by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jun 3, 2015
Was Moshe blaming himself for not bringing the nation to their potential as HaShem’s chosen people? Was he blaming HaShem for not bringing the nation to Eretz Yisrael immediately after receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai? Was Moshe entertaining the thought that the prolonged slavery experience had perverted the people’s psyche to the extent that no amount of time or revelation would ever restore them to their regal status of their illustrious forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | May 28, 2015
On the first of Nisan, in the second year of our exodus from Egypt, the Mishkan (Tabernacle) began functioning. Each of the first 12 days were highlighted by honoring the Nasi (president, head) of one of the 12 tribes to bring his personal sacrifices to the Mishkan.
The first Nasi was Nachshon ben Aminadav, from the tribe of Yehuda.
Commentaries explain that Nachshon was chosen to be first by virtue of his singular act of courage when he alone, of all the nation of Israel, followed Moshe’s dictate and jumped into the churning, turbulent Yam Suf (Red Sea) before the waters divided.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | May 21, 2015
Rabbi Akiva’s soul was moved by Shlomo Ha’Melech’s description of HaShem’s love for the Jewish people (8:6-7):
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | May 13, 2015
Asaph saw in the greatest tragedy to befall the Jewish nation in 500 years as the never ceasing compassion and fidelity of HaShem for His children Yisrael. That despite the fact that the quality of justice rightfully demanded the most severe punishment for the Jewish nation, Hashem vented his wrath on the physical Temple not on the Jewish population.
A motion picture is comprised of thousands of individual frames. So too is one’s life of 70 years or even a whole generation no more than a tiny frame in the larger picture of HaShem’s world plan.
And just as one cannot grasp the plot and sub-plots of a film by viewing it for one minute, one cannot grasp the plots and many sub-plots and directions in the history of mankind from the first day that Adam and Eve walked the earth even within a lifespan of 120 years.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | May 6, 2015
Time is the ultimate supernatural gift that HaShem has given to the Jewish people, and indeed only to us. HaShem granted us the ability to transform its fleeting elements – seconds, minutes, hours, days, and Sabbatical cycles, into eternal entities. We do so by performing mitzvot which transfer the “this world” dimension of time into eternal spiritual entities which are the building blocks of our personal place in Gan Eden.
However these must be authentic mitzvot.
What is an authentic mitzva, as apart from an unauthentic one?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Apr 29, 2015
The very thought that HaShem would cease His continuous dialogue with His nation Yisrael, albeit temporarily, is fundamentally flawed.
Granted, the last authentic prophet in the world was our own prophet Malachi – claimed by some to have been Ezra HaSofer who restored the Second Bet Hamikdash some 2360 years ago. And granted that the “bat kol” – a voice from nowhere which was heard occasionally in the bet midrash of the Amoraim – has also ceased. And granted that the concept of “da’as Torah” ceased being relevant the moment two great rabbis issued contradictory halachic decisions.
Nevertheless, HaShem sends very clear messages if one has the appropriate receptors. These receptors are the objective ability to interpret how current events are designed specifically for the Jewish nation, even if they occur 1000 kilometers from the nearest Jew.
