The Pshat Heard 'Round the World

Pshat: "And it came to pass on the eighth day" - that is how this week's parashah, Shmini, opens. "The eighth of what?", you ask? We''ll get to the "pshat" forthwith. For me, this week, the "eighth" had a different association. This week I marked the eight yahrtzeit for my father, Osher Kahan, may his memory be a blessing. As is frequently the case, his yahrzeit falls this year between parashot Tzav and Shmini. As is also frequently the case, one of the two is Shabbat Parah. All of this is of great significance for me, since he passed away on Shabbat Parah, Parashat Tzav. Both of those Torah passaged make reference to mortality - the former instructing us regarding the rites of purification from the impurity imparted by physical contact with or proximity to a corpse, and the latter concluding with the verses that form the basis for the universal Jewish custom of sitting in mourning for seven days - the custom of shiv'ah . ...

Quick - which sacrificial offering is more hamur (serious, substantial, and therefore, sacred): an asham (guilt-offering) or a chattat (sin-offering)? Conventional wisdom - and the order in which they are presented in this week's parashah tell us that it's the chattat, Thats the offering one brings for committing a serious transgression - such as eating a chunk of forbidden fat or chametz, violating Shabbat - unvittingly. The penalty for intentional violation of such prohibitions can be as serious as death, and unwitting violation cannot be let go with nothing. Lack of mindfulness about one's actions is in itself an indictment. Thus, the Torah prescribes the bringing of a particular offering as part of the process of atonement. There is much behind the symbolism of the act of bringing a sacrifice that time and space and mine (my limited one) does not permit us to explore here, but suffice it to say that the chattat is part of a reconciliation with Hashem, coming o...

This week's Pshat is dedicated to the memory of the eight young men murdered learning Torah last night at Yeshivat Merkaz Harav, two of whom were my son's classmates through eighth grade: Segev Avichayil and Avraham David Moses . Y'hi Zichram Baruch, Hashem Yikom Damam. The last cold snap has barely lifted, but outside, the almond trees have no time to wait. They are so suddenly filled with beautiful, fragrant white blossoms that it is hard to believe that little over a week ago, they weren't there. Even harder to believe that by the time Nisan comes and we can say Birkat HaIlanot, they will be long gone. What's their rush? Where are they going? Can't they wait for the other trees? The word for almond in Hebrew is shaked , which means "quick and diligent". Yeshivah Letzi'irim, popularly known as Yashlatz , is the high-school branch of Yeshivat Merkaz Harav, the yeshiva founded by Rav Kook almost eighty-five years ago. It's know as bein...

I overheard my daughter on the phone with a friend this morning. It wasn't hard to do - she was speaking animatedly in the living room! The Hakhtarah is coming up - the crowning of the Rabbanit Purim - the Purim Rebbetzin - in her Ulpana. She is in twelfth grade, and the twelfth-graders put on the Purim Shpiel. There was brisk competition for the various parts, and Shalhevet was chosen for the lead role. Her good friend also was chosen for a part, albeit a minor one. In the most recent rehearsal yesterday, it seems that a number of girls who had minor parts skipped the rehearsal, and their lines had to be read by the directors. A few dedicated girls are trying to pick up the slack, but that creates ill-will. Shalhevet was engaged in giving musar in a forthright but loving way, to her good friend, one of those who skipped the rehearsal to tend to personal matters. She said that she understood the thinking - how much can the absence of one line impact a rehearal, and why sho...

Ki Tisa - when you lift up the head of the people of Israel. Lifting up the head or face has many associations and meanings, some positive, some not so positive (to wit: the opposing and ironic usages of the term by Yosef to the Egyptian butler and baker), but the positive predominates. Lifting up the head is a way of encouraging by relating. Those were some of the thoughts going through my mind as I was learning with my son, Yinon, last night at his yeshiva tichonit (high school yeshiva) in Otniel - the parents are invited to learn with their sons before every in-Shabbat, about every two or three weeks, and I try to make as many of those sessions as I can because Yinon, the middle child (or "sandvitch", as they say in pure Biblical Hebrew) of our five (bli ayin hara) children, effectively lives at yeshiva, so it's special opportunity to encourage him, deepen the connection, heck, to lift up his head!! They gave us a sheet of prepared sources dealing with road safety,...

Beginning with his birth in Parshat Shmot, Moshe's name is mentioned in every Parasha of the Torah. Yet in Parashat T'zaveh, it is nowhere to be found. Where is Moshe? Now, lest we dismiss Moshe's absence as a coincidental by-product of the haphazard manner in which history and custom have divided the Torah into weekly portions, consider this: our parasha opens with a series of Divine directives aimed at Moshe: V'atah t'zaveh; v'atah hakrev, v'atah t'daber: ­ "you must command, you must bring close, you must speak". What could have been more natural than to set the context of the various commands by at least beginning with Vayomer Hashem el Moshe? Furthermore, the very first pasuk of the next Parasha begins: Vayomer Hashem el Moshe! Where, then, in Tetzaveh , is Moshe? Let's find him! Parshat T'zaveh places us right in the middle of the extended section which relates the construction of the Mishkan ~ the portable desert sanctuary....

I was speaking last night with Yonatan Neril, a student at the yeshiva with a keen interest in exploring the nexus between Torah and environmental consciousness. We were discussing a seminar he will be giving, G-d willing, in the Bat Area in the next few months. He wanted to present Ya'akov Avinu as a model of environmental consciousness, focusing on two episodes of his life as depicted by the Midrash. The first is the famous image of Ya'acov at the Yabok, preparing for the encounter with Esav and, having crossed his family safely over the river, goes back for pachim ketanim , little flasks, seeming worthless given the danger hovering over Ya'acov, yet, as we are told, the righteous prize their few possessions, since they attest to the fact that they have studiously avoided theft. Variants of that Midrash tell us that the contents of those small vials was olive oil from the branch presented by the dove to Noach and preserved during all the intervening generations. The o...