Insights on the Parsha & Mo'adim - From Joshua Moshe Mitchell

יהושע משה בן שלום
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Trying to find the אמת in the Torah and Chaggim

  1. Jul 23

    Tish'a B'Av 5786 - "אם־לא אעלה את־ירושל͏ם"

    This Thursday is תשעה באב, the saddest day of the year, when we commemorate the destruction of our spiritual home, the בית המקדש. It is a day of deep mourning, a pain expressed most acutely in פרק קלז of תהלים, commonly known as על נהרות בבל. The passage begins by describing the grief of the Jewish people in exile: “על־נהרות  בבל שם ישבנו גם־בכינו בזכרנו את־ציון - On the rivers of Babylon - there we sat and also cried in remembering Zion”. They sit, mourn, and cry over what they have lost, hanging up their harps in sorrow. But this raises the question: Why? What are they mourning over? Why could they not simply start again? Yes, they were no longer in ירושלים, but couldn’t they still rebuild their lives and even thrive in בבל? What exactly had they lost? Later in the פרק, we encounter some of the most famous פסוקים in תהלים, the promise of: “אם־אשכחך ירושל͏ם תשכח ימיני. תדבק־לשוני  לחכי אם־לא אזכרכי אם־לא אעלה את־ירושל͏ם על ראש שמחתי - If I forget you, Jerusalem, I shall forget my right hand. My tongue will cleave to my palate if I don’t remember you - if I don’t raise Jerusalem above my highest joy”. These פסוקים too require understanding: What are we swearing ourselves to? What does it mean to never forget ירושלים? The complexity only deepens when we reach the end of the chapter: “בת־בבל השדודה אשרי שישלם־לך את־גמולך שגמלת לנו - Daughter of Babylon, destined to be devastated, happy is he who repays for the dealings that you have done with us.” Suddenly the פרק switches from mourning ירושלים to a prophecy of retribution against בבל. This only raises more questions: How did we get here? What brings about this dynamic switch in themes? And ultimately, as a whole, what is this פרק meant to teach us? How are we to understand the promise of אם־אשכחך ירושל͏ם? How is it meant to shape our connection to ירושלים today?  Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

  2. Jul 23

    Parshat Devarim 5786 - "אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה"

    This week we read פרשת דברים, the first פרשה in the last ספר of the ספר דברים ,חומש. In many ways, this ספר is unlike the other four that precede it. ויקרא ,שמות ,בראשית, and במדבר were all spoken by HaShem and written by Moshe, with absolute precision, down to the very letter. But דברים is different. It is spoken directly by Moshe; it is the record of the conversations that he gave the nation before his death, before they were to enter ארץ ישראל. The אור החיים explains that these discussions can be divided into two parts: Moshe’s rebuke of the nation and his review of the Torah, which the אם למקרא identifies as the beginning of תורה שבעל פה. But this understanding only raises a greater question: why does ספר דברים belong in the חומש at all? Why should we care about the תוכחה that Moshe gave to a generation 3 thousand years ago? Why is תורה שבעל פה written in the תורה שבכתב instead of the משנה and גמרא? But most fundamentally, what is ספר דברים really about and how, being its final ספר, does it complete the Torah?    Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

  3. Jul 23

    Parshat Matot-Masei 5786 - "ולמה תנואון את־לב בני ישראל"

    This week we read פרשת מטות-מסעי, where we encounter the well known request of the בני ראובן and בני גד. Seeing the great pastureland on the eastern side of the Jordan, they approached משה with a surprising request: instead of receiving their inheritance in ארץ ישראל, they wanted to inherit the east bank of the Jordan. In his response, משה blows up at them, asking: “האחיכם יבאו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה - your brothers will go out to war, and you will sit here?” He continues: “ולמה תנואון את־לב בני ישראל - and why will you dissuade the heart of the children of Yisrael?” In response בני גד and בני ראובן clarify that they had no intention of abandoning their brothers. Instead, they promise to join them in conquering ארץ ישראל and only after the nation’s total success to return to the east bank. The story then concludes with משה agreeing to this deal. However, this story is difficult. Is it really that simple? Are those Moshe’s only concerns? Or was there something deeper motivating this request? And if their motives are fundamentally flawed, how then are we to view the ending? Was this agreement a resolution that fixed the underlying issues, or just a compromise that left them unresolved?

  4. Jul 23

    Parshat Pinchas 5786 - "שש־מאות אלף ואלף שבע מאות ושלשים"

    In this week’s Parsha, פרשת פינחס, we are presented with the second census of בני ישראל. After 40 years of wandering in the מדבר we are told that the count of the nation is 601,730. If we compare this to the previous census, 603,550, taken approximately 38 years earlier, we are struck with an immediate difficulty. So much time has passed, and a new generation has emerged from the מדבר. Naturally, we would expect a significant growth in population. Yet, the numbers remain almost unchanged, even slightly diminishing. How is this possible? Why does the second count so closely resemble the first? And even if there is an underlying reason for the similarity, why don’t the two counts match exactly? What is the significance of the seemingly insignificant difference of 1,820 people? What is the Torah trying to convey with these near-identical numbers?  Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

  5. Jun 25

    Parshat Balak 5786 - "ויחל העם לזנות אל־בנות מואב"

    This week we read פרשת בלק, a פרשה which opens with בלק commanding בלעם to curse בני ישראל. However, quickly בלעם declares that he can only state what HaShem puts in his mouth, and instead is forced to bless the nation despite his desire to fulfil בלק’s requests. The climax of these ברכות is expressed in “מה־טבו אהליך יעקב משכנתיך ישראל - how good are your tents, Ya’akov, your tabernacles, Yisrael.” The ילקוט שמעוני explains that at his vantage point בלעם saw the entire encampment of the nation, an arrangement in which no two tents' entrances faced together, a demonstration of great dignity and privacy. It is this virtue, the ילקוט שמעוני expresses, which is praised in בלעם’s ברכה. Furthermore, the ילקוט שמעוני presents this modesty as more than a mere practice, but rather the defining trait of the nation: a tradition unbroken from the time of אברהם. This only makes what follows, just a few פסוקים later, all the more striking: “וישב ישראל בשטים ויחל העם לזנות אל־בנות מואב - and Yisrael settled in Shittim, and the nation defiled themselves in harlotry to the daughters of מואב”. The Torah then writes that these women led the nation to עבודה זרה and caused them to become attached to their god, בעל פעור. But how did this happen? How can a people characterized by such modesty abandon it so quickly? This difficulty only deepens when we turn to the end of the פרשה. There, HaShem brings a plague upon the nation, declaring all who were involved with בעל פעור must die. Yet, in the midst of the plague פנחס kills זמרי, who sinned publicly, and stops the plague. The מושב זקנים explains that through this act, he was able to save the lives of many. But, this only raises more questions: why must everyone be subject to death - are they not capable of תושבה? And if they are truly deserving of the death penalty, how can one public execution save them?    Recorded in Camp Moshava Ennismore

  6. Jun 19

    Parshat Chukat 5786 - "ויפלו על־פניהם"

    This week we read פרשת חוקת, a פרשה best known for the פרה אדומה and the incident of מי מריבה. Yet before the episode of striking the rock, an unusual reaction takes place that demands attention. After the nation complains about the lack of water, משה and אהרן enter the אהל מועד, and the Torah states: “ויפלו על־פניהם וירא כבוד־ה׳ אליהם - they fell on their faces and saw the glory of G-d amongst them”; they perform נפילת אפיים. Yet, this expression is not unique to this moment; it appears in different contexts throughout the Torah: with קין after his קרבן is rejected, by אברהם upon hearing the promise of the birth of יצחק, and again regarding משה in other times of national crises. But what is the connection between these radically different settings, and what does that reveal about the true meaning נפילת אפיים? Recorded in Manhattan

  7. Jun 12

    Parshat Korach 5786 - "ויקח קרח"

    This week we read פרשת קרח, which records the first structured rebellion against משה. The Parsha opens with אבירם ,דתן ,קרח, and the 250 נשיא העדה, princes of the assembly, gathering before משה and אהרן. Their claim is simple: “כל־העדה כלם קדשים ובתוכם ה׳ - the entire community is holy and HaShem dwells amongst them”. If so, why should משה and אהרן stand above everyone else? משה responds by setting up a test to determine whom HaShem has chosen. In the process, דתן and אבירם refuse to join, און disappears from the narrative, leaving it just to the נשיאים and קרח, who manages to rally all of עם ישראל to watch what will unfold. Ultimately, they fail, and HaShem makes clear their wickedness in a miraculous way, where the earth swallows דתן ,קרח and אבירם, and a fire burns the princes. Yet coming out of this story, the reader is left wondering: How did this happen? What is the worldview of קרח, and where did he go wrong? Furthermore, how was he able to convince אבירם ,דתן ,און, the נשיאים, and even, if only for a small moment, the entire nation? Recorded in Yeshivat Sha'alvim

  8. Jun 4

    Parshat Shelach 5786 - "במספר הימים אשר־תרתם את־הארץ"

    This week parsha is פרשת שלח, where משה sends the מרגלים to scout out ארץ כנען - a mission which lasts for 40 days. However, upon their return, the spies attempt to rally עם ישראל against entering ארץ כנען, claiming that its inhabitants are too strong to be defeated. Their report sparks an uprising amongst the nation, who even begin to plan a return to Egypt. In response, HaShem declares that this generation will not enter ארץ כנען, and that בני ישראל will wander in the מדבר for 40 years, “במספר הימים אשר־תרתם את־הארץ - according to the number of days that you spied the land”. This naturally raises 2 questions: Why should the punishment correspond to the number of days that the spies scouted ארץ כנען, and what exactly is this penalty’s purpose?

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