This weeks parsha begins with the famous test given to Avraham Avinu. Avraham is told to leave his homeland, birth-place, and in fact home to his father and family and travel. Leave, and I will show you where we are going later. This was obviously a very difficult thing to do. Uprooting your life [...]
This week it says in לך-לך the following words. “ ואברהם בן-תשעים ותשע שנה בהמלו בשר ערלתו ” Rashi states a beautiful pshat saying that Avraham took the knife in one hand, and his עורלה in the other, about to cut but then became afraid and feared, that since he was old it wouldn’t [...]
The Midrash in Zos HaBrocha says אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אֵיזוֹ הִּיא הַבְרָכָה שֶבֵרַךְ משֶה בַתּוֹרָה תְּחִּלָה, בָרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶר בָחַר בַתּוֹרָה הַזאֹת וְקִּדְשָהּ ורָצָה בְעוֹשֶיהָ . וְלאֹ אָמַר בַעֲמֵ ליהָ, וְלאֹ אָמַר בְהוֹגֶיהָ, אֶלָא בְעוֹשֶיהָ, בְאֵלוּ שֶהֵ ן עוֹשִּין אֶת דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה...אָמַר הַקָדוֹש בָרוּךְ הוּא לְיִּשְרָאֵל...כָל מִּי שֶמִּתְיָרֵא אוֹתִּי וְעוֹשֶה דִּבְרֵי [...]
Midrashim from this week’s parsha with insights into Chinuch: 1) The Midrash (Netzavim 3) when discussing “Lo BaShamayim Hiy”, that learning Torah and growth are within everyones reach, many commentators discuss the apparent discrepancy, how learning Torah and growth is really quite difficult. While many have their own approach in explaining the apparent contradiction, [...]
"So now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel… (31:19)" Chazal derive from this pasuk that each person is required to write a Sefer Torah for himself. Even if one inherited a Sefer Torah or received one as a gift, he is nevertheless still obligated to write one. [...]
The pasuk in Shemos says that Hashem heard our voices when we were crying in Egypt (not our actual prayers). This seems odd: If Hashem is able to hear our prayers which have meaning, why would he listen to our “voices” and not our tefilos? The answer is actually quite simple! While most human [...]
The Midrash says in this week’s parsha “Worse off is the person who learns Torah and does not fulfill it than the person who does not learn it and does not fulfill it”. The question is, both people are not acting properly by not doing mitzvos, but at least the first one is learning! [...]
When reviewing the story of Korach, what I found most frightening was:Korach was convinced from all sides he was right and therefore went ahead with his plan, even though he was very wrong and ended up destroying himself, his family and those around him (according to the Midrash he saw through Ruach HaKodesh that Shmuel [...]
In this week's Parsha we we see a radical departure from Moshe Rabbenu's usual attitude towards the mistakes of Am Yisrael. In general, whenever Am Yisrael sinned, Moshe Rabbenu was always there rallying to their defense. Sometimes, like by the egel, Moshe Rabbeinu would even offer his own life in order to help klal [...]