Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

  • Reset
Category

Back to Home -> 5776 ->


Home -> Bechukosai -> 5776

אם בחקתי תלכו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Bechukosai

If you will follow My decrees. (26:3)

Rashi interprets Im bechukosai teilechu, shetiheyu ameilim baTorah, “That you engage in intensive Torah study.” Ameilus means toil, labor. Success in Torah study is not determined by acumen, but by application. Given the spiritual nature of Torah as a result of its Divine origin, it is not who one is, but how he applies himself to studying and reviewing the Torah. Indeed, the greatest gedolim, Torah leaders, achieved their plateau not simply because of their brilliance, but due to their extreme ameilus. The Raavad writes (Teshuvos 39), “I have relinquished much sleep from my eyes; much food became spoiled because…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5776

אם בחקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Bechukosai

If you will follow My decrees and observe My Commandments and perform them. (26:3)

A Torah Jew must be the embodiment of emes, truth. Integrity – both moral and spiritual – must be reflected in his every demeanor. The image of a Torah Jew bespeaks emes under all conditions and circumstances. There is no other way. Hashem’s chosam, seal, is emes. Since we are to emulate the Almighty, we must strive to achieve perfection in this character trait. What is this emes?  How does one achieve the appellation ish emes, a man of truth? The roshei teivos, three letters of emes—aleph, mem, tav — are an acronym for the three yesodos, principles, to which…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5776

ואם תלכו עמי קרי ולא תאבו לשמע לי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Bechukosai

If you behave casually (happenstance) with Me and refuse to heed Me. (26:21)

The word keri, translated as “happenstance,” is used quite often in the Tochechah, Rebuke. Following the text, we observe that chastisement and further punishment are meted out to Klal Yisrael because they behave toward Hashem with happenstance. Thus, Hashem responds by acting toward us in a like manner. The Rambam defines keri as denying Hashem’s role, His orchestration of events. When we view what takes place in the world in general, and around us in particular, as random occurrences, we are acting with happenstance toward Hashem. The Ramban calls ignoring Hashgachah Pratis, Divine Providence, “A path of cruelty.” Horav Noach…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5775

ואם בחקתי תמאסו ואם את משפטי תגעל נפשכם לבלתי עשות את כל מצותי להפרכם את בריתי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5775, Bechukosai

And if you will consider My decrees revolting, and if your being rejects My ordinances, so as not to perform all of My commandments, to annul My covenant. (26:15)

Chazal teach that the final straw, which is denying belief in Hashem, is part of a descending seven-step process. In other words, one does not just wake up one morning and decide to become a kofer, heretic. He has been slipping slowly over a period of time, and now this trait has finally begun to manifest itself in his denial of the Creator. What makes this process most astonishing is that it takes very little to gain entry into it. All one needs in order to mount the first step is not really a lack of study, but rather, a…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5775

ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם ונתנה הארץ יבולה ועץ השדה יתן פריו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5775, Bechukosai

Then I will provide your rains in their time, and the land will give its produce and the tree of the field will give its fruit. (26:4)

Interestingly, all of the physical blessings mentioned by the Torah as a reward for mitzvah observance and toiling in Torah are agricultural in nature. Why does the Torah not ensure a person with great wealth, agriculture property or real estate? It seems as if every blessing is: If you observe mitzvos and work hard at studying Torah, you will be blessed with success for all of your hard work in the field. It is almost like saying, if you work hard in the bais hamedrash, then your work in the field will reap great success. Horav Shimshon Pincus, zl, offers…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5775

ואבדתם בגוים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5775, Bechukosai

And you will become lost among the nations. (26:38)

Horav Mordechai Ilan, zl, observes that, when Klal Yisrael is in exile, they are compared to a lost article. As long as a lost item has a siman, recognizable sign, which the owner can use to identify it, then a din ha’shavah applies, an obligation for the finder to return it. He may not keep something for which the owner has not yet given up hope. If an item does not have a recognizable feature by which the owner can identify it, he will be me’yaeish, despair of getting it back. We derive an important lesson from here. The Jew…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5774

אם בחקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5774, Bechukosai

If you will follow My decrees and observe My Commandments and perform them. (26:3)

At first glance, the pasuk appears repetitious: follow My decrees; observe My commandments; perform them. The Torah is not written in synonyms. Every word – indeed, every letter – has profound significance. How are we to understand what appear to be variegated nuances for heeding Hashem’s word? Rashi explains that the pasuk is teaching us the process by which we proceed from learning to action. The combined meaning of the pasuk is: If you will follow My decrees by engaging in ameilus ba’Torah, intensive Torah study, with the intention that this study will lead to; observe My commandments properly, and,…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5774

ורדפו מכם חמשה מאה ומאה מכם רבבה ירדופו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5774, Bechukosai

Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand. (26:8)

Rashi notes the discrepancy in the ratio of five to one hundred. If five Jews can pursue one hundred, which is a ratio of one to twenty, then a hundred Jews should pursue two thousand – not more. Yet, the Torah states that one hundred will pursue ten thousand. This teaches that when more people are united in serving Hashem, the effectiveness of their actions increase exponentially. The same Reuven and Shimon who had earlier been pursuing one hundred are now able to achieve much more. They have not changed, but their power has, because they are part of a…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5774

ונתן את הערכך ביום ההוא קדש לד' וכל ערכך יהיה בשקל הקדש

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5774, Bechukosai

And he shall pay the evaluation of that day, it is holy to Hashem. (27: 23)

Every valuation shall be in the sacred shekel. (27:25) In the Talmud Arachin 24a, Chazal state, Ein l’hekdesh ela mekomo u’sheato, “Hekdesh has only its place and time.” This means that, if a man makes an erech – vow, but lacks the means to pay for it, the gizbar of Hekdesh, the Sanctuary’s treasurer, must assess his possessions to establish the amount that the donor can really afford. The assessment of value is commensurate with the place and time in which the vow occurred. For example, if the donor possesses a slave who is worth twenty dinarim, but when he…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bechukosai -> 5774

וכל מעשר בקר וצאן כל אשר יעבר תחת השבט העשירי יהיה קדש לד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5774, Bechukosai

Any tithe of cattle or flock, any that passes under the staff, the tenth of one shall be holy to Hashem. (27:32)

Every tenth animal of those born during the current season must be consecrated as an offering to Hashem. This is Maaser beheimah, the tithe of cattle or flock. All of the animals are put into a large corral and allowed to leave individually. Every tenth animal is marked with a dab of paint to distinguish it from the other animals. Horav Eliezer Gordon, zl, founding Rosh Yeshivah of Telshe, visited Kiev in order to solicit funds for his growing yeshivah. He came to the home of one of the wealthiest men in Russia and presented his case on behalf of…

Continue Reading

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

You have Successfully Subscribed!