MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

This week, we begin reading Sefer Vayikra and its first parasha , Parashat VaYikra. The parasha discusses many of the laws of specific korbanot – sacrifices – including the olah , shlamim, chatat and others. The parasha opens with the following verse, “And He called to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him from the tent of meeting saying …” Our mesorah – oral tradition – teaches that the word, vayikra - and He called – is to be written in the Torah scroll with a particular nuance. The last letter in that word – the letter aleph – is to be written in a significantly smaller font. Our commentators have a number of different explanations and interpretations of this requirement. One explanation is given by the Kli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz. He explains that the letter aleph is associated with learning and education. The letter aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet – the basis of learning. The root of the word aleph is also associated in Hebrew with training and preparat...

Our parasha , Parashat Bo, is the third in a set of four parshiyot dealing with the experience of b’nei yisrael in Mitzrayim . Moshe and Aharon approach Paroh and declare that if he refuses to let the Jewish people go, the plague of locusts will be unleashed upon Egypt. Moshe elaborates and explains that all of Egypt will be consumed. Moshe and Aharon leave Paroh. Paroh’s servants complain to Paroh. “How long will you allow Moshe to be a trap for us? Let the men go so that they should serve their G-d. Do you not know that Egypt has been destroyed?” The Torah continues the narrative. “And Moshe and Aharon were returned to Paroh. Paroh says to them, ‘Go serve the L-rd your G-d. Who and who goes' (מי ומי ההולכים)? Moshe responds, ‘We will go with our young and with our old, we will go with our sons and with our daughters with our flocks and with our herds; כי חג לה' לנו - because it is a festival unto G-d for us.’” Our commentators ask a number of questions on the passa...

This Shabbat, we begin reading Sefer VaYikra and its first parasha , VaYikra. The parasha presents many of the different korbanot – sacrifices – that were offered in the mishkan and beit hamikdash . One of the korbanot that the Torah presents is the korban asham va’dai – a sacrifice of a definite sin. In what situation would somebody bring a korban asham ? Rashi comments on the Torah’s use of the following phrase in reference to the korban asham va’dai – “and he will bring his sin sacrifice for the sin that he performed”. He explains that the case that demands this type of sacrifice is when the person who did the sin was not discovered by others but later he decided that he wanted to repent for his actions. Rashi explains that the first stage of addressing a sin is admitting guilt. After desiring repentance, the person rights whatever wrong he did (for example, repaying a debt). The last step of repentance is for him to bring a korban asham va’dai . The commentary, Kli Yakar , ...