Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

  • Making the Mundane Holy

    פרשת משפטים / כ”א בבשבט תשפ”ב

    The Torah should continue with holy matters after the giving of the 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai. Instead, it goes into detail on how we treat each other, both on a personal and business level. Why the detour? To teach us that a mundane act has to be done in a holy way.

  • The Root of Evil is Jealousy

    פרשת יתרו / י”ט בשבט תשפ”ב

    The root of evil is not money in of itself. It is the jealousy of someone else who has more than another. It ignores how the person acquired his money or property. People, in a free economy acquire wealth by providing goods and services to others who are willing to pay. To paraphrase an old adage, the rich get richer and the poor get richer.

  • The Importance of Shabbat

    פרשת יתרו / י”ח בשבט תשפ”ב

    The importance of the Sabbath to the Jewish people cannot be underestimated. It has been said that rather than the Jews kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews. When we look at the 4th Commandment we understand why.

  • Atheism is the Belief in Anything

    פרשת יתרו / י”ז בשבט תשפ”ב

    The 3rd Commandment is against idol worship. What does the Torah mean by idolatry? It means raising anything to godliness that is not God. As we know, non-belief leads to belief in things or people. Belief in God does not.

  • Taking God’s Name in Vain

    פרשת יתרו / ט”ז תשפ”ב

    In the 10 Commandments we are commanded not to take God’s Name in vain. This can be interpreted not to do evil in God’s Name, thus making a mockery of God.

  • Behind Every Great Man …

    פרשת יתרו / ט”ו בשבט תשפ”ב

    As the saying goes so that Torah agrees. We see that Tziporah, Moses’s wife arrived with her father to greet Moses and the Jews in the wilderness. Moses needed her wise council to continue as the great leader that he was.

  • Fake It Until You Can Make It

    פרשת יתרו / י”ד בשבט תשפ”ב

    The beginning of this week’s portion seems out of place. The Torah should have now had the Jews going to Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments. This is the logical progression. Instead, the Torah seems to take a detour to setting up a court system. Why this digression?

  • Stand For Your Rights

    י”ב בשבט תשפ”ב / פרשת בשלח

    The portion begins with the Jews being taken the long way to the Land of Israel due to the fear that if the Philistines were to fight the Jews then the Jews would flee back to Egypt. It ends with the Jews fighting Amalek. What happened in the middle?

  • God Wants Action on Your Part

    י’ בשבט תשפ”ב

    Up until the Red Sea the Jews did not need to do anything for God to help. At the Red Sea God demanded that the Jews make the first step before He split the sea. This shows that God wants us to be partners.

  • Just Do It

    ט’ בשבט תשפ”ב

    Standing at the Red Sea, Moses prays to God for salvation from the oncoming Egyptian army. God’s answer is to quit yelling and get moving. In other words, Moses – Just do it.