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Home -> Behar -> 5779

והעברת שופר תרועה... ביום הכפורים תעבירו שופר בכל ארצכם... וקראתם דרור בארץ

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Behar

You shall sound a broken blast on the Shofar… on Yom Kippur you shall sound the Shofar throughout the land… and you shall proclaim freedom throughout the land. (25:9,10)

The mitzvah of sounding the Shofar on Yom Kippur of the Yovel – fiftieth year – is unlike the mitzvah of sounding the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah. The Sefer HaChinuch explains that on Rosh Hashanah, the purpose of the Shofar is to help us focus on the Akeidas Yitzchak, Binding of Yitzchak Avinu, thus encouraging us to think of his extraordinary ahavas Hashem, love for the Almighty. We, too, should learn from his example and thus imbue ourselves with love for Hashem, thereby increasing our merits on this day when all of Hashem’s creations are judged. On Yom Kippur of…

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Home -> Behar -> 5779

ושבתם איש אל אחזתו ואיש אל משפחתו תשבו

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Behar

Each of you shall return to his ancestral heritage, and each of you shall return to his family. (25:10)

Freedom is a precious commodity of which not all people are availed. Thus, when one who had heretofore been a slave to a master, one whose life was essentially not his own, the first thing to enter his mind, the first thing for which he would yearn, would be: freedom; return to his family; his home; his original lifestyle. Yet, the Torah teaches us otherwise: “Each of you shall return to his ancestral heritage.” Does property precede family? Does material sustenance come before freedom? Horav Zalman Sorotzkin, zl, explains this from a practical point. People often lose their freedom as…

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Home -> Behar -> 5779

וזרעתם את השנה השמינית

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Behar

And you shall plant during the eighth year. (25:22)

Shemittah observance tests one’s spiritual devotion, as well as his emotional stability. It is difficult to observe the farmers around you planting and harvesting (either they are non-observant, or they rely on various dispensations), while your field lays fallow. It is hard to subsist on contributions from others who understand, respect and admire your commitment. One who is patient, who rises to the Shemittah challenge, who perseveres despite the taunting of others, however, will be blessed with extraordinary siyata diShmaya, Divine assistance. Not only will he not lose out as a result of his commitment to Shemittah, it will also…

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Home -> Behar -> 5779

וכי ימוך אחיך ומטה ידו עמך והחזקת בו

Sruly Schnair
In 5779, Behar

If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter on your proximity, you shall strengthen him. (25:35)

Strengthening a Jew who is confronted with economic challenges is a practical mitzvah. After all, if we ignore our brother’s plight, what good is our personal frumkeit, religious observance? A Jew whose observance is predicated upon his relationship with Hashem, while he simultaneously ignores the challenges that his brother must confront, is deluding himself. We are all one family. One cannot expect his brother to derive satisfaction from one son, when that very same son ignores the adversity suffered by his own brother. There is yet a deeper understanding of the mitzvah of supporting a fellow Jew who has come…

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Home -> 5779 -> Emor

ולא תהללו את שם קדשי ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל אני ד' מקדשכם

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5779

You shall not desecrate My holy Name, rather I should be sanctified among Bnei Yisrael; I am Hashem Who sanctifies you. (22:32)

The Torah exhorts us to strive to be holy. Some make it – others do not. Some make the attempt – others do not even bother. One might think that the barrier to achieving success in ruchniyos, spirituality, is a lack of aptitude, a deficiency of talent, or whatever excuses we might advance to justify our own lack of trying. In an inspiring exposition on the Midrash related to this pasuk, Horav Tzvi Kushelevsky, Shlita, explains the real reason that many fail to achieve the mark of greatness. The Tanchuma (Emor 2) relates that, in desperation, Shaul Hamelech went to…

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Home -> 5779 -> Emor

ובחמשה עשר יום לחדש הזה חג המצות לד'

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5779

And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Matzos to Hashem. (23:6)

One year, Horav Tzvi Hirsch Levin, zl, had occasion to invite the mayor of Berlin (a gentile, but one that was quite respectful and friendly to the members of the Jewish community) for the first Seder. The mayor entered the home to observe the rich finery of the tablecloth and napkins on a table bedecked with the finest china and silver flatware. The mayor had a superficial knowledge of Jewish traditions and customs. He was, thus, taken aback that Pesach, when we sit as kings, the young child traditionally asks the Four Questions, which begin, “Why is this night different?”…

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Home -> 5779 -> Emor

וספרתם לכם ממחחרת שבת

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5779

You shall count for yourselves – from the morrow. (23:15)

The halachah, as recorded in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 493:1, states that the prevalent custom is not to make weddings between Pesach and Shavuos (during a specific thirty-three day period), because it was during this time that the students of Rabbi Akiva (twenty-four thousand) died. The Talmud (Menachos 29b) states: “Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, when Moshe Rabbeinu ascended Har Sinai to receive the Torah, he found Hashem attaching crowns to some of the letters of the Torah. Moshe asked, ‘Hashem, who is holding You back (preventing you from making the Torah larger)?’ Hashem replied, ‘One day, there…

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Home -> 5779 -> Emor

ויציאו אתו כל העדה אל מחוץ למחנה וירגמו אתו באבנים ...ויוציאו את המקלל מחוץ למחנה וירגמו אתו אבן

Sruly Schnair
In Emor, 5779

And they took the blasphemer to the outside of the camp, and stoned him to death. (24:23) The entire assembly removed him to the outside of the camp, they pelted him with stones and he died. (Bamidbar 15:36)

The Torah is teaching us about the punishment meted out to the mekallel, blasphemer. In Sefer Bamidbar, the Torah relates the punishment which the mechallel Shabbos, desecrator of Shabbos, received. The mekoshesh eitzim, the individual who gathered twigs on Shabbos, was stoned, as was the blasphemer. While their punishments were similar, the Torah’s description of the actual execution is textually different. With regard to the mekallel, the Torah writes, Vayirgemu oso even, “They stoned him with even,” which means one stone. Concerning the meksohesh, however, the Torah writes, Vayirgemu oso b’avanim, “They stoned him with stones.” Why is the blasphemer stoned…

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Home -> 5779 -> Kedoshim

קדשים תהיו כי קדוש אני

Sruly Schnair
In Kedoshim, 5779

You shall be holy, for holy am I. (19:2)

For a Jew, being “good” is insufficient. We are to be a holy people, holy to Hashem, because He is the Source of holiness.  It would make sense that His nation is expected to strive to be G-d-like. The choice of words, ki kadosh Ani, “For holy am I,” begs elucidation. No human being, regardless of his spiritual stature, can aspire to achieve such holiness. In the sefer Sifsei Tzaddikim, the author offers an insightful exposition based on an incident that he heard from Horav Aharon Klivaner, zl (a maggid). When Rav Aharon was a youth studying in the yeshivah…

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Home -> 5779 -> Kedoshim

איש אמו ואביו תיראו

Sruly Schnair
In Kedoshim, 5779

Every man: Your mother and father shall you revere. (19:3)

Reverence and fear (which is the literal translation of tirah) are closely related. I think fear born of reverence is unlike fear which is the result of retribution. Thus, one is to fear his/her parents through the lens of reverence and esteem in which he holds them. This mitzvah prohibits anything negative, such as sitting in a parents’ seat, contradicting or interrupting them. One should act toward a parent in much the same manner in which he respects a monarch. The Torah should have simply written: Your father and mother shall you revere. Why does the Torah add ish, every…

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