Torah Parallels

Parshas Emor - Of Mice and Men: Divide and Conquer

Parshas Emor A Meal Unfit for a King By: Daniel Listhaus “To be an appeasement for you: unblemished.... Any [animal] in which there is a blemish you shall not offer, for it will not be an appeasement for you” - Emor 22:19-20 The privilege and opportunity that we are given to be able to offer karbanos (animal sacrifices) is tremendous. Each and every karbon has its own power to aid an individual or tzibbur (the public) in seeking mercy, forgiveness, or offering thanks to Hashem. However, there is an underlying question when it comes to karbanos which begs to be asked. Why is it forbidden to bring an offering with a blemish? Take the Karban Olah , for example. This is a sacrifice which gets completely burned in the fire on the mizbe'ach (alter) for only Hashem. Hashem certainly does not eat the karbon . In fact, to think so would be heretical. The Rambam 1 writes that Hashem has no body. Furthermore, we declare this in Ani Ma'amin 2 and in the prayer of Yigdal 3 . Even merely...

Believe it or not, Thoughts On The Parsha is now beginning its 4th Cycle  It has been an incredible experience and looking back it is amazing to see how many changes have been made.  Three years ago Thoughts on the Parsha began with a D'var Torah on Parshas Emor - A Meal Unfit for a King with about 30 readers via email: From here we moved on to the blog: Soon after a new tab appeared: Which was linked to the new Parsha Stumpers Blog: Then, as the email list grew larger a new format was sent out: Baruch Hashem though we were able to move past that eye-sore for the new and improved email:  We graduated past this too with the addition of exciting cover pictures to fit (sometimes :-) ) the D'var Torah's content: Then, after numerous requests to distribute the D'var Torah via social media, the Thoughts on Parsha Google+ Page was created with a beautiful stream of everything posted from the Dvar Torah Blog, Parsha Stumpers, and more recently: Shaar Hazechira (from Orchos Tzad...

פרשת קדושים Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About What does it mean to be kedoshim ? The Gemara in kiddushin describes that the rabbanan termed the hebrew word for engagement as “Kiddushin” because essentially by marrying a wife you are making her “assur to everyone else just like hekdesh”. What is the root of what it means to be a kadosh? Parshas Kedoshim contains many mitzvos – within these the eseres hadibros are present. Some of them are straight out and some of them are alluded to. Where? The passuk (19:17) says tjhat there is a mitzva to give others mussar...'and you should not bear a sin because of him'. What does this mean? Why is 'v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha' a 'zeh k'lal gadol ba'Torah? The passuk (20:3), when describing prohibition of giving children over to molech ( a certain form of avodah zarrah ), says that Hashem will direct his face upon them and cut them off from their people. Rashi explains further tha...

Parshas Kedoshim Caught in a Lie By: Daniel Listhaus לֹא תִּגְנֹבוּ וְלֹא תְכַחֲשׁוּ וְלֹא תְשַׁקְּרוּ אִישׁ בַּעֲמִיתוֹ : וְלֹא תִשָּׁבְעוּ בִשְׁמִי לַשָּׁקֶר וְחִלַּלְתָּ אֶת שֵׁם אֱלֹקיךָ אֲנִי ה ' ה “ You shall not steal, and you shall not deny falsely, and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by My Name, thereby desecrating the Name of your G-d – I am Hashem.” -Kedoshim 19:11-12 The first passuk (verse) of parshas Kedoshim begins, “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to the entire assembly of B'nei Yisroel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your G-d, am Holy.” 1 Rashi 2 comments that this passuk teaches us that this part of the Torah was said b'hakhel – at a gathering of the entire B'nei Yisroel – because the majority of the essentials of the Torah depend on it. 3 There is no doubt that this parsha indeed contains the most basic and fundamental parts of the Torah. After all, the Aseres Hadibros are present throughout t...

Parshas Acharei-Mos: Mind the Land or Beware of the Land Mines