Rabbi Levin's Blog

We just celebrated Purim, the downfall of Haman and his colleagues. Haman was a descendant of Amalek and inherited his genetic hatred of Jews. He became extremely powerful, the effective leader of Persia with the King Achashverosh (himself a Jew hater) under his thumb. All of his power was concentrated toward wiping the Jews off the face of the earth.  He had lots of excuses. The Jews are scattered all over the kingdom, they don’t follow the rules, they are no benefit to the king, and the big one that Mordechai would not bow to him. But it was always to justify his hatred which preceded all of that.  When he first came to the king with his plan, Haman offered to pay 10,000 silver coins to the treasury for the privilege. Our sages taught that the money was a mystical way to gain the spiritual power to fulfill his diabolical plot. (Hard to explain.) Hashem said: the Jews preceded you with their half Shekels. Since the giving of the Torah, every head of household gave half ...

“Zachor et asher assa lecha Amalek.”  Remember what Amalek did to you...  This section of Deuteronomy (Devarim 25:17-19) is always read, in addition to the regular weekly Parsha, on the Shabbat before Purim.  We take two Torahs out of the Ark, and after reading the Parsha of Tetzave, we roll up the Torah and then open the second Torah and read “Parshat Zachor.” Listening to the reading of Parshat Zachor is considered a Biblical commandment, as the verse itself says: Remember Amalek.  Mitzvot are active, and “remember” doesn’t mean just in the mind, but to say the words from the Torah.  This is similar to the Mitzvah of “Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it.  This verse also begins with the word “Zachor, and means to actually recite the Kiddush. In the days when many Jews lived alone in rural places, running farms or roadside inns and bars, they would make every effort to come to town for this Shabbat to hear the Torah reading.  Today it is much easi...

  “Ve’asu Li Mikdash veshachanti betocham.”  (Shemot 8.)  This is the Mitzvah to build a Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and a traveling Sanctuary in the desert. The basic translation of the above verse is “They shall make me a Holy Sanctuary and I will dwell amongst them.”  Let’s think about this concept. Sounds like Hashem is asking for a house where he can live. How can that be?  On one hand Hashem’s presence is everywhere. He is the Creator of everything and it is only the constant flow of Divine energy that keeps everything in existence. So how is one place more a home for Him than another? On the other hand, how can Hashem “live” in a physical building?  The only way this universe can exist as an independent entity, Chassidus explains, is when Hashem concealed Himself, because were Hashem’s energy to be revealed, nothing else could exist outside of Him.  King Solomon himself wondered about this when he finished building and furnishing the Holy Temple. ...

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be...” So wrote a world famous antisemitic writer, whom many consider a voice for morality.  His reasoning is that this way you will not lose friendships.   Contrast that with what is written in this week’s Parsha, Mishpatim.  “Im kesef talveh et ami.”  The words “kesef talve” mean “you will lend money.”  What about the first word, “Im?”  Generally the word “im” is translated as “if.”  Using that translation, the words would mean “if you lend money to my people.”  But the Talmud tells us, and Rashi quotes this, that in a few places in the Torah the word “im” means “when,” and this is one of them.  As Rashi says: “Rabbi Yishmael says: Every instance of “im” written in the Torah regarding a commandment means “if” and signifies that the commandment is optional, except for three cases where “im” means “when,” as the commandment is obligatory, and this is one of them.  (The others are: “When you bring an ...

  It was the moment all of Creation was waiting for. For 2448 years the universe was incomplete. The purpose of Creation was in the balance. Would the people accept the Torah?  Would they take in the challenge to transform the world from a purely physical place to a home for Hashem?  Would they accept the role of “priests” to teach the world and spread Hashem’s light to all the nations? Hashem gave the Jews the choice, as he did to all the nations, and the Jews said yes. “We will do and we will learn.”  First we committed to do whatever Hashem commanded, without limit and without question. Then we committed to learn and understand as much as we could about these Mitzvot, in order to bring understanding and excitement to our actions.  The “Sinai Experience” that culminated in the giving of the Ten Commandments began six days earlier. “In the third month after the Israelites had left Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert.” (Shemot 16:1.) Which day exact...

  What do you do when you are between a rock and a wet place?  The Jews had excitedly left Egypt after 210 years of exile and over 80 years of vicious slavery.  They were counting the days to the great anticipated event of receiving the Torah and formally becoming Hashem’s people.  Then disaster struck.  The Egyptians, who had been so happy to see them go, were back with a vengeance.  Pharaoh was talking about dividing the spoils among his people, and was there right behind them with a mighty army.  The Jews had nowhere to go.  In front of them was the Sea of Reeds.  What now?  The Torah tells us that they complained bitterly to Moshe.  Aren’t there enough graves in  Egypt...?  Moshe responded to them (Shemot 14:13,15):  “Have no fear. Stand firm and witness the deliverance that G-d will perform for you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today you will never see again. G-d will do battle for you; you are to r...