A Quick Torah Thought

We famously say in the Hagadah, that were Hashem to have not taken us out of Egypt, we, and our children, and our grand children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt.  It would seem that that is highly unlikely! After all, few are the peoples who are still enslaved today; at a time when African Americans had been enslaved for hundreds of years in America, and then the descendant of former slaves, Barack Obama rose to the highest office of the land, it is hard to aver that statement from the Hagadah in a way that is whole-hearted. How would we still be enslaved, indentured, in a state of servitude to this very day?  I was asked this question by the Rosh Yeshiva of Pitchei Olam, Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Faivelzon, together with other students in a class before Pesach over 10 years ago. The conclusion we reached was that the intent of the author of the Hagadah was not physical, but rather spiritual, or psychic freedom. That answer, though, doesn't seem to jibe with the simple me...

It is well known that leprosy is a mistranslation of the tza'ra'at that afflicted people of biblical times. Na'aman the Aramean, a senior commander of Hadadezer, King of Aram-Damascus in the time of Jehoram, the King of Northern Israel (Samaria) was beside himself after his military might was shadowed the unseemliness of his appearance, and so, on the advice of his wife's Jewish captive servant, sought out Elisha the prophet, who cured him of his leprosy.  His leprosy may have been very physically unbecoming for someone of his stature, taking away from the prestige of the kingship, which is why the King of Aram was willing to engage in diplomacy - sending a royal contingent - and foot the bill for the mission, and the prize money were the prophet to succeed.  This story seems to present a complexity; we typically see leprosy as a punishment. Here, Na'aman has committed no offense. There is no mention of slander, or libel, or evil eye. Naaman, in fact, even rises to ...

Nadav and Avihu, loving brothers, and Aharon's two oldest sons were burnt to death by a heavenly fire on the same day as another heavenly fire consumed animal sacrifices brought by Aharon and his two sons. This incident remains one of the most inscrutable - and unclear - in the whole of the Torah, the opinions running the gamut as to why they were taken before their time, in the most demonstrative and symbolic of ways in the place that was designated for animal - and not - human sacrifices. Some say because they were single, an ominous warning and admonition for those who need an extra push, others, because they were inebriated, and still others, in delayed punishment for the sin of the golden calf, the foreign fire the Torah states they brought pushing them over the top and making them fully culpable for Aharon's former transgression.  Alcohol, the Torah seems to hint, did play a part. Far be it from me to weigh in on the matter, but something odd does occur after Nadav and Av...