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וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ד' הוא האלקים ... אין עוד

Sruly Schnair
In Va'eschanan, 5782

You shall know this day and take to your heart that Hashem He is our G-d … there is none other. (4:39)

We know (and understand) so many things intellectually, but do not take them to heart to the point that they guide and control our demeanor.  The above pasuk exhorts us to believe in Hashem, to have emunah, faith, in the Almighty.  Faith means trust. Trust means that one does not question, which, by its very nature, implies his lack of trust.  The pasuk implies that our faith in Hashem must be such that we know that He is our G-d.  This does not seem consistent with the term emunah, belief/faith, which is a prelude to knowledge.  One who knows does…

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Home -> 5782 -> Va'eschanan

שמע ישראל ד' אלקינו ד' אחד

Sruly Schnair
In Va'eschanan, 5782

Hear O’ Yisrael, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One. (6:4)

When the Romans led Rabbi Akiva to his execution (for teaching Torah), it was his time to recite Krias Shema.  They subjected him to inhumane torture by scraping off his skin with metal combs.  Meanwhile, he was engaged in Kabbolas Ol Malchus Shomayim, accepting upon himself the yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom.  His students watched in horror as their revered, saintly Rebbe calmly focused on the spiritual sphere, while ignoring his physical pain.  His students asked, “Must one go so far?”  (Is it necessary to suffer so much in showing one’s devotion to Hashem? How far should mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice…

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Home -> Matos -> 5782

איכה אשא לבדי טרחכם ומשאכם וריבכם

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

How can I alone carry your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels? (1:12)

Moshe Rabbeinu laments the nation’s behavior.  In describing his leadership, he uses the word, essa, carry. This teaches that a leader leads by carrying his flock on his shoulders.  They are not a separate entity removed from him, following him wherever he leads them.  The leader carries them upon his shoulders.  They go where he goes, because he is taking them.  Sometimes, the “weight” becomes too heavy.  Carrying one on his shoulder is a metaphor for accepting responsibility.  A leader does not dole out the blame for something gone wrong on others.  The leader steps up to the plate and…

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Home -> Matos -> 5782

איכה אשא לבדי טרחכם ומשאכם וריבכם

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

How can I carry alone your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels? (1:12)

Rashi derives from the word masaachem, your burdens, that the people were apikorsim, heretics.  They were skeptics who did not believe in their leaders.  Thus, they questioned the motives of everything that Moshe Rabbeinu did.  If he left his home early, they asserted that there was trouble at home.  If he left late, they claimed that he was busy seeking ways to take advantage or hurt them.  They were bogged down with suspicion.  Nothing was good enough for them.  They had jaundiced misgivings and perspective about everyone who helped them.  This is a masa, burden.  Apparently, Rashi feels that an…

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Home -> Matos -> 5782

הבו לכם אנשים חכמים ונבונים וידעים לשבטיכם ואשימם בראשיכם

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

Provide for yourselves distinguished men, who are wise, understanding and well-known to your tribes, and I shall appoint them as your heads. (1:13)

Rashi notes that the word v’asimeim; and I shall appoint, is spelled missing a yud; thus, it reads v’ashmam, their guilt.  This teaches that the moral and ethical failings of the people are the fault of their judges, who should have reproved them when they sinned.  If the “class” is unruly due to a lack of discipline, the first address for blame is the teacher.  First and foremost, a leader must realize that he is not a private person.  He is held responsible not only for his sins, but also for the sins of the people that he leads.  While…

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Home -> Matos -> 5782

נקם נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

Take vengeance for Bnei Yisrael against the Midyanim. (31:2)

The Torah is commanding Klal Yisrael to initiate a campaign of vengeance against the Midyanim, in order to put a stop to their pernicious influence on the Jewish people. Noticeably, the Torah uses strong language in issuing this command: Take vengeance. The Midyanim sent their young women to pervert the Jewish men. This action provoked a zealous and violent response by Pinchas. Klal Yisrael, as a nation, had never previously retaliated when subjected to physical aggression. We fought back, but never acted in vengeance. We acted passively, withdrawing from the fray. We neither seek — nor approve of — violent…

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Home -> Matos -> 5782

נקם נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים ... וישלח אתם משה אלף למטה

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Matos

Take vengeance for Bnei Yisrael against the Midyanim… Moshe sent them a thousand from each tribe. (31:2,6)

Moshe Rabbeinu was the paradigm of a baal ha’koras ha’tov, one who acknowledges his debt of gratitude and repays it at his earliest convenience.  This is the definition that applies to everyone.  Moshe is not everyone.  He lived by a bar whose standards were much higher.  When Hashem instructed Moshe to initiate the ten plagues that debilitated Egyptian life, he respectfully bowed out from being the vehicle to strike both the water (Nile River, to transform it into blood and to bring up the frogs) and the ground (to bring about the plague of lice).  For both he had a…

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Home -> Masei -> 5782

והקריתם לכם ערים ערי מקלט ... ונס שמה רצח מכה נפש בשגגה

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Masei

You shall designate cities for yourselves… and a murderer shall flee there – one who takes a life unintentionally. (35:11)

The Arei Miklat, Cities of Refuge, served as home to two groups of Jews: Shevet Levi, the spiritual exemplars of our nation; and the rotzeach b’shogeg, one who committed unintentional murder.  The relationship between these two groups seems to be a bit of a stretch.  They are quite the opposite of one another.  The Bostoner Rebbe, zl, was one of the founders of the baal teshuvah movement in this country.  The Rebbe was called to address the annual Agudath Israel convention. He used his time at the podium as an opportunity to exhort observant Jews to reach out to their…

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Home -> Masei -> 5782

ולארץ לא יכפר לדם אשר שפך בה כי אם בדם שפכו

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Masei

The land will not have atonement for the blood that was spilled in it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. (35:33)

Why does the land require atonement?  Did it sin in any way concerning the murder?  Is it guilty of some form of murder?  Horav Zaidel Epstein, zl, explains that the strictures of the complaint against the land is in its passive response to the murder.  It acted with indifference, with cool detachment, as if the murder were nothing at all.  The land should have cried out and made demands.  Who ever heard of the land expressing its emotion with regard to a wanton act of murder?  The Mashgiach refers us to Hashem’s curse of Kayin’s act of murdering his brother. …

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Home -> 5782 -> Pinchas

פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן

Sruly Schnair
In Pinchas, 5782

Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen. (25:11)

When the Torah details Pinchas’ lineage, it does so only up until Aharon. In other instances, while the Torah does not list ancestors all the way to the Patriarchs, it does extend to the rosh ha’mishpachah, head of the family. For example, Betzalel’s lineage is recorded up to Yehudah, and Ohaliav’s is listed up to Dan. The Torah stops short of Yaakov Avinu. Concerning Pinchas, the Torah stops with Aharon. Why not mention Amram and Levi? [Simply, we could say that the Torah is addressing the Kehunah and Pinchas’ relationship to it. Amram and Levi were not Kohanim, since Kehunah,…

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