Torah Parallels

Parshas Noach Better Bitter By: Daniel Listhaus “ ...and again he [Noach] sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came back to him in the evening – and behold! An olive leaf it had plucked with its mouth. And Noach knew that the waters had subsided from upon the earth.” -Noach 8:10-11 Safe inside the security of the teivah (ark), Noach had no way of knowing when the earth would be dry and ready for man again. After sending the raven out unsuccessfully, Noach sent out the dove to determine if the land was ready for them to exit the teivah . The first time the dove was sent, it returned right away because it could not find a place to rest. Noach then waited another period of seven days and sent out the dove a second time. This time, the dove came back with an olive branch in its mouth. Rashi 1 comments that when the dove came back with the olive branch in its mouth, it was trying to tell Noach the following: “Better let my food be bitter as an olive and provided by the hand of Has...

Parshas Vezos Haberachah, Succos, and Parshas Beraishis The Heart of it All By: Daniel Listhaus “ Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moshe, whom Hashem had known face to face; for all the signs and wonders that Hashem sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his slaves and all his land, and for all the strong hand and for all the great awesomeness that Moshe performed before the eyes of all Israel.” - Vezos Haberachah 34:10-12 “ And G-d created man in his image, in the image of G-d He created him....” - Beraishis 1:27 This last passuk of the Torah discusses one of the most fundamental beliefs of Judaism – the testimony by Hashem, that Moshe was the greatest navi to ever live. The Rambam includes this in his thirteen principles of belief 1 , and it is paralleled by the seventh verse of Yigdal 2 . However, beneath the surface of this verse, there is yet another fundamental belief which sums up the whole Torah. The Kli Yakar 3 writes that th...