(Torah Portion Tzav) Touching the King’s Scepter This Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol – the great Shabbos. Let us examine how this Shabbos got its name. The Talmud explains that on the Shabbos before the Jews left Egypt, each Jewish family took a male lamb and tied it to their bedpost. When the Egyptians saw …
Category: 5772
Sep 27
Freedom in a Flash
Last days of Passover 5772: Freedom in a Flash We are all familiar with the four questions asked at the Seder that begin with the words, “Mah Nishtanah – Why is this night different than other nights of the year.” What is puzzling is that the Hagaddah does not answer all the questions. It explains …
Sep 27
Strength and Control
(Torah Portion Shimini) Strength and Control The Torah recounts a tragic episode where Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu, were put to death through a fire that descended from the Heavens when they offered sacrifices on the first day of the dedication of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The reason they were deserving of such a punishment …
Sep 27
The Consequence of the Spoken Word
(Torah Portion Tazria/Metzorah) The Consequence of the Spoken Word We are all aware of the ill effects of slander, bad mouthing, defaming, insulting, spreading rumors, and name-calling, and that they can devastate people’s lives. The Torah demands that we be sensitive to the feelings of others and prohibits all of the above – even when …
Sep 27
A Unique Partnership
(Torah Portion Acharai Mos/Kedoshim) A Unique Partnership The Talmud relates that there are three partners in the development of a human being; his mother, his father, and G-d. Parents contribute the physical parts while G-d infuses life and the soul. Ben Yehoyada brings a fascinating insight into the Hebrew word for a person – Adam. …
Sep 27
Rebbe Shimon
(Torah Portion Emor) Rebbe Shimon! Today is the Thirty-Third day of the Omer count, which is known as Lag B’Omer. What makes this day so special? Almost two thousand years ago, 24,000 devout students of Rebbe Akiva, one of the greatest Sages in Israel, died during the period between the Holiday of Pesach and the …
Sep 27
In the Drivers Seat
(Torah Portion Behar/Bechukosai) In the Drivers Seat Google is in the midst of experimenting with a driverless car which is steered by computers, cameras, and sensors, using Google maps for its navigation. Amazingly, the State of Nevada recently issued a license for a driverless car. In the seventies, Rabbi Pinchos Jung wrote an essay about …
Sep 26
Leadership!
(Torah Portion Shemos) Leadership! Our leader Moshe was raised in a most unusual circumstance. Pharoh’s daughter Basya who had clandestinely dissented from her father’s idolatrous and evil ways, brought up Moshe from infancy until adulthood within the palace of the Pharoh. Moshe’s own mother, Yocheved, was hired by Basya to nurse him, and she used …
Sep 26
Stubborn
(Torah Portion Va’eirah) Stubborn Before our forefather Yaacov passed away, he made his son Yosef promise that he would bury him in the land of Israel. One reason Yaacov gave why he did not want to be buried in Egypt was that he foresaw through prophetic vision that Egypt would experience a plague of lice …
Sep 26
Body and Soul
(Torah Portion Bo) Body and Soul Because the Jewish first-born males were spared during the final plague against the Egyptians, G-d commanded that the first issue of a woman’s womb if it is a male is to be sanctified to G-d. The father of this first born male must redeem his son from a Kohain …