Peninim on the Torah

ויבואו בני ישראל בתוך הים ביבשה

And Bnei Yisrael shall come into the midst of the sea on dry land. (14:16)

The Tosefta Berachos 4:16 teaches that when the Shevatim, Tribes, came to the banks of the Red Sea, they stopped; a discussion ensued concerning which one was not going in first. Each tribe pushed the “honors” of entering the water onto someone else. Finally, Shevet Yehudah took the initiative by rising to the occasion and jumping in. They all followed after him. We wonder why the people refused to enter the water. Am Yisrael is a nation in which mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice for Hashem, is part of their DNA. Throughout the generations, we have never restrained ourselves from a willingness…

Home -> 5776 -> Beshalach

ויצעקו בני ישראל אל ד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Beshalach, 5776

And Bnei Yisrael cried out to Hashem. (14:10)

Rashi cites Yalkut Shimoni who comments: Tafsu umnos Avosam, “They adopted the craft of their Forefathers.” The Avos HaKedoshim, holy Patriarchs, conversed with Hashem through the medium of prayer. Apparently, what was good for the Avos was good for their offspring. Horav Nosson Wachtfogel, zl, derives a powerful lesson from the Yalkut. A craft is one’s trade,his vocation, the medium by which he earns a living. Prayer is our trade, our umnos. One who has a profession must be serious about it, or his work will be for naught. Someone who has studied a trade, mastered a course, and received…

Home -> 5776 -> Beshalach

ויסב אלקים את העם דרך המדבר

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Beshalach, 5776

So God turned the people toward the way of the wilderness. (13:18)

The Midrash teaches that this pasuk, which relates that Hashem caused the people to journey in a circuitous (va’yaseiv) manner, is the source for the halachah that requires each Jew – even one who is poverty-stricken – to sit at the Seder table, b’haseibah, reclining. Apparently, the only connection between the halachah and the pasuk is the word va’yaseiv; they are related by the root, sov. The question before us is obvious: What is the relationship between reclining on Pesach and the manner in which the Jewish People traveled from Egypt? Horav Zaidel Epstein, zl, suggests a significant principle to…

Home -> 5776 -> Bereishis

ויאמר קין גדול עוני מנשוא

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bereishis, 5776

Kayin said to Hashem “Is my iniquity too great to be borne.” (4:13)

Kayin committed a grave sin. To take a human life is a heinous act of aggression. Yet, Chazal teach that Kayin did teshuvah, repented, for his terrible crime. What is the meaning of his teshuvah? Can this teshuvah bring back Hevel? Obviously, it is impossible to bring back the deceased. Hevel is gone. He is not coming back – regardless of the sublimity of Kayin’s teshuvah. Murder is different than robbery. A thief can return the money. The murderer has taken a life, which he cannot bring back. Horav Shimon Schwab, zl, explains that, indeed, this is the wonder of…

Home -> 5776 -> Bereishis

בעצב תלדי בנים... בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bereishis, 5776

In pain shall you bear children… by the sweat of your brow shall you eat your bread. (3:16,19)

Prior to the sin, Chavah conceived and gave birth immediately. She did not have to go through the physical change. After the sin, however, conception was not a given, and the extended pregnancy followed by a painful childbirth became a reality. Likewise, Adam, who, heretofore had his sustenance right before him, would now have to toil to earn a living. The Torah uses a strange word, etzev, to describe the pain associated with childbirth. The word etzev is more closely related to anxiety and depression than to pain. Horav Tuvia Lisitzin, zl, derives from here that when a person is…

Home -> 5776 -> Bereishis

וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bereishis, 5776

And G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good. (1:31)

The Midrash interprets tov, good, meod, very (good), in a novel manner: “And behold it was very good” – tov is a reference to the Malach Ha’Chaim, Angel of life, or life per se. Meod, very (good), is a reference to the Malach Ha’Maves, Angel of death. Clearly, Chazal’s choice of the term “very” good to denote death begs elucidation. How can we understand death as being “very good” when life is only “good”? Horav Eliezer Sorotzkin, zl, posits that herein lies the secret of simchas ha’chaim, joy of life. When a person goes through life acquiescing to whatever Hashem…

Home -> 5776 -> Bereishis

וירא אלקים כי טוב

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bereishis, 5776

And G-d saw that it was good. (1:10)

Horav Zelik Epstein, zl, Rosh Yeshivah of Shaar Torah, spent the early part of 1940 in Kelm, Lithuania. He was an aveil, mourner, for his father, and he required a thrice daily minyan to recite Kaddish. He felt that, at the time, while the war was raging, the most practical place to do this would be in Kelm. Already at a young age, his reputation as a talmid chacham, Torah scholar, preceded him. Additionally, he was proficient with a Hebrew typewriter. Thus, Rebbetzin Nechamah Leeba, daughter of the Alter m’Kelm and widow of Horav Tzvi Hirsch Broide, asked him to…

Home -> 5776 -> Bereishis

ויהי ערב ויהי בוקר

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bereishis, 5776

And there was evening, and there was morning. (1:5)

The commentators discuss the essence of choshech, darkness: Was it nothing more than an absence of light; or was choshech a creation in the same sense as light? G-d created darkness. If we view darkness as the absence of light, we can understand why darkness preceded light. There was no light – hence, it was dark. According to the Gaon, zl, m’Vilna, who contends that darkness is a creation (I have no idea how to describe the void that “existed” prior to the creation of darkness), why did it precede light? They were both equal entities. Indeed, creating light first…

Home -> 5776 -> Bereishis

בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bereishis, 5776

In the beginning of G-d’s creating the heavens and the earth. (1:1)

The opening pesukim of Sefer Bereishis detail the process of Creation. This process progressed over a period of six Creation days. The last day was yom Shabbos kodesh, the holy Shabbos, a day on which Hashem rested from Creation. It was after these days of Creation that the natural clock of time with which we identify began. The Talmud Rosh Hashanah, 32a, explains that the word bereishis, in the beginning, is much more than a chronological term which describes when it all began; rather, the word bereishis is the word which Hashem employed to commence creation itself. Horav Tzadok HaKohen,…

Home -> Behar -> 5776

כי עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אתם מארץ מצרים לא ימכרו ממכרת עבד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5776, Behar

For they are my servants, whom I have taken out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold in the manner of a slave. (25:42)

The Talmud Yevamos 46a teaches, “You may purchase from them, but they may not purchase from you.” In other words, a Jew may not sell himself as a slave to a gentile. The Brisker Rav, zl, comments that this is the underlying directive of the above pasuk. The Jewish people are excluded from the laws of slavery. They do not apply to us, because we may no longer become slaves. We were taken out of Egypt, from servitude to freedom. We have parted ways with slavery – we serve Hashem as our only Master. There is an emotional aspect to…

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ויבואו בני ישראל בתוך הים ביבשה

And Bnei Yisrael shall come into the midst of the sea on dry land. (14:16)

ויצעקו בני ישראל אל ד'

And Bnei Yisrael cried out to Hashem. (14:10)

ויסב אלקים את העם דרך המדבר

So God turned the people toward the way of the wilderness. (13:18)

ויאמר קין גדול עוני מנשוא

Kayin said to Hashem “Is my iniquity too great to be borne.” (4:13)

בעצב תלדי בנים... בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם

In pain shall you bear children… by the sweat of your brow shall you eat your bread. (3:16,19)

וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד

And G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good. (1:31)

וירא אלקים כי טוב

And G-d saw that it was good. (1:10)

ויהי ערב ויהי בוקר

And there was evening, and there was morning. (1:5)

בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ

In the beginning of G-d’s creating the heavens and the earth. (1:1)

כי עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אתם מארץ מצרים לא ימכרו ממכרת עבד

For they are my servants, whom I have taken out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold in the manner of a slave. (25:42)

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