Rabbi Levin's Blog

We read an intriguing story this week. The Jews are ready to enter the land of Israel, and, based on a request by the people, Moshe sends spies to “tour the land.”  They return with very disturbing reports. Ten of them insisted that the nation would not be able to capture the land, and the two who disagreed were not allowed to speak up.  There is a seeming contradiction at the very beginning of the story. Moshe handpicked the 12 “anashim” - men.  Rashi points out that the word anashim is a statement of importance. “At that time they were “kesherim” - kosher, meaning righteous people, not malicious sinners as they turned out later. Nevertheless, we see that Moshe must have had some concerns. He changed the name of the leader of the tribe of Efraim, who would become Moshe’s successor, from Hoshea to Yehoshua (Bamidbar 13:16). Rashi tells us the name Yehoshua represents two words of prayer: Kah Yoshiacha - may Hashem save you from the scheme of the spies. (The word “scheme” ...

Moshe, the great leader, the man of G-d, throws up his hands in despair.  He had brought ten plagues on the Egyptians and freed the Jews. He had split the sea and brought, as we say in the Haggadah, another 50 plagues on the Egyptians at the sea.  When there was no food he provided miraculous Manna from Heaven every day for the entire nation. When there was no water he hit a rock and great streams of water poured forth, irrigating the desert wherever they traveled.  It was dangerous in the desert. Extreme heat and cold, with poisonous snakes and scorpions.  Clouds miraculously surrounded them and they spent 40 years in a safe cocoon. The clouds even absorbed the arrows and rocks that the Egyptians had shot at them on the way to the Sea of Reeds.  Now the people asked for meat, and the great Moshe was helpless. “From where do I have meat to give to all these people,” he cries out to Hashem. And after Hashem says he will provide meat for them for a month he sa...

  The day after a Festival is called “Isru Chag” - which is literally translated as “bind the Festival.”  It is based on the verse (Tehillim 118:27) “The L-rd is G-d, and He gave us light. Bind the sacrifice with ropes until [it is brought to] the corners of the altar.”   The word for “sacrifice” is “Chag” - which also means “Festival”, and the word for “ropes” is “Ba’avotim”, which also means “large and fat animals”.  Hence, the Talmud says, based on this verse, that whoever makes a bond for the holiday with additional food and drink like on the holiday itself, is considered as if one had sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the corners of the Altar.  Now this sounds funny.  How does eating meat compare to offering a sacrifice itself? I was thinking about this when someone in my Thursday night class (on Zoom, yes you’re welcome to join) asked:  Why are our holidays so much about food?  I was discussing the requirement to eat four festive ...

The holiday of Shavuot begins on Tuesday night.  Though not as well known as other Jewish holidays, it is arguably the most important, since without Shavuot none of the others would even exist.  On the sixth day of Sivan 3,336 years ago, Hashem descended to Mt. Sinai to give us the Torah, and we became the Jewish nation.  (Before that we were a family descended from Abraham, but the official beginning of the nation as the Torah observant Chosen People, began on Shavuot.) When Moshe asked the people if they would accept theTorah, they said the two famous words:  “Naasse Venishma” - we will do and we will hear.  The Talmud states that when the nation said first Naasse and then Nishma - implying a total acceptance of whatever the Torah would require without even knowing the details in advance, the angels came and gave each of them two crowns.  (The crowns would later be taken away after the people worshiped the Golden Calf.) The Rebbe teaches a beautiful, myst...

  I am dedicating this D’var Torah to a giant whom we lost this week.  Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky passed away in Brooklyn on Tuesday.  Anyone who watched the Chabad Shluchim Convention broadcasts is familiar with his face and his voice. Among other things he did the roll call of Shluchim from around the world.  He was in a very big way responsible for the tremendously successful growth of the global Chabad organization.   I remember when I was a Yeshiva student, and I would visit his home for Shabbat meals. (His wife Rivka is my first cousin.)  He would tell me stories of the far-flung places in the world that he would visit to meet Jews who had no access to Jewish life, and how he intended to send a young Rabbinic couple there.  He was the one who suggested to Dena and me that we consider developing Chabad in Palo Alto, and subsequently the Rebbe approved the appointment and sent us here. He dedicated his entire life, every waking moment, to Jews arou...