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Home -> Bamidbar -> 5782

וידבר ד' אל משה במדבר סיני

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bamidbar

Hashem spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai. (1:1)

The Torah was given to us in the wilderness. Obviously, this was by design, because Hashem could have arranged the Revelation anywhere. Apparently, He chose the wilderness for a reason. Horav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zl, posits that Hashem was delivering a message to us concerning the nature of the Torah and the attitude which should prevail when we study it. The wilderness is not a place designated for human habitation. Deadly serpents and scorpions inhabit it. The climate is certainly not conducive to human settlement. Nonetheless, all the powers of Briah, Creation – through the media of water, fire and…

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Home -> Bamidbar -> 5782

וידבר ד' אל משה במדבר סיני

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bamidbar

Hashem spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai. (1:1)

The well-known Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 1:7) states that the Torah was given to us through the vehicle of three media: fire, water and wilderness. Fire: “All of Har Sinai was smoking when Hashem descended upon it in the fire” (Shemos 19:18). Water: “The Heavens trickled; even the clouds dripped water” (Shoftim 5:4). Midbar, wilderness: “Hashem spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai” (Bamidbar 1:1). Chazal spell out the lesson derived from those three: They are all free; so, too, is the Torah available for free. The commentators, each in his own inimitable manner, offer their own explanations of these…

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Home -> Bamidbar -> 5782

שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחתם לבית אבותם

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bamidbar

Take a census of the entire assembly of Bnei Yisrael according to their families, according to their father’s household. (1:2)

The census of Klal Yisrael which was carried out individually for each shevet, tribe, in accordance to their pedigree i.e. their father’s yichus, lineage, carries a powerful connotation for the Jew. Knowing and acknowledging our past is critical. Understanding, appreciating, or, at times, coming to terms with our roots is part of our Jewish responsibility. Whether one hails from an illustrious lineage or from less-than-ordinary pedigree, he is part of Klal Yisrael. Thus, he is charged with the mission of spreading and glorifying Hashem’s Name in the world. A fascinating Chazal (Yalkut Shemoni 684) addresses Klal Yisrael’s lineage and its…

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Home -> Bamidbar -> 5782

שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחתם לבית אבתם

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bamidbar

Take a census of the entire assembly of Bnei Yisrael according to their families, according to their father’s household. (1:2)

The Torah relates the command that all Jews be counted in the census. It is in the following pasuk that the Torah states the criterion of twenty years and older. Is it “all” or a select group? The Ben Ish Chai explains this with an incident in which he had been personally involved. He heard someone slandering the Jewish community, claiming that in their home in Europe, they had desecrated Shabbos and flagrantly had eaten unkosher food. He asserted that this was the tip of the iceberg, as he continued his denigration of a large segment of the Jewish community….

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Home -> Bechukosai -> 5782

אם בחוקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bechukosai

If you will go in My statutes and observe My commandments. (26:3)

Rashi comments: One might be able to think that this (teilechu, you will go) refers to the fulfillment of mitzvos. Then, when it follows with “And (you will) observe My commandments,” that the fulfillment of mitzvos has been stated. (There is no reason to reiterate the enjoinment of mitzvah observance). There is no interpretation for Im b’chukosai teilechu, other than shetiheyu ameilim baTorah, that you should be laboring in Torah. Much has been written concerning Rashi’s well-known commentary; if one values Torah study, then he is more than happy to exert himself to master it. Torah achievement is granted by…

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Home -> Bechukosai -> 5782

ואם תלכו עמי קרי ולא תאבו לשמע לי ויספתי עליכם מכה

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bechukosai

If you will behave casually with Me and refuse to heed Me, then I shall lay a further blow upon you. (26:21)

Rashi explains keri, casually, as applying to one who is observant, yet his performance of mitzvos is, at best, erratic and haphazard. His attitude toward mitzvos is not one of obligation, but rather, of convenience and choice, sort of being in the “mood” of performing a mitzvah. Horav Moshe Shternbuch, Shlita, writes that when his Rebbe, Horav Moshe Schneider, zl, would read this pasuk, he would weep. He remarked that this pasuk refers to the Jew who fulfills mitzvos, who studies Torah, but it is not an obligation for him. He learns when he wants, attends a shiur at will….

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Home -> Bechukosai -> 5782

וזכרתי את בריתי יעקב ואף את בריתי יצחק ואף את בריתי אברהם אזכר

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bechukosai

I will remember My covenant with Yaakov, and also My covenant with Yitzchak, and also My covenant with Avraham will I remember. (26:42)

Rashi observes that zechirah, remembering, is mentioned concerning Avraham Avinu and Yaakov Avinu – but not in connection with Yitzchak Avinu. He explains that Yitzchak’s “ashes” (His ashes are considered to be as they would have been if the Akeidah had occurred, and Avraham had offered his son, Yitzchak, on the altar as a korban, sacrifice, to Hashem) are piled up on the Mizbayach. Remembering applies to something which is no longer extant. Yitzchak’s ashes are present. Thus, the term “remembering” does not apply concerning him. Anyone reading this should immediately wonder how the concept of forgetting applies to Hashem….

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Home -> Bechukosai -> 5782

והיה ערכך חמשים שקל כסף

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Bechukosai

The valuation shall be fifty silver shekels. (27:3)

Chazal (Megillah 23b) distinguish between arachin, valuations, which are a set amount established by the Torah, and damim, money/assessments, which are based upon a person’s worth (on the slave market). Horav Moshe Feinstein, zl, posits that the Torah is teaching us that two variant circumstances, conditions, determine how to view a person. First is a person’s established level – as expected of him, based on standards. This is similar to an established expectancy that at (for example) age 20, an individual should be proficient in various disciplines. At age thirty, he should have progressed beyond this to a different level….

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Home -> Behar -> 5782

ושבתה הארץ שבת לד' ... שש שנים תזרע שדך ... ובשנה השביעית שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Behar

The land shall observe a Shabbos rest for Hashem … For six years you may sow your field … but the seventh year shall be a complete rest for the land. (25:2,3,4)

The parshah commences with the laws of Shemittah, which require fields in Eretz Yisrael under Jewish ownership to lie fallow during the seventh (and fiftieth) year of the agricultural cycle. This is not the first time that the Torah introduces us to the laws of Shemittah. In Parashas Mishpatim (Shemos 23:10-12), the Torah teaches us concerning Shemittah, “Six years you shall work your field…In the seventh you shall let it rest.” The Torah then adds the laws of Shabbos which also revolve around a six-day work schedule, followed by a seventh-day rest period: “Six days shall you do your work,…

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Home -> Behar -> 5782

וספרת לך שבע שבתת שנים ... וקדשתם את שנת החמשים שנה ... לא תזרעו ולא תקצרו

Sruly Schnair
In 5782, Behar

You shall count for yourself seven cycles of Sabbatical years … You shall sanctify the fiftieth year … You shall not sow, you shall not harvest. (25:8,10,11)

Bitachon means trust. For a Jew, bitachon means trust in Hashem, because ein od Milvado, no one other than He exists. Without Hashem, nothing is possible; with Hashem, everything is achievable. It is as simple as that. Without the Almighty, we simply cannot function. The mitzvos of Shemittah and Yovel are the “poster” mitzvos which underscore the need for bitachon. After all, to close up shop for a year – and, during Yovel, for two years – demands super human trust in Hashem. One might think that living with bitachon is a specific characterization of one’s religious observance, as if…

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