Thursday, June 25, 2015

No New Dvar Torah This Week

Sorry, but there is no new dvar torah for this week. To enjoy the dvar torah from last year on Parshas Chukas, please click here. We will return, B'ezrat Hashem, next week with a brand new Dvar Torah.

Shabbat Shalom!

Click here to join the Summer of Subscribers!


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Friday, June 19, 2015

3rd Annual Summer of Subscribers!

Baruch Shehechiyanu! Another tremendous year for AIMeMTorah has come around again to summer, and our 3rd annual 'Summer of Subscribers'! Thank you all for helping us reach this goal.
For those of you who don't remember from last year, or are new subscribers, here is how SOS works: Every year during the summertime, we set aside a few weeks for subscribers to submit their own Divrei Torah. It used to last only a few weeks, however, due to increased interest, we expanded it to last through the entire summer! 
Here is your chance to have your Torah thought sent out to over 150 people!
Divrei Torah can be written in someone's memory, someone's honor, or just to share your Torah thoughts with the world.

Here's how it works. A list of the available weeks will be shown at the end of this email. If you are interested, please let us know by email anytime between now and the week you are interested in (the earlier the better! Latest time to reserve a spot is the Wednesday morning of that week.). You don't need to worry about editing, posting, or any of the technical stuff, we will take care of that. More information will be given upon request.
 We hope that everyone will get involved in this project. We enjoy it because it helps us get a better idea of the style of Divrei Torah our readers prefer, the better to serve you with, while also allowing our readers to share their thoughts with the general readership. Not to mention the Summer vacation that's much appreciated!

All in all, we would like to offer you the same zchus we have each week, the opportunity to share words of Torah with people all over the world.

Thank you for your continued support and have a wonderful summer!

Available Parshiyos: (and the Tuesday date of that week- Wednesday morning is the latest time to reserve)
Parshas Chukas          (June 23)
Parshas Balak            (June 30)
Parshas Pinchas         (July 7)
Parshas Mattos-Masei (July 14)
Parshas Devarim        (July 21)
Tisha Bav                  (July 21)   
Parshas Vaeschanan  (July 28)
Parshas Eikev            (August 4)
Parshas Re'eh           (August 11)
Parshas Shoftim        (August 18)
Parshas Ki Seitzei     (August 25)


For any questions, comments, to subscribe to our email list, or to submit your own Dvar Torah, please email us at AIMeMtorah@gmail.com.



Please check out our other AIMeMTorah project, Nation's Wisdom!



AIMeM

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Korach

       We have discussed many times the attributes of Aharon Hakohen and his children, and how they made them the perfect family to fill the position of the Kehunah. This parsha shows where it all began.
       The main story in this week’s parsha is the argument of Korach and his followers against Moshe. The congregation railed against Moshe and Aharon, “רַב לָכֶם כִּי כָל הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדשִׁים“You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation is all holy” (Bamidbar 16:3). Rashi explains that they were upset Moshe had appointed Aharon as the Kohen Gadol, the representative of Bnei Yisrael in all holy things, when the entire nation had reached the highest levels of holiness at Har Sinai! They asked, ‘Aren’t we all holy? How come Aharon gets special treatment?’ Obviously, Aharon’s appointment had come from Hashem because of his personal greatness that he had had even before matan Torah. This group of people was punished because of the lack of faith they put in Hashem and Moshe, that they assumed Moshe was acting on his own, as well as the disrespect they showed Aharon by saying they were just as worthy of being the Kohen Gadol as he was.
       After Korach and his followers were swallowed up into the ground, Hashem still wanted to silence the critics once and for all. He had the Nasi of each Shevet bring in a staff of dry wood to the Mishkan, inscribe their names on their staff, and place them together there overnight. In the morning, whichever staff would blossom, would be a sign that he was the one Hashem felt was worthy of being Kohen Gadol.
       When they came back the following morning, the pasuk tells us, “וְהִנֵּה פָּרַח מַטֵּה אַהֲרֹן לְבֵית לֵוִי וַיֹּצֵא פֶרַח וַיָּצֵץ צִיץ וַיִּגְמֹל שְׁקֵדִים“And behold, Aharon’s staff for the house of Levi had blossomed! It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds.” (17:23). Miraculously, this dry stick gave forth fresh blossoms. Upon seeing this, the entire nation realized that Hashem had decided Aharon should be the Kohen Gadol; his appointment was not due to nepotism, but due to his own merit.
       The Kli Yakar explains that each part of this miracle was a reference to Kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash. “וַיֹּצֵא פֶרַח”, the blossoms on the staff refer to the young Kohanim-in-training who were known as “the blossoms of Kehunah.” “וַיָּצֵץ צִיץ”, the buds on the staff, refer to the Kohen Gadol who wore the “צִיץ” on his head. “וַיִּגְמֹל שְׁקֵדִים”, the word “גמול” means reward; and the root of the word “שְׁקֵדִים” is “שקד”, which means to move quickly. The most famous attribute of Kohanim is that they moved quickly and with excitement whenever they did anything. This was most important when they were working in the Beis Hamikdash.
       From what did Aharon merit to have all his descendants referred to in such beautiful terms? It all begins with the reward we mentioned at the end of the pasuk.
       The reference to the reward concerns what happened after Korach’s followers were swallowed up. Hashem immediately brought a plague on the nation. Moshe told Aharon that by bringing an incense offering, he could stop the plague. As we see in 17:12, Aharon rushed to bring the Ketores in order to stop the plague as quickly as possible. Because of this rushing, which a classic trait of Aharon and his descendents, his children inherited all the other properties found in the pasuk; they became as beautiful as fresh blossoms and buds.


Shabbat Shalom! 



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AIMeM

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Shelach

       Parshas Shelach is best known for the story of the Meraglim, the spies who were sent to scout out Eretz Yisrael and came back with a bad report. Because of this lashon hara, the Bnei Yisrael were forced to spend a total of 40 years in the desert, one year for each day the Meraglim spent in the Land.
       Following the story of the Meraglim, the nation was given a series of mitzvos, culminating in the mitzvah of tzitzis. Tzitzis have an amazing ability, “וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת כָּל מִצְוֹת יְהֹוָה“And you will see them (tzitzis), and you will remember all the mitzvos of Hashem” (Bamidbar 15:39). Simply by looking at your tzitzis, you can recall all of the mitzvos. The Ramban explains that this is specifically talking about the Techeiles string, one string on each of the four fringes, dyed a shade of blue. The gemarah (Menachos 43b) explains that by looking at the string, you are reminded of the sea, which reminds you of the sky, which reminds you of Hashem, which reminds you of the Torah and mitzvos.
       The Kli Yakar asks a simple question, how does looking at a blue string remind me of all the mitzvos? And after reading this gemarah, am I really expected to make this connection from one thing to another every time I look at my tzitzis?
       He brings a medrash that says that Hashem told Moshe to tell Bnei Yisrael to observe the sky and the sea, and notice how they have kept their natural order since the beginning of time, even though they do not receive any reward for their actions. The sun always rises in the east, the sea has always remained in its place, etc. These were metaphorical explanations to tell Bnei Yisrael, who are receiving reward for their actions, that they should always remain faithful to Hashem. The medrash brings pesukim to explain how the sky represents serving Hashem out of love, and the sea represents serving Hashem out of fear.
       This, explains the Kli Yakar, is how we should understand the gemarah in Menachos. The first level in avodas Hashem is serving Him out of fear. The significance of fear is that you do not change one step from what you are supposed to do. We put a string of techeiles on our clothing to remind us of the sea, and our obligation to serve Hashem without changing even the smallest detail.
       However, this is not the greatest level we can reach. Serving Hashem out of fear is nothing compared to serving Him out of love; the gemarah (Brachos 8a) says this explicitly. The Kli Yakar explains that when you serve Hashem out of love, you have pleasure from the actual doing of the mitzvah, as opposed to when the act is done out of fear. Therefore, when we look at the sea, our next step should be to look at the sky, and see how much higher we can reach in our avodah; that not only can we do the mitzvos, we can enjoy them.
       But what actual gain do I have from doing mitzvos out of joy rather than out of fear? This is the next step in the gemarah’s chain. When you look at the sky, i.e. when you serve Hashem out of love, you are reminded of Hashem’s presence in the highest heavens, i.e. you can truly connect to Hashem. Fear ultimately drives a person away; even though you may be forced to interact with that person, you can never truly connect to them because you are too afraid. However, when you love someone or something, you only want to become closer.
       When we look at the string of techeiles, we are reminded of two things: 1) our obligation to serve Hashem without question and without change 2) our ability to come close to Hashem through the mitzvos. Both of these steps are necessary. Fear without love will drive us away from Torah, but love without fear will lead to us deciding our own way of serving Hashem, resulting in our abandoning the Torah.
       The Kli Yakar concludes: the sea is completely visible to us, while we cannot truly see what is beyond the heavens. Therefore, the sea, and serving Hashem through fear, represents the visible rewards we get in this world, and the sky, and serving Hashem out of love, represents the rewards of the World to Come. It takes both of these to obtain the full possible rewards of this existence. And it all begins with a single blue string.


Shabbat Shalom! 



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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Dvar Torah for Parshas Bahaloscha

       Parshas Behaloscha contains one of the most interesting parshiyos found in the Torah. After discussing the manner in which Bnei Yisrael would travel, the Torah tells the way Moshe would announce their departure and arrival.
(Note: the way we usually use the word ‘parsha’, to refer to the 54 sedras in the Torah, is not the correct usage of the word. In fact, each sedra is made up of a dozen or so parshiyos, which are a collection of pesukim that make up one topic. The end of each parsha is signified in the Chumash with either a letter ‘פ’ or ‘ס’.)
       “ויהי בנסע הארן ויאמר משה קומה יהוה ויפצו איביך וינסו משנאיך מפניך ובנחה יאמר שובה יהוה רבבות אלפי ישראל“So it was, whenever the ark set out, Moshe would say, ‘Arise, Hashem, may your enemies be scattered and may those who hate you flee from you. And when it came to rest he would say, ‘Repose Hashem, among the myriads of thousands of Yisrael.” (Bamidbar 10:35-36). Written in the text of the Torah itself, there is a backwards letter ‘נ’ placed before pasuk 35 and after pasuk 36. Rashi explains that these letters indicate that this is not the proper placement for these pesukim; they were placed here in order to make a separation between two different episodes of Hashem punishing Bnei Yisrael.
       There are two questions that must be answered based on this explanation. First, where is the proper placement of these pesukim? The Sifsei Chachamim explains that they belong back in Parshas Bamidbar (2:17, to be exact), when the Torah discusses the transportation of the Mishkan. This placement is exactly 50 parshiyos (correct usage of the word) back from this spot; therefore, the Torah uses the letter ‘נ’, which has the numerical value of 50.
       The second question is, between which two acts of punishment is this parsha placed? We find Bnei Yisrael being punished right after these pesukim (See 11:1-2), but beforehand there is no punishment; we only find Bnei Yisrael preparing to travel away from Har Sinai!
       The Sifsei Chachamim explains with this pasuk, “וַיִּסְעוּ מֵהַר יְהֹוָהAnd they traveled from the mountain of Hashem” (10:33). The medrash explains that Bnei Yisrael left Har Sinai as fast as they could, “like a little child runs away from school”, in order that Hashem should not give them any more mitzvos. They ran away from the place where they received the Torah, where they had seen the presence of Hashem the way It has never been seen in all of history, in order that they shouldn’t receive any more commandments, any more pieces of the Torah. The Ramban explains that even though the Torah records no punishment for this action, it is still referred to as a punishment by the commentaries. The Ramban suggests that the punishment may have been that they could not enter Eretz Yisrael immediately, but perhaps the commentaries refer to it as a punishment since the disappointment of Hashem is punishment enough.
       Shavuos has passed, but we still remain in the month of Sivan, the month we received the Torah. As the summer draws closer, we look forward to vacation; some of us from work, some from school, but for all of us, vacation means a break from our regular study of Torah. Let’s not make the same mistake twice, let’s not run away like little children from what makes us great. We can and should use the summer to have a great time and enjoy ourselves. But let’s not lose that connection; let’s make sure our lifeline is constantly pointed in the direction of Hashem and the Torah, let it direct our actions and our thoughts. And who knows, perhaps the summer can be the time of our greatest connection to Torah!


Shabbat Shalom!      



For any questions, comments, to subscribe to our email list, or to submit your own Dvar Torah, please email us at AIMeMtorah@gmail.com.



Please check out our other AIMeMTorah project, Nation's Wisdom!



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