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Torah Portion -
Shemini
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Written by d fine
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Rashi 11:2 tells us that the reward for Aharon’s silence (and that of others) at the deaths of his two sons was that the portion of the Torah regarding kashrus was told via him also. All of HaShem’s rewards are middah ke’neged middah - the reward matches the deed perfectly. So what has eating Kosher got to do with silence? One idea is that their silence (as Rashi says) showed their understanding that whatever HaShem does it is for the best - they accepted HaShem’s decree with love. This show of great understanding is connected to the mitzvah we have to understand and differentiate between kosher and non-kosher animals (Vayikra 10:10). Moreover, the fact that silence is connected to the laws of Kashrus shows us that there is a certain connection between what comes out of our mouths and what we put into our mouths. Lastly, one underlying principle of kashrus of animals is that non-kosher animals tend to be cruel in their behaviour. Thus, we do not want to ingest them for if we do so we will absorb a certain degree of cruelty and callousness into our characters. This means that the underlying idea of kashrus is keeping one’s character clean in terms of having good middos (traits). The connection to Aharon’s silence here is that such a silence demonstrated a great wealth of good middos in putting HaShem’s agenda over any pain Aharon might have experienced.
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Torah Portion -
Shemini
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Written by d fine
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As Rashi makes clear (10:20), Moshe admitted that he had erred in a certain law in our sedra. In Rashi’s words ‘he admitted and was not embarrassed to say that he had not heard this (correct ruling).’ We see from here the tremendous importance of sticking to the truth no matter what. Even though Moshe knew that this moment would go down in history as the moment that Moshe did not know the correct law, he still admitted that he was wrong. For it’s about truth - not about one’s own personal ego. It is better to admit the truth than try to save face and make up a lie. Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s gilyon ha’shas in Brachos 25b counts the incredible 45 times (approx) that Rashi on Shas comments with the words ‘I do not know what this means.’ Rashi did not have to inform us that he did not know; he could have not written anything and saved the ink. But Rashi did open his mouth (well, his quill) and told us several times ‘I do not know,’ thereby showing his total and utter commitment to truth, to honesty, and to integrity.
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Torah Portion -
Shemini
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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Parashas Shemini – Journey to the Centre of the Torah
This week's sedra, Shemini, contains three distinct themes. The parasha begins
with the first service performed by the Kohanim; we then have the obscure
incident of the death of Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu; and the sedra concludes
with a comprehensive set of laws on kashrus.
At the end of the previous sedra, Tzav, we saw that the Kohanim were instructed
to stay at the Tent of Meeting for seven days while the inauguration service was
to be performed by Moshe. For each of these seven days, we learn that Moshe had
to erect the Mishkan, perform the inauguration service by himself and then
dissemble the Mishkan once the service was concluded. This inauguration period
climaxed with the consecration of Aaron and his sons as official Kohanim
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Read more...
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Torah Portion -
Shemini
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Written by Administrator
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We would love to read your vort. Click "Submit your Vort" to send us your vort.
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Torah Portion -
Shemini
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The Gaon from Vilna, already known as a child prodigy, was challenged when he was six years old to explain the connection between the words: to distinguish between the contaminated and the pure, and between the chaya (creature) that may be eaten and the chaya that may not be eaten (Vayikra 11:47), which conclude this week's parsha and begin next week’s with the words: When a women conceives and gives birth to a male etc (ibid 12:2). The young genius thought deeply for a moment, went to the bookcase and pulled out a volume of the Talmud. With a story he related from there (Yoma 83b), he brilliantly connected these two seemingly unrelated subjects—one dealing with the laws pertaining to kosher animal consumption and the other with the the contamination a women experiences after childbirth.
The Mishna (Yoma 83a) discusses the leniencies made for a pregnant woman who finds herself unable to fulfil her obligation to fast on Yom Kippur due to her weakened state. The Talmud relates that at two different occasions the famous Rebbe (Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi- collator of the Mishna) was asked by the family of an expectant mother who was having difficulty fasting on Yom Kippur if she may ease her discomfort by eating. On both occasions, he responded that the women should be gently warned about the holiness of the day, and only if this makes no impact on her desire to eat should food be given. To the first woman, this gentle encouragement was sufficient to give her the strength to continue her fast and she soon gave birth to one of the greatest people of the time: Rav Yochanon. The other, however, was not able to be convinced, and thus she ate, and the child born to her was the infamous Shabtai.
With the understanding that the word chaya can mean either a creature or a pregnant woman, the Gaon explained that the Torah actually alluded to this particular anecdote in the following way. To distinguish between the contaminated and the pure [the impure and pure mothers], and between the chaya [pregnant women] that may be eaten and the chaya that may not be eaten [i.e. their piety can be identified if anything is eaten by them or not on Yom Kippur], with the results being totally different and clearly identified only when a women conceives and gives birth to a male [i.e. the children will be on totally different levels of piety].
Although this is not the way these verses should be learnt on a simple level, the message the Talmud relates which the Gaon found encrypted in the Torah teaches us a lesson that has a far wider application than the laws of pregnancy and Yom Kippur; in fact, it’s the key to successful childrearing. Just as every caring Jewish mother seeks the best milk formula to ensure the physical best for her child, so too she must feed the child a formula that ensures a healthy spiritual body. This we are taught is mesiras nefesh, the drive to go beyond our desires and whims for the sake of uncompromising moral values. A sensible pregnant smoker will fight her nicotine addiction to ensure that the child is born with all limbs attached, and so too caring parents will work tirelessly to break negative traits through positive character building in order that their children are given the chance to breathe through clearer spiritual lungs.
Gut Shabbos!!
Rabbi Sipper is a close friend of ShortVort.com. Further divrei Torah from the Rov can be found on his yeshiva's website at www.ohravraham.com
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