Sruly Schnair – Page 49 – Peninim on the Torah

לא תתעב אדמי כי אחיך הוא לא תתעב מצרי כי גר היית בארצו... דור שלישי יבא להם בקהל ד'

You shall not reject an Edomi, for he is your brother; you shall not reject an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land… the third generation may enter the congregation of Hashem. (23:8,9)

Understandably, we would not want to accept the children of a convert from those nations who have persecuted us. The Torah’s line of thinking is different than ours. Hashem has enjoined us to take a positive view of the descendants of these nations. Edom is “family,” and Egypt provided food and lodging for Yaakov Avinu and his family. What happened later is a different story. It does not absolve us of the obligation to show gratitude. Nonetheless, it takes three generations after conversion for their base nature to be expunged. The Sefer HaChinuch explains the shoresh, root, of this mitzvah….

Home -> 5783 -> Ki Seitzei

אשר קרך בדרך ויזנב בך כל הנחשלים אחריך ואתה עוף ויגע ולא ירא אלקים

Sruly Schnair In Ki Seitzei, 5783

That he happened upon you on the way, and he struck those of you who were hindermost, all the weaklings at your rear, when you were faint and exhausted, and did not fear G-d. (25:18)

We must endeavor to understand in what area Amalek stood out from among all of the other nations who were our enemies. Indeed, we had no friends – only those who paid lip service out of fear, but certainly not out of love or admiration. We were always tolerated, rarely respected, and hardly ever admired. This is quite possibly out of envy. We are Hashem’s chosen people who have, despite the greatest odds and untold persecution, survived and thrived, growing, contributing and not acting obsequiously. We have a noble heritage and an exalted destiny. We do not bow to anyone…

Home -> 5783 -> Ki Seitzei

אשר קרך בדרך

Sruly Schnair In Ki Seitzei, 5783

Who chanced upon you on the way. (25:18)

Rashi comments, “Amalek cooled you off from your burning heat.” The nations feared the Jewish People, thus, they distanced themselves from any altercation with them. Amalek assuaged their fears. This may be compared to a scalding hot bath which everyone fears entering. Suddenly, one man comes along and jumps in. He is scalded, but now others no longer fear the bath. He “cooled” it off for others. The analogy seems incorrect. On the contrary, once the people observe the burn status of the man who jumped in, they will surely stay away. Likewise, once the nations saw what happened to…

Home -> 5783 -> Shoftim

ולא ירבה לו נשים ולא יסור לבבו

Sruly Schnair In Shoftim, 5783

And he (the Melech Yisrael, Jewish king) shall not have too many wives, so that his heart will not turn him astray. (17:17)

Apparently, with his extraordinary wisdom, Shlomo Hamelech felt that this prohibition did not apply to him. He had his reasons for marrying seven-hundred wives and keeping three-hundred concubines. The Torah teaches that numerous wives would have an adverse effect on the king’s exclusive devotion to Hashem. Shlomo felt that he could rise above the prohibition and its consequences. He was wrong. While all this is history, why did Shlomo fail? His superior wisdom should have protected him. When he said, “I will have many wives, and they will not sway me from my utter devotion to Hashem,” he knew what…

Home -> 5783 -> Shoftim

מי האיש הירא ורך הלבב ילך וישב לביתו

Sruly Schnair In Shoftim, 5783

Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house. (20:8)

Chazal (Sotah 44a) cite two opinions concerning the fearful and fainthearted soldier who must return home from the battlefield, lest his distress demoralize the other soldiers. Rabbi Akiva is of the opinion that the Torah is referring to the cowardly person, who, after the Kohen’s assurances of Hashem’s support in the battlefield, is still overwhelmed with apprehension. He will have a negative effect on others. Let him go home and relax – if he can. His faith in Hashem is, at best, weak, and thus, not deserving of a miracle that he survive the battle. Rabbi Yosi HaGlili contends that…

Home -> 5783 -> Shoftim

כפר לעמך ישראל אשר פדית

Sruly Schnair In Shoftim, 5783

Atone for Your people, Yisrael, that You have redeemed. (21:8)

Simply, asher Padissa, “Which You redeemed,” is an appellation which applies to Klal Yisrael throughout the generations. We are, and will continue to be, the nation who Hashem redeemed and continues to redeem from bondage and adversity. Hashem redeemed us from Egypt, which, as mentioned in the Haggadah Shel Pesach, was the preeminent liberation of our people. Had our ancestors not been redeemed, we would today still be in Egypt enslaved to a contemporary Pharaoh. Thus, asher Padissa is a reference to our redemption throughout the ages as a result of that first redemption from Egypt. Ibn Ezra contends that…

Home -> 5783 -> Re'eh

ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה

Sruly Schnair In Re'eh, 5783

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

Noticeably, the pasuk begins with the singular re’eh, “see,” and continues with lifneichem, “before you,” in the plural. The Chasam Sofer cites Chazal (Kiddushin 40b) who teach: “Every person should view himself and the entire world as being half guilty and half meritorious. One mitzvah that he performs can tip the scale to the side of merit. If he commits a sin, however, he tips the scale (both personally and globally) to the side of guilt.” Thus, with every act, one must ask himself, “Do I really want to do this? With this act, I might be destroying myself and…

Home -> 5783 -> Re'eh

ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה את הברכה אשר תשמעו... והקללה אם לא תשמעו

Sruly Schnair In Re'eh, 5783

See I present before you a blessing and a curse. The blessing that you listen… The curse, if you do not listen. (11:26,27)

Our parshah begins by informing us of our mandate to choose between blessing and curse, good and evil. The blessing is the result of our listening to Hashem’s Torah; the curse is the consequence of our not listening. The obvious question is: Who in his right mind would choose curse over blessing? The simple explanation is that it is not an issue of choice; rather, the Torah alludes to the idea that, on the surface, some of our actions present as a blessing, while actually concealing beneath their external façade less than satisfactory options. In other words, blessing and curse…

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רק חזק לבלתי אכל הדם כי הדם הוא הנפש. ולא תאכל הנפש עם הבשר

Sruly Schnair In Re'eh, 5783

Only be strong not to eat blood – for the blood, it is life – and you should not eat the life with the meat. (12:23)

Rashi comments: “You may not eat meat that was torn from a living animal.” The Torah prohibits us from eating eiver min ha’chai, a limb cut from a living animal. The Sefer HaChinuch offers the shoresh, root, of the mitzvah, that we not train ourselves in the trait of cruelty, which is a most disgusting trait. Indeed, we can perform no greater cruelty than to cut a limb off a living animal and eat it. The Chinuch continues with a mussar, ethical character, directive. “I have already written numerous times concerning the great benefit that we derive in our acquisition…

Home -> 5783 -> Eikev

כי על כל מוצא פי ד' יחיה ... וזכרת את ד' אלקיך כי הוא הנתן לך כח לעשות חיל

Sruly Schnair In Eikev, 5783

Rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of Hashem does man live… That it was He (Hashem) who gives you the strength to make wealth. (8:3,18)

The Torah reiterates numerous times (of which the above pesukim are a mere sample) that everything – large or small – comes from Hashem. Man endeavors, but Hashem decides the end result. The first step toward living with faith and trust in the Almighty is acknowledging that He is the only reality. Everything else is a façade. The department of education oversaw a county which had, among its schools, a private yeshivah high school. The superintendent had serious issues with the school’s general studies program, or lack thereof. In order to receive a federal subsidy, the school was required to…

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לא תתעב אדמי כי אחיך הוא לא תתעב מצרי כי גר היית בארצו... דור שלישי יבא להם בקהל ד'

You shall not reject an Edomi, for he is your brother; you shall not reject an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land… the third generation may enter the congregation of Hashem. (23:8,9)

אשר קרך בדרך ויזנב בך כל הנחשלים אחריך ואתה עוף ויגע ולא ירא אלקים

That he happened upon you on the way, and he struck those of you who were hindermost, all the weaklings at your rear, when you were faint and exhausted, and did not fear G-d. (25:18)

אשר קרך בדרך

Who chanced upon you on the way. (25:18)

ולא ירבה לו נשים ולא יסור לבבו

And he (the Melech Yisrael, Jewish king) shall not have too many wives, so that his heart will not turn him astray. (17:17)

מי האיש הירא ורך הלבב ילך וישב לביתו

Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house. (20:8)

כפר לעמך ישראל אשר פדית

Atone for Your people, Yisrael, that You have redeemed. (21:8)

ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה

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

ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה את הברכה אשר תשמעו... והקללה אם לא תשמעו

See I present before you a blessing and a curse. The blessing that you listen… The curse, if you do not listen. (11:26,27)

רק חזק לבלתי אכל הדם כי הדם הוא הנפש. ולא תאכל הנפש עם הבשר

Only be strong not to eat blood – for the blood, it is life – and you should not eat the life with the meat. (12:23)

כי על כל מוצא פי ד' יחיה ... וזכרת את ד' אלקיך כי הוא הנתן לך כח לעשות חיל

Rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of Hashem does man live… That it was He (Hashem) who gives you the strength to make wealth. (8:3,18)

YEARS

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