5779 Haftorah This week’s Haftorah discusses יפתח who went to war with בני עמון. The Gemara in ראש השנה דף כה ע"ב says יפתח בדורו כשמואל בדורו. The simple understanding of this Gemara is that in spite of the fact that יפתח was not a prophet and was just a warrior (ילקוט שמעוני ספר שופטים סז goes as far as to say he was not even a בן תורה), nonetheless for his generation he was as good as Shmuel....
5781 Opportunity When Out of Place The Parsha begins with Ahron being commanded בהעלתך את הנרת. Rashi points out that this Parshas is out of place by asking למה נסמכה פרשת המנורה לפרשת הנשיאים because if these events occurred chronologically, then there would be no need for such a question. Therefore, the fact that Rashi asks למה נסמכה indicates that this event is not in the chronological order of event as we see in the Gemara in Gittin on 60b that the Parshah of the Menorah was one of the eight Parshiyos given on Rosh Chodesh Nissan before the Nesiim began to bring their Korbanos and it wasn’t said now, after the Nesiim concluded bringing their Korbanos, which was on the twelfth day of Nissan....
5781 Importance of personal connection The second half of the Parsha discusses the Korbanos that were brought by the Nesiim by the Chanukas Hamishkan. Although the Nesiim brought identical Korbanos, the Torah spells out the Korbanos that each Nasi brought. It would seem to make more sense for the Torah to write it once and then say that this is what each Nasi brought. What is the significance and message being taught that the Korbanos of each Nasi is written out even though it is seemingly repetitious as they are all identical?...
5781 Meron Tragedy In connection with the terrible tragedy that happened in Meron where so many young people, each one special in his own way, were plucked from us in such a quick and cruel way. People have been searching for meaning and therefore we should start with the simple and basic meaning of all this. The Rav began with a story he heard from his Rebbe Reb Berel Soloveitchik. Reb Chaim Brisker had three sons and the least known was Reb Yisrael Gershon who was a bit eccentric....
Videos Thursday Night Shiur 5781 5780...