MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

In this week’s parasha, Lech Lecha, the Torah recounts the Avram’s return from an improbable victory in a war against the four kings. On the way, he encounters MalkiTzedek, the King of Shalem. The Torah describes the meeting: “MalkiTzedek, king of Shalem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of G-d, the Most High. He (MalkiTzedek) blessed him saying, “Blessed is Avram of G-d, the Most High, Maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be G-d, the Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” The Malbim, Rabbi Meir Leibush, asks why MalkiTzedek blessed Avram before blessing G-d. Although the Midrash, in fact, criticizes MalkiTzedek for prioritizing the blessings in this way, Malbim explains that MalkiTzedek’s decision to bless Avram before G-d is to MalkiTzedek’s credit. To understand what justifies MalkiTzedek’s prioritization, we first need to ask another question – how can a human being bless G-d? To say that a human being is blessed is understandable – MalkiTzedek saw ...

The following is Rabbi Owen’s speech from the MHA Annual Meeting. This week’s parasha recounts the incident of Zimri – a leader of the tribe of Shimon – and Cosbi – the daughter of a Midianite prince. Pinchas sees Zimri and Cosbi in flagrante delicto – in an immoral act in public – and executes them both on the spot. For his zealotry in defense of the integrity of the Torah community, Hashem rewards Pinchas with a covenant of peace and the Priesthood. The Torah then outlines a mitzvah that only relates to the nation of Midian - be hostile to the Midianites and strike them. Normally, the Torah demands b'nei Yisrael to offer peace to an enemy that you are about to go to war with. Midian – no. The Torah commands us here to be hostile to the Midianim. Normally, when besieging an enemy, we are commanded to allow an escape path. Regarding Midian – no - besiege them on all four sides and strike all of them. Why Midian? What did they do to deserve this hostile treatment? Malbim e...

Perashat Tetzaveh presents the design of the bigde kehuna – the Priestly Garments. Tetzaveh is the only parasha of Moshe’s lifetime – four of five books of the Torah – that does not mention Moshe’s name. Clearly the focus of the Perasha is all on Moshe’s brother Aharon and his descendants. Moshe Rabbenu’s role in the nation is clear. Hashem chose Moshe as His representative to the nation to bring them the Torah and to convey Hashem’s prophetic message. He announced the plagues to Pharoh in Egypt. Moshe Rabbenu was G-d’s messenger to the Jewish people. What was Aharon’s role in the nation? Aharon taught Torah to the people. He offered the nation’s sacrifices in the mishkan . Malbim explains that Hashem chose Aharon to be the nation’s messenger in serving Hashem and in teaching Torah. Thus Moshe and Aharon stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Moshe was Hashem’s representative to the people and Aharon was the people’s representative to Hashem. What qualified Aharon to be the appropriate...

This week’s parasha, Yitro, describes Hashem’s revelation at har sinai through the aseret hadibrot – the Ten Commandments. The fourth of the commandments (or, more literally, utterances) is zachor et yom haShabbat lekadesho – remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it. In this commandment, the Torah identifies the reason of Shabbat as being a reminder of chiddush olam – G-d’s creation of the world ex nihilo - out of nothingness. Our Shabbat tefilot frequently mention this aspect of Shabbat – zecher lema’ase beresheit – a reminder of creation. How does Shabbat commemorate creation? The answer appears to be obvious. Shabbat is a reminder of G-d’s creation of the world from nothingness because the Torah says that G-d created the world for six days and rested on the seventh day. That seventh day is Shabbat. The Malbim addresses this question by analyzing the word that the Torah uses in our parasha to describe what Hashem did on the seventh day – vayanach – and He rested. Malbim sug...