Please note that shiurim are included in our weekly newsletter, archives on which are available here.
- Parshas Behalosecha (Past week)
- Parshas Naso
- Shabbos Shavuos
- Parshas Bechukosai
Parshas Naso
Taken from the D'var Torah of Isaac Berkovits. (For a full version of the d'var torah, click here).
If the intent of Parshas Nasso, is to highlight the elevating effect of Torah study. Wouldn't it make sense to read about the Bnei Kehos who carried the Aron - which contained the Aseres Hadibros and the menorah - both associated with Torah? However, instead we read about Bnei Gershon, who carried the curtain, which covered the Aron.
This act demonstrates that Torah study should be apart of every aspect of ones life, which in turn brings it to a deeper level of connection with Hashem. The idea that we need to encompass Torah and service to Hashem is also seen through a midrash about Bircus Kohanim. The midrash states that The Kohanim shall bless Bnei Yisroel just as Hashem said to Avraham in beraishis - "and be a blessing". How can one human bless another and how does one become a blessing. Through behaviour, conduct and setting a good example in our own life.
Learning Torah can not remain an isolated inspirational spiritual activity, we need to elevate our service to Hashem through our actions as well. We need to take to heart what we have learned and apply it to our daily life. Elevating normally mundane and inanimate objects to a level of Kedusha.
For a full version of the d'var torah, click here.
Shabbos Shavuos
Shavuos is the anniversary of the defining moment of Jewish history: the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai 3,000 years ago. At Kabolas HaTorah, the entire Jewish nation -- 3 million men, women and children -- directly experienced divine revelation.
The giving of the Torah was an event of awesome proportions that indelibly stamped the Jewish nation with a unique character, faith and destiny. And in the 3,300 years since this event, Torah ideals -- monotheism, justice, responsibility -- have become the moral basis for Western civilization.
Why does Shavuos not have any obvious "symbols" of the day -- i.e. no Shofar, no Sukkah, no Menorah? The reason is that we are to concentrate solely on the central focus of Jewish life: the Torah.
It is a widespread custom to stay up the entire night learning Torah. And since Torah is the way to self-perfection, the Shavuos night learning is called Tikkun Leil Shavuos, which means "an act of self-perfection on the night of Shavuot."
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On Tikkun Leil Shavuos, various members of the Youth Minyan presented Dvar Torahs on a number of interesting topics, including; "Shavuos on the 50th?", "Na'aseh Venishma - Blind Faith" etc. To see summaries of the shiurim presented, please click here.
Parshat Bamidbar
Chazal teach us that the Torah was given in Fire, in Water, and in the Desert. What does this mean?
It was through Avraham that we received the Torah in Fire. Avraham went through the fiery furnace of Ur Kasdim rather than deny G-d. He is the father of the Jewish People, our progenitor. We carry his spiritual genes.
At the Red Sea, the Jewish People as a nation passed an ordeal by water. The Egyptians army was poised to drive them into the sea. At G-d's command the entire nation jumped into the water...and the sea parted.
Straight after this, Klal Yisroel followed Moshe into the unsown vastness of the wilderness, without food, without water, with nothing more than the promise of miracle food from Above.
It was these three ordeals -- fire, water and the desert -- that anchored in the spiritual genes of the Jewish People the capacity to stand strong against all trials and tribulations. To this day, it is this legacy which has empowered ordinary people to behave extra-ordinarily, overcoming all odds and with Mesiras Nefesh, remaining true to the Torah.
* Rabbi Meir Shapiro from Lublin
Yasher Koach to Shlomo Pesach Weisport for his D'var Torah on Shabbos.
Yasher Koach to Noah Fried and Zac Abeles for their D'var Torahs on Shabbos.
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