דבר תורה פרשת וירא

דבר תורה פרשת וירא

In the beginning of Parshat Vayeira, we have the famous story of 3 visitors that come to the tent of Avraham. At quick glance it looks like there are 3 different parts to this story. First, God appears to Avraham. Then, Abraham meets and serves these men (angels). Lastly, Avraham speaks to God, begging him not to destroy Sodom. 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that there is another way to look at these pasukim. Look at them as if they come together to make one story. God appears to Avaraham, and before He can start talking to Avraham, these men enter the scene. Avraham serves these men and after they leave, God speaks with Avraham.  

If you take a close look at Pasuk Bet, that might be what Avraham is saying to God. " My lord, if I please you, do not go on past your servant (me, avraham) until I have given these people food and drink." Avraham then turns to the men and offers to get them something to drink. 

How can that be? How can avraham out interrupt God and say "Hey, wait a minute while I take care of these people." This seems disrespectful.

Rabbi Sacks points out that this is the exact point of the story. The order of the psukim is specifically this drastic to show us that offering hospitality to human beings is very important.  The Talmud Shabbat 127a quotes this pasuk when it states, "Greater is hospitality than the divine presence." 

When Avraham asks God to wait for him, he was showing us, by example, how we need to treat other human beings. We are the only creation that was created in the image of God. By showing respect and kavod to others we are in turn showing respect of God.

These are the messages that we are trying to convey to our students over the course of this year with our monthly themes. Each month, we are working on treating each other better and showing respect and kindness to all. 

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Steven Penn

דבר תורה פרשת לך לך

דבר תורה פרשת לך לך

In parshat Lech Lecha, Avraham is told to leave his homeland and his birthplace. He is asked to make changes from what was happening in the past. There is the obvious physical change of location - moving to a new place, and there is also the bigger change in human responsibility.  

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that Avraham is the first character in the Torah to take personal and communal responsibility.  Adam denied this sort of responsibility when he blamed Eve for his sin. Cain evaded responsibility by killing his brother. Noah claimed responsibility for himself but not for the larger community. 

Avaraham shows that he has accepted this responsibility over and over. He first takes this responsibility on when he listens to the command of God to leave his home. This is something that is not natural or easy, but he knew he should do it. Then, he accepts responsibility for his nephew when he is taken captive by Sodom. After that, Avraham shows this amazing communal responsibility again as he prays to save the lives of the people of Sodom. He knows that they are mostly bad, but that there are some good people who should not get punished. 

With the introduction of Avraham in this Parsha, we have a new role model for human kind. One that takes responsibility for his own actions, feels responsible toward the greater community, and is responsibility toward God.

Taking responsibility for our actions is something that sets human beings apart from the animal kingdom. We might fail  at times or make mistakes, but we need to recognise it and take it. We should all follow in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu and take on our responsibilities toward our family, friends and community. 

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Steven Penn

דבר תורה פרשת נח

דבר תורה פרשת נח

The opening Psukim of Parshat Noach speak about how the world has become corrupt. It is filled with robbery and moral decay. Hashem tells Noach, the tzadik of the his time, that He plans to bring a flood to destroy the world. Noach is given the chance to build an ark to save himself, his family and the animals. In the the description of the corruption of the world, the Torah says that not only were the people stealing and cheating from each other, but even the animals were disgusting to Hashem.

In pasuk 6:12

• "כִּי-הִשְׁחִית כָּל-בָּשָׂר אֶת-דַּרְכּוֹ, עַל-הָאָרֶץ"

Rashi explains this pasuk to mean that animals of different  species mated with other. The immorality was so widespread that it had reached the animal kingdom.  The Beis Halevi   asked - how is this possible? Animals do not have a free will, they act on instinct. How could it be that a lion would want to mate with a bear?  The Beis Halevi answers with a Midrash quoted by Rashi and tells us that when mankind becomes so wicked or mean, we affect our surroundings. We have a negative influence on our entire world, including the animals.

Rav Avrohom Yaakov Pam points out that the Beis Halavi’s answer gives us a powerful insight into how our actions as human beings influence everything around us. When we act in ways that are contrary to the moral code of society and Torah, we bring down the people around us, our children, our friends, our co- workers, our students. When our society goes down this path, there is a feeling in the air that things are not right, a feeling that all is permitted.  

On the same note, doing good deeds and doing the right things can affect our society in a very positive way. People who do this make their community stronger and kadosh. At Yavneh, last month’s theme was “Acts of Kindness - Big or Small Kindness to All.” Over the Sukkot break, our students kept charts of the acts of chesed that they did. They were asked to do one act a day for the 10 days. Over 250 students completed the chart. These acts, big and small, are ways that we strengthen our community.

Try doing something good for someone else today and know that by doing that good deed, you are setting our community and society on the right path.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steven Penn

דבר תורה פרשת נשא

דבר תורה פרשת נשא

Parshat Naso speaks about the korbanot that the nesiim brought. As it lists them, we see that they are each bringing identical korbanot, but each still gets listed individually. The Torah could have listed them all together to save space and time. 

Why was it important to list them all separately if they are exactly the same?

Saul Blinkoff is a Jew who animates movies for Disney. He came to Yavneh a couple weeks ago to speak about his journey getting to this point in his career. He spoke really well, and everyone enjoyed listening to him. He also spoke at my shul that Shabbos, about the exact same thing, and I went anyway. I enjoyed listening to him the second time, the same amount that I enjoyed the first time. 

There are two lessons that I was able to learn from this. First, sometimes doing the same exact thing twice has an impact in the same way it did the first time. If the first time made a big impact, usually the second time will make the same impact or an even bigger impact. 

The second thing that I learn from the Nesiim is that if every person is going the same mitzvah, or the same thing, each person individually is appreciated for his strengths. Even if it appears to be the same exact korban, each individual who brought it is important in his own right, and is important to mention. 

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Steven Penn

דבר תורה פרשת בהר

דבר תורה פרשת בהר

We have just come off from our fun-filled activities of Lag Baomer. Lag Baomer is all about achdut and coming together as a nation to celebrate together. Rabbi Akiva's students struggled to be a cohesive unit, and because of this, they were punished. Each of them slowly started getting affected by a plague that took them over. Lag Baomer was a day that they stopped dying. This is a day to rejoice and celebrate the end of this terrible plague. It is also a day to reflect on how we are treating each other and to assess whether there are any areas where we could improve on when it comes to watching out for our fellow Jews.

In Parshat B'har, Hashem makes a promise that if Bnei Yisrael follow the laws of shmita and do the right thing, they will have enough food for the 6th, 7th and 8th year.

How is it possible that everyone will do the right thing?

It is nearly impossible to expect each person in such a big nation to do the right thing at all times. I believe that the message here is that each of us needs to make sure that WE are doing the right thing, so that we could pick up the slack of people who might not be doing the right thing. If we work together, and each try our best to do the right thing, we can make sure that we are covered for this blessing that Hashem has given us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steven Penn

דבר תורה פרשת אחרי מות

In honor of this week's Teacher Appreciation Week, and Mother's Day coming up on Sunday, I took the opportunity to show the students a short video about gratitude today at Shabbat Assembly.

Click here for a link to the video.  

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Steven Penn

דבר תורה פרשת תזריע

דבר תורה פרשת תזריע

This week's parsha speaks about the punishment for someone who speaks Lashon Hara. If someone is speaking Lashon Hara, they begin to get this skin disease called Tzraat. Once this person sees that they have Tzraat they need to spend time separated from everyone else, outside of the camp. The Cohen comes to look at their condition very sporadically. He checks how they are doing and then comes back 7 days later.

Why does the Cohen wait 7 days to check their skin again? Why can't he come every day to look and see how their disease is healing?

There is an important lesson to be learned from here. If a person looks at the same thing every day it will always look similar to him. It is very hard to see change if he is constantly looking and evaluating it. The best way to evaluate change is by taking a step back and reviewing it at a later time.

While we try to grow and develop into better and more aware people, it is important for us not to get discouraged if we don't see instant change. Change takes time, and the best way to evaluate the changes that we make is by giving ourselves the time and not getting impatient when we do not see the results right away. After time, it is exciting to look back and realize how much we have accomplished.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Penn