5-Bullet Friday: Parshas Behar

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5-Bullet Friday

This week is Parshas Behar! Check out this week's d'var torah here.

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Here is this week's 5-Bullet Friday, a quick summary of thoughts I’ve been pondering during the week:
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  • Question I'm pondering (on the parsha): G-d knows all. The Torah says in a couple of places in this week’s parsha by certain commandments, “...And you shall have fear of your G-d [Hashem]…” For example, with regard to the negative commandment of “lo sonu” (not to harass others); the passuk uses this expression and Rashi (15:17) explains that this commandment warns people from verbal harassing others including annoying and giving bad advice. In order to counter what one may think of, “Well how would someone know if I have evil intentions and specifically giving bad advice (vs good advice that just didn’t play out”, the Torah counters that Hashem knows everyone’s intentions. The question is, isn’t it obvious? The whole Torah has to be premised on the fact that we believe in an all-knowing G-d! Any aveirah could be done privately and no one would know, what’s the difference between a person rationalizing that no one could see him in private and that no one could read his mind? Either way v’yaraisa m’elokecha is required. So why in these places specifically does the Torah choose to remind us of this?
     
  • Concept I am considering: Kissing the mezuzah.  The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (11:24) brings as a halacha that since the mezuzah is to remind us of yichud Hashem yisbarach, when we exit or enter a room with a mezuzah we should stop and kiss it. Application: We go through doors all the time, and some of us even kiss the mezuzah each time we do. However, we should not just kiss the mezuzah but actually use it as the tool it is meant to be which is to trigger our minds to recall yichud Hashem.  
  • Hashkafic idea I'm reflecting on: Pesach, Shavuos, and beyond! The passuk (25:38) states, “ I am Hashem your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land if Canaan, to be a G-d to you. As we are in the middle of sefiras ha’omeir - essentially the “chol ham’oed” between Pesach and Shavuos it is worth recalling that the exodus from Mitzrayim is not an end in itself but rather a means to greater heights. Being unleashed from slavery offers one freedom. However it is what one does with the freedom which is most important. Will one see the freedom but revert back to the comfort of the slavery he had become accustomed to? Will one use his freedom to just become a slave to something else? Or will one use his freedom to grow and become a better person without the limits of slavery? The purpose of leaving Mitzrayim was much more than for the sake of leaving Mitzrayim; it was to utilize the freedom to receive the Torah. In this way Pesach takes us to Shavuos However, as the Torah tells us, the ultimate place to keep the mitzvos and grow spiritually is in Eretz Yisroel. Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim to give us the Torah for us to keep the mitzvos in Eretz Yisroel.
  • Middah on my mind: Perseverance. This week we experienced Lag Ba’omer - a time of celebration….but celebrating what? After 33 days of mourning for the devastating loss of R’ Akiva’s 24,000 students, we celebrate? We are not celebrating the end of utter destruction, but rather the start of a new beginning. After literally losing his life’s work, Rabbi Akiva went out and restarted his transmission of his Torah to five new talmidim. Perseverance is key. We all experience setbacks but not everyone puts in the energy to pull themselves back up. May Hashem help us during this week post-Lag Ba’omer to search within our hearts for that repeating thought, action, or environment which is causing internal destruction and commit to a new beginning of turning it around and re-starting on the constructive path you really desire.
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  • Part of Tefillah I'm concentrating on: Ashrei. “Zecher rav-tuvcha...” Of the remembrance of Your abundant goodness they will speak, and of Your righteousness they will sing. Hashem does incredible kindness with us and the world. If we truly recognize the extent of His kindness we would realize that it is too much to simply be aware of and contain inside ourselves, rather we would feel the need to express it and share with others.
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What's on your mind? 

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Parallely yours, 

Daniel

P.S:
  • Topic I am thinking about: The answer might be closer than you think. Ever ask someone a question and they give an answer fairly quickly back and then you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Well, why didn’t you? In the world of instant gratification we are used to getting results super-fast and “delegate” our thinking to others or technology. We have so many questions - What? When? Where? But perhaps if we just take a slight moment to think about it, sometimes there is just one little piece you need to think of….let’s call it “The Letter T” and you could have all the answers...That! Then! There! What W’s have you recently asked that you could have resolved if you would have taken the minute to think of your Ts?   
Have comments or thoughts on this week's bullets? Have other random thoughts on your mind? Send an email to torahparallels@gmail.com. Thank you!

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