Pinchas-July 10, 2020
This Shabbat:
Thursday Candle Lighting: 7:49 PM
Shavuot/ Shabbat Ends: 8:50 PM
Torah Message:
Know Your Enemy
“Harass the Midianites and smite them” (25:17)
I think I’m not alone in finding it difficult to maintain an appropriate weight for my height and my age. (In other words: “The Battle of the Bulge”). One of the techniques that seems to work is to “know your enemy.” I remember once sitting in front of a beautiful and delicious piece of cake and saying to the cake, “Cake, I love you, but you hate me!”
Demonization — the stigmatizing of other’s beliefs not in accord with one’s own — is usually seen as an irrational defense, and is called upon only by those who are uncertain of the rightness of their own beliefs in the first place.
Take the case of the “battle cry” for example. A battle cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle to arouse aggression and esprit de corps on one’s own side (and cause intimidation on the hostile side.) Often the battle cry is a way of submerging one’s own lack of confidence. Now I doubt that the aforementioned piece of cake was much affrighted by my “battle cry” — but it worked to remind me that the beguiling fondant cream oozing from the cake was really half-an-hour on the treadmill. As the Italians say: “A moment on the lips — a lifetime on the hips.”
Korach-June 26, 2020
This Shabbat:
Thursday Candle Lighting: 7:51 PM
Shavuot/ Shabbat Ends: 8:53 PM
Torah Message:
Deluxe Delusion
“… and On ben Pelet, sons of Reuven …. ” (16:1)
It’s amazing how we can be blind to the blindingly obvious. Rashi explains that the name of On ben Pelet can be understood as follows: He sat in mourning all the days of his life for his sin of joining in at first with Korach (Onen means mourner), and that miracles were wrought for him (Pelet or Pele means wonder or miracle), and because he repented he was saved from Korach and his plot. He was the “son of Reuven,” meaning that he saw (the word “Reuven” is from the root “to see”) the falsity of the Korach’s claim.
Ostensibly, then, On ben Pelet was on a high spiritual level and was motivated only by altruism. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (109b), however, explains: Rav says, “On, son of Pelet, did not repent on his own, but rather his wife saved him. She said to him: What difference does it make to you? If this Master, Moshe, is the great one, then you are the student. And if this Master, Korach, is the great one, then you are the student. Why are you involving yourself in this matter?”
Shlach-June 19, 2020
This Shabbat:
Thursday Candle Lighting: 7:50 PM
Shavuot/ Shabbat Ends: 8:52 PM
Torah Message:
Double Bluff
“Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘Send forth men, if you please, and let them spy out the Land of Canaan that I give to the Children of Israel.’” (13:1, 2)
Amateur psychologists are a dangerous breed. The intricacies of assessing motive and counter-motive can often lead to completely wrong conclusion.
In this week’s Torah portion, Hashem tells Moshe that despite His previous promises about theLand of Israel, the Jewish People may, if they choose, send spies to assure themselves that it is a wonderful place.
Shavuot/ Behalotcha-May 28, 2020
This Shabbat:
Thursday Candle Lighting: 7:40 PM
Shavuot/ Shabbat Ends: 8:42 PM
Torah Message:
“You have ascended on high; you captured what had been held captive. You have taken gifts for Man; that even among rebels G-d may dwell”. (Tehillim 68:19)
“Ascended on high”:This verse was said regarding Moshe’s ascent on Mt. Sinai, which was considered an entry into the Heavens. “Captured what had been held captive”: This refers to the Torah which Moshe brought down from Heaven. “Taken gifts for Man”: The Torah is Gd’s gift to the Jewish People, who are called “Man”. “Gifts for Man”:Alternatively, the term “gifts” refers to the mitzvot, for in essence the Torah is a book of commands; hence the word Torah means “instruction”. Though we are duty bound to both do and guard the mitzvot, in so doing we gain immeasurable merit. Thus, by fulfilling the Torah we receive the greatest gift of all, the reward of the World-to-Come. In relation to the above, our Sages taught, “G-d wished to bestowgreat merit upon Israel; therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvot in abundance, as it is said: ‘G-d desired for the sake of its (Israel’s) righteousness, that the Torah be made abundant and glorious’.” “Among rebels G-d may dwell”: Man, who was given free-will, can sometimes rebel against G-d. Nevertheless, he was still given the Torah, the vehicle through which G-d dwells amongst Israel.
A Deeper Look
Upon analysis, the above verse presents us with some apparent difficulties: 1) Why is the Torah described as being “captive in Heaven”? 2) We also must understand the end of the verse which implies that G-d chooses to dwell amongst “rebels” rather than the angels. How can this be so?
We are taught a well-known episode relating to the giving of the Torah. When Moshe ascended to the Heavenly heights, the ministering angels said to G-d, “The coveted and treasured Torah that was stored by You… from before the world was created, You want to give it to flesh and blood?! What (worth) is man that you should remember him…You should rather bestow Your glory, (i.e. Torah) upon the Heavens.” G-d said to Moshe, “Give them an answer.” “The Torah that You are giving me, what is written in it?” You shall not have other gods; you shall not take the name of G-d in vein; you shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal. Moshe concludes by asking if the angels have an “evil inclination” that incites them to transgress the word of G-d. Upon hearing Moshe’s words the angels immediately conceded to G-d, and even befriended Moshe.
Bamidbar-May 22, 2020
This Shabbat:
Friday Candle Lighting: 7:36 PM
Shabbat Ends: 8:37 PM
Torah Message:
A LIFE LESSON
Every tribe had only one leader. While there were certainly many people qualified to “manage” others, there was just one leader amongst the entire group. What is the difference between someone who’s capable of managing others as opposed to one who can lead them?
The first thing to understand is the reason a leader is such a rare breed is that it’s never a unilateral decision to become a leader. A leader requires the consent of those he wants to lead. A leader is only a leader if others choose to follow. If they don’t want to follow – or do so against their will – then these people are merely being managed and not being led.
This distinction, once understood, can have a very positive impact on your day-to-day life. We all in some way want to make a difference and change the world. To think that this is something that can be done independently of others is foolish. To achieve true and lasting change will always requires the consent, will, and desire of others to follow a leader to accomplish a larger mission.
The key to getting others to follow you enthusiastically is to first get them committed to your project or idea. (And remember, before you can get others to believe in anything you have to first believe in it yourself.) Once you have a cause to which you’re totally and completely committed, you will naturally radiate enormous enthusiasm. And your ceaseless energy, coupled with a clear plan for success, will attract flocks of followers to your cause.
The last key to your success will be never to forget to keep the mission as your primary and sole objective – and never make it about your own ego or personal spotlight. If you can do this, you’ll continue to have countless people believing and joining your efforts with a legitimate chance of leading them all to the Promised Land.
Behar/Bechukotai-May 15, 2020
This Shabbat:
Friday Candle Lighting: 7:31 PM
Shabbat Ends: 8:31 PM
Torah Message:
Holy Crop Rotation!
“For six years you may sow your field” (25:3)
I still remember learning at school about crop rotation. One year the field would be planted with wheat, the next year with barley or some other crop, and the third it would be left to lie fallow. And then the cycle would begin again.
When reading this week’s Torah portion, one could think that the mitzvah of Shemitta, the prohibition of working the fields in the seventh year, is some kind of holy crop rotation. The difference being that in the Torah it says you should work the field for six years and leave it for a seventh.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
First, there is evidence that working a field for six straight years and then leaving it for one year does nothing to improve its yield and may even have a negative effect. Second, the Torah prescribes dire punishments for the non-observance of Shemitta. The seventy years of the Babylonian exile were a punishment for seventy non-observed Shemitta years during the 430 years that the Jewish People dwelled in the Land of Israel. We know that G-d’s punishment is always measure for measure. If Shemitta was a matter of crop husbandry, how is exile an appropriate punishment? What does exile have to do with the cessation of agriculture in the seventh year? Furthermore, from an agricultural point of view, seventy years without husbandry can have had no possible benefit for the land. Seventy years of weeds and neglect in no way contribute to the lands rejuvenation, so how is this punishment an appropriate restitution?
Emor-May 8, 2020
This Shabbat:
Friday Candle Lighting: 7:25 PM
Shabbat Ends: 8:25 PM
Torah Message:
Dynamite of the Soul
“Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count.” (23:18)
Staying awake all night may not sound “religious,” but there are several times during the Jewish year when the custom is to burn the midnight oil until the sun peeps through the blinds.
Many people stay up after the Seder on Pesach until the time of the morning prayers in order to recount and analyze the great miracles of the Exodus. As the Haggadah says: Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria and Rabbi Akiva stayed up all night talking about the Exodus until their talmidim (students) came to tell them that it was time to recite the morning Shema Yisrael.
On Yom Kippur, those with sufficient strength stay up all night in prayer and supplication, atoning for their sins. On Hoshanah Rabbah, the time when the decrees of Yom Kippur are given over to those agents who will carry them out, there is a tradition to learn all night.
On the night of Shavuot there is also a widely observed custom to stay up all night. The Sages of the Kabbala formulated an order of study call a tikkun (lit. “fixing”) for the night of Shavuot. This includes passages from the written Torah, the oral Torah, the mystical Zohar, as well as a list of all 613 mitzvahs.
The Zohar commends those who stay awake in anticipation of receiving the Torah. The giving of the Torah was, as it were, the wedding of the Jewish People and the Torah, and so it is fitting that we should be engaged in preparing the ornaments of the bride the previous night.
Ki Tisa-March 13, 2020
This Shabbat:
Friday Candle Lighting: 6:42 PM
Shabbat Ends: 7:38 PM
Torah Message:
A Work of Craft
“See, I have proclaimed by name Betzalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehuda. I have filled him with a G-dly spirit, with wisdom, insight, and knowledge, and with every craft … to perform every craft of design.” (31:2-3)
In Hebrew, there is no word for Art.
There is a Hebrew word, “melacha,” that means “craft,” but no word meaning Art.
What’s the difference between Art and craft?
An artist can think he is G-d.
He starts off with a blank piece of paper and creates a universe. Being an artist is the closest a person can get to creation ex nihilo — creation from nothing. The universe of the artist is entirely at the whim of its creator. He can draw and he can erase. He can form and he can fold. He can “create worlds” and he can “destroy them.” The sky can be blue or gray. The next note could go up or down. And who says that all this has to be the way it is? Me, the artist.
For the past two and a half thousand years there has raged a global-historical conflict over the place of art in the world. The ancient Greeks, who invented Art with a capital “A”, claimed that Art is a doorway to ultimate truth. This Weltanschauung says that through art and artifice you can reach the elemental truths of existence. Celebrating the surface, the way things look, claimed the ancient Greek, leads to the essence of things themselves.
Tetzaveh-March 6, 2020
This Shabbat:
Friday Candle Lighting: 5:37 PM
Shabbat Ends: 6:33 PM
Torah Message:
The Surgeon General Has Determined
“You shall make the robe of the Ephod… on its hem all around… a gold bell and a pomegranate…” (28:31-33)
It first started on my Coca Cola can. I didn’t notice it at first, but when I glanced instead at a Coke Zero can, something out of the corner of my brain twigged that it wasn’t there. Then I saw it again on a packet of cinnamon rogelach. Yes, it was definitely spreading. The next day I took a good look at it on the Coke can — a red circle with a graphic of a spoon and the legend underneath it saying “high sugar content.” Next time I passed the rogelach package, I saw it had two red roundels: High Sugar Content and High Trans Fat Content. The Israeli Packaging Standards people had finally managed to get companies manufacturing high-risk foods to apply the equivalent of a “Government Health Warning” that already existed for cigarettes. It was almost like, “Warning! Food can seriously damage your health!”
Vayera-Dec 6, 2019
This Shabbat:
Friday Candle Lighting: 4:26 pm
Shabbat Ends: 5:25 pm
Torah Message:
Understanding the Times
“And he named him Yissaschar…” (30:18)
When you close your eyes and think of Chanuka, what comes to mind? The lights of the menorah; the dreidel spinning; the aroma of latkes and donuts.
And of course, the sound of “Maoz Tzur.”
In that beautiful stirring Chanuka song, we sing of the Bnei Bina, the “Children of Understanding.” Who were those children and what was it that they understood?
On the festival of Lag B’Omer there is a widespread custom to shoot arrows from a bow and arrow. The symbol of the month of Kislev, the current month, is the bow (Sagittarius, The Archer). What is the connection between the bow of Lag B’Omer and the bow of Kislev?