Moshe and Aharon; Models of Brotherhood and Leadership
Moshe and Aharon – brothers and leaders – both appear in this week’s Parsha, Parashat Te’zav’e, though in very different ways…Since his appearance on the biblical stage in Parshat Shmot until the ending of the five Chumashim, this week’s Parsha is the only one where Moshe’s name does not appear, though he is referred to constantly as the entire Parsha is addressed to him.
The Mishkan and Jewish Donations – who’s doing whom the favor?
“People some times ask me – rabbi, doesn’t it make you a little uncomfortable traveling around the world asking people for money? I tell them – no, not in the least! I know that these schools are our future and that the work they do is wholly, aimed at bettering the Jewish people and the world entire”.
Yitro, Stephen Harper and John Kerry – Advice vs. “Advice”
To what degree should we listen to the advice of our allies and other nations? One could argue that we should take it very seriously. Moshe
takes the advice of his non Jewish father in law, a political and religious leader of a foreign, pagan, nation on a very sensitive topic – how to run our judicial system.
High Fashion, Auto Anti-Zionism and The Plague of Darkness
Let’s say my name is Jim, I speak English and I happen to wear Calvin Klein shirts. Or that my name is Natasha, I speak Russian and I happen to wear ‘Zara’. Do any of these practices constitute a transgression of Torah or any paragraph in the Shulchan Aruch? No, they do not. Why then, of all things, did we merit being redeemed from Egypt for “not changing our language, our names and our dress”?
On Parshat Shmot: It’s up to YOU!
In this week’s parsha, Shmot, we witness the coming to power of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph” and the subsequent enslavement of the Jewish people. It’s in this parsha that the baby Moshe is delivered out of harms way; placed and sealed into a tiny basket by his parents, Amram and Yocheved, and found by Pharaoh’s righteous daughter, Batya.
“He Who Lives Outside of ‘The Land’ is Like he Who Has No God:” Insights on Parshat Va’yetze
Ramban, on the other hand, says that (translated from Hebrew): This is not a condition as Rashi says, but a vow and “unless I return to my father’s home, I will not follow in the ways of Hashem in the Promised Land at the location of this stone where I will built a House of G-d and bring the ma’aser. And there’s a (secret) in this matter (from כתובות ק”י): Anyone who lives outside of ‘The Land’ is like he who has no God.”
Hanging Things on a Tree During and Before Shabbat
A Mishna in masechet Shabbat2 lists kotzer (reaping) as one of the avot melachot. The definition of kotzer is detaching a living thing from its source of nourishment3. This melacha applies even to things that are not growing from the ground. For example, the Gemorah says that a person transgresses Shabbat if he removes mushrooms that grow on the edge of a bucket, since they receive their nourishment from the water that is located there4.