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Home -> 5777 -> Shemini

ואחיכם כל בית ישראל יבכו את השרפה אשר שרף ד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shemini, 5777

And your brethren, the entire House of Yisrael, shall bewail the conflagration which Hashem ignited. (10:6)

When we look around today at the Torah world, we are amazed that in a short period of time of some seventy years, we have gone from a nation of broken Jewry, to a world of Torah study unlike anything in previous times. While the numbers of committed, scholarly Torah Jews have probably increased with the level of Torah study and erudition achieved in our yeshivos unlike anything one can remember, the quality of Jewish commitment, the abrogation of materialism that bespoke the average European Jews, is no longer. We may know more and daven longer and understand what we…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shemini

ראשכם אל תפרעו ובגדיכם לא תפרמו ולא תמתו...ואחיכם כל בית ישראל יבכו את השרפה אשר שרף ד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shemini, 5777

Do not leave your heads unshorn and do not rend your garments that you not die… And your brethren the entire House of Yisrael shall bewail the conflagration that Hashem ignited. (10:6)

Two reactions, two varied responses to the same occurrence. The Kohanim were not to interrupt the joy of their service – despite the tragic passing of two of their own. On the other hand, Klal Yisrael must mourn the deaths of two saintly Kohanim. The people must mourn; the Kohanim, however, must continue their joyful service. Two opposites – how is it possible? If it is a joyful occasion, be joyful. If it is a sad time, be sad. How do we reconcile two contradictory emotional responses to the same occurrence? Horav Gamliel Rabinowitz, Shlita, understands that there are vantage…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shemini

בקרבי אקדש ועל פני כל העם אכבד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shemini, 5777

I will be sanctified through those who are nearest to Me, thus I will be honored before the entire People. (10:3)

Bikrovai ekadeish, “I will be sanctified through those nearest to Me,” are two words that instill fear and awe, because they are words that are often uttered following a tragedy in which the best, those closest to Hashem, are taken from within our midst. One who is exposed to greater inspiration, to greater Heavenly illumination – whose spiritual cognition is more profound – is on a higher spiritual plane. He is nearer to Hashem; therefore, more is expected of him. Horav Chaim Zaitchik, zl, explains that this was the reason for the punishment received by the mekoshesh eitzim, one who…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shelach

והיה אם מעיני העדה נעשתה לשגגה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shelach, 5777

And it will be, if from the eyes of the assembly it was done by error. (15:24)

Enei ha’eidah, eyes of the assembly, refer to the Sanhedrin who, as the leaders of the nation, provide guidance, vision and illumination – which are all functions of one’s eyes. As the final arbiters of Jewish law, they infuse our nation with the clarity that comes with Torah erudition and the wisdom, the result of their daas Torah, wisdom honed and inspired by the Torah. In his hesped, eulogy, for the Maharam Shick, Horav Nota Wolf, Rav of Pressburg, Hungary, and the leading elder of the Torah community, offered the following parable, which gives us a powerful insight into the…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shelach

במדבר הזה יפלו פגריכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shelach, 5777

In this wilderness shall your carcasses drop. (14:29)

Ever since that first Tishah B’Av, when the meraglim, spies, returned with their slanderous report of Eretz Yisrael, Tishah B’Av became a sad, fateful night for the male members of Klal Yisrael. The decree had been issued that they would not enter into the Promised Land. The wilderness would become their graveyard. Every Tishah B’Av every (eligible) Jew dug a grave for himself, lay down in it and prayed. Would he wake up in the morning, or would this be his last night on earth? Every year, fifteen thousand men did not wake up. Whoever did not arise in the…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shelach

ותשא כל העדה ויתנו את קולם ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shelach, 5777

The entire assembly raised up and issued its voice; the people wept that night. (14:1)

The Talmud Sanhedrin 104b states that the fateful night on which the meraglim, spies, shared their slanderous report of Eretz Yisrael with the nation was the Ninth of Av. The people reacted with unwarranted, incessant weeping, which consumed the entire nation. The weeping was a reaction to a report that was foundless. Furthermore, they had been guided by Hashem in the wilderness under the protective shield of the Clouds of Glory. For them to cry without reason was ludicrous. Hashem said, “You cried a bchiyah shel chinam, unwarranted weeping. I will establish for you a b’chiyah l’doros, weeping for generations.”…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shelach

ויעלו בנגב ויבוא עד חברון

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shelach, 5777

They ascended in the south and he arrived at Chevron. (13:22)

From the Torah’s use of the singular va’yavo, and he came, Chazal (Sotah 34b) derive that Calev alone left the group, so that he could visit the graves of the Patriarchs to pray that they intercede on his behalf. So great was the ability of the meraglim to influence that Calev feared being influenced by them. Yehoshua had no reason to leave, since Moshe Rabbeinu had already prayed for him before they had all left the camp. In his Iyun Yaakov commentary to the Talmud, Horav Yaakov Reisher, zl, asks why Calev prayed at the graves of the Patriarchs. Chazal…

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Home -> 5777 -> Shelach

שלח לך אנשים ויתרו את ארץ כנען

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Shelach, 5777

Send forth for yourself men, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan. (13:2)

Rashi comments concerning the juxtaposition of the sin of the meraglim, spies, upon the sin of Miriam, which concluded the previous parsha. The meraglim should have derived a lesson from Miriam’s punishment for speaking about her brother, Moshe Rabbeinu. If the tzadekes, righteous woman, Miriam, was punished for simply talking about Moshe in a manner that might have a negative connotation, how much more so should they have been mindful of her punishment and not spoken negatively? The question concerning Rashi’s comparison (Miriam’s lashon hora to that spoken by the meraglim) begs elucidation. Lashon hora is evil under any circumstance….

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Home -> 5777 -> Re'eh

כי טוב לו עמך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Re'eh, 5777

For it is good for him with you. (15:16)

The Talmud Kiddushin 20a teaches that the eved Ivri, Jewish bondsman, enjoys the same standard of living as does his owner. Imcha b’maachal u’b’mishteh, “With you in food and drink. You should neither eat white bread while the eved eats black bread, nor should you sleep on cushions while he sleeps on straw.” This teaches us that one who purchases an eved is actually purchasing an adon, a master, for himself. Tosfos question why the bondsman becomes the master, on a higher level than the owner. Why does the owner not simply have equal status with the eved? Why would…

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Home -> 5777 -> Re'eh

כי עם קדוש אתה לד' אלקיך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Re'eh, 5777

For you are a holy people to Hashem, your G-d. (14:2)

Rashi explains that our personal kedushah, sanctity, is endowed to us by our forebears, our ancestors. In my opinion, herein lies one of the most inspiring principles of Judaism: we are descendants of a holy, illustrious lineage, and, as such, we have a responsibility to maintain this pedigree. This is perhaps one of the reasons that so many assimilated Jews have no impetus to return. They have no idea of their heritage, who they are, and from whom they have descended. The German reformers who initiated the break with traditional Judaism first erased Jewish history. They were acutely aware that,…

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