by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Feb 26, 2014
It is superfluous to underscore the painful breach that exists within our society, because the debate and emotions are inescapable.
It is the result of “bad blood” which exists between the sides – “bad blood” because the issue is one of life and death, where one side spills its blood while the other does not. I am referring to the matter of military service for Chareidi yeshiva students. The gap between the sides appears to be at this time irreparable. The learners cannot concede because in their eyes they are fulfilling Hashem’s will that Jews should learn Torah and that their learning is defending the Medina. The earners, on the other hand, cannot perceive that learning Torah in an air-conditioned bet midrash and sleeping every night between two clean sheets is as effective in defending the country as dropping a two-ton bomb from an F-16 in Azza or laying in a mud-filled foxhole on the border in ambush for terrorists who are determined to murder as many Jews as they can.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Feb 18, 2014
The last five parshiot of the Book of Shemot are: Teruma, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa, Vayak’hel and Pekudai.
Teruma and Tetzaveh, deal with the Mishkan and its implements. The third – parashat Ki Tisa interrupts the sequence and describes the events of the iniquitous, disastrous episode of the Aigel Hazahav (the Golden Calf). And the last two – Vayak’hel and Pekudai, return to the subject of the Mishkan and its implements.
The schematic breakdown of the parshiot is: Mishkan, Mishkan, tragic episode of idolatry, Mishkan, Mishkan. Why did the Torah interrupt the sequence of the Mishkan with the episode of the Aigel Hazahav?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Feb 12, 2014
When Moshe saw the sinners dancing around the Golden Calf in religious ecstasy, he called out to the faithful (Shemot 32:26-28): “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’ The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.”
Let’s now learn about the avoda zara of today…
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Feb 5, 2014
On the question: What is Moshe most famous for? The consensus would probably be that He was HaShem’s agent in bringing and teaching the Torah to Am Yisrael.
That would be correct had the question been: For what is Moshe Rabbeinu (our rabbi) most famous?
However, the question is: what is the man Moshe most famous for? What did he do to represent the values and integrity of the son of Amram and Yocheved not the “eved HaShem” (the servant of God) who had no choice but to do the bidding of the Creator?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jan 29, 2014
Ezra and his colleagues fasted for three days and nights, after which they saw the fiery form of a lion cub exiting from the Kodesh K’doshim (the Holy of Holies) of the Temple. It was the corporeal form of human compulsion for avoda zara, which from that time on, although present, was very much weakened.
This requires an explanation:
1). Why was the habitat of avoda zara in the Kodesh K’doshim?
2). How did the escape of the drive for avoda zara from the Kodesh K’doshim influence the Jewish national psyche?
For the answers to these questions we have to turn to our parasha, Teruma.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jan 23, 2014
Our parasha relates (Shemot 24,10):
And they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a sapir (the gemstone lapis lazuli) as bright blue as the sky
And the Yerushalmi (Berachot chapter 1) quotes R. Meir who said regarding the blue (techelet) of the tzitzit:
The (color of) techelet is as the ocean, and the ocean is as the green grass, and the grass is as the sky, and the sky is like the color of the holy throne, and the holy throne is like the gemstone (lapis lazuli) as it says (Yechezkel 10,1) ‘I looked and I saw above the raki’a (emptiness of space) the likeness of a throne of sapir that was over the heads of the cherubim
What are the rabbis teaching us with the idea that tzitzit initiate a chain reaction of sight and thought leading up to the Holy Throne and the cherubim?
