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Home -> 5773 -> Balak

תמות נפשי מות ישרים ותהי אחריתי כמהו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Balak, 5773

“May my soul die the death of the upright, and my end be like his.” (23:10)

It is the old story. The wicked want to live a life of abandon, yet, they want to die as the righteous and upright. The Chafetz Chaim, zl, explains that Bilaam did not want to live like a Jew. After all, Torah Judaism makes “difficult” demands on a person. Morality, ethicality, spiritual integrity: these are not simple qualities to which someone like Bilaam is able to adhere. He wants to have his cake and eat it. For a Jew, on the other hand, it is much simpler to deal with death than life. The Jew views death as a bridge…

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Home -> 5773 -> Balak

וירא בלק... את כל אשר עשה ישראל לאמרי... וירא פינחס... ויקם מתוך העדה...

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Balak, 5773

Balak saw… all that Yisrael had done to the Emori (22:2). Pinchas saw… and he stood up from amid the assembly. (25:7)

Our parsha begins with one re’iyah, observation, and closes with another re’iyah. Balak opens the parsha with Va’yaar Balak ben Tzippor, “And Balak ben Tzippor saw.” Pinchas, heir to the Priestly throne of his grandfather Aharon HaKohen, concludes the parsha with his re’iyah, Vayaar Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen va’yakom mitoch ha’eidah, va’yikach romach b’yado, “And Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen saw, and he stood up from amid the assembly and took a spear in his hand” (25:7).We understand that, whenever the Torah states that someone “saw,” it is important to explain what in particular caught his attention….

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Home -> 5773 -> Kedoshim

לא תקום ולא תטר את בני עמך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Kedoshim, 5773

You shall not take revenge, and you shall not bear a grudge against members of Your people. (19:18)

The Torah forbids us from taking revenge in any shape or form. Is revenge really that bad? For one individual, it might give him closure to an ordeal which he wants to forget. Another just might desire the fellow who harmed him to feel some of the emotional and physical pain which he had experienced. Some might even consider revenge to be sweet. What they do not realize is that revenge is obsessive and destructive, taking its toll on both parties. The old proverb which states, “He who seeks revenge should prepare two graves,” is very true. Yet, should revenge…

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Home -> 5773 -> Kedoshim

הוכח תוכיח את עמיתך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Kedoshim, 5773

You shall reprove your fellow. (19:17)

The redundancy of the words, ho’cheach tochiach, gives us something to ponder.  Clearly, the Torah is placing emphasis on the mitzvah of tochachah, rebuke, but is it necessary to repeat the words to prove a point – or, is the Torah conveying another message? In his Drushim, the Ben Ish Chai explains this idea with an incident that occurred concerning a clever thief. A fellow was caught stealing in a country in which there was a zero tolerance law regarding theft. Anyone who was caught stealing was sentenced to death. There was no reprieve, no commutation. The form of punishment…

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Home -> 5773 -> Acharei Mos

ומאת עדת בני ישראל יקח שני שעירי עזים לחטאת

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Acharei Mos, 5773

From the assembly of Bnei Yisrael he shall take two he-goats for a sin-offering. (16:5)

The Torah goes into great detail in describing the ritual of the two he-goats. One goat is “fortunate” to be selected as a korban, offering to Hashem. It is slaughtered by the Kohen Gadol, its blood sprinkled between the Badei HaAron, Poles of the Aron HaKodesh, on the Paroches, Curtain, and the Mizbayach HaZahav, Golden Altar. This represents a fairly impressive “end” to the life of an animal. The other he-goat does not seem to fare as well. It serves as the offering sent into the wilderness, bearing the nation’s sins. It is later flung off a cliff, falling to…

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Home -> 5773 -> Acharei Mos

אחרי מות שני בני אהרן בקרבתם לפני ד' וימתו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Acharei Mos, 5773

After the death of Aharon’s two sons. (16:1)

The Midrash states four reasons for the untimely, tragic deaths of Nadav and Avihu. Among these is the idea that, Lo natlu eitzah, zeh mi’zeh, “They did not take counsel one from another.” Ish machtaso, “Each man his firepan” (Vayikra 10:1) intimates that each one acted on his own without consulting the other. It was as if each one were to say, “I know what to do; I have no reason to mull it over with anyone else.” Horav Arye Leib Bakst, zl, posits that this is how we should understand the failing of Rabbi Akiva’s disciples, who also died…

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Home -> 5772 -> Kedoshim

ושרט לנפש לא תתנו בבשרכם...את שבתתי תשמרו ומקדשי תיראו אני ד'. אל תפנו אל האבת

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Kedoshim, 5772

You shall not make a cut in your flesh for the dead…My Shabbosos you shall observe and My Sanctuary shall you revere. I am Hashem. Do not turn to (the sorcery of) the Ovos and Yidonim (those who claim to speak with the dead). (Vayikra 19:28, 30, 31)

There is no way of getting around it: the death of a loved one is one of life’s most crippling experiences. This is especially true for the death of a parent – regardless of his or her age. Respect for parents and the deceased has long been one of the hallmarks of Judaism. When a parent passes on to the World of Truth, the surviving family reacts with grief, followed by public displays of reverence. The family observes shivah, the seven-day mourning period. Sons recite Kaddish for eleven months following the death of a parent. It is a time when…

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Home -> 5772 -> Kedoshim

דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם קדשים תהיו כי קדוש אני

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Kedoshim, 5772

Speak to the entire congregation of Bnei Yisrael, and you shall say to them, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” (19:2)

A while ago I received a call from a Peninim reader, concerned about the fact that I had distinguished between the focus of punishment meted out to a Jew and that meted out to a gentile. Hashem’s punishment of the Jewish nation is therapeutic, to elevate and better the individual Jews. The punishment that Hashem metes out to the gentile world is punitive. Apparently, more is demanded of us. The caller took issue with the notion that I was differentiating between people. I apologized, but reality is what it is. At times, it might make us uncomfortable. In Parashas Kedoshim,…

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Home -> 5772 -> Acharei Mos

איש איש אל כל שאר בשרו לא תקברו לגלות ערוב...ומזרעך לא תתן להעביר למלך ...אני ד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Acharei Mos, 5772

No one, no one of you shall approach any kin of his flesh to uncover nakedness…and you shall not give any of your progeny to pass it to the Molech… I am Hashem. (18:6,21)

After enumerating a list of sexual aberrations, the Torah concludes with an exhortation not to pass one’s child to the mMolech god. Horav S.R. Hirsch, zl, explains the rationale for this juxtaposition. He suggests a practical reason for the prohibition of the laws concerning ervah, physical relations with close relatives, explaining that a relationship between husband and wife should be predicated upon bonds of mutual love, which is the result of marriage. Any relationship which has been linked prior to marriage by bonds of mutual attachment and affection, or of familial love, precludes the link founded in – and based…

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Home -> 5772 -> Acharei Mos

אחרי מות שני בני אהרן בקרבתם לפני ד' וימתו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Acharei Mos, 5772

After the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they approached before Hashem, and they died. (16:1)

The Midrash says that when Iyov heard about the tragic deaths of the two sons of Aharon HaKohen, he said, Af l’zos yecherad libi v’yitar mimkomo; “Even for this, my heart trembles and it leaps from its place” (Iyov 37:1). Iyov had suffered as no other man. He believed that he did not deserve such extreme pain and misery to be visited upon him. He had led a virtuous and pious life, and he had done no wrong, certainly nothing of the caliber to warrant such serious punishment. He claimed that the physical/emotional pain of losing his children and his…

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