Rabbi Levin's Blog

The Mishkan (traveling sanctuary) was finally completed.  It was a magnificent portable building made of many materials including gold, silver and copper, and various colors of fabrics and skins. To dedicate the Mishkan, over the course of the first 12 days, each head of tribe brought a lavish offering consisting of animal sacrifices, incense and more. They also donated six covered wagons and 12 oxen to pull them.  These wagons were used by the Levites to transport the pieces of the Mishkan and all the utensils and vessels from place to place as the Jews traveled through the desert.  However the wagons were not given to all the Levites.   Each of the three levite families carried different specific parts of the Mishkan.  The family of Kehot were assigned the holy furniture items, including the Holy Ark.  Those items had poles and were carried by Levites on foot, not transported on wagons.   Rambam (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Klei Hamikdash 2:12) ...

“I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of Egypt from the house of bondage.”  These are the opening words of the Ten Commandments that Hashem gave the Jewish people on Shavuot 3,338 years ago. They were the introduction to the 613 Mitzvot that are the vehicles by which we reveal Hashem’s light in the world and make it a home for Him.  Hashem is the Creator of the entire world. It would seem that that is a greater accomplishment than freeing slaves from Egypt. Why not introduce Himself as the One on Whom everything depends?   Another interesting point is why Hashem would have to remind the Jews that they were redeemed from Egypt. This was only a few weeks after they had ended 210 years of bitter exile there, and they hardly needed a reminder of the country in which they were slaves. He could have just said “who took you out of the house of bondage” and everyone would know He was referring to Egypt.  Chassidus explains at length that Egypt is not just a country and...

In a week, we will be receiving the Torah from Hashem.  Wait a second, you might say, that happened 3,338 years behind the times!  The Jewish people stood at the foot of Mount Sinai in the year 2,448 from Creation, 3,338 years ago, and Hashem came down onto the mountain and gave the Torah.  But even though it happened then, what I said is still accurate, for a few reasons. First of all, every one of our holidays is not just celebrating an event that happened in the past, but reliving the events that happened the first time.  On Rosh Hashanah, the birthday of humankind, we celebrate the creation of the world.  Chassidus explains that every Rosh Hashanah the world is renewed, with a new revelation of Hashem’s will to create that lasts for another year until next Rosh Hashanah.   Every Pesach we celebrate not just the first Exodus from Egypt but the concept of freedom that is one of the greatest values of the Jewish people.  And on Shavuot we once ag...

  There is nature and there are miracles.  We usually think of them as completely separate things.  Once in a while a huge miracle happens, like the sea splitting, or when thousands of missiles flew and a relatively tiny (though tragic) number of Jews died.  But the sun rises daily and sets, as does the moon.  We plough a field and sow it, it rains and the seeds grow into grain, vegetables or trees.  Sometimes it doesn’t rain and they don’t grow.  It’s the way of the world.   It’s a common practice to let the land lie fallow on occasion, like rotating crops, in order to allow the earth to regain its strength, otherwise the amount it produces may drop.  I did some research about this and some modern farmers feel that fertilizing the land has the same effect, but certainly this was a practice in earlier times.  Many still believe in it today. So then it would make sense that the Torah tells us, in the Parsha we read this Shabbat, to l...