Rabbi Levin's Blog

“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...