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Home -> Behar -> 5781

כי ימוך אחיך ומכר מאחזתו... ואיש כי לא יהיה לא גאל והשיגה ידו ומצא כדי גאלתו

Sruly Schnair
In 5781, Behar

If your brother becomes impoverished and sells part of his ancestral inheritance… if a man will have no redeemer, but his means suffice and he acquires enough for his redemption. (25:25,26)

An ancestral field should not be sold. It is supposed to remain within the family. If it must be sold in order to generate badly needed funds, it may be sold only for the number of crops it will yield until Yovel, the upcoming Jubilee year, when it reverts back to its original owner. If the owner does not have the necessary funds to redeem his field before the Jubilee year, the responsibility falls on his relatives to help him out. If he has no “redeemer,” relative, to assist in extricating him from his bind, the field remains with the…

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Home -> Behar -> 5781

וחי אחיך עמך

Sruly Schnair
In 5781, Behar

And let your brother live with you. (25:36)

The Talmud (Bava Metzia 62a) discusses the halachah of a hypothetical case in which two men are stranded in the wilderness with one serving of life-sustaining water between them. What do they do? If both drink – both die; if one drinks, he will survive, but his friend will not. Ben Peturah derives from the words, V’chai achicha imach; “Better they should both perish than one should see his friend die, while he survives. (Your brother shall live with you.) This was the accepted opinion until Rabbi Akiva came and taught, “And your brother shall live with you” – indicating…

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Home -> Bechukosai -> 5781

אם בחוקותי תלכו

Sruly Schnair
In 5781, Bechukosai

If you will follow My decrees. (26:3)

Rashi explains that this pasuk refers, not to mitzvah performance, but rather, shetiheyu ameilim baTorah, that we engage in intensive Torah study, with the intention that such study will lead to mitzvah observance. Contrary to the mistaken notion that observance and study are two distinct Jewish functions, mitzvah observance is actually a function of Torah study – not its goal. An observant Jew’s life revolves around Torah study which guides and defines his mitzvah observance. The Talmud (Shabbos 31a) teaches that when one arrives in Olam Habba, the World-to- Come, he is asked, Kavaata ittim laTorah, “Did you set aside…

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Home -> Bechukosai -> 5781

העשירי יהיה קדש לד'

Sruly Schnair
In 5781, Bechukosai

The tenth one shall be holy to Hashem. (27:32)

According to halachah, the tenth animal to pass through the pen is designated as maaser beheimah, tithe of animals, and becomes holy – even if the owner does not actually verbalize the words, Kodesh l’Hashem, “Holy to Hashem.” Nonetheless, the Torah demands that one articulate the words. Horav Moshe Feinstein, zl, derives an important lesson from here, which can – and should – be applied not only to educating and raising our children, but, indeed, to all interpersonal relationships. Even if something is already holy, its kedushah, sanctity, must be maintained. If not – it will lose its sanctity. Likewise,…

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Home -> 5781 -> Emor

לנפש לא יטמא בעמיו

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5781

He shall not defile himself for the dead among his people. (21:1)

No Kohen may defile himself for a dead person who is not one of his seven close relatives as enumerated in the Torah. Sforno explains the reason why a Kohen may not defile himself to a corpse. “The Kohen is a chief, a leader among his people, whose function is to learn and to teach as the Navi Malachi says (2:7), ‘For the Kohen’s lips shall preserve knowledge, and they should seek Torah from his mouth.’ It is, thus, proper that such an individual conduct himself as a prince, so that his words will be listened to. It is (thus)…

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Home -> 5781 -> Emor

ולא תחללו את שם קדשי ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5781

You shall not desecrate My holy Name; rather I should be sanctified among Bnei Yisrael. (22:32)

The Torah commands us to sanctify Hashem’s Name and also to make certain not to profane it. The Sefer HaChinuch explains the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem as the only manner in which we may execute the purpose of our creation, “For man is created only for the purpose of serving Hashem. One who does not sacrifice his body in the service of his master is not a good servant. People give their souls for their masters, all the more so should we for the commandment of the King of Kings.” We derive from here (Rabbeinu Yonah 3:143) that one who…

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Home -> 5781 -> Emor

וביום השביעי שבת שבתון מקרא קדש כל מלאכה לא תעשו

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5781

And the Seventh day is a day of complete rest, a holy convocation, you shall not do any work. (23:3)

The Talmud (Shabbos 10b) teaches, “Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu, ‘I have a matanah tovah, good gift, in My treasure house and Shabbos is its name, and I seek to give it to Yisrael. Go and inform them about it.’” The Steipler Gaon, zl observes that, obviously, when Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to inform Klal Yisrael about Shabbos, it was not concerning hilchos, the laws of Shabbos, because Moshe had an obligation to teach the laws of all the mitzvos. In this area, Shabbos would not be unique. In what area was Shabbos distinguished from all other mitzvos that Hashem…

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Home -> 5781 -> Emor

ויצא בן אשה ישראלית והוא בן איש מצרי ... ויקב ... את השם ויקלל

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5781

The son of a Yisraelite woman went out and he was the son of an Egyptian man… and he pronounced the Name and he blasphemed. (24:10,11)

The story of this Jew who committed the abhorrent sin of blasphemy, is without a doubt a gut-wrenching tale whose placement in the Torah leaves one bewildered. It happened once – one person from a murky pedigree, the only one like him in all Klal Yisrael. His mother was the only immoral woman in the entire nation. He was the only Jewish man fathered by an Egyptian. His father was the one Egyptian that was killed by Moshe Rabbeinu to protect a Jewish man. Rabbeinu Bachya wonders why the Torah felt it necessary to include this tragic debacle in the…

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Home -> 5781 -> Acharei Mos

בזאת יבוא אהרן אל הקדש בפר בן בקר לחטאת ואיל לעולה ... ומאת עדת בני ישראל יקח שני שעירי עזים.

Sruly Schnair
In Acharei Mos, 5781

With this shall Aharon come into the Sanctuary: with a young bull for a sin-offering and a ram for an elevation offering… from the assembly of Bnei Yisrael he shall take two he-goats. (16:3,5)

Chazal (Midrash Rabbah, Vayikra 21:11) state that the three korbanos, offerings, that were brought on Yom Kippur represented the three Avos, Patriarchs. The young bull that served as a korban chatas, sin-offering, represented Avraham Avinu. The ram that was used as a korban olah, elevation-offering, symbolized Yitzchak Avinu. The two he-goats denoted Yaakov Avinu. When the Kohen Gadol entered the Sanctuary, he did so b’z’chus, in the merit of, the three korbanos that he brought. Avraham Avinu sacrificed himself, manifesting extreme devotion, for the purpose of bringing a pagan world closer to Hashem. His love for people and his constant…

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Home -> 5781 -> Kedoshim

לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך

Sruly Schnair
In Kedoshim, 5781

You shall not hate your brother in your heart. (19:17)

The Torah alludes to one reason why one should not hate a fellow Jew: he is your brother; brothers do not hate. Clearly, this is a prohibitive mitzvah which, for “some reason,” people have difficulty observing. Chazal (Talmud Yoma 9:B) teach that Hashem destroyed the Bais HaMikdash Rishon, First Temple, because people transgressed the three cardinal sins of murder, adultery and idol worship. During the period of the Second Temple, the generation studied Torah diligently, observed mitzvos, and performed gemilus chasadim, acts of loving kindness; yet, because they fell short in their interpersonal relationships, due to sinaas chinam, baseless hatred,…

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