Rabbi Levin's Blog

Last week I heard from many friends who were concerned about losing a lot of money.  I have been thinking this week about what lesson can be learned from a bank’s failure.   The Baal Shem Tov (the saintly founder of the Chassidic movement) said that everything we see or hear teaches us a lesson in our service to Hashem.  Certainly this is true from a catastrophic event which affects so many people and dominates the headlines. When the 2008 big financial crash happened, a person came to me to lament the loss of three million dollars, and to express with great regret: “I could have given it to Tzedakah!”   This statement has been sitting with me ever since.  Had he given the money to Tzedakah, he would likely not only have survived the downturn, but that  $3M sum would have been in his spiritual bank account forever.  As our Sages taught, and as we have seen over the millennia, he would have reaped many material blessings too. There is a fascin...

I hope you enjoyed Purim as much as I did. It was such a great pleasure to see our team of Rabbis and Rebbetzins, along with our staff and many volunteers, bring the joy and the Mitzvot of this great happy day to so many hundreds of people. Now it’s time to prepare for Pesach. If you need hand baked Shmurah Matzah (the fresh stuff) or a Haggadah or a Seder we are here for you. Let’s talk about a Golden Calf. The story really sounds strange. The Jewish people had just had a revelation from Hashem Himself, seen great wonders and miracles and heard His voice saying the Ten Commandments, and they thought an animal made out of gold could be a god?  The whole thing doesn’t make sense that smart people in that situation would go for a molten god. Now we are taught that there were idol worshippers among them that still held onto their old ways. These were Egyptians who had joined the Jews when they left Egypt, known as the mixed-multitude. They were the ones who started the whole thing. We...

What is the name of the Jewish People?  Throughout the Torah, we are called “Bnei Yisrael,” the children of Israel.  We always used to joke in school, what about the adults?  But we are called that because we are descended from our forefather Yisrael, which is Yaakov’s other, greater name.  We are also occasionally referred to as Bait Yaakov – the house of Yaacov, or Yeshurun.   It is striking, therefore, that throughout the book of Esther, which we will read on Monday, Purim evening and again during the day on Tuesday, the Jews are referred to as Yehudim – Judeans.  (This is apparently where the word “Jew” comes from.)   I think that the surface explanation of why the name Yehudim is used is the following:  The Jewish nation was divided into two parts, one kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Israel, in the north of Israel, and the Kingdom of Judea in the South, including Jerusalem.   The Kingdom of Israel had been overrun and exi...

  The Jews are in the middle of the desert and Hashem tells them to build a Mishkan (Sanctuary).  They needed many materials like gold, silver, copper, wool, and precious stones.  All of that was no problem.  They had emptied Egypt out of all its riches when they left, in payment for the many years of forced labor. But the walls of the Mishkan were to be made of huge wooden beams.  (For some reason that I can’t fathom, all the English translations say it was acacia wood.  Our sages taught that they were cedar beams.)  Where do you come up with a stockpile of 15-foot beams in the middle of the desert? Rashi tells  a fascinating story.  Our forefather Yaakov (Jacob) saw with prophecy that when his descendants left Egypt, Hashem would tell them to build the Mishkan in the desert.  When he traveled to Egypt to reunite with his son Yosef, he planted cedar saplings there, and told his children to pass along the message to the next generations ...

What can you buy with half a shekel?  Certainly not a sheep or a bull.  Yet, when the Holy Temple stood, the Jews would contribute a half-shekel coin to a general fund which made them participants in the hundreds of communal offerings that were offered daily in the Temple – including Shabbat and the holidays.  What a deal! This is not the subject of this week’s Parsha, Mishpatim.  But in addition to the weekly Parsha, we read an additional Parsha this week – Parshat Shekalim. This is the first of the four special Parshas relating to Purim and Pesach.   Parshat Shekalim relates the Mitzvah incumbent upon every Jewish household to give a half shekel annually to the Temple to be used for the public offerings.  Because this donation took place during the month of Adar, we read this special portion on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Adar.  (If Rosh Chodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, we read it on that day.) The Torah says (Exodus 30:12):  …each one sh...

  How do you define “covet?”   Like most people, when I first learned the tenth commandment - “Do not covet” (in Hebrew “lo tachmod”) – I understood it as desiring something that someone else has.    But I soon realized that it could not be so straightforward.   The Ten Commandments are written twice in the Torah. The first time is in this week’s Parsha, Yitro, when the Torah recounts the Sinai revelation, and the second is in the book of Devarim, when Moshe recounts the story to the nation before his passing.    The final commandment (“do not covet”), is expanded upon in the second telling, Moshe’s repetition of the Commandments (Devarim 5:18), he says: “…you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house…”  The Hebrew word for covet is “tachmod”, but the word for desire is “titavve.”  Two different words.  So obviously, to covet is not to desire.  So what is the meaning of “do not covet?...

  Manna from Heaven.  Every night for 40 years the Jewish people would go to bed in the desert without any way to obtain food for the next day.  In the morning, when the dew evaporated, there was a layer of fresh food for them to eat that day.  It was a white substance in the shape of coriander seeds which could be cooked or baked.   Its default taste was like honey glazed doughnuts (without the calories!), but it could taste like just about anything they wanted it to. They were not allowed to leave any over for the next day, and if they did it would rot and become wormy.  The Talmud points out that this caused them to always feel hungry.  When Moshe was recounting the history of their journey in the desert before he died, he said (Devarim 8:16) : “[Hashem] fed you Manna in the desert in order to afflict you (make you hungry).”  The Talmud comments on the seeming contradiction in the verse – fed you and made you hungry, and says that there is a di...