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“This was the offering of Nachson the son of Aminadav” (7:17) “This was the offering of Nesanel the son of Tzuar.” (7:23)

The Torah concludes each of the twelve paragraphs which describe the dedication offerings of the Nesiim with the above pesukim. We should note the Torah‘s refrain in its description of these offerings. Indeed, Chazal expound upon the preciousness of these offerings before Hashem. “The offering of the Nesiim is as precious to Hashem as the “song” Bnei Yisrael sang by the Red Sea, for there it says: This is my G-d; and here it says, “this is the sacrifice of Nachson.”               Horav Shlomo Breuer Z”l suggests that this reference by Chazal to the “Shira” is intended to clarify…

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“Any man whose wife deviates from the right path and commits an act of disloyalty towards him.” (5:12)

The word “vya” means to deviate from a prescribed direction. In this posuk “vya” means to turn aside from the correct moral path. Consequently, we understand Chazal’s statement “One does not commit a sin unless there has entered into him a spirit of foolishness has entered in him (Sotah 3a) in the following way: Every moral lapse is simultaneously a lapse of reasoning. Moral truth and logical truth coincide; man sins when he has lost sight of this connection.   The behavior of the wife described in these pesukim does not yet actually imply adultery. It refers to a deviation…

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“When a man or a woman shall commit any sin that men commit… and they shall confess their sin which they have done, and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, and the fifth part thereof he shall add unto it, and give it to whom he has been guilty.” (5:6-7)

The question concerning these pesukim is obvious. The Torah begins its account of the sin in the plural form (uaguw usuu,vu) and sums it up in the singular form (chavu wi,bu)! Horav Chaim Zaitzik Z”l poignantly explains that the succession of events which leads up to an individual’s transgressing suggests that frequently the sin is communal. The individual, who actually executes the misdeed is the product of an environment which has laid the foundation for this sin to transpire. In reality, this sin originates in the community.   He cites scenarios to support this hypothesis. For example, let us look…

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