Korach – Monkeys in the Crowd
The model for all subsequent demagogues in history, Korach told the people that his grievance was really their grievance, that he was standing up not for himself but for them. And he used snideness...
Author: Avi Shafran
Shelach — Memento Mitzvah
It might seem peculiar, even morbid, to suggest that looking at tzitzis evokes the specter of death. But, at least for me, it does. That might be because of photographs I saw in a...
Biha’aloscha – Where There’s a Will, There’s a Will
A reference to “The Seven Books of the Torah” might raise some eyebrows, but Rabi Yehudah HaNasi gives the two pesukim in our parsha (10, 35-46) that describe the movement of the aron, and...
Parshas Naso – Playing Favorites or Paying In Kind?
The Divine answer seems to beg the angels’ question. Hashem’s angelic entourage, Rav Avira recounts (Berachot 20b) asked Him: “Master of the Universe, it is written in Your Torah (Devarim 10:17) that You do...
Shavuos — The Matter of Meaning
The average price paid to climb Mt. Everest – for permits, equipment and guides – is between $35,000 and $45,000. And hundreds have died in that exploit. What impels people to undertake so expensive...
Bamidbar – Life is for the Giving
The Torah’s pointed note (Bamidbar 3:4) of the fact that Nadav and Avihu had no children (according to the Midrash, because they did not marry) is understood by Chazal as having contributed to their...
Behar — What’s Special About Shmita
The problem surely occurs to every reader of the first Rashi in parshas Behar. The Rabban shel Yisrael, quoting a Midrash, recounts the famous question, “What does shemita have to do with Har Sinai?”...
Emor – Simple Jews
The Baitusim, a sect in Talmudic times often associated with the Tzedukim (or Sadducees), had a congenial approach to establishing the date of Shavuos, which the Torah describes as the fiftieth day from a...
Acharei Mos/Kedoshim – Black Like Us
The haftarah for Acharei Mos, which will be read this week for the double parsha of Acharei Mos/Kedoshim, is from Amos (9:7), where Hashem extols the Jewish people with the famous and famously strange...
Tazria/Metzora – Life is Other People
Tzara’as, the condition that occupies the bulk of parshios Tazria and Metzora, is characterized by the Talmud as a punishment for sins like speaking ill of others or stinginess at their expense. Thus the...
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