It seems rather peculiar that Mount Evol, the place where the curses were uttered, was chosen as the site for the erection of an altar for offering peace sacrifices and great rejoicing in tribute to Hashem. Would not Mount Gerizim, which was the site where the blessings were pronounced, have been a more suitable place? Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Zt”l points to expediency by which the curses brought about Jewish observance rather than to that of the blessings. Hashem in His infinite compassion employs disciplinary and punitive methods only as a means to induce us into the correct observance of His…
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Rashi defines cck iuvn, as obstruction or numbness of the heart. This refers to a spiritual numbness which brings about a weakening and crippling effect on one’s faith which prevents him from viewing life clearly through a Torah perspective. Troubles befall a person and he wonders why? He doesn’t recognize Hashem’s binding force in everything that transpires. While numbness of the heart is a result of sin, it is also a basis for future sin and a prime hindrance for performing teshuva (repentance). Thus do we say in the very last “Al Chayt” of the Yom Kippur confession: “And…
In today’s society, when the world is filled with so much distortion of the truth, and overwhelmed with deceit and hypocrisy, it is indeed viritually impossible for people to see the truth. There are, however, individuals who, because they maintaining a Torah true observance, have access to a clear perspective of what society should be. Their clarity of vision is nonetheless denounced, their message is distorted and treated as the ramblings of madmen. This can be the interpretation of the above posuk. Those who, because of their ability to see, have chosen not to follow the decadent course taken by…