Rabbi Levin's Blog

  We have a golden opportunity coming up and I hope we all take advantage of it.  One of the most profoundly impactful Mitzvot, and yet one of the easiest to observe, is to eat matzah on the first two nights of Pesach.  Allow me to explain. Please come along with me for a short Kabbalistic journey. I promise it will not be too esoteric and I will try to write it in somewhat simple terms.   Everything in this world has a spiritual source above.  There are spiritual worlds above that are made up of ten components, just as our physical world is made up of those components, called sefirot.  While the physical sefirot and the spiritual ones obviously don’t look the same, they are, nevertheless, related.  In fact, as the spiritual energy flows through the worlds, it is transformed from a spiritual sefira to physical sefira.   The first of all the sefirot is called Chochma.  Chochma means wisdom, and in the physical realm this means intellectual vision, like, for example, the ability to come

Extreme behavior, is it good or is it bad?  I think it’s safe to say that most people will agree that extremism is not a good thing.  Extremism in politics has divided our country, including creating rifts between friends and family members.  I think that the events in Ukraine can be described as extreme aggression and violence, extreme exercise of control, and perhaps extreme evil. How about extreme holiness?  Let’s think about that for a minute.  How would you describe extreme holiness?  Perhaps someone who is not concerned about any material pursuits and is completely involved in prayer and study?  Would you say that an extremely holy person would prefer to spend his or her time in meditation and solitude rather than taking care of a family?  Well, is that good or bad? In the Parsha this week, Shemini, we have an example of extreme behavior.  It may not seem that way when we read the verses, but our Sages, as usual, give us the back story.  Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu offered a sac

  Two anti-Semites were discussing how to wipe out the Jews and get away with it.  The Talmud fills in the narrative that the Megillah relates more briefly. Achashverosh hated the Jews as much as Haman, but he was scared of Haman’s plan.  He knew that Hashem loves the Jews and protects them, and he knew the bitter end that Pharaoh in Egypt and Nevuchadnezzar of Babylon suffered as punishment for their wicked oppression of the Jews.  So when Haman came to Achashverosh and told him about his diabolical plan, the king, who really liked the idea, raised some objections.  Haman worked on convincing him by telling him the Jews had stopped observing the Mitzvot and therefore had lost Hashem’s protection.  The conversation went on, with Achashverosh raising several points and Haman countering them.  The king agrees, and gives Haman his signet ring to follow through with his plan.    One of Haman’s statements is that the Jews are “mefuzar umeforad bein ha’amim” – scattered and separate among al

  “Remember what Amalek did to you [thousands of years ago]… do not forget.” Every year when this Shabbat, known as Shabbat Zachor, comes around, we ask ourselves the same question.  Why the obsession with remembering this nation that picked a fight with us when we left Egypt 3,333 years ago? In fact it is considered a Biblical Mitzvah to hear this Torah reading.  In addition to the regular Parsha, Vayikra, we use a second Torah to read “Parshat Zachor” – the “Parsha of remembering.” We read it on the Shabbat before Purim, because Haman, the main anti-Semitic villain of Purim, was of the nation of Amalek, and his irrational, virulent hatred of all Jews was, as an Amalekite, genetic.  But the question that always comes up is, why do we need to constantly remember Amalek?  And it’s not just once a year. Remembering Amalek is one of the “six remembrances” that the Torah commands us to remember verbally every day!  (Along with the Exodus, the Giving of the Torah, the behavior of the Jews i

  Imagine if you made a contract with Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) himself to build you a building.   You pay him upfront and he delivers the building exactly as planned.  Would you ask him to account for the money and tell you exactly how he used every piece of material he bought?  I think that with anyone else, maybe you would, but not Moshe!  Yet, in this week’s Parsha, we read that Moshe gave a detailed accounting of how he used all the materials that were donated for the building of the Mishkan (sanctuary).  There are many commentaries on this, and many lessons we can learn from Moshe’s example. On a basic level, Moshe teaches us that we should never take it for granted that people trust our honesty.  It is not enough that Hashem knows that you are honest and righteous.  It is also important to ensure that we appear that way to others.  This is an important principle in the Torah.  It’s not ok to go through life disregarding the impact we have on others.  It’s not ok to say: Who cares w