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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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Home -> 5777 -> Naso

איש אשר יתן לכהן לו יהיה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Naso, 5777

What a man gives to the Kohen shall be his. (5:10)

Simply, this means that the man who gives of his material assets to the Kohen is not really giving it away; actually, it is an investment that will continue to give back. Lo yihiyeh, “it will remain his,” forever, in his stead. We have heard the maxim, Tzedakah tatzil mi’maves, “charity protects/saves from death.” It is not as if charity is an added therapy. It is actually a preventative agent that wards off the Angel of Death. It is an added antibody which fights and eradicates the disease which might take one’s life. Why? Lo yihiyeh, “it is his;” it…

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Home -> 5777 -> Naso

ויעשו כן בני ישראל וישלחו אותם אל מחוץ למחנה כאשר דבר ד' אל משה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Naso, 5777

Bnei Yisrael did so; they expelled them to the outskirts of the camps, as Hashem had spoken to Moshe. (5:4)

The Sifsei Kohen views this pasuk as an enormous accolade regarding the character of Klal Yisrael. The nation sent out from their camps only those individuals who were so enjoined by Hashem. The zav was sent out only from two camps: Shechinah and Leviah. Machane Yisrael welcomed both him and the metzora, despite the nature of their diseases. They did only what Hashem had asked of them – and no more. They could easily have said, “Why should we allow the zav and metzora – individuals whose illnesses are repulsive in nature and who are ritually contaminated – to remain…

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Home -> Matos -> 5777

כי בעיר מקלטו ישב עד מות הכהן הגדל

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5777, Matos

He shall dwell in it until the death of the Kohen Gadol. (35:28)

The Talmud Makkos 11a teaches that, since the fate of the rotzeach b’shogeg, unintentional murderer, was dependent upon the Kohen Gadol’s longevity, there was fear that the rotzeach would pray for the early demise of the Kohen Gadol. Once the Kohen Gadol died, the murderer would be free to leave the ir miklat, city of refuge. To circumvent their prayers, the mothers of the Kohanim Gedolim would furnish the murderers with food and clothing to keep them happy and satisfied, so that they would not pray for the death of their sons. Why did the Kohen Gadol not personally pray…

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Home -> Matos -> 5777

ויסעו ממדבר סיני ויחנו בקברות התאוה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5777, Matos

They journeyed from the Wilderness of Sinai and encamped in Kivros HaTaavah. (33:16)

The yetzer hora, evil inclination, works overtime in its efforts to sway us to sin. Hashem has provided us with a panacea to help us circumvent/overcome the allure of the yetzer hora: Torah. Our Torah is the tavlin, antidote, to protect us from falling into the yetzer hora’s grasp. This is alluded to in our pasuk. Once Klal Yisrael leaves Sinai, meaning the Torah which was given at Har Sinai, they fall into the clutches of Kivros HaTaavah, graves of lust/desire. Passion, lust, desire, hate, envy, anger: all of these negative character traits destroy a person. One’s pursuit of passion,…

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Home -> Matos -> 5777

גדרת צאן נבנה למקננו וערים לטפנו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5777, Matos

Pens for the flocks shall we build here for our livestock and cities for our small children. (32:16)

The response tendered by Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven, “we will build pens for our flock and (then) cities for our small children,” did not sit well with Moshe Rabbeinu. By prioritizing the needs of the flock before those of the children, they were implying that the sheep had greater significance in their eyes than the children. Moshe immediately corrected their attitude. It is difficult to believe that such holy individuals as Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven would have misplaced priorities. To prioritize sheep over children is to confuse one’s priorities in life. It is not imaginable that members of…

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Home -> Matos -> 5777

לא יחל דברו ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5777, Matos

He shall not desecrate his word; according to whatever comes from his mouth, he should do. (30:3)

The word of a Jew is sacred. He must stand behind his word. When a person does not keep his word, he is mechallel diburo, desecrates his word. Chillul is a strong term. We use the term chillul with regard to desecrating Hashem’s Name – chillul Hashem. Also, when a bas Kohen, daughter of a Kohen, acts in a morally profligate manner, the Torah writes, Es avihah hee mechalleles, “She desecrates her father” (Vayikra 21:9). Apparently, the sanctity of a Kohen, the sacredness of a person’s word, are of a similar nature to the sanctity of Hashem, in the sense…

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Home -> 5777 -> Korach

ואש יצאה מאת ד' ותאכל את החמישים ומאתים איש

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Korach, 5777

A flame came forth from Hashem and consumed the two hundred and fifty men. (16:35)

Any believing Jew is acutely aware of the harmful effect of machlokes, controversy. It destroys communities, families, and individuals. It causes people to act in the most offensive and debasing manner. It “allows” them to conjure up a justification for acting with disrespect for individuals who not only deserve our respect, but whom the Torah demands that we respect. All of this is well-known. How many of us “believe” that when we cross the line of respect, regardless of how many reasons we have convinced ourselves we have, when we breach the Torah’s perimeter for derech eretz for a Rav,…

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