by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jan 16, 2014
Rashi quotes the midrash (Michilta 17) that Yehoshua was commanded to weaken Amalek by killing their most powerful soldiers but allowing the others to continue living.
Why? Is there not a mitzva to destroy Amalek and eradicate anything associated with that evil nation down to its last Volkswagen?
And why does the episode of our war against Amalek immediately precede parashat Yitro which relates Hashem’s elevation of the Jewish people to the exalted position of “His Chosen Nation” – the nation chosen to be Am Yisrael, living according to Torat Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jan 8, 2014
It’s Seder night. There are words of Torah, a lively discussion develops on the characters of the “four sons.” Songs of thanks to HaShem for freeing the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt are recited. For it is a mitzva on this night for each person to undergo a deja vu experience as if he or she were slaves in Mitzrayim.
Birkat Hamazon (grace after meal) is said, as is the second part of Hallel. Chad Gadya puts the final touch on the mitzvot of the night. Now, just as HaShem destroys the “Angel of Death” in the song, father jumps up and gathering the family in a circle, they all break out in a frenzy of song — L’shana ha’ba’a Be’Yerushalayim — “Next year in Jerusalem.” Suddenly Mama collapses…
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jan 1, 2014
There is no greater mitzva than to defend the lives of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel
Among the laws in the Shulchan Aruch governing the respect incumbent on a son and daughter towards a parent (Yoreh Dai’ah #240), there is one which prohibits a child from voicing support for the parent’s position, which could be construed as the parent’s inability to maintain his position independently.
In parshat Shemot, Moshe requested that HaShem exempt him from the mission to free the Jewish people in order not to take away the honor and respect due to his older and more erudite brother Aharon.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Dec 25, 2013
The temperature range and other properties of Earth are perfect for life. Earth’s atmosphere is transparent to the same spectrum of light to which our eyes are sensitive.
Conclusion: Anthropic reasoning would attribute this to design with humans in mind. And there are many more examples to substantiate the Anthropic Principle.
Now the big question: For whom did HaShem “go out of His way” to shape the Laws of Nature to make the planet so hospitable for humans?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Dec 17, 2013
At the heart of our Parasha is one of the most emotionally charged human dramas in history, before which the greatest plays of Shakespeare pale.
The story of the child with the Hebrew name Tuvia (or Avigdor), who later became the Egyptian called Moshe.
The following are only a few of the mysteries hidden in the Parasha.
The Torah relates that Moshe went out one day “to his brothers and he saw their suffering, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew of his brothers.” Moshe is so reviled by the scene that he kills the Egyptian.
1) Why was Moshe so shocked at the beating of a Jewish slave? Did he not know that millions of Jews were being beaten daily?
2) If indeed the conduct of the Egyptian taskmaster justified his being punished, why did Moshe not bring the matter before his adopted father, the Pharaoh? Why did he prefer to run away?
3) Of all people in the land of Midian, how is it that Moshe finds himself “by chance” in the house of Yitro?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Dec 10, 2013
Rashi in our parsha alludes to the Gemara (Pesachim 56a) which describes the last hours of Ya’akov’s physical existence in this world, when he gathered his 12 sons to reveal to them what awaits the Jewish nation in the “end of days”.
However, at the precise moment when their hearts and minds were at their peak attentiveness, HaShem withdrew His Shechina (Divine spirit) from Yaakov and the revelations became obscured. Ya’akov feared that HaShem’s withdrawal might be due to one or more of his sons being a heretic. For just as his grandfather Avraham had begot the sinful Yishmael and his own father Yitzchak begot the evil Esav, he too might be cursed with a wayward son.
