Love Your Fellow Jew (19:18)
Lubavitcher Chassidim are an enigma. If we had stayed in Brooklyn, the world wouldn’t have given us a second thought. But spending so much time and energy for other Jews! Why? The reason is simple. A Chassid’s concern is Divine, sanctioned and mandated by the Almighty Himself.
The commandment referred to is, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” which first appears in this week’s Torah portion. Ancient man - not much different than his 20th century cousin - asked the basic question, “You expect me to what? Love that no good…!”
The prophets didn’t bother explaining. Instead they added details. The word “neighbor” they clarified, includes those who cannot afford your neighborhood too. The orphan, widow and stranger also have to…
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Talk Yourself into Love (19:17)
TALK YOURSELF INTO LOVE (19:17)
The soul that breathes life into all of Jewish literature is the Bible. At its center is the third book of Vayikra (Leviticus). Penetrate to its core, and one arrives at the “Holiness” passages of chapter 19 with its momentous call: “You shall be holy because I, the L-rd your G-d, am holy.” And the heart of that section is a brief paragraph which deals with, not surprisingly, matters of the heart: Do not hate your brother…You must surely admonish your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. Do not take revenge or bear a grudge…Love your neighbor as yourself. I am G-d.” /
Much has been written regarding the final verse, “Love your…
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Discover the Chochom (19:2)
The current two portions (Achrei Mos & Kedoshim) are filled with mitzvohs the way a pomegranate is filled with seeds. / Well, maybe not quite. But Kedoshim alone does have more than 50 commandments! In fact, due to the pivotal nature of many of the laws mentioned therein, G-d had Moses disregard normal procedure.
Traditionally, Moses would first begin transmitting what he had learned from G-d only to Aaron. After allowing his brother to digest the information, Aaron’s two sons would join the class. A third rendering was then done in the presence of the seventy elders…and only afterwards, was the rest of the community invited to participate in hearing of G-d’s teachings.
Why was standard protocol thrown out the…
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The Priest and the Child (19:2)
As a Rabbi, I am a regular visitor at several hospitals. At one such facility, there is a local priest that I often encounter. At first, our greetings to each other were merely perfunctory. Lately however, I’ve noticed a change. The priest is not content with a civil “Hello,” he is actively trying to draw me into conversation. Since I am not into sports, have no insights on the weather, and am not current on the latest movies, the exchanges are becoming theological.
This is particularly annoying to me as (a) these discussions can lead nowhere, and (b) it’s obvious he’s simply trying to score ‘religion’ points (mine is better than yours!). This past Sunday, he remarked on how wonderful…
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Beneath the Surface (14:40)
They were the outcasts, the modern lepers shunned by the family of nations. With no country willing to harbor them, they were banished to the DP camps. D.P. is an acronym for Displaced Persons, or did it mean, Don’t Plan on staying here too long. This pitiful remnant of the Jews and others who had been herded into the ghettos and cattle trains only to be extinguished and cremated in the concentration and death camps, were unwanted anywhere else.
Yet a sliver of hope did exist. One rabbi, the brilliant and flamboyant founder of the Va’ad Hatzolah, the Committee to Save, expended tremendous effort and energy to uplift the Jews materially as well as spiritually. I recently discovered a story…
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Candle Power (14:36)
CANDLE POWER (14:36)
Try to imagine living in G-d’s presence. A world where bread rains down from your heavens, water flows from a traveling rock, your local Sanctuary produces miracles on a daily basis, and Divine punishment and reward are something are something you witness rather than just believe in. This fantasy state, in fact, did once exist. It occurred during the infancy of the Jewish people while they were still living in the desert.
This week’s Torah portion even tells us of a leprous-like malady that afflicted a person with specific spiritual failings. The ritual impurity resulting from this Tzaraas affected not only the individual but also the dwelling in which he found himself.
If such a person entered…
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The Peddler’s Message (14:3)
Once upon a time, says the Midrash, a traveling medicine salesman arrived in Tzippori. “Who would like to purchase the potion of life?” he called out. One of the Sages, Rav Yannai replied, “Bring your bag here and sell me some!” The salesman looked dubiously at this unlikely customer and declared, “You don’t need it. Neither you nor those like you.”
Undaunted, the Rabbi pressed further until the salesman brought out a book of Psalms. Opening the Book to chapter 34, he read, “Who is the man who desires life, who loves days, to see good?” Then the salesman pointed to the next verse which answers the Psalmist’s question “Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking falsehood…”...
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Faith: You Always Have It
The defining moment of Jewish faith took place on the shores of the Sea, as the fleeing, fledgling nation was cornered. Trapped between raging waters and a raging Egyptian army, the people had few options. Some gave up hope. Others wanted to appeal for mercy from their former tormentors. Another faction petitioned for war against the Egyptians, while a last group advocated praying to G-d.
The Almighty however rejected all four approaches. What then was the Jew to do when caught between a hostile enemy and an unyielding sea? Replace fear with faith and as G-d demanded, “Go forward.” So Nachshon the son of Aminadav plunged in, and as they say, the rest is history. That act of faith is…
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A Stiff Neck Makes It Difficult to Bow (34:9)
It was a time of high drama. The Israelites, a mere 40 days after declaring their loyalty at Sinai, made a Golden Calf. So Moses came down the mountain, smashed the Tablets, ground the idol to dust, and punished the wrongdoers. Re-climbing the mountain, he prayed for mercy. After G-d allowed Himself to be entreated, Moses made a strange appeal: “If I have found favor in your eyes, my L-rd…go among us, because [ki] it is a stiff-necked people, and forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
The difficulty in the verse is self-evident. Moses cites the very attribute that G-d had previously given for wishing to obliterate the Jews: (“I have seen these people,”...
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To Build and to Build Again
On this subject the Midrash Tanchuma quotes two opinions: (1) Moses dismantled and reassembled the Tabernacle twice each day during the induction. This is deduced from the repetition of the word “to erect” - takim (Exodus 40:2) and hukam (40:17). “ (2) Moses took apart and rebuilt the Mishkan three times a day for - as you might have guessed - there is a third verse that utilizes the exact same verb “ “vayakem” “ (40:18). Poor Moses! That couldn’t have been fun. Could he not have set it up just once and be done with it?
The Slonimer Rebbe uses this Midrash to teach us a vital lesson. Although we spend our lives toiling and struggling to remake ourselves…
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What's in a Name?
Is it plagiarism to “borrow” good lines penned by your child that, in all probability, you taught her in the first place? If it is, I’m guilty because what follows is an excerpt from my daughter Malkie Janowski.
“What’s in a name? Quite a lot, actually. For starters, we are told that parents are granted a minor degree of ruach hakodesh (divine inspiration) when they select names for their children. So it’s not an arbitrary decision “
Take a look at the Hebrew word for name – “sheim.” It has the same letters as the word sham – “there.” Not a coincidence. A person’s name tells you what’s really there.
“One’s [Hebrew] name is not merely a handle; it is…
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Speak…but to Yourself (13:46)
When I was a Yeshiva student, somewhere in the era we now call B.C., Before Chasuna (Chasuna means wedding), we were inculcated with the, “lifestyles of the humble and the pious.” Please do not confuse this with the “lifestyles of the rich and the famous.” Among the former were such greats as Reb Issac Homler, the Rashbatz, Groinem and Itche the Masmid. While they all lived in different times and swore allegiance to distinct Rebbes, there was a common thread that bound them all. Their ability to sit for hours alone, meditating and internalizing the teachings of Chassidus until those values became part and parcel of their core personality. In Chassidic lexicon we refer to this as Hisboid’dus.
So while…
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Obviously Someone Needs a Nose Job (13:3)
There’s an old Jewish saying - maybe an hour old - “Of course, he can’t see anything in front of his nose. With a beak like that, it’s a wonder he sees at all.”
Actually, this thought first occurred to me last week at the Shabbat table. One of the guests was explaining the complex process of how the images we see are transferred specifically to the back of the eye. He subsequently raised the question, “Why then doesn’t the back of the eye see the front of the eye?”
This point is strikingly similar to this week’s Biblical portion that deals with the disease of Tzora’as, commonly misinterpreted as leprosy. Actually, tzora’as was an affliction unlike any other physical…
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The Covenant of Love (12:3)
This week’s reading begins with the command that has forever been a distinguishing mark of Jewish identity, circumcision. The traditional name for this act is brit milah, literally, “The covenant of circumcision.” It is the only command that explicitly binds the Jew to G-d. Clearly this mitzvah carries immense significance. More importantly, it is less a state of doing than a state of being.
That circumcision, for males, is the primary way in which Jews enter into the Mosaic covenant was already apparent, even to others, in the days of the Patriarchs. Recall the episode in which the prince Shechem abducts and rapes Jacob’s daughter. Dina’s brothers respond, “We can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised….
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The Perfect Rose (12:2)
That the Torah is not some pristine, lily-white document that shies away from the more animalistic nature of man is well documented. Beginning already in Genesis, we come across fratricide, incest, mass executions, adultery, and a host of other undesirable characters and their moral lapses. Simply put, the Holy Scriptures are not for the squeamish or the prudes among us. It deals with life with all of its glory, and at the same time, all of its gore.
A corollary of this Torah attitude is the willingness to set forth mitzvot (commandments) whose purpose is to sublimate the physical drives of man. A case in point is the laws of kosher that appear in last week’s Biblical portion. Eating, as…
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Wherein Lies the Greatness (12:2)
The titles of the weekly Torah portions are not merely labels to differentiate one portion from the next. Each title written in Hebrew, the holy language, clues us in to the essential theme of the Parsha (Biblical section). It is then surprising to discover that the name of this week’s Biblical section is Tazria and not Isha.
Let me explain. The opening verse usually provides the title word. The first sentence this week is, “If a woman (Isha) conceives (Tazria) and bears a child…” Now, if we were to compare the contrast between the Biblical chapters of this week versus last week, we would realize that they both deal with the laws of purity. However, the previous week the subject…
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What Are You Worth? (11:33)
I can sense you’re getting angry. You don’t like the question. You think it is the prelude to some sort of solicitation. Stop! This has nothing to do with donations and your economic ability as it has to do with your intrinsic value. Let me explain.
In this week’s Torah portion of Shemini we are taught some of the laws concerning spiritual impurities. The halacha is that utensils made of wood and metal become spiritually unclean if a contaminated item touches them externally. On the other hand, earthen vessels are rendered impure only if the contaminated object is within the vessel, but not by external contact.
A great Chasidic master once explained this puzzling difference. Only something of value can…
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What’s on the Menu? (11:7)
Kabbalistic teachings examine all aspects of existence, including why the word “pig” has become a universal symbol of insult. If you don’t accept this fact, recall some of these timeless classics; Nazi pig, You live like a pig, Sexist pig, Cops are pigs, Greedy pig, You stink and eat like a pig, etc. This most treif of all animals is mentioned together with the camel, the hyrax, and the hare. These four creatures are singled out due to an ambiguity surrounding their status. Since they possess one kosher sign but not the other, some might have considered them semi-kosher. The Torah thus sets the record straight.
However, even within this group of imposters and kosher-wannabees, the pig stands out. The…
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Question & Listen (10:20)
The summer of 656 CE was hot and bloody. In the Arabian Peninsula temperatures ran high, but tempers flared even higher as an armed revolt erupted against the third Caliph (successor) since Mohammed. Only thirty four years had passed since the Koran had been written and already there existed scribal variations. Othman the Caliph issued an official text and declared all the others to be unkosher. This incensed the faithful of other tribal groups and a civil war arose which still plagues the Moslem world.
In contrast, the Five Books of Moses have enjoyed more than thirty three hundred years of consistency. Torahs today read exactly as they did when the Jews first crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land….
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The Elyonim (10:3)
Judaism’s first Sanctuary was being inaugurated. The crowds were out in force, the excitement was palpable, and the joy was, as you can imagine, immeasurable. Envision the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a cherished king’s new palace. Only in this case it was more so, seeing as how we were dealing with a shrine for the glory of the King of kings
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But in a heartbreaking anticlimactic sequence, the celebration went terribly wrong. The children of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, entered into the Holy of Holies. They assumed their incense would bring joy to the Creator, but it was their own recipe. And as they tragically discovered, when you play with fire, especially an ‘alien’ fire, you unfortunately get burnt.
Actually,...
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The Gift That Can Be Lost (10:3)
Tragedy does not discriminate. It touches the lives of the wealthy and the poor, the wicked and the righteous. Torah too does not discriminate. It makes demands of the wealthy and the poor, the wicked and the righteous. This week the Bible describes a tragedy that occurred to the most righteous who thought they were above the strictures of Torah.
For months on end, the Jews had dedicated their wealth, time, and talent for the singular purpose of constructing a Sanctuary to G-d. At last, all their efforts bore fruit. Aaron, the High Priest, had offered the inaugural sacrifices and G-d had responded with a fiery sign of Heavenly acceptance and pleasure. The joy was immeasurable, somewhat akin to the…
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