Bamidbar

b
Numbers: A Love Story
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Rashi explains the lists and numbers that Bamidbar starts with as reflective of G-d's love for the Jewish People. When you cherish something you repeatedly count it. Hashem counted us three times in one year as an expression of His love of the Jewish People.

This concept of counting that which is beloved relates to our lives. We collect baseball cards as kids, shot glasses as adults, and repeatedly look over our treasures, assessing the value of each piece. We balance our checkbooks, and count our change, due to our affection for money. On the holiest level parents gaze for hours at each of their sleeping children.

It's not the literal counting that shows love, but the attention paid. This is what Rashi means by saying that counting reflects love.

When Hashem took us out of Egypt He carried us, cherished us, and counted us. Shortly after the expression of love that was the Exodus From Egypt the Jewish People strayed and our Father disciplined us with love and then counted us. When He rested His Presence upon us in the Mishkan He lovingly counted us.

These 3 times that G-d counted us can be applied to 3 relationships of love in life: The first rule of love is giving. We may use G-d's carrying us out of Egypt as a lesson of care and concern for others. However, just like G-d, we must show our love through setting of boundaries as well. As G-d showed us when He rested His presence upon us, sometimes when you love someone there is value in spending time, not to give in a specific way and not to discipline, but just to be together in love.

These 3 ingredients: care, discipline, and attention, need to be nurtured for relationships to be balanced. May G-d in his love for us, bless us in the art of love, as we each, in our own way, do our best to emulate G-d and communicate love with all the elements.

Behar/Bechukotai - Guest Post

Rabbi Hoffman has been writing a new, amazing, piece on each parsha every week for many years. You can subscribe and receive his "Netvort" every week by writing him at JoshHoff@aol.com.

Down to Earth

By Rabbi Joshua ( earthily known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In honor of Yosef Bronstein and Batya Reichman on the occasion of their recent engagement. Mazal tov !!!

The beginning of parshas Behar presents us with the laws of Shemittah, the Sabbatical year, and the laws of Yovel, the Jubilee year. The Torah tells us, first, that the land shall observer a rest for God ( Vayikra, 25:2), and then, after listing the basic laws of Shemittah, on which the land must lay fallow, we are told that the resting of the land shall be yours to eat" ( Vayikra, 25:6).

Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neriah, in his commentary Ner LaMaor, separates the first four words of the last verse-'vehayesa Shabbos ha-aretz lachem and the resting of the land shall be yours - from the next word - le'achlah - to eat, and explains these four words to mean that the purpose of leaving the land fallow and desisting from work during Shemittah is for the benefit of the farmer's spiritual essence. Just as Shabbos during the week serves the function of giving man a break from his busy work schedule so that he can contemplate more spiritual matters and come closer to God, so too is resting on the seventh year of the agricultural cycle meant to bring man back to himself and back to God.

Rabbi Meir Juzint zt'l once answered the question of the midrash, brought by Rashi on our parshah, of why the Torah mentions that the laws of Shemittah were given at Mt. Sinai, since all of the mitzvos were given there, by saying that the year of Shemittah should be spent at Mt. Sinai, in the sense of spending that time studying Torah.

Rav Neriah cites a number of commentaries, including Rav Yitzchak Aramah in his Akeidas Yitzchak, as saying that Shemittah should arouse us from the darkness of our thoughts. He also cites the famed proto- Zionist, Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalisher, as saying that a person should not be tied his entire life to his work in the field. Rather, he should spend one out of seven years free for the sake of his soul, and engage in the pursuit of Torah and wisdom.

Rav Neriah brings a second approach to the purpose of Shemittah, which is followed by the Rambam in his Moreh Nevuchim (3, 39), the Sefer HaChinuch, and others. They emphasize the social aspect of Shemittah that is geared toward helping the poor.

On shemittah, all lands are to become ownerless, and the poor are to be allowed to eat from whatever fruit and produce that grows there. The Rambam writes that the intention of Shemitah is to have compassion on people, and the Chinuch says that it comes to instill us with character traits such as generosity of the heart. Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalisher, in addition to his explanation that shemittah comes to afford workers the opportunity to develop their spirituality through learning Torah, also says that an additional purpose of shemittah is to serve as an equalizer between rich and poor, since, during shemittah, they are all equal in their access to the produce of the fields.

Rav Neriah says that this social aspect of shemittah is inherent in the continuation of the verse from which he pointed out the spiritual aspect of the year, as we read, " the resting of the earth shall be yours to eat, for you, for your servant and your maidservant, and your hired worker, and the stranger who dwells with you..."

I believe that there is an important connection between these two explanations of the purpose of shemittah, that can be demonstrated through a verse in parshas Emor. The second half of parshas Emor deals with the laws of the various festivals of the year. Interstingly, after the laws regarding Shavuos, and before the laws of Rosh Hashanah, there is a verse about the parts of one crop that a farmer must leave for the poor to take: "When you reasp the harvest of your land; you shall not remove completely the corner of your field as you reap and you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest: for the poor and proselyte shall you leave them, I am the Lord , your God" ( Vayikra, 23:22).

Why does this verse intervene between the secction on Shavuos and the section on Rosh Hashanah? Rav Dovid Feinstein explained that Shavuos falls during the time period in which we received the Torah, and we must realize that just as the Torah begins and ends with chesed - kindness, so, too, when we accept the Torah anew each Shavuos, we must also accept upon ourselves the need to perform acts of chesed, helping others less fortunate than we are. This is also why the Talmud tells us that when someone wants to convert to Judaism, he must be told about these laws of the gifts a Jew must leave in his field for the poor, so that he understands the importance of chesed in the Jewish religion.

After the end of the Shemittah year, during Sukkos, there is a mitzvah of Hakhel, as taught in parshas Vayeilech. The mitzvah involves gathering the entire nation in the Beis Hamikkadash and reading sections of the Torah to them. The Rambam, in his description of this mitzvah, seems to compare it to the original acceptance of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. After a year of immersion of Torah study, then, the nation, gathers together to re-accept the Torah, with a new appreciation for its teachings. Part of this re-acceptance must be a new commitment to helping others, as well, just as they helped the poor during Shemittah.

In this way, the two dimensions of Shemittah that we have seen in the various commentators come together, and serve as a guide for the way we should live our lives during the coming six years in the agricultural cycle.

Hagaddah Shel Pesach

The Kol HaMarbeh Haggadah

Rabbi Neil Fleischmann

5769

Introduction - On The Books

(THOUGHT) The Haggadah is a book. The Seder night is major in our calendar and it features a book, which proves that reading is key to serious thinking. Do Western people today value reading? It seems to me that contemporary man doesn’t read books enough.

(QUOTE) Rav Nachman Kahane says that while some buy paintings and antiques, Jews buy books. A Jewish home is traditionally full of books, because that's a major Jewish value. Decorating the house with sefarim (books) is appropriate, even if they aren't learned in full. And according to many authorities by buying books we fulfill our obligation of writing a Torah scroll.

(STORY) A woman was walking her young stroller aged son. They passed by a building which she pointed to - "That's a library", she said, "We'll go there sometime". "Library." What's a library? he asked. "That's a place where you borrow books", she explained. "Borrow books? You mean buy books." - Her son replied, confused. "No, no", she assured him, "you go there and take the books out to read and then bring them back when you're finished". He looked at her, confused, and she was at a loss, wondering how to successfully explain this. After a moment's pause she said - "Like DVDs", she said. "Oh", he immediately replied, "that sounds nice, let's go one day".

Karen G. R. Roekard writes in her essay THE EVOLUTION OF THE PASSOVER HAGGADAH: “If a measure of Jewish affection for a book were to rest with the number of versions there are of it, then clearly the Passover Haggadah is the most popular Jewish book of all time. In the 16th century there were approximately 25 printed versions. This figure rose to 37 in the 17th century and then jumped to 230 versions in the 18th century. In the 19th century the numbers rose by another 1250 and estimates for the 20th century are that there are now over 3000 versions of Haggadah.

[(Extra Credit) Can you name the Jewish book that holds second place for most published versions?]

Main Body - The Haggadah

Kadesh U’Rechatz, Karpas

(THOUGHT) Rabbi Shlomo Kahn in From Twilight to Dawn cites the following homiletical interpretation. When we contemplate Kadesh and Rechatz (holiness and the preparation it entails) it would suit us to consider the Karpas. A vegetable starts out buried and down trodden. Eventually it evolves into a beautiful food that finds its place at a set table and is even part of a mitzvah. Farfetched as it may sound, these words can serve to remind us of the development we are all capable of achieving.

Kadesh - This refers to Kiddush and I find Rabbi Abraham Twerski's words on this to be appropriate :(QUOTE)(From From Bondage to Freedom - Rabbi Abraham Twerski)"There are people who approach the royal Seder table with no advance spiritual preparation. They may think, "I don't really belong here. If anyone knew the real me I certainly wouldn't be invited. Therefore, we begin the Seder with the Kiddush, in which we state "Mikadesh Yisrael," G-d sanctifies each Jew. There is an element of intrinsic sanctity in every individual. Even though we may not feel worthy and deserving at this point, we have to take G-d's word for it. Each person is holy, sanctified, and unique."

(THOUGHT) The Torah Temimah stresses that the four cups represent not four languages of redemption, but four redemptions. Each step along the way formed it’s own redemption, leading to the next level. This is an important point to remember, that redemption is a process. This is an important lesson for our own lives. Wine is used to represent the four stages of freedom. Wine represents change. It comes about through a transformation. It also affects us by changing our state of being. Thus wine is a fitting vehicle to symbolize the process of redemption. U’Rechatz - Hand washing for eating a wet vegetable, a halachic hand washing (Pesachim 115a).

(THOUGHT) If we were to stretch ourselves up as high as we could in the standing position unique to man, we would lift our hands high to the sky. Thus hands are the top, starting point of man. One reason for hand washing is to accentuate our holiness by according proper respect to our starting point, which is what everything else follows. If one neglects the starting point it's a bad sign, an indication of neglect of the whole. And thus the Rabbis have very harsh words for one who is neglectful regarding this mitzvah of Netilat Yadayim (saying that one who neglects this mitzvah will be uprooted from the world). On Pesach night, a night which marks the beginning and formation of the Jewish People, we give particular care to hand washing which also acknowledges the special respect due the beginning of a special thing. [MaHaRaL].

(THOUGHT) Some point out that this washing is phrased as a command (Rechatz; “you must wash”), as opposed to the later washing which is described more passively. This is because washing at this point is unusual and therefore we need to be instructed to observe it. The later washing is well known and therefore referred to simply as Rachtah; The Washing. Karpas - Vegetable dipped in saltwater.

(THOUGHT) The saltwater reminds us of our sweat and tears in Mitzrayim. The vegetable eaten is to cause the kids to ask questions (i.e.; to be interested. As the saying goes, if there is no question there can be no answer). To increase the curiosity factor it was the custom of Rabbi Pinchas Teitz to use a banana for this!

(HALACHA)The authorities all point out to have in mind the Maror when saying the brachah on the Karpas. But why is this necessary, being that the Maror comes after we said HaMotzi, isn't it covered as part of the meal? The Aruch HaShulchan explains that since the Maror is eaten as the fulfillment of a specific mitzvah it does not count as a real part of the meal.
Yachatz –

(THOUGHT) The Best To Come

It is customary to use the bigger half of the Matzah that is broken in two as the Afikoman. Why is the bigger half set aside for the end of the meal? The Sfat Emet says that the piece of Matzah which is put away as the Afikoman represents the redemption (Geulah) yet to come. The bigger piece is put aside for the end of the Seder because the Geulah to come will be bigger than the one that we celebrate on Pesach.

Brachot 12b quotes from Yirmiyahu (23:7-8): “Days are coming when people will no longer swear ‘as G-d lives who brought the children of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’ but rather, ‘as G-d lives who brought up and brought back the offspring of the House of Israel from the land of the North and from all the lands wherein He had dispersed them.’”

According to the Chachomim even though the pasuk in Yirmiyahu seems to say that Yetziat Mitzrayim will no longer be remembered or mentioned after Kibutz Galuyot, it actually means that the future Geulah will be so great that it will be the one we primarily remember, but Yetziat Mitzrayim will still be remembered as well. This fits with the explanation of the Chachomim that the command to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim “all the days of our life,” includes an obligation to verbally remember Yetziat Mitzrayim even in Yemot HaMashiach; While Mitzrayim will be recalled, the Geulah of Mashiach will be more primarily remembered.

The Gemorah uses Yaakov to prove that when a pasuk states that something will no longer be said it really means that it will no longer be the primary point mentioned, not that it won’t be referred to at all. Yaakov is told by Hashem that he will no longer be known as Yaakov and will from now on be called Yisrael. But Hashem himself does still use the name Yaakov after this time. (Perhaps this example of Yaakov/Yisrael is more than just an example, as the names Yaakov and Yisrael respectively represent the people that went down to and were redeemed from Mitzrayim and the Jewish People that will ultimately be redeemed.)

The Gemorah gives the example of a man on the road that is saved from a wolf and tells everyone of the miraculous incident. Then he is saved from a lion, and then a snake. With each new salvation the previous incidents pale in comparison. Similarly, Bnei Yisrael's future Geulah will make Geulat Mitzrayim secondary in status.

The above cited ideas fit with the idea that we focus on the bigger half of Matzah because the ultimate Geulah is what everyone will talk about. There is a beautiful thought (suggested by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach) that adds on to this: Why is the hidden Afikoman brought back specifically by children? This represents the idea that children will be the ones who bring the ultimate redemption.

This connects to Shabbat 119b, which says that "Al Tig'u bi'Mshichai" refers to the learning of young schoolchildren (hevel tinokot shel Beit Raban). Reish Lakish quotes Rabi Yehudah HaNasi as saying that the world is maintained only because of the learning of young children. Abayei adds that the Torah of children is more powerful than the Torah of adults because their mouths have not yet sinned. Reish Lakish adds that the learning of small schoolchildren should not be interrupted even to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash. Perhaps this can be understood to mean that there is no more potent way to bring the Geulah than through the merit of children. May that time come speedily in our days.
(This is my re-editing of ideas that I assisted a student with for a limited edition (200 copies) Haggadah.

(STORY) Rav Elchanon Wassermann was asked by the people he was hiding with from Nazis in a house in Germany - "Why?" He told them the following -"Imagine, " Rav Elchanon told them, "the following:" "Someone has never seen bread, and a man volunteers to teach him." The teacher takes a little seed, and the disciple assumes that the seed is bread. So he's shocked when the man takes this "bread" and buries it in the ground. Then, a pretty plant grows and the man assumes that must be bread. And he's shocked again when the other man cuts down this "bread". Then the teacher takes the plant and picks off the kernels. The spectator thinks that the pile of kernels is what's called bread. But then the other guy throws these pieces in the air and smashes them. The other is again confused. Then the kernels are ground and mixed with water. And then they're shaped into a mound, which looks pretty nice. So, now the guy figures THIS is bread. So he's REALLY shocked when the other man turns up the oven and throws this final product of so much work - to be burnt, destroyed, after all. But as the moments pass as the air fills with a scent that causes the stranger's mouth to water, he begins to suspect that something good is on it's way. And soon he's eating a fresh slice of delicious hot bread with butter on it. And he understands."

Maggid

"HA LACHMA'ANYA" - This IS the bread of affliction.(STORY) The Maggid of Dubno addresses this phrase with a moshol: A poor man returned home nightly with a sack over his shoulder filled with the junk he scavenged throughout the day. Dressed in rags he brought home just barely enough to provide for his family. One day his fortune changed and he became a rich man. He now returned home each evening dressed in a fancy suit and bought his wife and children the best of everything. And then one day he came home dressed in rags. And his wife's face fell, as his children cried. They were sad until he explained - "It's one year since we became rich and I'm only dressing this way to remember. And he reached outside the door where he had special gifts for all. And they celebrated on that day for many years to come. And then one day he came home dressed in rags, and his kids wanted to know where the presents were and how a year had passed so quickly. They were happy until he explained - " It's not an act this time. I've last the money, we're poor". So too, the Maggid of Dubno explains why we say this IS the bread of affliction instead of saying this is LIKE the bread of affliction. Until our ultimate redemption we are living incomplete lives. We don't think so. That's part of the problem But it is so. The Matzah is not just a reminder of afflictions of the past and redemptions that came but a sobering reminder of the imperfect present and the redemption still to come.

"KOL DICHVIN YEITEI VEYEICHOL" - Anyone that's hungry should join us and eat.

(THOUGHT) "On a night when we pray for the ultimate Redemption, even though we may not be meritorious enough to deserve it, we say, 'Let all who are hungry come,' without exception. If we do not discriminate, then we can expect that G-d will not be too discriminating with us." - Rabbi A. Twerski

(STORY) The Ba'al Shem Tov would have a special Shalosh - Seudos sitting surrounded by his closest students. One time a poor, bummy looking fellow wandered into Shul at Shalosh-Seudos time. The Ba'al Shem Tov invited the man in and sat him at the head table. Later his students asked why he sat the head table and didn't stop at inviting him in. He told them, "When I arrive in heaven at judgment time, I'm going to want to sit up front and I'm afraid I won't deserve it. I hope Hashem will remember my putting this man up front and that He will seat me up front as well." [Ethics From Sinai, I. Bunim]

MAH NISHTANA - If a person is alone, he asks himself.

(STORY+THOUGHT) - 1981 marked the first visit of Rav Noach Weinberg, the pioneer of outreach work, to Yeshiva University for a student organized "schmooze". One of the things that he said in that special talk was that the Mishnah in Avot which states, "Know what to answer" has a dual meaning. On one level it simply means to know how to answer the other. But on a deeper level it means know how to answer the questioner inside yourself.

"HAD NOT THE HOLY ONE BLESSED BE HE TAKEN OUR FATHERS OUT FROM EGYPT, THEN WE, OUR CHILDREN, AND OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN WOULD HAVE REMAINED ENSLAVED TO PAR'OH IN EGYPT."(THOUGHT)

How do we know?!! How do we know that if G-d hadn't taken us out that we wouldn't have freed ourselves eventually? The reason is because we didn't aspire to be free. Before G-d freed us from Egypt He freed us from our own self inflicted slavery of complacency, and lethargy. We felt stuck, and didn't want to even bother trying to get out because we felt that all we had in Egypt was all we'd ever have. The lesson for us is to look and see if our lives are less than we want them to be. As Rabbi Twerski puts it, the question we need to ask ourselves is, "Is it possible that I may be in a rut, but similar to my enslaved ancestors, fail to recognize it?" We need to take this Pesach as a time to answer this question and try to free ourselves from the myriad of things that enslave us.

Mitzrayim can be seen as a metaphor for all that enslaves us. (The word can be read as metzarim, meaning straights). Had G-d not given us a hand and pulled us out of Mitzrayim, we would today be doomed to choosing easy animal comfort over difficult Divine pleasure.
(STORY) A man who had recently died appears to his friend in a dream. The friend asks him what he does all day. He says, " I eat whenever I want and sleep whenever I want and fulfill my every desire whenever I want." His friend says, "That's great! Who’d have guessed that you'd go to heaven!" He replies, "I'm not in heaven. I've been reincarnated as a cow in Nebraska!"Though often mistaken for a dirty joke, this is actually a very deep story: Our specialness, our pleasure, is not in our animal passions, but rather in what makes us human - the ability to work for and achieve the greatest pleasure possible, that of closeness to G-d.

"THE MORE ONE SPEAKS OF YETZIAT MITZRAYIM, THE MORE PRAISEWORTHY HE IS."

(THOUGHT) If the fact is that we are again eating "bread of affliction" because the independence we acquired didn't last, why is the narration of Yitziat Mitzrayim so important today? The answer is that the spiritual growth, the connection with a Power higher than ourselves, that we established by rejecting the pagan beliefs of Egypt and accepting the Torah remains with us. The praiseworthiness of dwelling on this story is predicated upon the fact that it reflects our valuing spirituality over materialism.

(SEQUEL STORY) Even though the man lost his wealth, he continued (as best as he could) to celebrate the day on which he had become rich. His family asked him why he kept up this practice and he replied that while the money was gone the knowledge that he gained from the experience remained. So too, we are again in exile, but remember the lessons and feel hope based on our redemption in the past.

The Four Sons

(THOUGHT) You might expect that on this night which marks the establishment of a bond between G-d and the Jewish People we would focus exclusively on the relationship between us and G-d. What's fascinating about the Seder is that it includes a tremendous focus on our relationship with other Jews. The four sons represent all types of Jews with all types of attitudes and approaches. And we want them all at the Seder. These are the people that we invited and embrace, without checking IDs. As we commemorate our beginning as a People we immediately adapt a dual focus - exerting energy not only on our relationship with Hashem, but also working hard on reaching out to our fellow Jews. [Lubavitcher Rebbe]

Four Sons/Four Generations
(THOUGHT) It has been suggested that the four sons parallel four generations of American Jewish life. The Chacham represents the old school piety of generation of the forties and fifties. The Rashah is strikingly similar to the rebellious sons of The Fifties and Sixties who rejected their father’s Judaism with the rhetorical question “what is all this ritual of yours?” The Sixties eased into the disinterested, isolated seventies, the “Tam” generation. And then there’s the oblivious generation that doesn’t know how to ask. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin adds that today there is the fifth son who sadly does not attend the Seder at all.

"Knock His Shin"

(THOUGHT) Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach quotes a Belzer tradition that interprets this line in a homiletic vein: The advice given as to how to respond to the Rashah is to knock out his teeth. The actual word used is "shinav," which can be interpreted to mean "his Hebrew letter ‘shin.’" The letter shin’s three prongs represent the three pillars of the Jewish nation: Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Every day in our prayers we beseech G-d while referencing the merit of our forefathers. We do not only mean to remind G-d of their goodness, but we are reminding Him and ourselves that the attributes of our forefathers are our values. Their essence lives inside us. A father is instructed to shake the three pronged values of our ancestors, the traits of Torah , Avodah, and Gemilut Chasadim out from within even the child that’s called "wicked."

"IN THE BEGINNING OUR ANCESTORS WERE IDOL WORSHIPPERS"

(STORY) Two men were having a debate, one being secular and "modern", and the other being a traditional, observant Jew. The former berated the latter calling him old fashioned, and questioning why he adhered to ritualistic Judaism. The "frum" Jew responded that in fact his friend was the one who was old fashioned, citing this line from the Haggadah. As it says here, the Jews worshipped foreign values in the past, and only now in "modern times" did G-d bring us close to His service.
This is something worth thinking about at the Seder: What is Avoda Zara? Are we guilty of it today? Who is modern and who is old fashioned?

"EISAV INHERITED HAR SEI'IR, BUT YA'AKOV AND HIS DESCENDANTS WENT DOWN TO EGYPT"

(THOUGHT) Q - Why is it included in the Haggadah that Eisav inherited Har Sei'ir? And if it's going to be so detailed, why not include Yishmael rather than going from Terach (the forefather idol worshipper mentioned above) to Avraham, then mentioning only Yitzchak, and then specifying both Eisav and Yaakov as Avraham's sons?
A - The Brisker Rav answers by citing the pasuk in which Hashem tells Avraham that his genealogy, his nation, will be through Yitzchak ("KI BEYITZCHAK YIKRA LECHA ZERA"). He did not, however, specify to Yitzchak which of his sons would be the progenitor of this chosen nation. But, He gave him a sign: The sign was that the son that was the father of the nation would be exiled into a strange land and suffer there for some time. So, the fact that Eisav settled peacefully into his inheritance, while Yaakov and his children went to Mitzrayim and spent years of servitude there is quite significant. This detail is necessary proof that Yaakov and not Eisav's family (i.e. us, not the Arabs) are the chosen nation promised to Avraham!

TZEI U'LEMAD…

(THOUGHT) Unlike Edom (EISAV) who's name betrays his true nature, Lavan's name paints a deceptively pure, white picture of an evil man. While the Haggadah describes Lavan as wanting to totally destroy the Jewish People, the Torah is lacking in any overt reference to such a desire. And that's just the point. We as a nation (as well as we as individuals) have enemies that dress in white, feigning diplomacy and niceties. And we also have enemies like Eisav, who come openly wanting blood. We must be on the look out for enemies of all types, especially the Eisavs. As the Chovot HaLevavot writes, in regard to some, our attitude should be “Respect and Suspect" (Chabdeihu VeChashdeihu).
DAYEINU

(THOUGHT) The one line here that seems to receive the most attention, because it doesn't seem to make sense, is -IF HE WOULD HAVE BROUGHT US TO HAR SINAI AND NOT GIVEN US THE TORAH IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH(THOUGHTS) How's that!?! Why would being brought to the mountain and then not receiving the Torah have been worth anything? ONE ANSWER to this question is that the aura of the Shechina would have affected us positively, and that itself would have provided sufficient reason for being brought to the mountain, Sinai.

ANOTHER ANSWER is that the Jews, for once, were unified (KE'ISH ECHAD BE'LEV ECHAD), and that is something amazing that would have made the trip to Sinai worthwhile. A unique, creative, and deep (and also dangerously easily misunderstood) answer to this question is that what we're saying is that if G-d would have brought us to Har Sinai but not given US the Torah even though he gave us the Torah - it would have been enough. The point is that we're here thanking G-d for placing the Torah under our auspices, in our control, rather than giving it to us to obey, but maintaining it Himself. This idea is illustrated by the following story:

(STORY) One Amora was disagreeing with several others. He was sure that his view made sense, but couldn't convince the others. Finally, he used signs to prove he was right (first a tree tilted, then a stream flowed backwards, then the walls caved in). The Rabbis were unimpressed. So, he asked for a voice to resound from heaven announcing he was right. It happened. But the Rabbis insisted that "It is not in heaven" (LO BASHAMAYIM HEE) and they did not accept his view. And the end of the story is that G-d was very pleased with how all this went.

(The JOKE version of this is: 3 Rabbis were arguing against 1 Rabbi. The 1 Rabbi gets G-d to say that HE agrees with him. G-d does. The other Rabbis remain unfazed, "Fine," they say, "Now, it's 3 against 2!")

Another point of note in this song is the fact that it goes way past the leaving of Egypt all the way up until the building of the Beit HaMikdash in Yerushalayim. This indicates the strong connection between leaving Egypt and not only the receiving of the Torah, but the culminating event of the Temple’s construction and use.

RABAN GAMLIEL SAYS THAT ANY ONE THAT DOESN'T MENTION THREE THINGS...
PESACH -

(THOUGHT) Rav Noach Weinberg points out that G-d carried the show, did all the work, when it came to getting us out of Egypt. However, the one thing we had to do was repudiate their values ( by publicly displaying lamb blood as a signal to G-d to come and save us ). If we want to speed up the redemption still to come, and want to insure our inclusion in it, we must be brave enough to clearly and openly signal to G-d that we reject the alien values of today's culture.

(THOUGHT) The Midrash says that when G-d passed over our homes, 2 bloods intermingled: the blood of Mila and the blood of Korban Pesach. Mila takes place at the start of life, when a person is basically all future. Korban Pesach is a mitzvah that was facilitated by the head of the household, the family's patriarch, and this means it comes after time, when a person already has a past that has led him to the achievement of the place that he presently calls his. A major challenge we constantly face, and a challenge represented by the mixing of the blood of these 2 mitzvot, is to combine the freshness of youth that focuses us on the future with the experience of middle age and the years that surround it that has binds us with our baggage from the past. [Lubavitcher Rebbe]

MATZA - Conventional Torah wisdom has it that Chametz represents haughtiness, an over emphasis on our own ego. While Matzah represents humility, subservience to G-d. Reflective of this is the sole letter which is different, and only slightly so in the Hebrew word "Chametz" and the Hebrew word "Matzah". The CHET of Chametz is self contained, tightly sealed, representing an attitude of "I can do it all myself". The HEH of Matzah represents an opening to a Power other than ourselves, higher than ourselves. Like a pressure cooker's escape valve that protects it from exploding, the human psyche needs to have an opening, a portal in order to survive and thrive.

(THOUGHT) Matzah reminds us that G-d took us out of Mitzrayim quickly. Tradition has it that we were on the 49th level of impurity and had we fallen to the 50th level we would have been irredeemable. So G-d had to take us out quickly, before it was too late. But the question is that G-d did not truly "have to" take us out quickly. Unlike human beings, G-d does not procrastinate. It would seem that He could have taken us out when we were on the 48th, or 47th, or 10th, or even 1st level of impurity! The real reason why he took us out when we'd already fallen to level 49 is that the falling was a necessary preparation for the redemption.[MaHaRaL as cited in Hegyonei Halacha]

(STORY- MOSHOL) What happens inside a chicken's egg is a process of putrification, of rotting. Just when it is about to pass the point of no return - the chick emerges from the egg. If you were to break it open early - the chick wouldn't live. If you were to seal the egg so that the chick couldn't break out at the right moment, the chick would die. Similarly, Galut is part of the redemption process. The falling was necessary. This is important to remember today - the deterioration and suffering that we see and feel is all a necessary part of the process of redemption presently taking place. [Ibid.]

MAROR -

(THOUGHT) G-d told Avraham that his descendants' slavery would last for 400 years. Yet, we were released after only 210 years. The reason most often given for this is that 210 very difficult years of concentrated slavery were the actual equivalent of 400 years of average intensity slavery. The Vilna Gaon points out that the musical notes under the words in the Torah - "And they made their lives bitter" (VAYIMORERU ET CHAYEIHEM) are the notes called KADMA VE'A ZLA which means to precede and to go, in other words to go earlier. So the notes clearly substantiate the theory that the intense bitter slavery was cause for an early redemption.[The Vilna Gaon as cited by R Shlomo Kahn in From Twilight to Dawn]

May it be G-d's will to hasten our redemption again due to terrible suffering we endured in the Holocaust.
(QUOTE) "May we not hopefully assume that the unprecedented holocaust of Nazi Germany led to a hastening of the messianic redemption in the establishment of the State of Israel?" - Rabbi Shlomo Kahn

IN EVERY GENERATION A PERSON MUST SEE HIMSELF AS THOUGH HE WENT OUT OF EGYPT

(THOUGHT) If you think about it the hardest mitzvah of the night is this one. How can we possibly imagine that we left Egypt? Rabbi Mayer Twersky explains that Jewish holidays do not simply commemorate historical events. The theme of the day precedes the holiday. This helps explain this obligation. It is because of the energy of the day, which was present even before The Exodus that we can be expected to feel like we left Mitzrayim by tapping into the energy of the day.

There are two aspects to the Jewish people: each of us has a potential role to fulfill both as an individual and as part of a nation. This is symbolized by the 2 images that G-d projects to Avraham that his descendants will resemble: sand and stars. Though both are myriad in number, the difference between these two entities is that grains of sand all mesh together, while stars can be individually distinguished.

On this night when we focus on our creation as a nation, we run the risk of forgetting our value as individuals. We must never lose sight of G-d's singular love and concern for each one of us. Yitziat Mitzrayim was not only a communal experience , but something that every Jew at the time went through. And we owe it to ourselves and to G-d today to recognize that each of us have our own Mitzrayim to overcome, and that G-d is with each of us - carrying us out of our Mitzrayim. G-d loves each of us.

This is why Purim is celebrated in the second Adar during a leap year: so that the redemption of Purim connects to the redemption of Pesach. So says the Gemorah. I believe that the true meaning of this is that Pesach is about an open, spectacular, communal miracle, while Purim more overtly serves to remind us of G-d's involvement in each of our individual lives. Purim should be kept nearby to help us not miss the point of Pesach - that our lives are collections of small, personal miracles.

Regarding what other holiday is there a guide book to walk us through the miracle? Regarding what other holiday is there a multiple choice list of how to explain it to different types of Jews. Regarding what other holiday to we have to go through a list of questions and answers about the day, even if we sit alone? Regarding what other holiday are we addressed as individuals and told, if any one Jew neglects to mention the major themes of this miracle, then you don't get credit for the celebration. All this substantiates the idea that we all have a personal lesson, our own specific work to accomplish on this night. [Rabbi Neil Fleischmann]

(STORY) There is a beautiful and pretty story called Footsteps. (I once double checked if this was a Jewish themed story and was told that it certainly is.
A man sees all the scenes of his life flash before his eyes. In each scene he sees 2 sets of footsteps, one clearly is G-d's and the other is his own. However, when he sees the most difficult scenes of his life, there is only one set of footsteps. He feels that G-d abandoned him when he needed Him most. He asks G-d for the explanation and G-d tells him - "During the hardest times in your life, I was carrying you"

(STORY) A girl that went through 12 years of Jewish schooling, later left Judaism and adapted Christianity. When she met a Rabbi from her past, and he asked her what had attracted her to Christianity. She told him that at a hard time in her life she was approached by a Christian missionary in a bus station. The missionary told her, "G-d loves you." She told the Rabbi the following tragically sad words: "Despite all my years of Jewish education and Jewish upbringing that was the first time that I was ever told that G-d loves me."

4 CUPS - (THOUGHT) The Vilna Gaon and others list the 4 redemptions of which the four cups of wine serve as a reminder: 1. Work was decreased. 2. We were totally saved from having to work as slaves at all.3. G-d declared us to be His People. 4. We were actually taken out of Egypt. (This fits with the translation of each of the 4 phrases).EGGS - After a long wait for real food, Jews around the world eat too many hard boiled eggs.(THOUGHTS)An egg is the only thing that's born, and then reborn. Similar to the chick, The Jewish People were taken out of Egypt, but then we were re-redeemed when we received the Torah.

Unlike other foods, an egg becomes harder the more it is cooked. So too the Jewish People survive and thrive even after continuous persecution.
An egg is a reminder of the circle of life and thus of mourning. It is yet another indication of the deep connection between the redemption from Egypt, and the life we were granted in Israel. We look on this night towards the ultimate redemption being granted to us speedily in our time.

Shulchan Orech -

Enjoy Your Meal. (FROM THIS POINT ON YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN)
Leshanah Habaah BeYerushalayim HaBenuyah!

Ki Tissa - Who Are You?

"They exchanged their honor for that of a cow eating grass" This is how Dovid HaMelech describes the Cheit HaEigel (Tehillim 106:20). It would seem more appropriate to say that they exchanged his honor. Why does Dovid write, ”Vayamiru et kevodam"? ########j#########################################################
The Ralbag suggests that G-d's honor is being referred to, but out of respect it is referenced euphemistically. Rav Nissan Alpert suggests a different approach which expands upon this reference to “THEIR HONOR EXCHANGED.” ####j##########################################################
The Jewish People at the time of the Cheit HaEigel were the Dor Deah. They were highly knowledgeable, profoundly intelligent people. The construction of the eiegel was the subject of intense debate. The ones in favor of making the eigel wanted it as a metaphor of the true nature of man, representing the fact that man is essentially an animal. They said that Moshe had lifted them up from their physical nature, but in his absence it was time to return to being what they really were - no different than a cow, eating to live and living to eat. (This approach can be inferred from a nuanced reading of Shmot 32:1, which the people despair over the loss of Moshe, whom they describe as having raised them - he’elinu - up from Egypt. They felt that he raised them to an unnaturally high state and now it was time to return to “real life.”) $$j$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Those who opposed the constructing the eigel felt passionately that they were primarily spiritual in nature. Thus, it was wrong to suggest the cow as an appropriate symbol of the essence of man. (This was the reality, as supported by the seemingly unnecessary mention by G-d in 32:7 that the people whom Moshe had raised up – he’elita – had strayed and corrupted their essence). %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% j
There are various levels of tumah/impurity; the lowest is a dead human being. The reason why the human corpse ranks even lower than the carcass of an animal is that a man's real value rests in his soul. A dead cow can be utilized in many ways, but a dead man's work is done. The Para Aduma comes to purify the lowest form of impurity, acquired through contact with a dead human being. Acceptance of these laws is reflective of an understanding that man's essence is his soul. This is why Chazal tell us that the Para Aduma is kapara (provides atonement) for the cheit ha’eigel, the biggest mistake the Jewish People ever made. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&j&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Entry level spirituality is to accept that humans are distinctive in all of creation, because we are created in the image of G-d. In Avot 3:18, Rabi Akiva implores us to remember that we are special first and foremost for this reason. He reminds us that we were then blessed with being considered G-d’s children, and finally with being gifted with the Torah. Rabi Akiva says that there is a particular power to the fact that we were granted an awareness of our true nature (“chibah yetaira noda’at lahem”). May we be blessed to always remember that we are uniquely spiritual, certainly more than animals, and even greater than angels. **************************

Purim - Guest Post

Rabbi Josh Hoffman sends out a weekly email on the parsha called Netvort. I am amazed by the quality of what he presents. Today he sent out a special thought for Purim. I find this piece to be outstanding and inspiring.

If you are interested in receiving an email of his weekly thought, let me know.

A Lot of Events

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By Rabbi Joshua Hoffman

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There is a well-known saying of the famed kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Ashekenazi, known as the Ari, which, I have heard, originates in the Tikunei Zohar, that there is a connection between Purim and Yom Ha Kippurim. In fact, according to the Ari, Yom HaKippurim, as the name implies, is only like Yom Kippur, not equivalent to it. In other words, Purim is on a higher level that Yom Kippur. many explanations of this comment have been given, the most common of which is that on Purim we reach the level of closeness to God that we reach on Yom Kippur, but through use of the physical aspects of the world, rather than through abstention from them, as we do on Yom Kippur. since our task in this world is to use its physical aspects to attain holiness, our abstention from physical pleasures on Yom Kippur is a kind of preparation for our service of God during the rest of the year. I would like to suggest a somewhat different explanation, based on a different linguistic connection between the two holidays.
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The name of the holiday of Purim comes from the Persian world for lot, pur, and refers to the lots which Haman made to determine the day and month which he would have the king issue a decree to wipe out al of the Jews in his kingdom. On Yom Kippur, as well, lots are chosen, to determine which of two goats, which are otherwise completely identical to each other, will be used as a sacrifice on the altar, and which of them will be sent to the wilderness, to Azazael, and there thrown off of a mountain to bring about atonement for the people. What is the idea behind choosing lots to determine the status of these two goats on Yom Kippur.? My teacher, Rav Ahron Soloveitchik, explained that often in life, one chance decision can determine the road that a person takes in life, and, in repenting, he must understand what choice he made that led him to this path. This concept is in accord with the teaching of Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pekudah in his classic work, Chovos Halvavos, in which he says that often in life, a person does not have free will in regard to each action he takes. Rather, his free choice manifests itself in the path he chooses to take in life. Once he has taken that path, however, his actions as a consequence, and, in order to reverse them, he has to get off the path. To do that, he must understand how he got on that path in the first place. The lesson of the two goats is to sharpen our awareness of how important a particular decision can be, and to spur us on to understand how we got onto a path that has been detrimental to our spiritual health. I have heard that Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l. explained the lesson of the lots drawn on Yom Kippur differently, saying that they are a mitigating factor in our judgment, in the sense that often the path we take in life is based on a chance decision, and therefore we are not totally to blame for what happens. In either case, the point of the drawing of lots on Yom Kippur is to focus on that one decision in life that has unanticipated repercussions. 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The idea of lots on Purim is different from that on Yom Kippur. On Purim, the lots are symbolic of everything that happened in the course of the events presented in Megillas Esther. Each of the events , when seen n its own, seems too have been a natural occurrence, and it is only when taken together as a whole that we see the divine providence that was involved throughout. That is why we do not see God's name written in an explicit way in the megillah, although, as Chazal have taught us, it does appear 'in disguise,' for example, as the word "melech" - king- when it is written by itself, not followed by "Achashveiros." Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi, in his commentary to Megillas Esther , Yoseif Lekach, writes that it is for this reason that we must hear every word of the megillah in order to fulfill our obligation of mikra megillah, becuse it is the combination of all the events that led to our salvation, and we need to understand that divine providence was there behind the scenes throughout the entire scenario. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Perhaps, then, the connection between Yom Kippur, the day which is 'like a pur, a lot,' and Purim is that Yom Kippur focuses our attention on that one choice in our lives that determined which path we would take, and prepares us for understanding how it is that what followed came as a result. Purim, on the other hand, focuses our attention on the details of the path we have taken, and calls on us to understand how divine providence takes that decision and guides all the details of our lives, whether individually or on a collective basis, and, with that understanding, determine how we should order our lives and our actions on a daily basis. May we all, in the spirit of Purim, reach an understanding of God's role in our daily lives, and as a result, deepen our connection with Him on a constant basis.

Bo

Hashem said to Moshe, "Come to Par'oh,
for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn
so that I shall place these signs of mine in his midst.
And so that you may relate in the ears of your son
and your son's son that I have amused myself with Egypt,
and my signs that I placed among them -
that you may know that I am Hashem.

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Shmot 10:1-2 (Opening lines of Parshat Bo.)

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These lines are the introduction to Arbeh, the plague of locusts. This is the last plague that hit the landscape of Egypt. After this calamity Paroh's question, "Who is Hashem that I should listen to His voice?” was definitively answered. In the aftermath of this devastation the locusts retreated on their own volition, because there wasn't anything left for them to ravage. Paroh, left with nothing and unable to feign strength confesses, "I have sinned to Hashem."
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Rav Simcha Zissel Broide noted that the point of the decimation was not merely to get Par'oh to acquiesce and release the Jews. The goal was to show Paroh who G-d is. Right before Arbeh Hashem states that part of the agenda is to pass on to future generations the story of what G-d did to Egypt, so that they will know who He is.
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Rav Yaakov Weinberg takes the reference to ears as a metaphor for speech that is heard only superficially by ears but does not reach the heart. In other words, we should tell young children about these miracles despite the fact that they can't really comprehend. This is why we teach kids the fundamental statements "Torah tziva lanu Moshe…" and "Shma Yisrael". Words that enter ears but not hearts still make an impression. And there remains the possibility that greater understanding will follow at a later time.
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This relates to the Kotzker Rebbe's comment on a line that we recite daily in Shma. Words of Torah are described as placed upon our hearts. The Kotzker Rebbe explained that words aren't always taken inside a person's heart. Once stated, words rest atop the heart and when the heart opens they will be there to go in. This is why children were taken to the Beit HaMikdash for the Torah reading of Hakhel. This also explains why a day school education is so important even if it seems ineffective.
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This approach may help with my childhood friend Scott's haunting lament that Yeshiva taught him Gemora and Chumash and Tefila but not love of Torah. Perhaps the answer is that the best anyone can do for anyone else is put words in ears or on hearts. The absorption of the truth and goodness of Torah is a private process and a personal responsibility.
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Rav Yaakov noticed that the pasuk ends by stating that the result of teaching our children is that we, not they, will know what we taught. As Rav Yisrael Salanter said, "It's worth speaking the truth even if only one person gets the message, and even if that one person is the speaker."

Teaching Shmot

This is from one year ago, when I was teaching Shmot. This year we spent a month on Vayikra and mostly are doing BaMidbar. Every year the whole school does the same Chumash. It used to be that we spent 2 years on Beishit, then 2 years on Shmot, then one year o each of the other books. Now, it's being switched to do all four books in four years.
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Teaching In class today we discussed the questions on the previous post: Amram was a man of action - going back and taking his wife again, standing up against the decree of Paroh. He did this based on his young daughter's advice. Imagine how great she felt years later knowing the redemption was a result of her childhood activism! activism runs in the family for Levi, as we see from they way they take down Shechem in defense of Dina. He was a grandson, she was an actual daughter of Levi, both sharing Levi's inclination toward spiritual activism. Some note that the description of this baby matches the description of the original man. Just as Adam was born perfect, which means there was no need for circumcision, so too Moshe was born circumcised. The Ohr HaChayim says though that the real pshat in her seeing that he was good is that she saw that he was healthy (having feared that he would die at birth due to being premature). She his him when she realized he was a healthy baby and not a miscarriage. This type of תיבה is only described twice in all Tanach. It's a clear call back to Noach. Both of these men oversaw the recreation of the world (the ten plagues undid the world created with ten statements - the greatest civilization at the time, and led to a recreation via the Jewish People's birth. It's unclear if the baby was placed on the edge of the water on the shore, or on the edge of the water in the water itself. As one of my students asked - wouldn't a river be a dumb and unsafe place to put an infant? But another kid chimed in that maybe they chose to put him in the water as some kind of in your face to Paroh. There are sources to back this up - that they put him in the water because that was supposed to bring his end, but they had faith that he'd live. One might imagine that the Nile (graphic image to follow) was filled with dead babies, as that's where they were all being thrown and killed. So maybe it was the smartest place to throw a baby in a cradle, as it would be assumed to be another deceased one. Also, the astrologers thought the baby would be killed by water so even if he was alive they'd get the vibe that he was half way there. On the other hand maybe the shore, within the reeds, makes more sense in terms of Miriam being able to watch/visit and in terms of general safety. One student said maybe the parents were "dumb." Another smartly countered that maybe they were filled with faith. I think this is behind the statement that Miriam was waiting to see what would happen to him. It doesn't say she was worried, it doesn't say she was standing guard. There's a serenity here; she was awaiting Providence. And when Paroh's daughter appeared and took hold of the child there was good reason to take it hard. But Miriam calmly works with it - offers to get a nurse... She was the little girl who knew miracles were possible and was just doing her best to help facilitate those miracles. This reminds me of how Yosef was experiencing extreme providence and was punished when he nervously tried to push it instead of waiting and watching in faith.

Shmot - Zornberg on VaYishretzu

The following is excerpted from Aviva Zorberg's The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus.
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ADD PESUKIM
These are the dead; listed to tell the reader that they are no more. In Jewish tradition the book is called The Book Of Names: The reference is clearly to the names of the children of Israel, those individuals who, in a moment of history went down to Egypt and died there, together with their brother Joseph, who had preceded them.
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What follows, however, on this meticulous listing of the dead, is an explosion of life, an almost surrealistic description of the spawning of a nation. Nameless, faceless, these too are the children of Israel... "Even though Joseph and his brothers died, their G-d did not die, but the children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied." The Midrash (Shemot Rabba 1:7). The Midrash here wants to decipher the cascade of births not only as blessing, but as the "survival of G-d." The generation that connects with the meaningful past is all gone. But in some way that is not fully explained here, G-d expresses his undimmed vitality in the language of physical fertility.
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An alternative reading of this passage, however, would take its cue from the ambiguous expression "vayishretzu" - "they swarmed" This can mean the blessing of extraordinary increase, but it connotes a reptilian fecundity, which introduces a bizarre note in a description of human fertility. In this second view, vayishretzu, is a repellent description for a family fallen from greatness."
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ADD PASUK
Nameless, faceless, these too are "the children of Israel." How are we to read this description of theier anonymous fecundity? There are two possible understndings. On the one hand, this is a celebation of fullness, of life burgeoning and unontained. This reading would be a fulfilment of G-d's promise to Jacob: "Fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will make you there into a great nation" (Genesis 46:3). The redundant descriptions of fertitlity have been read as denoting multiple births, healthy developments, absence of fetal, infant, or adult mortality. In the midrashic readings, there is a miraculous, even a whimsical sense of the outrageous victory of life over death: these, for instance, take the six exprssions of fertility (they were fruitful, they swarmed, they multiplied, very, very much) to indicate that each woman gave birth to sextuplets ("six to a belly").

Breishit

Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky, based on the Abarbanel, says that the nachash/snake didn't talk, but that Chava heard her own voice inside her head. Although she should have known better, Chava worked under the assumption that people and animals were the same. She chose (accidentally on purpose) to think that G-d said not to eat from the tree because the tree was poisonous.

She could only accept it in that way and could not accept that G-d said no because people and G-d have a relationship that includes commandments and rewards and punishments based on free will and choices. When she saw the snake rubbing up against the tree she decided that the tree must not be dangerous. Thinking that you couldn't even touch the tree, lest you die, was a logical follow up to the thought that the tree was forbidden because it was lethal. In Chava’s mind, as she saw the snake touching the tree she said to herself, "isn't it true that G-d said that you can't eat from all of the trees of the garden?"

If you read that question over again, you'll realize that one could argue that the answer to the question is yes. Because once you can't eat from one tree then it is true to say that you can not eat from "all of the trees," as you can only eat in fact from some (albeit most) of the trees. That's one possibility of how she got from the one tree to all the trees in the garden, that it was based on her discomfort in having G-d control what trees she could eat from, even if it was only by saying that just one was off limits.

The idea that the snake was actually Chava's voice is applicable today. We weaken in resolve and in responsibility by talking about the yetzer hara as if it were a him, outside of ourselves. The snake/yetzer hara is a metaphor for a voice inside of us that we control. What this means is that the fruit had no power that changed Adam and Chava’s thinking. The powerful force that changed their way of thinking was the act of disobeying G-d and acting based on their own judgment.

This can be understood through the analogy of parents and their son or daughter. If there’s a party and the parents feel it’s best to not go to that party, the child may assume that he or she knows the parents’ reason and that it won’t be a problem to disobey the parents if that reason seems, in the child's mind, to not apply to the situation. If the kid attends the party, he or she will never be the same. It may be that nothing of import happened at the party, but what changes the child forever is the act of trusting his or her own instinct over the authority of parents.

The question that comes to mind after taking in this approach is - why was the snake punished if he didn’t speak to Chava? The answer is that the "punishment" of the snake was a necessary consequence to show Chavah, and to remind people forever, that animals and people are different. Animals were created to serve people so they are "punished" when it's necessary for the sake of people. This fits with what Rashi says about all the animals being "corrupt" and destroyed in the flood; they were only created to serve people and once people were corrupt, there was no use for animals. This also its with the idea that we sacrifice animals (and that the command to do so includes the word Adam!)

One strong indication that the snake never spoke is that when the snake is “punished,” we see no mention of his losing his power of speech. Another hole in the common conception that the snake spoke is that man is described upon his creation as a unique "nefesh chayah," which Unkelus defines as "ruach memalelah" – a speaking soul, clearly implying that man was the only creation endowed with the power of speech.

May we be blessed to remember that as human beings we are unique. May we be blessed to be strong and to honor our relationship with G-d through obedience. May we be blessed to learn from Adam and Chavah’s error, to make the greatest choice we could make, to pursue and hold onto our closeness to G-d.

On He'ezinu

1. G-d is described with the words "The Rock, His actions are perfect" followed by the statement "When I call the name of G-d, acknowledge greatness to our Master." The Da'at Zekeinim addresses the juxtaposition of these two lines and writes that "it is proper to give G-d honor for His greatness because of the fact that he is a Rock of consistency who acts in a pure way and does not show anger to those who act in a manner which is inciteful of anger. True greatness, the Daat Zekeinim teaches us, includes not getting angry even if it is well deserved. This is referred to as being maavir al midotav. Rabbi Neuberger reminds his congregants each year (my friend Martin tells me) that we must learn to be ma'avir on our midot in our relations with one another, and then G-d will do the same for us.

2. "VaYishman Yeshurun VaYiv’at.” The Torah tells us that by getting too satisfied (literally; fat) the Jewish People (Yeshurun) come to rebel (literally; kick) against G-d. The Shemen HaTov points out that Yeshurun is a name for the Jewish People that refers to us on our highest spiritual level. He explains that we are being reminded that one can come to rebel against G-d even through being on a high religious level. Sometimes we get a bit too proud of and full of ourselves as a People. Thank G-d in America today the Jewish People thrive in terms of both affluence and religion. Yet we have to be careful to always work on ourselves and not to rebel as a result of our good fortune.