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Home -> 5781 -> Beha'alosecha

בהעלתך את הנרות

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5781

When you kindle the lamps. (8:2)

Rashi explains the term, be’haalosecha, in its literal sense: “When you raise up (the lamps).” The Torah should have used the word b’hadlikcha, which means when you kindle. Rashi offers two explanations which, on the surface, appear unrelated to one another: A) You should light the lamps until the flame rises up by itself (she’t’hei shalheves oleh mei’eileha); B) You should stand on a step (footstool) situated in front of the Menorah. Therefore, “raise up” either means to cause the flame to ascend, or to raise himself up to stand over the Menorah. The Mizrachi (quoted by Sifsei Chachamim) says…

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Home -> 5781 -> Beha'alosecha

בהעלתך את הנרות

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5781

When you kindle the lamps. (8:2)

Rashi addresses the juxtaposition of the parshah of the Menorah upon the conclusion of the previous parsha, which details the korbanos, offerings, of the Nesiim for the chanukas ha’Mizbayach. When Aharon took note of the involvement of the Nesiim in the dedication of the Mizbayach, he became chagrined that neither he nor any members of his tribe, Shevet Levi, had been included. We must remember that envy is not  a word that could ever apply to someone of the caliber of Aharon HaKohen. His spiritual stature obviated any possibility of attributing such a  term to him. He was not jealous;…

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Home -> 5780 -> Beha'alosecha

כי תאמר אלי שאהו בחיקך כאשר ישא האמן את הינק

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5780

That You say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a suckling.” (11:12)

Moshe Rabbeinu implied with his words that if he were indeed their (Klal Yisrael’s) father, he would have an obligation to somehow carry on alone. The Chafetz Chaim, zl, derives from here that the buck stops at the parents. No parent may shirk his/her ultimate responsibility and turn from his/her children – regardless of personal difficulties or the (at times) difficult nature of the child. Horav Chaim Shmuelevitz, zl, gleaned from here that Moshe had the capacity to “carry” the entire nation. Obviously, this is a metaphor for his ability to care for and be sensitive to the needs of…

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Home -> 5780 -> Beha'alosecha

שטו העם ולקטו וטחנו ברחים... ועשו אתו עגות והיה טעמו כטעם לשד השמן

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5780

The people would roam and gather it, and grind it in a mill… or make it into cakes and it tasted like the taste of dough kneaded with oil. (11:8)

Chazal (Yoma 75a) teach that the manna had within it a multiplicity of tastes, allowing the individual to experience any taste he wanted. It had no name until the first Shabbos it descended upon the camp. They called it Manna among themselves, a name which implies hachanah, preparation, for all foods; any taste could be experienced by eating it.  When on the sixth day/Erev Shabbos, however, a double portion fell, they called it Manna/man, because the mem and nun, two letters which comprise the word manna, are spelled out in double letters: mem = mem, mem: nun, nun (Kli Yakar)….

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Home -> 5780 -> Beha'alosecha

לכה אתנו והטבנו לך כי ד' דבר טוב על ישראל

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5780

Go with us and we shall treat you well, for Hashem has spoken good for Yisrael. (10:29)

Moshe Rabbeinu asked his father-in-law, Yisro, to join the nation in its journey to Eretz Yisrael. “We will treat you well,” Moshe says. “Because Hashem has spoken good (He will provide us with His beneficence: you, too, will benefit.) The term diber tov, spoken good, is found in only one other place in Tanach. In Megillas Esther (7:9), when Charvonah tells Achashveirosh that the tree which Haman ha’rasha had prepared for Mordechai — asher diber tov al ha’Melech, “who spoke good for the king” — is standing in Haman’s house (and why not put it to good use?). The Agra…

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Home -> 5780 -> Beha'alosecha

בהעלותך את הנרות

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5780

When you bring up/kindle the lamps. (8:2)

Rashi cites Chazal who derive from the word b’haalosecha, which is connected to alah, go up, that there was an elevation before the Menorah in the Bais HaMikdash.  The Kohen would ascend those steps in order to kindle the lamps. I once heard a profound homiletic rendering of this Chazal. Not only was it incumbent upon the Kohen to cause the lights of the lamps to rise, but he also had to rise up one step, to elevate himself spiritually as he kindled the lights. Many wonderful people illuminate society by kindling lights, but they do not necessarily elevate themselves…

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Home -> 5778 -> Beha'alosecha

ויהי בנסוע הארון

Moshe Marcovich
In Beha'alosecha, 5778

When the Aron would travel. (10:35)

The well-known pesukim, which are recited when the Torah is removed from the Aron Kodesh, are placed in our parsha and are separated from the rest of the parsha by two inverted nuns. Chazal (Shabbos 115b) teach, “Hashem placed a symbol before and following these pesukim in order to underscore that this is not the rightful place for these pesukim to be recorded in the Torah.” The more appropriate place is in Parashas Bamidbar where the Torah records the nation’s masaos, journeys. Why were they placed here? Chazal explain that the Torah seeks to differentiate the first puranios, punishments, from…

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Home -> 5778 -> Beha'alosecha

ויהי העם כמתאוננים רע באזני ד' וישמע ד'

Moshe Marcovich
In Beha'alosecha, 5778

And the nation was complaining; and it was bad to Hashem’s ears. And Hashem heard. (11:1)

Simply, the pasuk teaches that the Bnei Yisrael complained, moaning about the long journey through the wilderness which was forced upon them. They were not happy about it, and their complaints reached Hashem’s “ears.” This led to Hashem’s punitive response to their complaining. The Chasam Sofer offers an alternative approach to these pesukim. Understandably, describing Hashem in anthropocentric terms – such as eyes, ears, hands – is purely figurative, since Hashem has no physical form. The nation (at this point) believed in the figurative “eyes” of Hashem, accepting that He sees everything. They also accepted the figurative “hand” of Hashem,…

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והמן כזרע גד הוא... והיה טעמו כטעם לשד השמן

Moshe Marcovich
In Beha'alosecha, 5778

Now the Manna was like coriander seed… and its taste was like the taste of dough kneaded with oil. (11:7,8)

The manna which descended daily from Heaven had varied tastes – as described by the Torah. In Shemos 16:4, it is referred to as bread from Heaven, with a taste “like a cake fried in honey” (ibid 16:31). Here it is described as having the taste of dough kneaded in oil. The Talmud Yoma 75b explains that for the young, it tasted like bread; for the elderly, it was like oil; and for the infants, its taste was similar to honey. These three tastes seem to contradict an earlier statement made by the Talmud (75a) that a person who ate…

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Home -> 5777 -> Beha'alosecha

ויעש כן אהרן

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Beha'alosecha, 5777

Aharon did so. (8:3)

L’hagid shevacho shel Aharon shelo shinah, to teach the praise of Aharon that he did not deviate (anything from that which Hashem had commanded). In his eulogy for Horav Aharon Kotler, zl, the individual responsible for the transplanting of authentic Torah study (via the Yeshivah Movement which he championed) to America, the Satmar Rav, zl, declared that Rav Aharon embodied the concept of shelo shinah, adamantly refusing to initiate any change in the spiritual structure of the yeshivah from the way it had been, dating back generations. Whatever was good for our forebears would suffice for us. Thus, the approach…

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