Episodios
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“Chodesh Av,” the Month of Av, is referred to in the TORAH as the “Fifth Month,” counting from Nisan, the “First Month.” There is a Biblical reference in BaMidbar (33:38), where we find “And Aharon the Priest went up to Hor Hahar at the command of G-d, and he died there in the fortieth year after the Jewish People had left Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first of the month.” (BaMidbar 33:38). This is the only Yahrzeit mentioned in the Torah specifically with a date.
The kavana and permutation of Hashem's name which we have in mind during the blessing of the month on Rosh Hodesh in the Amidah of Musaf is
ה ו י ה
It comes from the pasuk in Devarim
ט) וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ וְהַכֹּהֲנִ֣ים הַלְוִיִּ֔ם אֶ֥ל כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר הַסְכֵּ֤ת ׀ וּשְׁמַע֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַיּ֤וֹם הַזֶּה֙ נִהְיֵ֣יתָֽ לְעָ֔ם לַיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃
(9) Moses spoke, and the levitical priests, to all Israel, saying: Hasket! Hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of your God יה - - וה:
Rav Yisrael Simcha Schorr quotes an Agra d’Kallah (from the Bnei Yissaschar) that cites a Zohar at the end of Parshas Pinchas which states that Yaakov and Esav divided the months between themselves. Yaakov symbolizes the middas harachamim, compassion, while Esav symbolizes the middas hadin, justice. Certain months are connected more to din and others are connected to rachamim. Esav wanted to take all the summer months, Tammuz, Av, and Elul. As we know, Tammuz and Av are difficult months for us, times of din. However, Yaakov would not allow Esav to take the month of Elul, as it would be too hard on Klal Yisrael to come into the din of Rosh Hashanah without the rachamim of Elul. We need Hashem’s compassion for a full month in order to face the great Day of Judgment.
Esav complained that Yaakov has tricked him twice, that he had taken away from him those two months.
Every year during the month of Elul, this struggle between Yaakov and Esav is renewed. Esav wishes to retrieve the month for himself.
Yaakov in seeking ways to sweeten jusgment with lovingkindness, Ya’akov managed to liberate the second portion of Av from Esav. (This took place when he defeated the Sar of Esav in the 'wrestling' match. The result is that now the second half of Av is joined with the entire month of Elul, the month of Teshuvah, the best time for getting back into alignment with the Divine will. Indeed, the Holy Qedushat Levi, Rebbe Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, noted that Av is an acronym for Arur (cursed) and Barukh (blessed). The blessing part of Av begins with this parashah and reaches its height on the 15th of Av.
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Pe’or is based on a Pe’or culture which is the antithesis of the Torah Moses gave us. Pe’or is based on deifying that which comes naturally. If my body wants to defecate, that’s beautiful. If my body feels the need to sleep with that woman although she is someone else’s wife, then I must heed my body. If my body desires someone forbiidden or even an animal, then it must be acceptable. If I hunger for anything, then I must feed that hunger. is shedding any and every aspect of
self-control. It is freedom from responsibility. It is the pursuit of every type of sensual self-indulgence and sensual pleasure as an end in itself. Rabbi Abittan would teach that the purpose of the Torah is to take us from slavery to freedom and the highest level of freedom is when one can exercise complete self-control while living in the real world. One is free when one is no longer a slave and there is no master as powerful as our inclination. Moses, the messenger through whom Hashem gave the Torah, taught us that G dliness can and must permeate through all of reality; it must even dictate our approach to physical pleasures. -
City of Refuge
Kohen Gadol
His Mother
Rabbi Aryeh Levine
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אַל־תְּהִ֤י צַדִּיק֙ הַרְבֵּ֔ה׃
So don’t overdo goodness
https://www.sefaria.org/Ecclesiastes.7.16
אַל תְּהִי צַדִּיק הַרְבֵּה. כְּשָׁאוּל, שֶׁדִּמָּה לִהְיוֹת צַדִּיק וְרִחֵם עַל הָרְשָׁעִים:
Be not exceedingly righteous. Like Shaul, who tried to display his righteousness and [misdirected] his mercy on the wicked.
https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Ecclesiastes.7.16.1
אל תהי צדיק הרבה. בשאול איירי קרא, שבשעה שאמר לו הקב'ה לך והכיתה את עמלק התחיל מדיין הוא, אם אנשים חטאו, הנשים והטף והצאן והבקר מה חטאו, יצתה בת קול ואמרה אל תצדק הרבה יותר מבוראך .(שם)
https://www.sefaria.org/Torah_Temimah_on_Ecclesiastes.7.16.1
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From the 17th of Tammuz until 9 Ab
Reversed energy
Is it dangerous or Sad
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Goal is to Live the Life of the Righteous BALAK
וַיָּ֣שׇׁב אֵלָ֔יו וְהִנֵּ֥ה נִצָּ֖ב עַל־עֹלָת֑וֹ ה֖וּא וְכׇל־שָׂרֵ֥י מוֹאָֽב׃
So he returned to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and all the Moabite dignitaries with him.
וַיִּשָּׂ֥א מְשָׁל֖וֹ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר מִן־אֲ֠רָ֠ם יַנְחֵ֨נִי בָלָ֤ק מֶֽלֶךְ־מוֹאָב֙ מֵֽהַרְרֵי־קֶ֔דֶם לְכָה֙ אָֽרָה־לִּ֣י יַעֲקֹ֔ב וּלְכָ֖ה זֹעֲמָ֥ה יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
He took up his theme, and said:From Aram has Balak brought me,Moab’s king from the hills of the East:Come, curse me Jacob,Come, tell Israel’s doom!
מָ֣ה אֶקֹּ֔ב לֹ֥א קַבֹּ֖ה אֵ֑ל וּמָ֣ה אֶזְעֹ֔ם לֹ֥א זָעַ֖ם יְהֹוָֽה׃
How can I damn whom God has not damned,How doom when יהוה has not doomed?
כִּֽי־מֵרֹ֤אשׁ צֻרִים֙ אֶרְאֶ֔נּוּ וּמִגְּבָע֖וֹת אֲשׁוּרֶ֑נּוּ הֶן־עָם֙ לְבָדָ֣ד יִשְׁכֹּ֔ן וּבַגּוֹיִ֖ם לֹ֥א יִתְחַשָּֽׁב׃
As I see them from the mountain tops,Gaze on them from the heights,There is a people that dwells apart,Not reckoned among the nations,
מִ֤י מָנָה֙ עֲפַ֣ר יַעֲקֹ֔ב וּמִסְפָּ֖ר אֶת־רֹ֣בַע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל תָּמֹ֤ת נַפְשִׁי֙ מ֣וֹת יְשָׁרִ֔ים וּתְהִ֥י אַחֲרִיתִ֖י כָּמֹֽהוּ׃
Who can count the dust of Jacob,Number the dust-cloud of Israel?May I die the death of the upright, May my fate be like theirs!
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n the 1930s, a dark joke was told about a rabbi in Germany who was reading the Nazi paper called Der Stürmer. A congregant came up to him, astonished, and said, “Rabbi, how can you be reading that Nazi rag, filled with libels of the worst kind. Are you some kind of masochist, or, God forbid, a self-hating Jew?”
“On the contrary,” the rabbi responded, “When I used to read the Jewish papers, all I learned about were pogroms, riots in Palestine, and assimilation in America. But now that I read Der Stürmer, I see that the Jews control all the banks, we pull all the strings in the art world and cinema, and that we’re on the verge of taking over the entire world. You know – it makes me feel a whole lot better!”
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L'N Chana Bat Jacquline by Michael Dahan
And Moshe ben Esther
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Turning Earth into Heaven
We read the various explanations discussing their intent, but something was still missing for me. If we look at Rashi, we see that at first, he praises the Meraglim quoting the Torah’s description of them as anashim - men and telling how important each and every
one of them in fact was. The rabbis tell us that the Torah lists their names in
order of importance, and we don’t find Joshua or Caleb until the middle of the
list. We have to ask, if these guys were so special, how did they mess up?So, when did they go from important,
honorable, righteous people to people who went in with this evil intent?I don’t think that anyone goes in with
the intent to derail a mission unless they think that they are totally
justified and righteous in what they are doing. These ten must have thought
that they were doing the most beneficial thing for Benai Yisrael.Caleb tells them that we can surely go
up and inherit the land because Hashem gives us the ability. We explained in
the class based on the Talmud in Sotah that he saying that even if you gave us
ladders, we could climb into heaven provided we have Hashem‘s assistance. When
they are afraid and the strength of those in the land. Joshua tells them:
'Have no fear of the people of the country, for they are our prey: their
protection has departed from them, but the Lord is with us' (14:9).If we say that they were righteous and
suddenly everything changed when they were ready to go into the land, then
something happens at the time of their appointment. Perhaps until then they
didn’t feel a responsibility for the nation as a whole, but at this point, as
leaders, they became responsible and with that responsibility, tremendous fear
takes hold.In our class on Shabbat, we quoted a
beautiful thought of the Shvilei Pinchas who suggests that the first luchot -
tablets were associated with the Etz HaChaim – The tree of life in the garden
of Eden. Those tablets were pure and the Torah within them was pure. Those
tables relate to Adam HaRishon before the sin. Just as Adam fell, we fell through the
egel hazah, the golden calf, and the second tablets relate to the tree of
knowledge of good and evil which Adam ate from. Within the second set of luchot
are good and evil. There is a mixture and with that the confusion it brings.After man’s fall through the calf, this
mixture of good and evil requires man to delve through and struggle in the
Torah to bring out the truth relative to us.They could have and should have simply
relied on Moses. Moses sent them as we discussed in the last class and it was
to Moses whom they should’ve reported to and Moses could have shown them the
error of their ways. Moses still had the direct connect. Perhaps their
appointments changed them. We say that power corrupts, and perhaps at the time
of the appointment, pride went to their heads and they felt that they could
independently make decisions without MosesThere are those that suggest that they
didn’t want to lose their position. But let us not forget, that with their
testimony, they not only quickly lose their position, they also lose their
lives in a most horrendous manner.They understood that in the desert they
lived under a divine light and divine protection. Everything about their
existence, from the moment the first plague descended on the waters of Egypt
through the death of the first born was an entire year of miracles. This
continued in an even greater revelation through the Exodus, the splitting of
the sea and the Revelation at Har Sinai. The entire year in the desert was one
of miracles as we noted, maan, water, clouds, Moses and even defending
themselves from attack.And I believe this was their fear. They
were afraid that not only would they no longer be living a miraculous life, but
they would be completely on their ownI believe their misunderstanding could
be compared to the misunderstanding of the generation of Enoch. After creation,
man knew Hashem was the Boreh, the creator, but they assumed he stepped back
and did not realize Hashem is also the manhig – the one constantly running the
show. The meraglim appear to have assumed that Hashem would step back once they
crossed the border and they would have to deal with things on their own.believe
kochi VeOsem Yadi, that we are really doing things on our own. We too have to
remember that Hashem promises us that a blessing will be on the work of our
hands. We have to make an effort, we have to turn on the switch below, but we
have to remember that there is no success without Hashem joining us.I think the big lesson of the spies is
that Hashem puts us here to work the land as he told Adam and the illusion is
that we are doing things on our own, but the lesson is that without Hashem we
cannot succeed. We must have Emunah and Bitachon and partner with Hashem and
know that if we reach out, Hashem is never abandoning us. We see this all
throughout history. All of our victories are miraculous because Hashem is with
usAnd this concept of partnership is
expressed throughout the rest of the commandments in the portion as if to
reinforce the concept. The mitsva to separate challah, reminds us again to
elevate the physical with the spiritual; we are planting, we are making flour,
we are baking, but all that is provided Hashem is with us. We learn of a kahal
and an individual who sin with avoda zara by mistake reminding us that when we
think Hashem has rescinded into the background, the next step is placing our
trust in ourselves or in other outside forces. We are taught about the person
who collects wood on Shabbat which reminds that even in a physical world,
Shabbat is a testimony that Hashem is in charge. He is not only the Boreh, the
creator, He is the manhig, the one who keeps the world in motion. Finally, down
to the last paragraph of Shelach, which teaches the misvah of sisit, we are
told to look at them in order to remember always that Hashem is there and
Hashem is with us.The meraglim believed that everything
was up to the farmer, and everything was up to the worker. They believed that
success of failure was put completely into our hands. Perhaps when we crossed
the sea and everyone knew G-d was with us, namogu kol yoshvei Canaan, those in
Canaan trembled with fear, but on our own they feared, who will tremble?How important this is to us in our own
lives. We live in the physical. We work in the physical. We live in an illusion
that allows some to error and say, “That it’s my own strength. It’s my own
power. It’s my own effort that brings me reward.” But that person is a fool
because everything we have comes from Hashem. We may be driving the car, but
the car we are driving is sitting in on a track on the kiddie rides at Nelly
Bly in Coney Island. We press the gas, we turn the wheel, we hit the brakes,
and we honk the horn, but in essence all of that is an illusion because there’s
really a man standing on the side, pressing the button.Shabbat Shalom,
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Moshe and Joshua
Caleb and the Avot
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Shlach Lecha,
Rashi : שלח לך אנשים. לָמָּה נִסְמְכָה פָרָשַׁת מְרַגְּלִים לְפָרָשַׁת מִרְיָם? לְפִי שֶׁלָּקְתָה עַל עִסְקֵי דִבָּה, שֶׁדִּבְּרָה בְאָחִיהָ, וּרְשָׁעִים הַלָּלוּ רָאוּ וְלֹא לָקְחוּ מוּסָר (תנחומא):
שלח לך אנשים SEND THOU MEN — Why is the section dealing with the spies put in juxtaposition with the section dealing with Miriam’s punishment? To show the grievousness of the spies’ sin: because she (Miriam) was punished on account of the slander which she uttered against her brother, and these sinners witnessed it and yet they did not take a lesson from her (Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 5).
Of these 12 princes, one was Moshe's greatest student, Hoshea. Anticipating the possibility of trouble, Moshe added the letter 'yud' to Hoshea's name giving the now, Yehoshua, an 'injection' of holiness to help protect him from that trouble.
Ohr HaChaim: We already mentioned that our sages said that Moses prayed concerning Joshua. Why did he have to change his name in addition? Perhaps Moses wanted to give Joshua additional power to resist wicked advice seeing that the first three letters of his name now represented the three letters making up the tetragram. The letter י which Moses added to Hoshea's name has a numerical value of 10 and symbolised that he could resist the advice of ten of his colleagues. It would also eventually enable him to inherit the share of ארץ ישראל that the ten wicked spies would forfeit due to their conduct. This is based on a comment in Chagigah 15
R’ Bachya: Our sages in Sotah 34 comment that Moses added the latter י to Hoshea’s name so that the letters י-ה at the beginning of his name represented a prayer that he should be saved from making common cause with the majority of the spies.
Daat Zakenim . When Sarah’s name שרי had been changed to שרה, she had lost a letter, i.e. the letter י. Joshua now received this letter.
Discuss humility. Last week
Sarah
Stand up
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