There is so much more to say on Beshalach, but another week has gone by and been swallowed up by other business, so on to Yisro. Read More »

Rashi writes in P’ Beshalach that there were three mitzvos given at Marah, the first camp reached after crossing Yam Suf: the mitzvos of Shabbos, parah adumah, and dinim (establishing a justice system). There are a number of difficulties with this Rashi. Read More »

Last post I suggested that according to the Mechilta, it was not the circumstance of being in the midbar that caused the mon to fall; it was not the circumstance of being pursued by the Egyptians that caused Hashem to split the Yam. Read More »

I feel bad for making some of you suffer through reading a defense of segulos only to be followed by a post quoting the Noam Elimelech, so this one’s for you guys : ) Two interesting mareh mekomos I saw on the parsha: 1. “… Eis asher tofo eifo v’eis asher tivashlu basheilu v’eis kol haodef hanichu lachem l’mishmeres ad boker . Read More »

According to one view quoted in the Mechilta on the opening of our parsha, ” derech hamidbar Yam Suf ” is not just a description of the direction Bnei Yisrael were travelling (as that could have been stated much more succinctly), but is an agenda statement of what needed to be accomplished. Read More »

Lots of frum websites and blogs have publicized R’ Mendele m’Riminov teaching that reading the parshas hamon shenayim mikra v’echad targum today is a segulah for parnasa.  A few thoughts: 1. Trying to offer some rationalization of how the segulah works seems to me to be a waste of time. Read More »

Hashem told Moshe at the opening of Parshas Bo that the makkos will be so great that the story of yitzias Mitzrayim will be something passed on and related to both children and grandchildren, ” l’ma’an tisaper b’oznei bincha u’ben bincha . Read More »

1. Bnei Yisrael was not receptive to Moshe’s message that the redemption was immanent.  Moshe Rabeinu went back to Hashem and argued (6: 12) that his mission was futile: If Bnei Yisrael won’t listen, kal v’chomer then certainly Pharoah won’t listen either.   Everybody is troubled by this kal v’chomer. Read More »

R’ Elchanan points out that there seems to be different views in Tos. with respect to the relationship between tosefes shabbos and the actual kedushas hayom.  Tosfos (Kesubos 47) writes that the halacha of “ain me’arvin simcha b’simcha” does not apply during tosefes shabbos or yom tov and one can hold a wedding then. Read More »

1. You have to be the Sefas Emes could ask the following question: What was the zechus that Pharoah had that allowed him to merit having a daughter like Batya and gave him the privilege of raising young Moshe Rabeinu in his house?    He answers that this merit stemmed from the bracha that Ya’akov Avinu gave Pharoah when he met him. Read More »

The Shem m’Shmuel points out the incongruity of two of Moshe Rabeinu’s questions that we learn about in parshas Shmos.  When Moshe confronts one Jew  striking his fellow and tries to intervene, he is rebuffed and challenged, “Who put you in charge?” (2: 14)  Moshe responds, ” Achain noda ha’davar ,” now I know. Read More »

The Torah tells is that when stopped at an inn en route back to Mitzrayim with his wife and children, Moshe Rabeinu was attacked by some kind of angel.  Tziporah came to the rescue by doing milah on newborn Eliezer. Read More »

In my home we hardly have any English language Torah literature.  If it’s important enough to learn, it’s important enough to learn in the original Hebrew.  If it’s a biography or some other work, esp. Read More »

There is a vort in the Oznayim laTorah that gives me an excuse to go off on a little soapbox tangent.    Moshe Rabeinu as a baby was tossed into the river like any other baby, the only difference being that he was rescued. Read More »

Continuing the series I started on Rav Wahrman’s Oros Shabbos , this week I want to share something a little more technical from later in the sefer (siman 31).  Aside from novel sevaras, Rav Wahrman also does an impressive job of collecting bekiyus. Read More »

The Chiddushei HaLev (R’ Henoch Leibowitz zt”l) uses an idea we once discussed in a different context (here  from the Shem m’Shmuel and here from R’ Simcha Zissel) to shed light on a Chazal that we have also discussed a few times (e.g. here ), so I thought I would put 2 and 2 together here. Read More »

I want to share two linguistic observations on the parsha that shed light on two well known pesukim in Tehillim:   1) Most translations render Ya’akov’s description of Hashem as, ” Elokim ha’ro’eh osi ,” (48: 15) as “G-d who has shepherded me,” or something along those lines. Read More »

Last week we started what I hope will be a series based on R’ Wahrman’s Oros Shabbos .  I want to continue this week with a piece (siman 5 in the sefer) that relates to parshas hashavu’a as well as hilchos shabbos. Read More »

There are two Midrashim in VaYigash that I think everyone knows, but I don’t think most people know that they go together hand in hand.  Everyone knows that Ya’akov sent Yehudah to set up a yeshiva in Goshen before he got there. Read More »

The Midrash (90: 5) writes that Yehudah argued to Yosef that the Torah says, ” V’im ain lo v’nimkar b’gneivaso ,” only if someone has no money to pay his debts is he sold into slavery.  Since Binyamin can pay, he should be freed. Read More »