Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

  • Reset
Category

Back to Home -> Shelach ->


Home -> 5786 -> Shelach

שלח לך אנשים ויתרו את ארץ כנען

Sruly Schnair
In Shelach, 5786

Send forth men, if you please, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan. (13:2)

The Torah introduces the meraglim stating, kulam anashim, “All were men.”  Chazal explain anashim as a term reserved for men who are honorable, upright, men of stature.  This explanation only intensifies the question that is on everyone’s mind:  How did such distinguished personalities err so egregiously?  Their reaction and the manner in which they later riled up the nation led to the people’s ultimate exclusion from entering Eretz Yisrael, transforming that night – the Ninth of Av – into our national day of mourning.  If these men were such kesheirim, men of integrity, how did they fall so catastrophically? I…

Continue Reading

Home -> 5786 -> Beha'alosecha

ויהי אנשים אשר היו טמאים לנפש אדם ...למה נגרע לבלתי הקריב את אדם קרבן ד' במועדו

Sruly Schnair
In Beha'alosecha, 5786

These were men who were contaminated by a human corpse…Why should we be diminished by not offering Hashem’s offering in its appointed time?” (9:6,7)

Some men were ritually impure due to contact with a human corpse, and they could not sacrifice the Pesach-offering on that day … These men said, “We are ritually impure through contact with a human corpse.  Why should we be diminished, so as not to bring the offering of Hashem on its appointed time?”  (9:6) One must be ritually pure in order to offer the Korban Pesach (or any Korban for that matter).  These men were tamei meis, ritually impure, due to their contact with a human corpse.  Confronted with the circumstance, they came to Moshe Rabbeinu and offered their…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bamidbar -> 5786

וידבר ד' אל משה במדבר סיני

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Bamidbar

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

The Torah is Hashem’s greatest gift to Klal Yisrael.  It is more than our guide for living – it is our life.  One would think that the giving of the Torah, which was a seminal experience like none other, would have occurred in a thriving metropolis, a cultured capital – not in a desolate wilderness.  Everything that Hashem does and how He does it is to teach us lessons for life and living.  Obviously, the giving of the Torah in the desert is no different.  Chazal teach that it was, indeed, deliberate.  Each commentator explores his own approach.  Perhaps we…

Continue Reading

Home -> Bamidbar -> 5786

ואלה תולדות אהרן ומשה ... ואלה שמות בני אהרן

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Bamidbar

These are the offspring of Aharon and Moshe … These are the names of Aharon’s sons. (3:1,2)

The pasuk commences by stating that the following are the offspring of Aharon and Moshe, but goes on to list only Aharon’s sons.  What happened to Moshe’s sons? Is Moshe considered a “father” to Aharon’s sons?  Chazal (Sanhedrin 19B) infer from here that, Kol ha’melameid es ben chaveiro Torah maaleh alav ha’kasuv k’ilu yoldo, “Whoever teaches Torah to his friend’s child, the Torah regards it as if he had begotten him.”  Thus, Moshe Rabbeinu became Aharon’s sons’ spiritual progenitor, because he taught them Torah. This statement is not poetic embellishment.  Chazal do not exaggerate.  As such, the commentators offer their…

Continue Reading

Home -> 5786 -> Shemini

וידם אהרן

Sruly Schnair
In Shemini, 5786

And Aharon was silent. (10:3)

On what should have been the most exalted and auspicious day of Aharon HaKohen’s life – the inauguration of the Mishkan with Aharon as the Kohen Gadol, alongside his sons who would serve as Kohanim –he was stunned by the sudden (what appeared to be) inexplicable and devastating loss of his two sons.  They did not just die.  They were struck by a Heavenly conflagration which burned from within, leaving their bodies intact.  The Torah describes Aharon’s heroic response: no response, Va’yidom Aharon; “And Aharon was silent (actually mute).” Prior to attempting to explain Aharon’s response and from where he…

Continue Reading

Home -> 5786 -> Shemini

וידם אהרן

Sruly Schnair
In Shemini, 5786

And Aharon was silent. (10:3)

The Torah praises Aharon HaKohen’s silence in the face of tragedy.  What distinguishes silence from speech?  Should Aharon not have eulogized his two sons for all the exemplary qualities they possessed?  Should he not have wept copious tears over the terrible personal and communal loss of two such shining stars?  Horav Aviezer Piltz, shlita (Rosh Yeshivas Tifrach), explains that, when Moshe Rabbeinu said, B’keruvai Ekadesh v’al pnei kol ha’am Eichabed; “I will be sanctified through those who are nearest to Me, thus, I will be honored before the entire people” (ibid 10:3), Moshe responded, “I knew that the Mishkan would…

Continue Reading

Home -> 5786 -> Shemini

ומפתח אהל מועד לא תצאו פן תמתו

Sruly Schnair
In Shemini, 5786

Do not leave the entrance of the Ohel Moed, lest you die. (10:7)

Every once in a while, I write a d’var Torah as a public service, an area from which we may all benefit.  The Rambam (Hilchos Bi’as Mikdash 2:5) writes: “A Kohen who leaves the Bais HaMikdash during the Avodah, while he is preparing the sacred service, may be punished by death – regardless of his position – be it Kohen Gadol or Kohen Hedyot.  He derives this from the above pasuk, adding that one should not forsake the sacred service and run out as if in a rush, confused or disturbed.  Furthermore, even if he hears news (death of a…

Continue Reading

Home -> 5786 -> Tzav

זאת תורת החטאת במקום אשר תשחט העלה

Sruly Schnair
In Tzav, 5786

This is the law of the sin-offering where the elevation-offering is slaughtered. (6:18)

In the event that there happens to be blood from a korban olah and blood from a korban chatas that require zerikah, application, on the Mizbayach, Altar, that of the Chatas, sin offering, is applied first, since the zerikah, application, on the Mizbayach, Altar, that of the Chatas, sin offering, is applied first, since the Chatas atones for more grievous sins than does the Korban Olah.  Furthermore, Chazal (Zevach 89A) liken the sin offering to an intercessor who appeases someone who has been wronged, and the olah is like a gift given to a person after the fact, as a…

Continue Reading

Home -> Vayikra -> 5786

ויקרא אל משה

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayikra

Hashem called to Moshe. (1:1)

The Midrash underscores the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu had ten names.  Hashem called to Moshe, summoning him by the name which Bisyah bas Pharaoh had given to him.  This is not the first time that the Torah mentions his name.  Why does the Midrash choose Vayikra el Moshe as the place for commenting about Moshe’s name?  Perhaps it is the textual relationship – Vayikra, He called, with the naming of Moshe by Bisyah, Vatikra shemo Moshe (Shemos 2:10).  The kriah, calling out by Hashem, could be viewed as official confirmation of Bisyah’s kriah in naming him. In any event, the…

Continue Reading

Home -> Ki Sisa -> 5786

כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Ki Sisa

When you take a census of Bnei Yisrael. (30:12)

Midrash Tanchuma (Parshas Ki Sissa) sets forth the notion that the machatzis ha’shekel, coin which every Jew had to donate, was to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf.  The Midrash says that the nations of the world declared, “A nation that heard at Sinai: A) I am Hashem, your G-d, followed by B) You shall not recognize the gods of others.” In spite of this, after only forty days, the people created the Golden Calf.  How could Hashem welcome them back?  This was no ordinary sin, but a grievous, flagrant act of unfaithfulness.  Chazal liken this to a…

Continue Reading

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

You have Successfully Subscribed!