Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

  • Do Not Fool Yourself

    פרשת כי תישה / ט”ו באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    After witnessing the greatest miracles man had ever seen the Israelites chose to worship an idol that they had created rather than God who performed the miracles. This is perhaps the real reason that the Jews were punished, they refused to believe reality.

  • The Ultimate Defeat of Evil

    פרשת כי תישה / י”ד באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The ultimate defeat of evil is not just to survive but to survive in a way that shows they failed to destroy your humanity. As long as you follow God’s commandments evil is defeated. As long as a Jew celebrates being Jewish then the Nazis have been defeated again.

  • Equality Before God

    פרשת כי תישה / י”ג באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The commandment that every man donate a half shekel seems to ignore the fact that there are some in society that can donate a lot more and that there are those who would have difficulty finding this money. But the Torah wants to show that we are all equal regardless of our place in society.

  • Remember the Second Fiddle

    פרשת תצוה / י’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    This is the only Parsha from the beginning of Exodus until the end of the Torah, in which Moshe’s name is not mentioned. There are two reasons for this. Today we explore those reasons.

  • No One is Above Doing Right

    פרשת תצוה / ט’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The first thing in the Kohen Gadol’s (The High Priest) job is to clean the Menorah. Why couldn’t he delegate this dirty job to a lesser? The answer is that no one is above doing the right thing. Your position does not exclude from your duty to God and man.

  • Do It With Feeling

    פרשת תצוה / ח’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The way that the Kohanim, (priest), presented themselves had to do with making the Mishkan, (Tabernacle), special to the average Jew coming to bring his Korban, (sacrifice). By making it an event we are avoiding making it mundane or common.

  • It’s Not About You

    פרשת תצוה / ז’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The clothing of the kohanim (Priests) was simple and uniform. This is to teach them that they are merely servants to God and the people. That they are interchangeable. They are to be humble in their office.

  • Have a Heart

    פרשת תצוה / ו’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The breastplate sits on the High Priest heart to remind him to feel the pain of those who are suffering as well as the joy of those who succeed in life.

  • Be The Fire in the Menorah

    פרשת תרומה / ג’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    When Moses is shown the prototype of the Menorah for the Tabernacle, he notices that it is engulfed in flame. This is to teach us to approach being Jewish with a lust, not to be robots.

  • Approach Life with Happiness

    פרשת תרומה / ב’ באדר ’ תשפ”ב

    As we enter the month of Adar, we should remember that no matter what problems that we have the best way to approach them is with happiness. That is the best way to avoid depression.