Torah Parallels

Parshas Vayeira As a Matter of Opinion By: Daniel Listhaus וַיִּגַּשׁ אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמַר הַאַף תִּסְפֶּה צַדִּיק עִם רָשָׁע : אוּלַי יֵשׁ חֲמִשִּׁים צַדִּיקִם בְּתוֹךְ הָעִיר הַאַף תִּסְפֶּה וְלֹאתִשָּׂא לַמָּקוֹם לְמַעַן חֲמִשִּׁים הַצַּדִּיקִם אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבָּהּ : חָלִלָה לְּךָ מֵעֲשׂת כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה לְהָמִית צַדִּיק עִםרָשָׁע וְהָיָה כַצַּדִּיק כָּרָשָׁע חָלִלָה לָּךְ הֲשֹׁפֵט כָּל הָאָרֶץ לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט “ Avraham came forward and said, 'Will You even destroy the righteous with the wicked? Perhaps there are fifty righteous men in the midst of the city; will You even destroy and not forgive the place for the sake of the fifty righteous men who are in its midst? It would be sacrilege to You to do such a thing, to bring death upon righteous with wicked; so the righteous will be like the wicked. It would be sacrilege to You! Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” - Vayeira 18:23-25 In the beginning of parshas Vayeira 1 , the Torah describes that Avraham was s...

Parshas Lech Lecha Strings Attached By: Daniel Listhaus וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם אֶל מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם הֲרִימֹתִי יָדִי אֶל הֹ ' ק ל עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ : אִם מִחוּט וְעַד שְׂרוֹךְ נַעַל וְאִם אֶקַּח מִכָּל אֲשֶׁר לָךְ וְלֹא תֹאמַר אֲנִי הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת אַבְרָם : בִּלְעָדַי רַק אֲשֶׁר אָכְלוּ הַנְּעָרִים וְחֵלֶק הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר הָלְכוּ אִתִּי עָנֵר אֶשְׁכֹּל וּמַמְרֵא הֵם יִקְחוּ חֶלְקָם “ Avram said to the king of Sodom: “I have raised my hand to Hashem, G-d, the Most High, Maker of heaven and earth; if so much as a thread or a shoe-strap, or if I shall take from anything that us yours! So you shall not say, 'It is I who made Avram rich'. Far from me! Only what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who accompanied me....” - Lech Lecha 14:22-24 This week's parsha is devoted to Avraham avinu's life. Even reading through the passukim (verses) on the most basic level, one gains tremendous insight as to how a Jew should live life. Avraham was the true...

Parshas Noach Choose The One to Hear Your Voicemail: Listen to Your Messages By: Daniel Listhaus וַיְהִי כָל הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים “ Now the entire earth was of one language and uniform word” -Noach 11:1 As we head towards the peak of a tense election time with such a strong split regarding policies which have been or should be implemented, it is hard to imagine a world which works together. 1 Try to picture a peaceful world where seldom is heard a discouraging word; a world with a United Nations which sits down for months thinking together to make the world a better a place with no ulterior motives to benefit certain individuals, parties, or nations. As impossible as this situation is to fathom, it indeed occurred in the history of this world. The people who were living during the generation known as the dor haflaga (Generation of the Disunion) 2 , were all direct descendents of Noach. Noach lived through a time when every single human and animal outside the teivah...

פרשת נח Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About 1. A Riddle: סוף סוף ראשי  . תחילת סוף סופי ויבא נח ... אל התבה מי אני ? ג Where do we see from this week's parsha that the day starts at night? Rashi (6:13) says that despite all the things that the dor ha'mabbul were doing, the gezairah was sealed because of robbery. Why robbery more than avodah zarrah or giluy arayos ? Where is there a remez in the beginning of the parsha that Noach was not involved in any of these three things? Rashi both in 6:18 and 7:7 writes that it ws forbidden to have marital relations in the teivah . However, Rashi in 7:7 adds that the reason for this was because the world was in a state of distress... (a) Why does Rashi repeat himself? (b) Why does Rashi in 7:7 add the reason? (c ) Why is this a valid reason? Clearly the people dying in the mabbul deserved it. Shouldn't it have been considered a “joyous” time for the ...