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Home -> 5773 -> Re'eh

ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Re'eh, 5773

See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse. (11:26)

There are no grey areas in Judaism. One either listens to the word of G-d and is blessed, or he is cursed for refusing to listen. Moshe Rabbeinu seems to underscore the significance of the word, ha’yom, “today.”  Does it really make a difference if it is “today” or “tomorrow”? The message is the same. If you listen – blessing; you do not listen – curse! Why does he emphasize that he is presenting it “today”? In the Likutei Moharan, Horav Nachman Breslover, zl, is quoted as saying: “A man has in this world only ‘that day,’ ‘that hour,’ ‘that…

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Home -> 5773 -> Pinchas

ויסמך ידו עליו ויצוהו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5773

He leaned his hands upon him and commanded him. (27:23)

Yehoshua merited becoming Moshe Rabbeinu’s successor – a designation that eluded the most astute and most brilliant of the nation’s leadership. Apparently, Yehoshua possessed qualities which gave him precedence over the others. What about Yehoshua distinguished him so? Indeed, Moshe was great from day one. His birth illuminated the entire house. There is no question that, from the time of his entry into this world, Moshe was heads above everyone. The commentators do not seem to feel this way concerning Yehoshua. Indeed, some even feel that he was not worthy of the appellation, ben Torah. His relationship vis-à-vis his Rebbe,…

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Home -> 5773 -> Pinchas

אך בגורל יחלק את הארץ לשמות מטות אבתם ינחלו. על פי הגורל תחלק נחלתו בין רב למעט

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5773

Only by lot shall the land be divided; according to the names of the tribes of the father shall they receive it as a possession. According to lot, shall their inheritance be apportioned to them, with due regard for whether they are many or few. (26:55,56)

The land was divided by a system which clearly treats the land as an estate left by the preceding generation, the yotzei Mitzrayim, Jews who participated in the Egyptian exodus. Each of the fathers of those who left Egypt was designated to receive a portion in the Holy Land equivalent to the number of grandsons twenty years of age and older who would eventually enter Eretz Yisrael. This estate could be inherited only by those of the sons who were more than twenty years old when they left Egypt. These sons, in turn, could bequeath the land to those of…

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Home -> 5773 -> Pinchas

בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5773

When he zealously avenged Me among them. (25:11)

Pinchas was acting according to halachah: Boel aramis kanaim pogin bo, “One who cohabits with a gentile, zealous ones may strike him.” If so, why is he referred to as a kanai, zealot? He was just doing what any other observant Jew would/should have done. Indeed, Chazal imply that Hashem chastised Moshe Rabbeinu for remaining passive during the moral outrage that took place. As a result, Moshe’s gravesite remains unknown to us. Chazal derive from here that one must be “bold as a leopard, as nimble as an eagle, as swift as a deer, and as mighty as a lion…

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Home -> 5773 -> Pinchas

בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5773

When he zealously avenged Me among them. (25:11)

Kanaus, zealousness, is not a trait that one should exhibit indiscriminately.  As the paradigm of the kanai, zealot, Pinchas exemplifies the true zealot. He acts definitively for the sake of the community, placing the needs of the klal, congregation, above his own safety and reputation. The kanai is not lauded; dinners are not rendered in his honor, nor does he have a large collection of friends.  People are actually afraid of him, never knowing where and when he will strike; what will anger him; what he will see that is wrong. The kanai lives in a select circle, revered by…

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Home -> 5773 -> Noach

ושם אשת נחור מלכה בת הרן אבי מלכה ואבי יסכה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5773

And the name of Nachor’s wife was Milkah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Yiskah. (11:28)

Rashi teaches that Yiskah was actually Sarah Imeinu, the Matriarch.  She was called Yiskah, which is a name derived from the word, sachoh, meaning to gaze, to see.  Sarah was able to gaze into the future, because she was endowed with Divine Inspiration.  Also, everyone gazed at her extraordinary beauty.  Rashi’s second explanation, which focuses on the physical beauty of Sarah Imeinu, seems out of place.  The Matriarch was a spiritual person, her life’s purpose was to serve the Almighty in every possible way.  Why should her extraordinary beauty play a role in identifying her by name?  If Sarah would…

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Home -> 5773 -> Noach

וירד ד' לראות את העיר ...אשר בנו בני האדם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5773

Hashem descended to look at the city…which the sons of Man built. (11:5)

Rashi questions the use of the words, bnei Adam, “sons of man.”  Who else would they be?  Were they the sons of donkeys?  He explains that the Torah refers to their lineage ascending to Adam HaRishon, primordial man, who exhibited ingratitude when Hashem asked him why he had eaten the forbidden fruit.  Adam replied, “The woman whom You gave to be with me – she gave me of the tree and I ate”(Bereishis 3:11).  As he was a kafui tov, ingrate, likewise, his descendants rebelled against the One Who had spared them from the effects of the Flood.  In other…

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Home -> 5773 -> Noach

ויאמר אלקים לנח קץ כל בשר בא לפני כי מלאה הארץ חמס מפניהם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5773

G-d said to Noach, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with robbery through them.” (6:13)

Chazal focus on the word mipneihem, “through them,” written in lashon rabim, plural, implying that Hashem was weary with the actions of the gazlan, thief, and the nigzal, victim.  This is enigmatic.  While it is understandable that the actions of the thieves were at the point of disgust, what blame can be placed on the hapless victims?  Is it my fault that someone decided to rob me?  Apparently, the Torah has a dim view of the victim.  Perhaps he is not as blameless as we would be led to believe. Horav Arye Leib Bakst, zl, explains that we are all…

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Home -> 5773 -> Noach

כי מלאה הארץ חמס

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5773

For the earth is filled with robbery. (6:13)

Rashi quotes the Talmud Sanhedrin 108A, which teaches that the sentence meted out to the dor ha’Mabul, generation of the Flood, was sealed on account of chamas, robbery.  The people committed many reprehensible sins. Promiscuity was a leading sin, but it was robbery that sealed their verdict.  Clearly, thievery of any sort is repugnant behavior, but should it have been the one behavior that sealed their verdict?  The Tiferes Shlomo offers a novel insight into the matter.  He begins by questioning why Hashem took umbrage over the fact that the wicked people were stealing from other wicked people.  Was it…

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Home -> 5773 -> Noach

נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5773

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

Was Noach a tzadik – or not?  Rashi quotes a dispute in which yeish dorshin l’shevach, some interpret the phrase b’dorosav, in his generations, in a praiseworthy manner.  Noach was righteous even in his corrupt generation.  Certainly, had he lived in the generation of Avraham Avinu, he would have earned even greater accolades.  Others, however, are critical of Noach, ascribing to him the title of tzadik only in comparison to the morally depraved generation in which he lived.  Had Noach lived in a generation whose members were morally upright, he would not have been that noticeable.  It all depends from…

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