Weekly Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 6

June 11, 2022; Sivan 12, 5782

Parsha “Take a census of the Bnei Gershon, also them, by their ancestral houses and by their families... (BaMidbar 4:22)”

The Midrash Rabbah (Nasoh, 6) asks the question as to why the extra words “gam haim” - also them, appear in the pasuk. The Midrash answers that in last week’s parsha, Hashem instructed that Bnei Kehas be counted prior to the counting of the Bnei Gershon – even though Gershon was the firstborn and not Kehas. We might have erroneously thought that just as the firstborn of Klal Yisroel had “fallen spiritually” on account of the sin of the Golden Calf, so too did the firstborn of the tribe of Levi fall spiritually...

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Weekly Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 5

June 4, 2022; Sivan 5, 5782

Parsha “And the countings amounted to 603,550. But the Leviim were not counted among them. (BaMidbar 1:46- 47)” The count of the Leviim amounted to 22,300. We have seen throughout the Chumash, the remarkable benefit of Achdus – unity. When describing the encampment the singular conjugation is employed. Chazal tell us that the reason is K’ish echad b’lev echad – like one person with one heart. Indeed, even the shma itself is conjugated in the singular form of the word, “Hear” to bring home the complete unity of the nation of Israel. If this is the case, we have a blaring question here: Why were the Leviim not counted among the rest of Klal Yisroel? ...

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Weekly Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 4

May 27, 2022; Iyar 26, 5782

Parsha “Im b’chukosai sailechu” - If you walk in my statutes – Rashi explains this to mean “That you shall strive with great effort in studying Torah.” Rav Henach Leibowitz ZT’L explained that striving with great effort in the study of Torah means that one must use all of one’s powers of reasoning to ensure that each and every piece of Torah that is said is both textually and logically compelling. The truth of a Sugya (Talmudic passage) must emerge organically, and not by, for example, randomly inserting complex structures and explanations without sufficient justification. Also, a Sugya must not be studied once – it must be learned and re-learned for days and sometimes weeks. This is the study of Torah that Rashi references above – Torah study with an absolute dedication to truth...

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