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Succos - The Happiest Holiday

The Torah associates Succos with happiness more than any other holiday. It is the holiday we are told to rejoice on. It is the season of our rejoicing. What makes Succos so happy? Why is it happier than Pesach or Shavuot, the other two of the three Regalim? Pesach and Shavuot were both marred by rebellion and strife. At the sea, some Jews shouted at Moshe, "Were there no graves in Egypt, that you brought us to die in the wilderness". After the giving of the Torah, some made a golden calf. But Succos was free of any such strife. When G-d settled the Jews in huts, there were no arguments. This too is why the Clouds of Glory, which some believe Succos commemorates, received their own holiday, but not the miracles of manna or water. Both of these miracles were met with protests and complaints. But there were no protests or complaints over the Clouds of Glory. Where there is argument and strife, there cannot be happiness. Succos is the time of our rejoicing, because th...
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Parshas Vayelech - The Second Hiddenness of G-d

Parshas Vayelech is often read between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and yet it references neither of them. Instead it's used as the answer to the famous question, "Esther min HaTorah minayin." Where do we see a reference to Megilat Esther and the miracle of Purim in the Torah in which the Jews are saved from Haman's evil decree of extermination. The answer that Chazal give comes from Parshas Vayelech. "VeAnochi haster astir panay bayom hahu". "And I will hide, hide my face on that day." Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?  And I will hide, hide my face on that day for all the evil that they have, in that they turned to other gods.  Devarim/Deuteronomy 31:17-18 Purim and Yom Kippur ha...
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Parshas Ki Seitzei - Twisted Love

Parshas Ki Seitzei bars an Ammonite or Moavite from marrying into the Jewish people even unto the tenth generation. While an Edomite and Egyptian may marry in the third generation. What's the fundamental basis for the distinction? The ban on Ammon and Moav follows that of the one on bastards and indeed both nations are the products of incest. Improper relations of this sort are occasionally referred to in the Torah as "Chessed" or kindness because they have the appearance of love to them. The distinction goes to the two types of anti-Semitism defined by the Edomites and the Moavites. Edom and Egypt were open in their hostility toward the Jews. They sought to persecute and kill them. Whatever malice they had depends on their strength and their national power. By the third generation they no longer present a danger. However Ammon and Moav represents a more insidious form of corruption as they demonstrated by hiring Bilaam and then attempting to corrupt the Jews. R...
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Parshas Balak - False Prophets and Talking Donkeys

Parshas Balak is the first time that the perspective moves away from Moshe and the Children of Israel. Instead we get a look into the camp of their enemies. Why is this necessary? For that matter why have G-d deliver prophecies through the mouth of an evil man or have a donkey talk? And why does Bilaam so gloriously praise Israel in these prophecies as a seemingly perfect nation when the narrative before had them on the brink of destruction before their sins. And no sooner do Bilaam's prophecies conclude than they sin again and are hit with a plague. Clearly the Jews, like all people, are flawed. Why does Bilaam seem unable to find any flaw in them to curse them? The answers to all these questions are interconnected. And they begin with a talking donkey that sees an angel that her master does not. Why does the donkey see the angel when Bilaam does not? Because the donkey is following G-d's will and her master isn't. Things derive their holiness from the extent to ...
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Parshas Noach - You Did Build That

The story of Noach and the flood raises two obvious questions for most people. First, what could the human race have done that was so terrible that it had to be wiped out. Second, why would an omnipotent G-d bother with the whole business of constructing an ark. Why not simply send Noach and all the animals to the top of the highest mountain. Or simply prevent the water from entering the area where he already was. The answers to these questions are interrelated. G-d tells Noach that the end of all flesh comes because the earth is filled with robbery. Robbery seems like a peculiar reason. Certainly it's a sin, but why is humanity doomed because of it? To understand that we have to look at the nature of robbery. Mass theft on the scale related by the Sages had eliminated the very notion. Theft was so widespread that property had literally become theft. No one could have anything that was legitimately his because everything had been stolen at some point and theft had become le...
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Parshas Shemos - First Born Son

One of the stranger and more inexplicable events takes place in Parshas Shemos. After Moshe has been dispatched to Egypt, taking along his family, on a mission from G-d... suddenly we are told that G-d encounters him and attempts to kill him. Then his wife circumcises their son and he is saved. Not only is Moshe bound on a mission from G-d, but if G-d were to kill him, there would be no attempt involved. G-d controls the power of life and death. So what is really going on here? Context is important in the Torah. And to understand w hat happens in Shemos 4-24 , we need to look  at 4-23. 19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian: 'Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead that sought thy life.' 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I ha...
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Parshas Toldos - Love and Judgement

The Jewish idea of love is defined as Ahava Sheineah Teluiah BaDavar or A Love That Does Not Depend on a Thing. "Any love that is dependent on something--when the thing ceases, the love also ceases. But a love that is not dependent on anything never ceases. What is [an example of] a love that is dependent on something? The love of Amnon for Tamar. And one that is not dependent on anything? The love of David and Yonatan." ( Pirkei Avot 5:16 ) Is a love that is not dependent on anything truly not dependent on anything? It's not dependent on anything impermanent. It goes deeper than any surface matter. What is an example of that? We can look to G-d's love for Avraham for the paradigm. "For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord to perform righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord bring upon Avraham that which He spoke concerning him." Bereishis/Genesis 18:19 Th...
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