effort – Parsha Ponders

Beyond our capabilities? Impossible[1]

לא בשמים הוא לאמר מי יעלה-לנו השמימה ויקחה לנו וישמענו אתה ונעשנה

It’s not in the heavens, such that you would say, “Who will bring us up to the heavens, that he’ll take it for us, that he’ll have us hear it and perform it”[2]

The subject of our verse is Torah[3]. The verse tells us that it’s not in the heavens. Rashi tells us[4] that the implication is that if the Torah were in the heavens, we would be required to go up there and learn it. The question is, how would we get up there? We have to say that if we really would be required to go up to the heavens to learn the Torah, Hashem would provide for us a way[5]. The main point is to say that Hashem would never command us to do something that is beyond our abilities. Now that the Torah is in our domain, we have to seek after it and learn it.

Continue reading “Nitzavim/Vayeilech 5784”

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To be as great as Moshe[1]

הוא אהרן ומשה אשר אמר יקוק להם הוציאו את-בני ישראל מארץ מצרים על-צבאתם
This is Aharon and Moshe, who Hashem told to take the Jewish people out from the land of Egypt, by their legions[2]

Our Sages note[3] that sometimes Moshe’s name appears before Aharon’s, and sometimes, like in this week’s parsha, Aharon’s name comes before Moshe’s. Why is this? To teach us that the two of them are equal in stature. Now, at first glance, this is astounding. We all know that Moshe was the master of prophets, and the teacher of the entire nation. Through Moshe, we received the Torah. Although Aharon was a mighty giant in his own right, how could we say that he was equal to Moshe?

Continue reading “Va’eira 5783”