Insights on the Parsha & Mo'adim - From Joshua Moshe Mitchell

This שבת and Sunday, the awaited moment arrives. ראש השנה, the first day of the new year. At first glance, defining what goes on at this time is simple. ראש השנה kicks off the עשרה ימי תשובה. It is the beginning of Divine judgment, which concludes with נעילה on יום כיפור. It is a period where עם ישראל repents and seeks to get closer to G-d. It is a day of תשובה. Yet, the Torah gives it a different description. It states: “ יום תרועה יהיה לכם - It shall be a day of blasting”, this day is instead defined by the sound of the שופר. Therefore, to fully understand the significance of this חג, we must look more deeply into this connection, and ask clarifying questions: What exactly is a שופר and what does its sound represent? How does it connect to ראש השנה? And in what way is it related to the greater theme of these days, תשובה?

Recorded in Yeshivat Sha'alvim

This week we read פרשת נצבים-וילך, where, after discussing the blessing and curses that come with the nation’s actions, Moshe continues to explain the consequences of the ברית that will be made on הר גזרים. There we encounter a strange verse: “הנסתרת לה’ אלקינו והנגלת לׄנׄוׄ וׄלׄבׄנׄיׄנׄוׄ עׄד עולם לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת - The hidden things belong to HaShem, our G-d, and the revealed things are for us and our children, forever to do all these words of this Torah.” This פסוק is strange for a number of reasons. Firstly, what does it mean? What exactly are the “הנסתרת לה - hidden things to HaShem” and the “והנגלת לׄנׄוׄ וׄלׄבׄנׄיׄנׄוׄ - the revealed things for us and our children”? How does this fit into the context of establishing the ברית? And most eye-catching of all, why do we have dots over certain words in our פסוק?

This week we continue reading ספר דברים, now reaching פרשת כי תבוא, a Parsha in which Moshe gives some of the strongest תוכחה, rebuke, seen in the Torah. The descriptions of these curses are heart-melting, and in many verses gut-wrenching at how they foretell history. At the beginning of this passage, Moshe tells us the curses will come from a lack of proper harkening to HaShem’s word and observance of the מצוות. Again, in the midst of the קללות, curses, this cause is repeated: “כי־לא שמעת בקול ה׳ אלקיך לשמר מצותיו וחקתיו אשר צוך - Becuase you did not listen to the voice of HaShem, your G-d, to observe His Mitzvot and statues that He commanded you.” Yet, just 2 פסוקים later, another reason is stated:“תחת אשר לא־עבדת את־ה׳ אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל - In return that you didn’t serve HaShem your G-d with joy and a good heart from the abundance of everything”. This verse is difficult and leaves us with several questions. Firstly, and possibly most pressing: Why does the Torah give us two seemingly different reasons for the קללות? How can the absence of שמחה be enough to warrant such destruction foretold in the passage? Turning closer to the language: what is the meaning of  “מרב כל - from the abundance of everything” in relation to our פסוק? But, most basic, what does it even mean to serve HaShem בשמחה?

This week we read פרשת כי תצא, which opens by describing what might happen when בני ישראל go out to war. There the Torah describes how if a man at war sees a beautiful woman and desires her, he can “take her” and have relations with her once. However, if he wants her as a wife, she must be taken into his home, shave her head, cut her nails, change out of her clothing of captivity, and be given a month to mourn her father and mother. After this, if the man chooses to, he may marry her, but if not, he is forbidden from enslaving or selling her, but instead must set her free. This allowance raises 3 large questions: What is the deeper meaning behind the strange procedure spelled out in the Torah? How does this מצווה relate to our lives today? But most pressing, how could the Torah permit such a degrading and disturbing act? How are we meant to make sense of this? 

Recorded in Yeshivat Sha'alvim

This week we read פרשת שופטים, a Parsha which deals heavily with the life upcoming for בני ישראל in ארץ ישראל. One example is the Torah’s prohibition of following the practices of other nations, specifically their methods of inquiring about the future, which is called an abomination to HaShem. Instead, the Torah commands: "תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך - You shall be perfect with HaShem your G-d". However, this commandment is not exactly clear. What does it mean to be תמים, perfect? How are we to understand עם ה׳ אלקיך" - with HaShem your G-d? And most importantly, how does one actually become תמים?

Recorded in Yeshivat Sha'alvim

This week we read פרשת ראה, a Parsha in which many מצוות are commanded. Amongst them is the commandment to eradicate all of the places of עבודה זרה. Yet, immediately afterwards the Torah makes a sharp contrast: “לא־תעשון כן לה׳ אלקיכם - Don’t do the same with HaShem your G-d.” But rather: “כי אם־אל־המקום אשר־יבחר ה׳ אלקיכם מכל־שבטיכם לשום את־שמו שם לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה - Only the place that HaShem, your G-d, will choose from all of the tribes to put His name there, you shall seek His dwelling and come there.” This verse raises many questions. Firstly, why does HaShem choose one specific place? Why not allow us to offer קרבנות elsewhere? But, more fundamentally: how? If HaShem is everywhere, and fills every location, how can He be more present in one place than another? And finally, what does the Torah mean when it commands us: “לשכנו תדרשו - to seek out His dwelling”? 

Recorded in New York

This week we read פרשת עקב, where when describing loving HaShem we find the phrase “בכל־לבבך ובכל־נפשך - with all of your heart and your soul”. However, this phrase is not unique to אהבת ה׳, loving G-d, for we find the same expression again in performing the מצוות and doing תשובה  - both require בכל־לבבך ובכל־נפשך. However, this only raises questions. What does בכל־לבבך ובכל־נפשך really mean? In what way is בכל־לבבך related to ובכל־נפשך? And why are these the specific moments that the Torah demands this type of devotion?

Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

This Thursday is תשעה באב, the saddest day of the year, when we commemorate the destruction of our spiritual home, the בית המקדש. It is a day of deep mourning, a pain expressed most acutely in פרק קלז of תהלים, commonly known as על נהרות בבל. The passage begins by describing the grief of the Jewish people in exile: “על־נהרות  בבל שם ישבנו גם־בכינו בזכרנו את־ציון - On the rivers of Babylon - there we sat and also cried in remembering Zion”. They sit, mourn, and cry over what they have lost, hanging up their harps in sorrow. But this raises the question: Why? What are they mourning over? Why could they not simply start again? Yes, they were no longer in ירושלים, but couldn’t they still rebuild their lives and even thrive in בבל? What exactly had they lost? Later in the פרק, we encounter some of the most famous פסוקים in תהלים, the promise of: “אם־אשכחך ירושל͏ם תשכח ימיני. תדבק־לשוני  לחכי אם־לא אזכרכי אם־לא אעלה את־ירושל͏ם על ראש שמחתי - If I forget you, Jerusalem, I shall forget my right hand. My tongue will cleave to my palate if I don’t remember you - if I don’t raise Jerusalem above my highest joy”. These פסוקים too require understanding: What are we swearing ourselves to? What does it mean to never forget ירושלים? The complexity only deepens when we reach the end of the chapter: “בת־בבל השדודה אשרי שישלם־לך את־גמולך שגמלת לנו - Daughter of Babylon, destined to be devastated, happy is he who repays for the dealings that you have done with us.” Suddenly the פרק switches from mourning ירושלים to a prophecy of retribution against בבל. This only raises more questions: How did we get here? What brings about this dynamic switch in themes? And ultimately, as a whole, what is this פרק meant to teach us? How are we to understand the promise of אם־אשכחך ירושל͏ם? How is it meant to shape our connection to ירושלים today? 

Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

This week we read פרשת דברים, the first פרשה in the last ספר of the ספר דברים ,חומש. In many ways, this ספר is unlike the other four that precede it. ויקרא ,שמות ,בראשית, and במדבר were all spoken by HaShem and written by Moshe, with absolute precision, down to the very letter. But דברים is different. It is spoken directly by Moshe; it is the record of the conversations that he gave the nation before his death, before they were to enter ארץ ישראל. The אור החיים explains that these discussions can be divided into two parts: Moshe’s rebuke of the nation and his review of the Torah, which the אם למקרא identifies as the beginning of תורה שבעל פה. But this understanding only raises a greater question: why does ספר דברים belong in the חומש at all? Why should we care about the תוכחה that Moshe gave to a generation 3 thousand years ago? Why is תורה שבעל פה written in the תורה שבכתב instead of the משנה and גמרא? But most fundamentally, what is ספר דברים really about and how, being its final ספר, does it complete the Torah?   

Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

This week we read פרשת מטות-מסעי, where we encounter the well known request of the בני ראובן and בני גד. Seeing the great pastureland on the eastern side of the Jordan, they approached משה with a surprising request: instead of receiving their inheritance in ארץ ישראל, they wanted to inherit the east bank of the Jordan. In his response, משה blows up at them, asking: “האחיכם יבאו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה - your brothers will go out to war, and you will sit here?” He continues: “ולמה תנואון את־לב בני ישראל - and why will you dissuade the heart of the children of Yisrael?” In response בני גד and בני ראובן clarify that they had no intention of abandoning their brothers. Instead, they promise to join them in conquering ארץ ישראל and only after the nation’s total success to return to the east bank. The story then concludes with משה agreeing to this deal. However, this story is difficult. Is it really that simple? Are those Moshe’s only concerns? Or was there something deeper motivating this request? And if their motives are fundamentally flawed, how then are we to view the ending? Was this agreement a resolution that fixed the underlying issues, or just a compromise that left them unresolved?