פרשת אמור / י”ב באייר תשפ”ב – כ”ז בעומר
The Torah starts the portion by detailing the physical & moral attributes of what we expect of the Priests. It ends with an admonition against desecrating God’s name. It is important to remember that when someone identifies as a religious person he represents God. His behavior is a reflection of God.
פרשת אמור / ח’ באייר תשפ”ב – כ”ג בעומר
Why does the priest in the Temple have to be in perfect physical shape? He represents God to the people and the people to God.
פרשת קדושים – י”ט בעומר / ד’ באייר תשפ”ב
Today we celebrate the independence of the State of Israel. Of all the countries that have come into being since WWII Israel is the only one whose achievement of Independence can be considered a miracle. It is up to us to recognized this.
פרשת קדושים – ט”ו בעמר / ל’ בניסן תשפ”ב
We mourn Rebbe Akiva’s students death during the Omer. The official reason given is that they died from a plague. The reality is that they died fighting the Romans in the Bar-Kochba revolt. It is no accident that Israel Independence day happens during this period.
פרשת אחרי מות – י”ג בעומר / כ”ח בניסן תשפ”ב
During the Omer we lesson our happiness due to Rebbe Akiva’s dying. The Talmud gives the reason that they died was that they did not respect one another. This is to teach us to respect our fellow man even when we disagree with him.
פרשת מצורע / ה’ בניסן תשפ”ב
The real question of the wicked son is why to we need all this ritual to celebrate Passover. Can’t we just do a simple ceremony and get it over with? The answer of course is that we need the ritual since without we will forget why we were brought out and made into a people.
פרשת מצורע / ד’ בניסן תשפ”ב
When the wise son asks his question at the Seder we give him a seemingly meaningless answer. He asks for the details of the laws and customs of Passover. We seem to give him a glib response, just don’t eat anything after the Afikoman. Is this glib or is this a deeper response?
פרשת מצורע / ג’ בניסן תשפ”ב
The main event in the celebration of Passover is the eating of the Pascal Sacrifice. This is a lamb and it is impossible to completely eat it unless you are with a group. The problem is that there can be nothing leftover. Thus the Torah is forcing us to form communities in order to carry out this celebration.
פרשת מצורע / ב’ בניסן תשפ”ב
What happens when you only have ten during davening and one leaves in the middle? We had such a situation and the solution within Jewish Law is that we continue as if we have a minyan to the next major stopping point.
פרשת תזריע / כ”ה באדר ב’ תשפ”ב
This Shabbat is also Parshat HaHodesh. We celebrate the month of Nisan as the first month of the Jewish year. This is the beginning of our freedom and taking our fate into our own hands.