Sruly Schnair

ארץ אוכלת יושביה היא וכל העם אשר ראינו בתוכה אנשי מדות

It is a land that consumes its inhabitants and all the people that we saw in it were men of great stature. (13:32)

It is a land that exhausts its inhabitants. It is a land not designed for people of ordinary size. Unless one has the constitution of a giant, he will become moribund there. Small and weak people do not survive there. Veritably, the meraglim encountered funerals wherever they went. Their error was a lack of faith in Hashem. They never asked themselves: Could Hashem be doing this for a reason? He was. The people were too preoccupied with visiting the cemeteries to notice a team of Jews wandering through the countryside. The report the spies brought back was based upon their…

Home -> 5784 -> Shelach

וימצאו איש מקשש עצים ביום השבת ... מות יומת האיש רגום אתו באבנים כל העדה

Sruly Schnair In Shelach, 5784

And they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbos day … The man shall be put to death; the entire assembly shall pelt him with stones. (15: 32,35)

Someone who is, for the first time, being introduced to the institution of Shabbos Kodesh can find it to be overwhelming. No other prohibitive mitzvah in the Torah exists whereby what appears to be one simple, although forbidden, act will incur such stringent punishment as execution by stoning, which is the most strict of the four modes of bais din mandated executions. If one were to chas v’shalom burn a Sefer Torah with all of its sacred names; if one were to eat a non-kosher animal, an act which is mitamtem es ha’lev, stuffs/occludes the heart (one who consumes non-kosher…

Home -> 5784 -> Beha'alosecha

ויעש כן אהרן... כאשר צוה ד' את משה

Sruly Schnair In Beha'alosecha, 5784

Aharon did so… as Hashem had commanded Moshe. (8:3)

Rashi writes: L’hagid shevacho shel Aharon – she’lo shinah, “To tell the praise of Aharon, in that he did not deviate.” This statement begs elucidation. Would it enter anyone’s imagination to suggest that Aharon might have deviated from Hashem’s command? A number of expositions explain Rashi’s statement. The Sifrei Chassidus have a twist on the definition of the word shinah, deviate. When we take into consideration that Aharon would prepare and light the Menorah twice daily, it might be appropriate to say that he never tired of his function. The same passion and love that he manifested in the morning,…

Home -> 5784 -> Beha'alosecha

ויהי אנשים אשר היו טמאים לנפש אדם ולא יכלו לעשות הפסח... ויאמרו... אנחנו טמאים... למה נגרע לבלתי הקריב את קרבן ד' במעדו

Sruly Schnair In Beha'alosecha, 5784

There were men who had been contaminated by a human corpse and could not make the Pesach-offering… they said, “We are contaminated… why should we be diminished by not offering Hashem’s offering in its appointed time?” (9:6,7)

A debate in the Talmud (Succah 25a) concerns the identity of the men who were contaminated. Rabbi Yosi HaGlili says that they were the pallbearers of Yosef’s coffin. Rabbi Akiva says they were Mishael and Elitzafan, who were occupied with the corpses of Nadav and Avihu. In any event, these were not ordinary Jews who wanted to display their religious commitment. These were men who were sincerely concerned about being left out as the nation celebrated the offering of the Korban Pesach. We wonder what these men were thinking. They were fully aware of their situation: they were tamei –…

Home -> 5784 -> Beha'alosecha

ויבכו גם בני ישראל ויאמרו מי יאכילנו בשר

Sruly Schnair In Beha'alosecha, 5784

And Bnei Yisrael also wept once more and said, “Who will feed us meat?” (11:5)

People are shaped by their desires and cravings, which, in turn, influence their choices and actions. Desires often stem from personal experiences, values and external influences. What a person craves reflects his priorities and character, as well as his pursuit of fulfillment in various aspects of life. In other words, a nation that had graduated from two centuries of slavery to be liberated to stand at Har Sinai, experiencing the greatest Divine Revelation during which they received the Torah, should not get bent out of shape over a lack of meat. Mi yaachileinu basar, “Who will feed us meat?” is…

Home -> 5784 -> Beha'alosecha

והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה

Sruly Schnair In Beha'alosecha, 5784

Now the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any other person on the face of the earth. (12:3)

Moshe Rabbeinu was the paragon of humility, and he has gone down in history as the humblest man who ever walked the face of the earth. Does this mean that he was unaware of his remarkable, unprecedented and unparalleled achievements? Absolutely not! A humble person possesses a realistic awareness of his skills and achievements. He would otherwise be cognitively impaired. He just tends to downplay his achievements and abilities. He does not feel the need to flaunt, boast or even call attention to his successful exploits, knowing fully well what he is and what he is capable of achieving. He…

Home -> 5784 -> Naso

ואיש את קדשיו לו יהיו

Sruly Schnair In Naso, 5784

A man’s holies shall be his (5:10)

The maxim of the Chafetz Chaim concerning this pasuk is well-known. Only what someone designates for kedushah, holiness, remains his. One does not take his financial portfolio with him to the next world. Eitz Chaim hee la’machazikim bah; “It is a tree of life to those who hold on to it” (Mishlei 3:18). We must hold onto the Torah and follow it. The Torah does not need our support. On the contrary, we need the Torah to keep us afloat. I came across a poignant story, followed by a comment of Horav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, zl, that is powerful and…

Home -> 5784 -> Naso

איש איש כי תשטה אשתו ומעלה בו מעל

Sruly Schnair In Naso, 5784

Any man whose wife shall go astray and commit treachery against him. (5:12)

The Aseres HaDibros, Ten Commandments, mentions adultery as one of the cardinal sins for which one must sacrifice his life rather than transgress it. Yet, surprisingly, throughout the parshah of sotah, the wayward wife, no mention is made of the woman’s transgression against Hashem. Never is the phrase, mo’alah maal b’Hashem, mentioned. It is against the husband. This leads us to suggest that the egregious nature of the sin of adultery is its destruction of the marriage bond. As a result, it is a transgression against Hashem. First and foremost is what the sotah does to the institution of holy…

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ולא יתן עליו לבונה

Sruly Schnair In Naso, 5784

And he shall not put frankincense upon it. (5:15)

Rashi explains that the ingredients which comprised the Minchas Sotah were unlike that of other Menachos. The sotah’s Minchah used barley, which is eaten by animals, as opposed to wheat, which is consumed by humans. Her base actions were indicative of someone who had gravitated more to the animal sphere. There was no oil, since oil is the symbol of light, and the sotah acted in darkness. Last, there is no frankincense because the Hebrew word for frankincense is levonah, which is the term the Torah uses to describe our Imahos, Matriarchs. Implied by the lack of frankincense is that…

Home -> 5784 -> Naso

כל ימי נזרו קדש הוא לד'... ועשה הכהן אחד לחטאת

Sruly Schnair In Naso, 5784

All the days of his abstinence he is holy to Hashem… The Kohen shall make one as a sin-offering. (6:8,11)

On the surface, the term nezirus begs elucidation. Is the Nazir a tzaddik, a righteous person, or is he, on some level, a sinner? The Torah refers to him as a kadosh, holy, to Hashem. Yet, he must bring a Korban Chatas, sin-offering, at the end of his period of nezirus. Surely, someone who is considered kadosh should not have to bring a sin-offering. What sin did he commit? Various opinions are stated concerning the Nazir’s “breach” in holiness. He should not have achieved this pinnacle through the vehicle of abstinence from wine. A person should override his gravitation toward…

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ארץ אוכלת יושביה היא וכל העם אשר ראינו בתוכה אנשי מדות

It is a land that consumes its inhabitants and all the people that we saw in it were men of great stature. (13:32)

וימצאו איש מקשש עצים ביום השבת ... מות יומת האיש רגום אתו באבנים כל העדה

And they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbos day … The man shall be put to death; the entire assembly shall pelt him with stones. (15: 32,35)

ויעש כן אהרן... כאשר צוה ד' את משה

Aharon did so… as Hashem had commanded Moshe. (8:3)

ויהי אנשים אשר היו טמאים לנפש אדם ולא יכלו לעשות הפסח... ויאמרו... אנחנו טמאים... למה נגרע לבלתי הקריב את קרבן ד' במעדו

There were men who had been contaminated by a human corpse and could not make the Pesach-offering… they said, “We are contaminated… why should we be diminished by not offering Hashem’s offering in its appointed time?” (9:6,7)

ויבכו גם בני ישראל ויאמרו מי יאכילנו בשר

And Bnei Yisrael also wept once more and said, “Who will feed us meat?” (11:5)

והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה

Now the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any other person on the face of the earth. (12:3)

ואיש את קדשיו לו יהיו

A man’s holies shall be his (5:10)

איש איש כי תשטה אשתו ומעלה בו מעל

Any man whose wife shall go astray and commit treachery against him. (5:12)

ולא יתן עליו לבונה

And he shall not put frankincense upon it. (5:15)

כל ימי נזרו קדש הוא לד'... ועשה הכהן אחד לחטאת

All the days of his abstinence he is holy to Hashem… The Kohen shall make one as a sin-offering. (6:8,11)

YEARS

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