to extinguish the flames of discord. Furthermore, one who supports a machlokes, controversy, transgresses the prohibition’ of V’lo yiheyeh k’Korach v’chaadaso, “that he not be like Korach and his assembly” (Bamidbar 17:5). Simply…

Home -> 5778 -> Korach

וישלח משה לקרא לדתן ולאבירם בני אליאב ויאמרו לא נעלה

Moshe Marcovich In Korach, 5778

Moshe sent forth to summon Dassan and Aviram, bnei Eliav, but they said, “We shall not go up!” (16:12)

Two words: discord and disagreement, both begin with the same letter – “D,” but the words could otherwise not be further apart. Discord is the result of a disagreement in which one or both factions take it personally. Our parsha presents a classic case in which one side made every attempt to ameliorate a disagreement but did not succeed, since the other side was insistent on taking it to the next level. When Korach rebelled against Moshe Rabbeinu, he was joined by Dassan and Aviram, Moshe’s nemeses. Our leader did everything to appease them to the point that he sent a…

Home -> 5778 -> Korach

רב לכם בני לוי

Moshe Marcovich In Korach, 5778

It is too much for you, O offspring of Levi. (16:7)

Korach was no fool (or, at least, that was not his reputation). Chazal say that Korach was a pikeiach, quite astute and wise. Rashi quotes the well-known baffling question: Mah raah l’shtus zeh? “What did he see that possessed him to undertake such a foolish endeavor?” He saw prophetically that among his descendants, would be: the Navi Shmuel, who was as great in his time as Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen combined; and the twenty-four groups of Leviim who would prophesy with Divine Inspiration. Korach rationalized that with such illustrious lineage descending from him, how could he go wrong? The…

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ויקומו לפני משה ואנשים מבני ישראל חמישים ומאתים נשיאי עדה

Moshe Marcovich In Korach, 5778

They stood before Moshe with two hundred and fifty men from Bnei Yisrael, leaders of the Assembly, those summoned for the meeting, men of renown. (16:2)

Perhaps we do not give enough credit to the average Jew. People are capable of deciding between right and wrong. Those who err do not necessarily lack astuteness; rather, the decision might have been more difficult than we think. Let us take the Korach controversy as an example. I say Korach, rather than Korach/Moshe, because Moshe Rabbeinu was passive. He did not enter the fray. He responded to the vitriol, but did not become a partner with Korach in the dispute. It was Korach against Moshe. It takes two participants to make a full-scale controversy. The Korach dispute had one…

Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר וימצאו איש מקשש עצים ביום השבת

Moshe Marcovich In Shelach, 5778

The Bnei Yisrael were in the wilderness and they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbos day. (15:32)

The Maharal m’Prague (Gur Aryeh), notes that the mekoshesh eitzim, one who gathered wood on Shabbos, carried out his act of contempt during the second Shabbos of the Jews in the wilderness. Apparently, they observed the first Shabbos. Chazal teach (Shabbos 118b) that had they observed two Shabbosos, they would not have experienced the bitter exile. Shabbos is the great panacea which would have protected them. Why did the mekoshesh desecrate the second Shabbos? He acted for the sake of Heaven (or so he believed), in order that people would realize that Shabbos observance was serious business. When they would…

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כי תבאו אל ארץ מושבתיכם אשר אני נתן לכם

Moshe Marcovich In Shelach, 5778

When you will come to the Land of your dwelling places that I give you. (15:2)

Chazal (Midrash Rabbah 17:3) ask why Eretz Yisrael was called Eretz Canaan (after the pagan tribe that inhabited the land prior to the Jewish nation’s arrival). It is not as if they were a nation whose moral demeanor was something of which to be proud. Their spiritual affiliation was paganism. So why did they warrant such distinction? Chazal attribute their distinction to the fact that, when they heard that Klal Yisrael was on the way to evict them from the Holy Land, they cleaned up the land, preparing it for its new inhabitants. Hashem said, “Since you prepared the land…

Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

וישכמו בבקר ויעלו אל ראש ההר לאמר הננו ועלינו אל המקום אשר אמר ד' כי חטאנו

Moshe Marcovich In Shelach, 5778

They awoke early in the morning and ascended toward the mountain top saying, “We are ready, and we shall ascend to the place of which Hashem has spoken.” (14:40)

The other night, the entire nation had been trembling with fright, weeping incessantly (and unnecessarily) with bitter tears, demonstrating abject fear that they would be forced to ascend to Eretz Yisrael and conquer its inhabitants. Suddenly, their attitude changed. Not only were they now prepared to go into battle – they went. We all know the outcome of that ill-fated trip, but what prompted them to go? What happened to the trembling, the fear? How did it dissipate overnight? Horav Reuven Karlinstein, zl, addresses this question, but first, he describes the scenario (based on Chazal) which so captivated Klal Yisrael,…

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וירם משה את ידו ויך את הסלע במטהו פעמים

Then Moshe raised his arm and struck the rock with his staff twice. (20:11)

זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל

This is the teaching regarding a man who would die in his tent. (19:14)

זאת חקת התורה

This is the decree of the Torah. (19:2)

ויקם משה וילך אל דתן ואבירם

So Moshe stood up and went to Dassan and Aviram. (16:25)

וישלח משה לקרא לדתן ולאבירם בני אליאב ויאמרו לא נעלה

Moshe sent forth to summon Dassan and Aviram, bnei Eliav, but they said, “We shall not go up!” (16:12)

רב לכם בני לוי

It is too much for you, O offspring of Levi. (16:7)

ויקומו לפני משה ואנשים מבני ישראל חמישים ומאתים נשיאי עדה

They stood before Moshe with two hundred and fifty men from Bnei Yisrael, leaders of the Assembly, those summoned for the meeting, men of renown. (16:2)

ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר וימצאו איש מקשש עצים ביום השבת

The Bnei Yisrael were in the wilderness and they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbos day. (15:32)

כי תבאו אל ארץ מושבתיכם אשר אני נתן לכם

When you will come to the Land of your dwelling places that I give you. (15:2)

וישכמו בבקר ויעלו אל ראש ההר לאמר הננו ועלינו אל המקום אשר אמר ד' כי חטאנו

They awoke early in the morning and ascended toward the mountain top saying, “We are ready, and we shall ascend to the place of which Hashem has spoken.” (14:40)

YEARS

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