Emes – Page 65 – Peninim on the Torah

והבריח התיכן בתוך הקרשים מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה

The middle bar inside the planks shall extend from end to end. (26:28)

The Briach HaTichon was an amazing component of the Mishkan. It basically kept the walls together, thus stabilizing the Mishkan structure. The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel explains how this pillar functioned. Avraham Avinu planted a tree in Beer Sheva. When Klal Yisrael walked through the miraculously split Red Sea, the angels uprooted the tree and flung it into the sea. The tree floated on top of the water. At that point, an angel proclaimed, “This tree was originally planted by the Patriarch Avraham; it was at this tree that the Patriarch would pray and call out to others in the…

Home -> 5774 -> Shoftim

והאיש אשר יעשה בזדון... ומת האיש ההוא ובערת הרע מישראל. וכל העם ישמעו ויראו ולא יזידון עוד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Shoftim, 5774

And the man that will act with willfulness… that man shall die, and if you shall destroy the evil from among Yisrael. The entire nation shall listen and fear, and they shall not act willfully anymore. (17:12,13)

How often – upon confronting a young Jewish boy or girl and inquiring why he or she has suddenly opted for living a life of spiritual risk, or of turning off completely to religious observance – will the response be, “I was turned off by the lack of truth, the dearth of intellectual honesty, the improper behavior such as chillul Hashem and hypocrisy”? Veritably, the response that we receive has a ring of truth to it. The system is perfect; the people, however, are human, and human beings err – some by not thinking, while others are simply dishonest. In…

Home -> 5774 -> Shoftim

ובאת אל הכהנים הלוים ואל השפט אשר יהיה בימים ההם... והגידו לך את דבר המשפט

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Shoftim, 5774

You shall come to the Kohanim, the Leviim, and to the judge who will be in those days… and they will tell you the word of judgment. (17:9)

We believe that the leaders of each and every generation are specifically suited for that generation. Therefore, we do not second guess our gedolim, Torah leadership. They are Hashem’s choice. To impugn the integrity of their leadership is to question Hashem’s decision. The leader of each individual generation is the last word in Torah ruling. We do not compare him to the leaders of earlier generations. He is our leader – not the leader of a previous generation. Horav Shimshon Pincus, zl, relates an amazing story that occurred concerning the Gaon, zl, m’Vilna, which underscores this idea. We must remember…

Home -> Shemos -> 5774

ויאמר משה אל ד'... לא איש דברים אנכי גם מתמול גם משלשם גם מאז דברך אל עבדך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5774, Shemos

Moshe replied to Hashem… I am not a man of words, not since yesterday, not since the day before yesterday, nor since You first spoke to your servant. (4:10)

Rashi notes that this was the seventh day of Moshe Rabbeinu’s dialogue with Hashem. Moshe’s reluctance to assume the leadership of Klal Yisrael was because he did not want to arrogate himself over his older brother, Aharon, who was a Navi, Prophet, and the present leader of the people. The Yalkut Shimoni quotes Moshe, “Until I stood here, my brother, Aharon, had been prophesizing for the last eighty years. Now I should come into his perimeter? I should be his adversary and cause him pain?” Hashem replied, “You will neither be his adversary, nor will you cause him pain. Indeed,…

Home -> 5774 -> Shemini

וישמע משה וייטב בעיניו

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Shemini, 5774

And Moshe listened, and it was good in his eyes. (10:20)

Having just tragically lost his two sons, Aharon HaKohen was an onein, one who had just lost a close relative and, thus, could not partake of the sacrificial offerings. Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that, despite Aharon’s aninus, he was permitted to eat of those sacrifices that had been offered exclusively for the Mishkan’s consecration. Moshe erred by extending this Heavenly dispensation to all korbanos. Aharon was, therefore, correct in not eating from the other sacrifices. Moshe chastised him for not listening to his instructions to eat from all the korbanos. Aharon was very proper, respectfully replying to his brother, “If…

Home -> 5774 -> Shemini

וישא אהרן את ידו אל העם ויברכם וירד מעשות החטאת

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Shemini, 5774

Aharon raised his hands towards the people and blessed them; then he descended from having performed the sin-offering. (9:22)

Negativity can destroy the most auspicious objective. It can undermine the most hopeful prayers. It can impugn the integrity of the most promising career. Some people thrive on negativity, because they cannot handle success. They know that as long as they are negative, they are safe. This is, of course, not the Torah way. Indeed, this is the method employed by the yetzer hora, evil-inclination, to undermine the individual’s efforts at prayer. One should not ignore his own shortcomings, but, when he is speaking with Hashem, he should focus on the positive. Concerning the above pasuk, the Tiferes Shlomo says…

Home -> Vayeilech -> 5774

ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת ולמדה את בני ישראל

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5774, Vayeilech

So now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to Bnei Yisrael. (31:19)

Every ben Yisrael, Jew, is enjoined to write a Sefer Torah. The source of this mitzvah is the above pasuk. Mitzvas Kesivas Sefer Torah, the commandment to write a Sefer Torah, has the distinction of being the last, 613th, mitzvah of the Torah. It is the culmination of the Torah’s commandments. When one writes something down on paper, he concretizes it. I remember visiting my Rosh Yeshivah, Horav Mordechai Gifter, zl, with a request for his approbation on one of my volumes. He began to weep. He said that part of his learning process was to put to immediately paper…

Home -> Vayeilech -> 5774

וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5774, Vayeilech

Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Yisrael. (31:1)

The Midrash Tanchuma states: Ein va’yelech ela lashon tochachah. “The word vayelech means rebuke.” Apparently, Moshe Rabbeinu went to all of the tribes to bid them farewell. His farewell was couched in reproach, in which he informed the people of their shortcomings. Where in the pasuk is this indicated? It seems that all Moshe told them was that he had reached the age of 120 years old, that he was no longer able to “go out and come in”, and that he was not going to enter into Eretz Yisrael. In other words, Moshe was gezegening zich, bidding farewell, to…

Home -> 5774 -> Nitzavim

ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Nitzavim, 5774

See – I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil. (30:15)

The Torah informs us that the choice between a life devoted to Torah principles versus one that is not is tantamount to the choice between life and death. Two lessons are to be derived from this pasuk. First, Torah is the path to life; a life without Torah is the path to death. It is as simple as that. Torah is equated with good and life. No Torah is compared to evil and death. Second, the choices are equal. Torah is pure life; no Torah is pure death. They are commensurate. No grey areas exist. It is all black and…

Home -> 5774 -> Re'eh

כי יקום בקרבך נביא... ונתן אליך אות או מופת... ובא האות והמופת... לא תשמע אל דברי הנביא ההוא... כי מנסה ד' אלקיכם אתכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Re'eh, 5774

If there should stand in your midst a prophet… and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder… and the sign or the wonder comes about… do not listen to the words of that prophet… for Hashem, your G-d, is testing you. (13:2,3,4)

The false prophet attempts to sway the nation away from Hashem, to seduce the people to worship idols, by offering “proof” that he is the “real thing” and that his message is Heaven sent. He produces a miracle, a wonder that is undeniable, that gets the people thinking: “Is it possible? Could he be for real?” Hashem instructs us not to listen to him, because he is part of a test to ascertain and confirm our nation’s true conviction. Do we truly believe in Hashem, or is it only a matter of convenience, something we do as long as there…

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Back to Home -> Terumah ->

והבריח התיכן בתוך הקרשים מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה

The middle bar inside the planks shall extend from end to end. (26:28)

והאיש אשר יעשה בזדון... ומת האיש ההוא ובערת הרע מישראל. וכל העם ישמעו ויראו ולא יזידון עוד

And the man that will act with willfulness… that man shall die, and if you shall destroy the evil from among Yisrael. The entire nation shall listen and fear, and they shall not act willfully anymore. (17:12,13)

ובאת אל הכהנים הלוים ואל השפט אשר יהיה בימים ההם... והגידו לך את דבר המשפט

You shall come to the Kohanim, the Leviim, and to the judge who will be in those days… and they will tell you the word of judgment. (17:9)

ויאמר משה אל ד'... לא איש דברים אנכי גם מתמול גם משלשם גם מאז דברך אל עבדך

Moshe replied to Hashem… I am not a man of words, not since yesterday, not since the day before yesterday, nor since You first spoke to your servant. (4:10)

וישמע משה וייטב בעיניו

And Moshe listened, and it was good in his eyes. (10:20)

וישא אהרן את ידו אל העם ויברכם וירד מעשות החטאת

Aharon raised his hands towards the people and blessed them; then he descended from having performed the sin-offering. (9:22)

ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת ולמדה את בני ישראל

So now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to Bnei Yisrael. (31:19)

וילך משה וידבר את הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל

Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Yisrael. (31:1)

ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע

See – I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil. (30:15)

כי יקום בקרבך נביא... ונתן אליך אות או מופת... ובא האות והמופת... לא תשמע אל דברי הנביא ההוא... כי מנסה ד' אלקיכם אתכם

If there should stand in your midst a prophet… and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder… and the sign or the wonder comes about… do not listen to the words of that prophet… for Hashem, your G-d, is testing you. (13:2,3,4)

YEARS

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

You have Successfully Subscribed!