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Home -> 5777 -> Pinchas

פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5777

Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen, turned back my wrath from upon Bnei Yisrael, when he zealously avenged My vengeance among them. (25:11)

Pinchas did not act in a vacuum. The entire nation witnessed his actions. What were they doing? Some were (of course) complaining and disparaging his lineage, claiming that his motives were impure. According to Targum Yonasan, the rest cried and recited Krias Shema. They cried, explains Chezkuni, because Moshe Rabbeinu had instructed them to kill the perpetrators who had sinned with the Midyanite women. It was a difficult order to carry out. Shevet Levi, who were once again empowered to be the righteous executioners, did not seem to have an issue (earlier) when the order came to kill the offenders…

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Home -> 5777 -> Pinchas

פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5777

Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen. (25:11)

The Torah traces Pinchas’ lineage to Aharon HaKohen. What about his maternal grandfather, Yisro? The Torah appears to gloss over his connection to Pinchas. Rashi explains that, as usual, people must find fault with the hero who saves the day. Otherwise, they might look bad, since, after all, why did they not take action? As usual, we put down the individual who acted decisively because it bothers us that he did – and we did not. They brought to our attention that Pinchas descended from Yisro, the Midyanite Priest, who fattened calves for avodah zarah, idol-worship. How could such a…

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Home -> 5777 -> Pinchas

פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן השיב את חמתי... לכן אמר הנני נתן לו את בריתי שלום

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Pinchas, 5777

Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen, turned back my wrath… therefore say: Behold! I give him My Covenant of peace. (25:11,12)

When an opportunity for greatness appears, most people remain spectators, afraid to make that critical move due to fear of failure, indifference, or just plain laziness. One person, however, will emerge from within the crowd and seize the moment to grab the opportunity. As a result, he will save the day and change the course of his own life. Zimri, Prince of the Tribe of Shimon, blatantly carried out an act of moral turpitude, and, had Pinchas not immediately and decisively intervened, Klal Yisrael would have suffered even greater losses than it did. It took extraordinary courage for Pinchas to…

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Home -> Vayeilech -> 5777

ועזבני והפר את בריתי אשר כרתי אתו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5777, Vayeilech

And it will forsake Me and annul My covenant that I have sealed with it (31:16).

From their nascency as the “spiritual” heirs to the European and Russian Haskalah, Enlightenment movement, the secular Zionists who undermined the Orthodox Yishuv haYashan, Old Yishuv (settlement in Yerushalayim), continue to lay the blame for every one of our People’s troubles at the doorstep of the Orthodox, Torah-observant Jew. Founded upon misguided principles, and nurtured in hypocrisy and avarice, this movement is Jewish only in name. Insidiously, it has attempted to subvert every achievement of the Orthodox – accomplishments that were gained with blood, sweat and tears. They too sacrificed, but for personal ideals, not Torah values. Nonetheless, the blame…

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Home -> Vayeilech -> 5777

ויקרא משה ליהושע ויאמר אליו לעיני כל ישראל חזק ואמץ כי אתה תבוא את העם הזה אל הארץ

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5777, Vayeilech

Moshe summoned Yehoshua and said to him before the eyes of all Yisrael, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall come with this People to the Land.” (31:7)

Moshe Rabbeinu summoned Yehoshua in front of all Klal Yisrael in order to build Yehoshua’s esteem. Let everyone see and note that Yehoshua has been designated as Moshe Rabbeinu’s heir and successor. Moshe was the quintessential leader, but taking the people into Eretz Yisrael was not an option that was available to him. Yaan lo he’emantem Bee l’hakdisheini; “Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me” (Bamidbar 20:12): Certainly, Moshe believed in Hashem, but, as the Kli Yakar explains, shelo geramtem l’haamin li, “Because you did not cause others to believe in Me.” Moshe should have realized (explains…

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Home -> 5777 -> Nitzavim

ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע... ובחרת בחיים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5777

See – that I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil… and you shall choose life. (30:15,19)

Some of us think that once one is born into a frum, observant family and educated in a fine Torah-oriented and conducive environment, it is smooth sailing from there. Well – it is not. The choices exist on a daily –almost constant – basis, and one’s commitment must be made anew – everyday. So says Horav Moshe Feinstein, zl, in his commentary to the above pasuk: “Hayom – today – each and every day of our lives, the yetzer hora, evil-inclination, attempts to lure us with his guile. Just because he was not successful ‘yesterday,’ it does not prevent him…

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Home -> 5777 -> Nitzavim

והשבת אל לבבך... ושבת עד ד' אלקיך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5777

And you will ponder in your heart… and you shall return unto Hashem your G-d. (30:1,2)

When things do not seem to go your way, you see more curse than blessing — and begin to become anxious. You finally start believing that Heaven might just be conveying a message to you – and you begin to think. Sforno explains the thought process and what should be coursing through your mind: “When you carefully examine and consider the conflicting aspects (of your concepts and actions) and call them all to mind, so as to distinguish truth from falsehood, then you will recognize (realize) how far you have distanced yourself from Hashem in your opinions and behavior which…

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Home -> 5777 -> Nitzavim

אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ד' אלקיכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5777

You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, your G-d. (29:9)

We are standing motionless before Hashem. This does not seem right, because it is the time of the year when anxiety and tremors should accompany the chill creeping up our collective spines. Rosh Hashanah, accompanied by its ominous reminder that the future we hope for might, chas v’shalom, Heaven-forbid, be nothing more than hope, is quickly bearing down upon us. Is this a time simply to be “standing”? Regrettably, there are instances when the debit column of our spiritual spreadsheet is overwhelming. The credit column is embarrassing, paling in comparison with its counterpart. “We should be crying out,” declares Horav…

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Home -> 5777 -> Naso

יברכך ד' וישמרך... יאר ד'... ויחנך... ישא ד'... וישם לך שלום

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Naso, 5777

May Hashem bless you and safeguard you. May Hashem illuminate His Countenance… and be gracious to you… May Hashem lift His Countenance… and establish peace for you. (6:24,25,26)

The Kohanim are enjoined with blessing the Jewish People with a three-fold blessing, petitioning Hashem: to safeguard the nation (shemirah); to shine His Countenance on them and grant them chein, graciousness and favor (v’yechuneka); and to grant the third, and greatest blessing of peace (shalom). Obviously, the sequence teaches us an important principle; peace follows after one is protected, both from without and within, from internal enemies and even from himself. Favor is the result of Hashem’s blessing which we earn through the light of Torah. Without Torah, life is very dim; we do nothing but grope from one obstacle…

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Home -> 5777 -> Naso

איש או אישה כי יפלא לנדר נדר נזיר להזיר לד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Naso, 5777

A man or a woman who shall disassociate himself by taking a Nazirite vow of abstinence for the sake of Hashem. (6:2)

While Judaism does not encourage extremism of any kind, it nonetheless makes provisions for those who desire or feel that they must live outside or beyond society’s conventional norms. Thus, the Torah channels this tendency, as it does with all human drives (and obsessions), into serving Hashem. The case in question is the nazir who has taken upon himself the added restrictions of abstaining from all wine and grape products – fruit products that otherwise have no Biblical or Rabbinic prohibitions placed on them. Furthermore, as a member of society in which almost all public and private celebrations include wine…

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