Chazal tell us in the midrash that the builders of the Tower of Bavel had achieved a high level of Achdus and unity, in speech and in goals. The midrash even describes the connection people had with each other as a sincere love, as opposed to the generation of the Flood which hated one another [...]
The pasuk says: הצור תמים פעלו Whatever Hashem makes is perfect. We know from the Gemara that there are 3 partners in the creation of a human being: Hashem and the person’s two parents. If what Hashem creates is perfect, it stands to reason that the imperfections we find in our children stem from us. [...]
The torah says in this week parsha: יא כ י הַ מצְ וָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔אֹת אֲ שֶׁ֛ר אָֽנֹ כִ֥י מְצַוְךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לָֽאֹ־ נפְ לִ֥את הוא֙ ממְךֹּ֔ וְלָֽאֹ־רְחֹ קָ֖ה הָֽוא יב לִ֥ ֹא בַ שמַָ֖ ים הּ֑וא לאמֹֹ֗ר מָ֣י יַָֽעֲ לה־ לָּ֤נו הַ שמַַ֨יְ מה֙ וְ י ק חָ֣ ה לנו וְיַשְ מ עִ֥נו אֹ תָ֖הּ וְנַָֽעֲ [...]
In this week’s parsha we find the mitzvos of Bikurim and Maaser. Chazal tell us בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָּא אֱלֹהִׁים – אין ראשית אלא חלה, שנאמר "רֵאשִׁית עֲרִׁסֹתֵכֶם". ואין רֵאשִׁית אלא מעשרות, שנאמר "רֵאשִׁית דְּגָנְּךָ". ואין ראשית אלא ביכורים, שנאמר " רֵאשִׁית בִׁכּוּרֵי אַדְּמָתְּךָ". ועוד אמרו )שם(: בזכות משה, שנאמר " וַיַרְּא רֵאשִׁית לוֹ ". וגם דרשוהו [...]
Its hard for parents and mechanchim not to learn the parsha of Ben Sorer U’Moreh and give pause. Even with the Gemara’s statement that this case “never happened and never will”, it is still frightening and difficult to understand completely, though there are many chinuch lessons we can learn from it. Many meforshim have different [...]
This week we began saying “LeDovid” twice daily. One of the famous Pesukim in this perek of Tehilim is אַחַת, שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאֵת-יְהוָה-- אוֹתָהּ אֲבַקֵּשׁ: שִׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית-יְהוָה, כָּל-יְמֵי חַיַּי; לַחֲזוֹת בְּנֹעַם-יְהוָה, וּלְבַקֵּר בְּהֵיכָלוֹ. At first glance the pasuk seems redundant: “One question I have of Hashem, that’s what I am asking…” I once heard peshat that [...]
Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz points out that the Mishna in Avos encourages us to be “Like a talmid of Aharon: Love peace and pursue it, love everyone and bring them close to torah. If these are the defining character traits of Aharon, and indeed what we would expect the behavior of all Kohanim to reflect, how [...]
In this week’s parsha, Korach argues that “all of Klal Yisroel is Kadosh” and it is incorrect for anyone to claim special work, privileges, or status. Many prominent members of Bnei Yisroel agreed with this logic and joined Korach. Putting aside the personal motivations chazal tell us about Korach and the members of his Eidah, [...]
Sefer Bamidbar is called "the book of countings" or "Numbers" because of the few times Hashem counted Bnei Yisroel in it. Sefer Bamidbar is so action packed and contains so many pivotal episodes, its strange that chazal see the census as the most crucial events in the sefer. The concept of the national census in [...]