A Quick Torah Thought

 There is really no way to describe the tragedy that befell the Jewish people on the day of the inauguration of the mishkan. The culmination of their forgiveness, return to the fold of God's grace, was met by a heavenly fire that consumed Nadav and Avihu. Their earthly fire was met by a heavenly one, Aharon's two eldest sons punished by the Heavens for the "strange" fire that they had offered on the altar.  More questions have been left open, than answered, regarding Nadav and Avihu. From Talmudic times to the early scholars, there seems to be more debate than consensus about what actually happened. To internalize the extent of the tragedy imagine a disastrous multi-casualty attack at a military parade celebrating a country's victory after a long, draining war, or September 11th, happening on a country's bi-centennial. It was a falling from grace, God's presence momentarily resting on the people, and then evaporating as it never were. The "fire that G...

Purim is called Purim because of the pur - lottery - that evil Haman conducted. He wanted to see when the most propitious time would be to wipe out the Jewish people. Instead, the Jewish people rose up against their enemies, and proved victorious, Queen Esther even receiving her wish for a second day of Jewish resistance, turning the momentum and enabling the Jews of Shushan to vanquish their enemies there too, showing that not only were the Jews able to defeat the unjust law permitting the murder of Jews, but rather, there was something inherently unethical about seeking to extinguish the light onto the nations.  Interestingly, the megillah itself states that the holiday is to be called Purim because of the pur , which, perhaps, leaves one asking, "Why isn't the holiday called Pur?" The megillah then continues by stating that it's called Purim because of the two days on which the holiday is celebrated, as we know, the 14th Adar for those living in the outskirts, i.e....

 Calling a person by name can connote a number of things. In the words of the Bible, though, it invariably connoted love, relationship, fondness. Moshe famously eschewed any semblance of preferential treatment, or any form of address that would seemingly place him on a pedestal over any other Jew. Not only is this message a vital one, i.e. the humility of our leadership, but perhaps - even more important - the giving of the Torah, its directives, and teachings, must be founded on love, affection, warmth. Thus, Moshe was called by God himself, "Vayikra." Esther uses the same exact language when she tells Mordechai that she fears to go to the King, to Achashveirosh: "I have not been called (נקראתי) to the King..." Bila'am, though, receives a different type of address, " Vayiker ," a word that reflects the ephemeral, transitory, and random nature of his relationship with Hashem. It is not founded on regularity; rather, the word, vayiker means incidentalne...

 Last week I shared an idea about how Hashem commands Moshe to go into great detail about the role of the architect of the mishkan so as to inculcate in every Jew that it is their home. The same way one building a home would focus on every facet - and faucet - reviewing different models/styles, and checking out different designers, woodwork, marble, and the like, Moshe wanted to assure the Jewish people that the home to be build for them was vested with the highest skilled professionals.  I'd like to take that a step further this week. Rashi states that the portion of Pekudei opens up with a description of the work responsibilities of the different members of the tribe of Levi to illustrate that each member of the tribe had a task, a time to lift, a time to lower one's hefty burden; each had a unique task and responsibility.  Perhaps we can see that modality and paradigm in viewing our role, individually as Jews. An important rabbi once asked me, "What do you do for a liv...