Don’t Be the Other One (11:13)
Was there ever another individual who had to overcome as much as he did? Was there ever a pupil who had advanced so far in his studies? A leader who had lost so much ground - for himself personally or for his people? A faith so tested?
I refer to the towering Talmudic Sage, Rabbi Akiva. Born into a family of converts, life seemed to offer not much more than what he had become - a lowly shepherd. Irrespective however of his societal handicap he married Rachel, the most eligible maiden in the country.
Ignorant and uneducated until the age of forty, he overcame that barrier too and was soon recognized as the undisputed Rabbi of his time. As a…
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Fashions From Sinai (8:17)
High Holidays and America! Now there’s an oxymoron, if there ever was one. High Holidays are about penitence, prayer, fasting and introspection. America is December 31st revelry, overindulgent parties, football mania, and year-end bonuses. And yet America has been for the most part, good to the Jew. It opened its doors (maybe a little late), it offered religious freedom (though, for some, with a price tag of assimilation) and allowed the Jew to participate in the wonderful American dream. A dream that offers any man or woman, regardless of race, creed, color or gender, the ability to be successful, and perhaps, to make it to the top. All one has to do is provide elbow grease, self-determination, creativity and diligence….
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You Will Eat and Be Satisfied (8:10)
In case you did not catch the title, let me repeat it for clarification. “You will eat and be satisfied.”
I know what you’re thinking. The Rabbi must be running out of material, and he needs to waste some copy space. Wrong!! I figured if it was good enough for the Good Book, it is good enough for Timeless Torah. (By the way, had the title “Good Book” not been chosen, “Timeless Torah” would have been a great substitute.)
But to get back to our story. Twice in this week’s Biblical reading we hear the exact same phrase. Once, when we are given the commandment to offer blessings (grace) after meals; and second, in the verse, “You will eat and…
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Amazing Numbers & Greatest Blessings (3:39)
My wife and I have been blessed with healthy, normal children…ten times. With each addition, neighbors and acquaintances raise their eyebrows and wonder, “How do they manage?” The simple answer is, every time we have another baby, the one that used to be the youngest is promoted to “Assistant”. So presently, we actually have only one baby and nine assistants. Personally, I think we have a dynamite ratio.
But the size of our family is nothing when compared to those of our ancestors. In this week’s reading, one census identifies 605,550 men, between the ages 20 thru 60 eligible for the draft, while a separate count of Levites reveals 23,300 males older than one month.
It has long been noted…
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Amazing Numbers (3:39)
Most writers eventually develop a style that they are comfortable with. One that is suited to their particular genre, interest, and expertise. The same holds true for expositors of Torah thought whose work is ultimately predictable. If I’ve fallen into a similar trap after 408 times at bat, today represents a radical departure. First of all, this week’s TIMELESS TORAH does not end with an answer but with a question (as I a have no answer myself and I am hoping someone else will). Secondly, it discusses math (and this is from someone who still can’t balance his checkbook).
The fourth book of the Torah is called “NUMBERS” and it appropriately begins with a census of all the Israelite men…
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A Teacher’s Love (3:1)
As the Bible opens its fourth Book, Moses is commanded to count each tribe and tally the numbers. This detailed census follows tribal and even family groupings. This passion for exactitude for population figures occurs once again, this time, near the end of the Book. No wonder then that the Midrash appropriately named this, The Book of Numbers. The tribe of Levi, however, chosen to be the teachers of Israel as well as those who guard the sanctity of the Sanctuary merit their own separate counting. But just before the Torah counts the members of the Levitical tribe, it enumerates a subdivision of that group, the four children of Aaron who were designated as Kohanim.
Unlike the rest of the…
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No Less Than One (1:2)
This week we say good-bye to the Third Book of the Torah, and say hello to the Fourth, often referred to as the Book of Numbers. This title is quite apt, as this Biblical volume begins with a census of the Jewish people. Interestingly enough, this follows another sort of counting that is related in the final verses of the Third Book. The mitzvah dealt with there is tithing ones herd, whereby one counts one’s cattle and designates each tenth one as Kadosh (sacred). When it comes to this week’s counting of people, however, we must realize that each and every one is Kadosh.
The inherent holiness and importance of each individual emanates from the G-dly soul which we all…
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The People of the Book (1:1)
The fourth book of the Bible has several names. Originally it was simply, “Bamidbar-In the Desert.” Centuries later, the Midrash labeled it, “Sefer Hapikudim – The Book of Counting.” Always read on the Shabbat before Shavuos, neither of these titles seems to bear any relationship to the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. Or perhaps, we are missing something.
The Hebrew word midbar - desert has the same root as dabair meaning word, and shares the very same letters as m’dabber - speaking. Let us recall that it was specifically in the desert that the Israelites first heard the word of G-d.
Fundamental to Judaism is the belief that G-d cannot be seen. For every ancient faith but one,...
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A True Market Price (27:2)
Just prior to the close of Leviticus, the third Book of the Torah, we are given a lesson in charitable donations. The law takes an unexpected twist when an individual pledges to contribute, but instead of citing a sum he says, “I promise to give the value of a particular man, woman, or child.” In each of these cases the Bible sets a fixed rate in which each age and gender group is assigned a specific ‘value’.
Although this sounds like a practical suggestion, obviating the necessity of evaluating each individual separately, it also seems highly unfair. For why should we employ an equal “market price” for an accomplished scholar and an unskilled laborer, only because they happen to be…
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Ishmael’s Hebrew Lesson (27:2)
Recent events have not been kind to those with a weak stomach. First, there was the vicious murder of the pregnant mother and her four daughters by Palestinian terrorists who emptied their guns point-blank, riddling bodies with dozens of bullets. This was not to make sure the family was dead, but simply to mutilate their bodies.
One week later, a landmine killed six Israeli soldiers. Nearby Arabs snatched body parts, dancing with and displaying them before the international media. Within the hour, terrorist groups proudly announced that the body parts had been distributed throughout Gaza. As if to prove their claim, Israel’s Channel 2 decided to show a Hamas barbarian pulling a finger from a bloodied burlap bag. Not willing…
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A Casual Religion (26:23)
The final parsha of Vayikra (Leviticus) promises prosperity for the Jewish people if they follow Torah or devastating punishments if they do not. In these admonitions (Tochacha, in Hebrew), as well as in the warnings that appear in the middle of the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) the Torah details the harsh historical process that will come upon the Chosen People when Divine protection is removed as a result of their misdeeds.
Commentaries explain that the reason the Tochacha is read during these two times of the year is because both of these periods are set aside for self improvement and repentance. Thus the days between Pesach and Shavuos are meant to prepare oneself to receive the Torah anew, while Elul…
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Toil: but Your Hands Won’t Get Dirty (26:3)
There was a time, in my youth and naiveté that I believed that merely opening a sefer (a Jewish book one could study) would be more than sufficient to fulfill my obligation to learn Hashem’s Torah. After all, how much could G-d expect from my tired brain and thick skull; especially after a hard day’s work when I was already racking my mind helping my children with their homework. Did I now have to worry about my own?
But then I discovered that mere perusing of some holy Jewish books wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, what I was being asked to do (based upon the first verse of this week’s second reading) was nothing less than, “B’chukosai tailaichu -...
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Fair Reward (26:3)
This week’s Torah portion is a study in contrasts. It swings from rewards to punishments, from sweet promises to crushing curses. It tantalizes us with visions of bountiful produce, secure peace and G-d’s Spirit dwelling in our midst. However, it also warns us of desolation, destruction and death. And who decides what course of events will materialize? We do. As the Torah states, “If you follow My statutes…” versus “But if you will not listen to Me…”
Interestingly enough, Rashi, the father of all Biblical commentary, does not understand the first verse, “If you follow My statutes…” to mean, “Observance of the commandments.” Instead, he explains what seems to be a simple, straightforward verse as a Divine directive to “ameilim…
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Jewish Sign Language (25:35)
In a world so dichotomized by prosperity and poverty, there exist two general perspectives on wealth: (A) It is the rightful possession of those who earned it, and if they choose to share their good fortune, they are worthy of praise. (B) The unequal distribution of the earth’s resources is a travesty, and helping the needy is not a “good deed” but the rectification of a wrong.
Judaism rejects both views. Charity is more than kindness; it is an act of justice, hence an obligation. On the other hand, it is an honorable deed; a credit to the one who recognizes his duty and shares with the needy.
Certainly, wealth is not a crime, but a blessing. G-d could have…
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Money Can’t Buy (25:20)
The final chapters in the Book of Vayikra contain the blessing, “You will eat your bread and be satisfied.” Rashi (1040-1105) explains that this blessing is greater than a cursory reading would lead one to initially believe. What is being promised is not an income of several hundred thousand dollars. Anyway, who says that’s always a godsend? The ultimate blessing is to be satisfied with what we are given - irrespective of how little it may be. For if a person is happy with what he has; he will be completely satisfied with life.
The Seforno (1470-1550) elaborates on this idea in our weekly portion. In connection to the Sabbatical year when it is forbidden to plant and harvest, the…
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This Land Is (not) My Land (25:16)
In Eretz Yisroel the death threats continue. The number of inert bodies mount and violence is still the option of choice in resolving differences. If your response is, “Nothing has changed.” Look Again!
This time it is not Arab versus Jew, but rather Arab against Arab. The issue is land, the crime is selling it to a Jew and the penalty doesn’t allow for any appeals. In this week’s Biblical portion, the Torah also discusses the problem of land ownership. Here too, one cannot sell it to a Jew - but for a very different reason. It is not yours to sell.
Once every fifty years we are informed is the Yovel, commonly referred to as the Jubilee Year. Not…
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The Money Test (25:9)
Every fifty years the people of Israel celebrated Yovel. The laws of the Jubilee year promoted the concept that personal freedom for individuals and legal rights to property belong to G-d to decide, not man. With that in mind we can appreciate why the Torah prohibited selling in perpetuity land in Eretz Yisroel. And so every Jubilee the farms and estates were returned to the original owners as originally dictated by a Divinely mandated lottery in the days of Joshua, successor to Moses.
The Yovel was marked by another important rule. Every Hebrew slave was granted unconditional freedom. These transfers of property and persons began on Rosh Hashana of the fiftieth year. From then until Yom Kippur was a period…
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What to Expect (25:6)
Monday mornings are all the same. Wake up early, learn Chassidus with a small group of insomniacs, pray with the Minyan, give a class of Chumash and head off to school. In fact, by that time I am hurrying. It’s already 8:00 AM.
Non-coincidentally, that’s the schedule for Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning…you get the idea. However this Monday was different. After studying and davening I was off to the airport. Rhode Island was our first destination. I mention the word our, even though this was not a family vacation. Not quite. It was the Hebrew Academy Community School, Hirsch Ben Yehuda Middle School Annual Trip, or the HACSHBYMSAT for short.
Obviously, the weekly TIMELESS TORAH is not the medium for…
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Covet Your Wife (20:10)
American culture grows cruder each and every day. Talented and intelligent young women are being led to believe that their God-given role is to serve as entertainment for lecherous men. Others are being indoctrinated by Joe Millionaire reality shows, that women should trade their hearts for a man’s wallet. With such ideas becoming mainstream America, and with so little outrage by women, it is not surprising that in 2001 there was increases of 1,500 percent in husbands making their wives sign prenuptial agreements, over the previous decade.
For married women, the situation is even bleaker. When husbands are constantly barraged with advertised images of the ‘perfect’ female body, wives become ordinary by comparison. Indeed, with the very narrow standard of…
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Love, by Not Forgetting Who Is G-d (19:18)
Although there are thirteen positive and thirty eight negative commandments squeezed into this week’s Biblical reading, the most famous of them is undoubtedly, “You shall love your fellow as yourself.” Unfortunately, the last two words of that very same verse, “I am Hashem,” did not attain the same level of renown as its counterpart. I say unfortunate, because by adding this phrase the Torah is connecting the command of fraternal love with an affirmation of belief in G-d.
It is noteworthy that the Torah standard of loving others is the love of self. The Sefas Emes raises the question, where do we find that there is a mitzvah to love oneself, which would allow us to utilize that as the…
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Love…yourself (19:18)
The law of laws, the mitzvah of mitzvohs is of course the commandment, “To love your fellow as yourself.” / It is that which Rabbi Akiva called, “The great principle of the Torah.” Curiously enough, this ever-challenging directive is contained in the same sentence and follows the phrase, “You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge.” /
One wonders why these two disparate concepts and scenarios are packaged together. Couldn’t the Torah have found more refined company for the individual willing to live by the golden rule of love? Does he then have to be paired with such coarse and petty characters as those who stoop to revenge and cannot let go of a grudge?
There is a story…
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