Search Results for: Parsha

Our Parshat Nitzavim opens with Moshe Rabbeinu addressing the B’nai Yisrael on the final day of his life:

“Atem Nitzavim HaYom… You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, your G’d…. for you to pass into the convenant of Hashem, …that Hashem… seals with you today in order to establish you as a people to Him and that He be a G’d to you as He spoke to you and as He swore to your forefathers, to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov.” (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash, Sefer Devarim Perek 29, posukim 9-13) read more

Parshiyot Acharei Mos and Kedoshim are normally what baseball fans refer to as another of the “doubleheader” parshiyot. And just as Parshiyot Tazria and Metzora are extensions of each other, visa vi Tumah and Ta’Hara regarding post-birth, regarding skin, hair, clothing or regarding one’s home or building; Acharei Mos and Kedoshim are extensions of each other regarding Kohanim, Yom Kippur, the Kohen’s Yom Kippur avodah in the Kodosh Kedoshim and the Kohanic model of Darchim, which ideally the entire B’nai Yisrael would embrace and exhibit as a paradigm, as model, as a light for all mankind. read more

Shalom and Chag Same’ach Friends;

Seems I keep harping on the same theme regarding the Pesach Seder in recent years. I remember back some five years ago when Rav Chaim Zev Malinowitz spoke before Pesach 5768 saying that to truly experience Pesach, we need to put ourselves in a mindset of feeling the Yetziyat Mitzrayim (the leaving of Egypt) as if WE were THERE, as if WE had been through the slavery, bondage and persecution, as if WE watched the naisim of the Asserah Makkot (the 10 plagues) and were now dressed like Kings and Queens eating the Seder meal —the Korban Pesach which had been tied to our bedposts before slaughter, the Matzot (the bread of affliction which was baked in haste because of the haste of departure from that iron crucible: Mitzrayim) and the Maror — the bitterness of the affliction.. read more

The word Vayakhel — Assembling together of Kol B’nai Yisrael, introduces the building of the Mishkan (Tent of Meeting), the forerunner of the Beit HaMikdash, which would serve as a kappara (atonement) for the Eigel Zahav (Golden Calf). Our parsha opens by teaching B’nai Yisrael about Shabbos which has always, until recent times, been the unifying, defining factor of Judaism. Shabbos seems a gateway to all else — Kashrut, the Chaggim, Torah learning and Ethics, Yishuv HaAretz, Kiddushin, Family Purity, etc. It symbolizes the Jew’s faith in Hashem. And the melachot involved in the construction of the Mishkan were meant to define the paradigms of melachot prohibited on Shabbos. read more

Having just come through Yom Kippur, this author thought to reflect on our tefillot and our process of teshuvah. There is d’var Torah by the Shem Mishmuel (Sefer Shem Mishmuel, Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, translated to English by Rabbi Zvi Belovski, pages 440-441). The thoughts expressed by the Shem Mishmuel seem particularly pertinent this Yom Kippur, with emphasis locally, as well as throughout the Jewish world.

In this d’var, Shem Mishmuel cites Moshe Rabbeinu’s final address to the B’nei Yisrael (Devarim, Perek 29, posukim 9-10): read more

This Vort for the Chaggim starts out about nine days ago at Rabbi Barak Saffer’s home on Shabbos Parshat Ki Tavo. Rabbi Saffer, by the way, is Maggid Shiur at Yeshiva Mivaserret, just outside Yerushalayim. Along with Rav Saffer’s family and this author were a few of his Talmidim from the Yeshiva. After dinner was concluded, Rav Saffer held a Tish with the the Talmidim and myself.

During the Tish, Rav Saffer cited a gemara as follows:

Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen HaGadol was in the Kadosh Kedoshim (Holy of Holies) on Yom Kippur. And Hashem, Kovei’yokhel (as He was), spoke to him asking for a Brakha. A Brakha? How does Hashem, our Creator, the Ruler of the World who sustains everything, animate and inanimate mili-second by mili’second — How does Hashem need a Brakha from man? And there is even another gemara which comes down hard and disparagingly about one who would utter a statement “All good men will bless You!” Hashem “needs” our Brakhot? But there is another understanding regarding Hashem’s request of Yishmael ben Elisha Kohen HaGadol as the latter served Hashem in the Kadosh Kedoshim on Yom Kippur. That understanding is: Hashem wants, needs to hear the Tefillot of the Kohen HaGadol, on behalf of His Treasured Nation — Klal Yisrael, in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. And He wants and needs to hear the fervent tefillot and Teshuva of Kol Klal Yisrael. But anyone who reads this author realizes that there’s much more to this story. read more

Our Parsha Nitzavim opens with Moshe Rabbeinu addressing the B’nai Yisrael on the final day of his life:

“Atem Nitzavim HaYom… You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, your G’d…. for you to pass into the convenant of Hashem, …that Hashem… seals with you today in order to establish you as a people to Him and that He be a G’d to you as He spoke to you and as He swore to your forefathers, to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov.” (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash, Sefer Devarim Perek 29, posukim 9-13) read more

Parshiyot Acharei Mos and Kedoshim are normally what baseball fans refer to as another of the “doubleheader” parshiyot. And just as Parshiyot Tazria and Metzora are extensions of each other, visa vi Tumah and Ta’Hara regarding post-birth, regarding skin, hair, clothing or regarding one’s home or building; Acharei Mos and Kedoshim are extensions of each other regarding Kohanim, Yom Kippur, the Kohen’s Yom Kippur avodah in the Kodosh Kedoshim and the Kohanic model of Darchim, which ideally the entire B’nai Yisrael would embrace and exhibit as a paradigm, as model, as a light for all mankind. read more