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Home -> 5776 -> Noach

ויקח שם ויפת את השמלה וישימו על שכם שניהם וילכו אחרנית ויכסו את ערות אביהם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5776

And Shem and Yafes took a garment, laid it upon their shoulders, and they walked backwards, and covered their father’s nakedness. (9:23)

Rashi notes the singular term vayikach, implying that he – Shem – was the one who took the garment to fulfill the commandment of honoring his father. Because he exerted himself more than Yafes, his reward exceeded that of Yafes. Shem was blessed with the mitzvah of Tzitzis, and Yafes, who also participated in carrying out the mitzvah, was blessed with burial for his descendants. This refers to the war of Gog and Magog, during which the children of Yafes will be accorded burial in Eretz Yisrael. The commentators question the attribution of the mitzvah of Tzitzis to Shem’s noble…

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Home -> 5776 -> Noach

צא מן התבה אתה ואשתך ובניך ונשי בניך אתך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5776

“Go forth from the Ark: you and your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.” (8:16)

Noach had been living in a sealed ark, together with thousands of animals for over a year.  One would think that when the first opportunity to leave would present itself, he would run as fast as he could. Apparently, this is not what happened. After being in the Ark, slaving all day and night ceaselessly for a year, Noach was not ready to leave. It required Hashem’s command to enable Noach to set foot outside of the Ark. Why? It is not as if he were living comfortably amid luxury. What was holding him back? Perhaps he did not know…

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Home -> 5776 -> Noach

וישאר אך נח ואשר אתו בתבה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Noach, 5776

Only Noach survived, and those with him in the Ark. (7:23)

Rashi quotes Chazal, who teach that Noach survived, but was physically spent.  Alternatively, he was injured by the lion. Apparently, each animal had its individual feeding time. Noach was once late in feeding the lion, who did not take kindly to having to wait for his dinner. When Noach arrived late, the lion took out its anxiety on him with a powerful slap of the paw. Life was not easy for the human beings who comprised Noach’s passenger list. Their involvement with providing chesed, kindness, to the animals led Avraham Avinu to realize the significance of such acts of chesed….

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Home -> 5776 -> Nitzavim

כי הוא חייך ואורך ימיך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5776

For He is your life and the length of your days. (30:20)

A Jew is defined by his relationship with Hashem. Nothing else is considered living. A person who truly cares about – and values – his life devotes his time to Torah study or to strengthening his relationship with Hashem. Some of us pass through time, not realizing that the greatest Heavenly gift is slipping by with each passing minute. The gift of life is immutable – once it is gone, it is gone forever. Thus, the defining outlook of a Jew is, “How do I value my spiritual life? Is it my primary objective, or does it place a far…

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Home -> 5776 -> Nitzavim

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

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5776

See – 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)

The pasuk teaches us that Hashem wants us to choose life. By not choosing the path of life, we, by default, choose evil. This is something that everyone understands. When two options contrast one another, choosing one means negating the other. The pasuk, however, is teaching us something else. Horav Michel Feinstein, zl, understands that there exists the entity of good and the entity of evil. The fact that the Torah refers to each entity individually compels us to acknowledge that ra, evil, is much more than a lack of good. It is a separate free-standing entity which exists as…

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Home -> 5776 -> Nitzavim

כי המצוה הזאת... לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחוקה היא

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5776

For this mitzvah… it is not hidden from you and it is not distant. (30:11)

The Ramban writes that “this mitzvah” refers to the mitzvah of teshuvah, repentance. The sinner conjures up a wealth of lame excuses for not repenting. For the most part, the primary hurdle is believing that one can successfully navigate the teshuvah process and return to pre-sin status – both in the eyes of the community and in the eyes of the sinner. The offender has convinced himself that he has gone too far, offended too many, hurt so many close family and friends, so why bother? We are at the gates of Rosh Hashanah, and each and every one of…

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Home -> 5776 -> Nitzavim

ואמרו כל הגוים... וישלכם אל ארץ אחרת כיום הזה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5776

And all the nations will say… and He cast them to another land, as this very day! (29:23,27)

Horav Chaim Shaul Kaufman, zl, Rosh Yeshivas Tiferes Yaakov (London) gleans from this statement the stark difference between the attitude of the gentile during a period of Heavenly concealment and the Jewish perspective on adversity. The gentile “believes” in G-d (according to his limited understanding of this term). When a moment of hester panim, Divine concealment, occurs in his life, he feels that G-d has forsaken him, cast him off (perhaps even deservedly) to the point that, whatever adversity and challenge he confronts, it will not provide a lesson for him from which he can learn and change. Whatever happens…

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Home -> 5776 -> Nitzavim

והיה בשמעו את דברי האלה הזאת והתברך בלבבו לאמר שלום יהיה לי כי בשררת לבי אלך... לא יאבה ד' סלח לו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Nitzavim, 5776

And it will be that when he hears the words of this imprecation, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, “Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit…” Hashem will not be willing to forgive him. (29:18, 19)

We hear it all of the time, “It is not me… True, bad things do happen, but – to others – not to me.” We have convinced ourselves that we are immune from punishment; disasters happen to others; tragedies are events that we read about – but they do not happen to us. It is almost as if we have sprayed ourselves with Teflon, preventing anything bad from happening directly to us. Ibn Ezra offers a rationale for this delusion: “Peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit.” I will live in the merit of…

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Home -> 5776 -> Naso

זאת חנוכת המזבח

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Naso, 5776

This was the dedication of the Altar. (7:84)

In 1925, at the Chanukas HaBayis, dedication ceremony, for Yeshivas Baranovitz, Horav Elchonan Wasserman, zl, its Rosh Yeshivah, quoted the above pasuk in his address. Zos; “This,” was the dedication of the Altar. He observed that the gematria, numerical equivalent, of zos equals that of: tzom, fasting; kol, sound/prayer; mammon, money/charity. This alludes to the idea that in order to build/dedicate/establish a new altar/Torah edifice, in contrast to the amazing joy that accompanies such an endeavor, there must be a tempering of fasting, prayer and weeping. Joy is a mainstay of which our people sadly do not have a surplus….

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Home -> 5776 -> Naso

ויהי ביום כלות משה להקים את המשכן

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Naso, 5776

It came to pass, on the day Moshe finished erecting the Mishkan. (7:1)

Rashi observes that the pasuk does not write, “On the day Moshe erected…” This teaches us that, throughout the seven days of inauguration, Moshe Rabbeinu erected and dismantled the Mishkan. On the eighth day, he erected it without dismantling it. This is why the Torah writes, “On the day Moshe finished erecting…” It was on this auspicious day that he culminated his building. Why was it necessary for our quintessential leader to erect and dismantle the Mishkan repeatedly for seven days – only to erect it and not dismantle it on the eighth day? Why could he not have erected…

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