S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:

• Teen All Nighter Glow Zone

This Shabbat:

• Friday Candle Lighting: 7:31 pm
• Shabbat Ends: 8:18 pm

Torah Message:

Vengeance is Whose?

“And Moshe spoke to the nation saying…” (13:17)

G-d told Moshe (in 13:2), “Take vengeance for the Jewish People against the Midianites”, whereas when Moshe spoke to the people he said, “Take vengeance forG-d against the Midianites.”

Rashi comments: “Even though he (Moshe) heard that his death was dependent on this (the war with Midian), he did it happily and did not delay.”

How did Rashi see that implication in the words of the Torah?

S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:

• Kids Knott’s Berry Farm
• Teen All Nighter Glow Zone

This Shabbat:

• Friday Candle Lighting: 7:38 pm
• Shabbat Ends: 8:37 pm

Torah Message:

Little Me

“And it shall be for him and his offspring after him a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he took vengeance for his G-d.” (25:13)

Why wasn’t Pinchas anointed with Aharon and his descendents long before his extraordinary zeal in avenging G-d’s name? Why was it necessary for Pinchas to berewarded with a “covenant of eternal priesthood” rather than having the kehuna as his right?

The mystical sources teach that the soul of Pinchas came from the same soul-source as Cain. Cain killed his brother Hevel. The Zohar says that any kohen who murders is disqualified from the kehuna forever, and thus Pinchas, through Cain, “forfeited” his right for his offspring. Cainlost the kehuna for Pinchas, and only Pinchas’ extraordinary zeal earned the kehuna for himself and his descendents.

How did Pinchas’ actions heal the damage that Cain’s killing created?

The name “Cain” comes from the same root as kinyan, meaning “acquisition,” as Chava, Cain’s mother, said: “I have acquired a man with G-d” (Gen. 4:1). In Jewish thought, acquisition is synonymous with existence. We talk of G-d “acquiring Heaven and Earth.” G-d’s “acquisition” was the action by which he brought Heaven and Earth into existence.

In Cain’s eyes he was the only acquisition in this world, its only existence. This is the root of all evil. For there can be no room for G-d in a world which is filled with “BIG ME.” If the world is filled with the glory of ME, how can there be any other existence? BIG ME is the root of all atheism. BIG ME is the root of all jealousy. And ultimate jealousy leads ultimately to murder. For BIG ME has no more effective means to remove jealousy than to remove the source of jealousy: little you.

However, the sense of self can have a positive side. Every single person is obliged to say to himself, “The world was created for me” (Sanhedrin 37). In some way we are supposed to look at the world as though we were the only kinyan in it. In the Book of Chronicles it says, “The heart of King Yehoshofat, (son of David) was raised up in the ways of G-d.” A heart can be high with ego and evil, or it can be raised up with a zealousness to serve G-d.

When Pinchas took it upon himself to avenge the vengeance of G-d, even though he was not obliged to do so, he tapped into the positive side of Cain’s unregenerate egocentricity.

For it is only when someone does something that they do not have to do can we recognize the paradox of the heart that is raised up to serve.

• Source: based on the Shem MiShmuel

S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:

• Kids Knott’s Berry Farm

This Shabbat:

• Friday Candle Lighting: 7:43 pm
• Shabbat Ends: 8:43 pm

Torah Message:

How About You?

“Balak son of Tzippor saw…” (22:2)

Once, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky got into a taxi. The driver saw who his passenger was and said, “Rabbi, I want to tell you a story. When I got out of the army I went with a friend to India. We were deep in the jungle and we got separated from the group. We found ourselves in a dark, thick place. I turned around and saw an enormous python coiling himself around my friend and slowly strangling him. I ran back to him, but despite both our efforts the snake coiled himself tighter and tighter. My friend was turning blue. I could see there was nothing left to do and I said to him, “You better say “Shma.” He summoned all of his remaining strength and whispered faintly with his last breath “Shma Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem Echad!” Instantly, the snake uncoiled himself, and slithered off into the undergrowth. Rabbi, I want to tell you that my friend came back to Eretz Yisrael and is now learning Torah all day and most of the night.”

Said Rabbi Kanievsky, “U’mah itcha?” — “And how about you?”

Said the driver, “No, the Rabbi doesn’t understand. It happened to him, not to me!”

In the closing verses the Torah says, “Never again has there arisen in Yisrael a prophet like Moshe…” (Deut. 34:10). Our Sages infer from this verse that although there never arose a prophet on the level of Moshe amongst the Jewish People, there was a prophet of comparable stature amongst the nations of the world. And that was Bilaam. (Sifri)

One could ask of Bilaam, “U’mah itcha?” If you had access to a level of prophecy second only to Moshe himself, how could you have stooped to evil?

There are two creatures of the air whose eyesight is unmatched: the eagle and the bat. In the daylight the eagle’s eyes are sharper and more penetrating than any other winged creature. By night, however, he is no match for the bat. The bat can “see” by emitting ultra-sonic signals and constructing a “radar picture” of the landscape ahead that no bird can match.

Bilaam’s sight was drawn from the powers of darkness and impurity, whereas Moshe derived the sight of prophecy from the light of kedusha, holiness and purity.

• Sources: Sde Eliyahu of the Gra as heard from Rabbi Pesach Feldman

S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:

• Kids Knott’s Berry Farm

This Shabbat:

• Friday Candle Lighting: 7:46 pm
• Shabbat Ends: 8:47 pm

Torah Message:

All or Nothing at All

“This is the chok (decree) of the Torah…” (19:1)

Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men, managed to explain the reasons for all of the mitzvot. All but one, that is. When he came to the law of the Red Cow, despite all of his efforts he was not able to plumb its depths. He then abandoned his attempt to give reasons for all of the mitzvot, and concluded that all of his explanations were not absolutely accurate.

The question arises: Why didn’t he just admit that one mitzvah was beyond his comprehension, but all of his other reasons were still valid?

King Shlomo realized that if he could not comprehend one mitzvah, then he had understood nothing up until then as well. He realized that every single mitzvah of the Torah is interlaced with all the others, and a failure to understand one is a failure to understand any of them completely.

G-d is One — an ineffable Unity — and His Torah reflects this. It too is an ineffable unity.

Shlomo HaMelech says in the Book of Tanach called Kohelet: “I thought I could become wise, and it is beyond me. What existed is elusive and so very deep. Who can fathom it?” (7:23)

In other words, “I thought I could become wise,” and understand the meaning of every mitzvah, “and it” — the mitzvah of the Red Cow — “is beyond me.”Thus, even“what existed is elusive” — even my understanding of the mitzvot that I have examined is imperfect. For “Who can fathom” the ineffable unity of the Torah?

• Sources: Beit HaLevi for Parshat Ki Tisa as seen in Talelei Orot

S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:

• Teens Six Flags Magic Mountain
• Kids Knott’s Berry Farm

This Shabbat:

• Friday Candle Lighting: 7:49 pm
• Shabbat Ends: 8:51 pm

Torah Message:

A Truesome End

“..and they shall descend into the pit alive” (16:30)

Of all the ways that a person can die, being swallowed by the earth, either by quicksand or by falling into a seismic fissure opening and closing over his head, must rate as one of the more horrific.

Thus, Moshe’s prayer to Gd that Korach and his followers should suffer such a gruesome end by the earth opening its mouth and consuming them alive seems out of character.

Really, the reverse is true. Because of the severity of Korach’s rebellion, Moshe was concerned that Korach and his cohorts had totally written themselves out of the script of the World-to-Come, and he wanted to give them time to be able to repent before they died — something difficult to do if you’re suddenly struck by a bolt out of the blue.

Rabbi Eliezer says in Sanhedrin 105: “And the earth covered them.” Concerning them (Korach and his followers) it says (Shmuel I) “Gd brings death and gives life, lowers to the pit and raises up” — for also to the congregation of Korach there is a portion in the World-to-Come — for life remained in them so they could repent.

• Source: In the name of Rabbi Yissocher Dov of Belz

S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:

• Teens Six Flags Magic Mountain

This Shabbat:

• Friday Candle Lighting: 7:50 pm
• Shabbat Ends: 8:53 pm

Torah Message:

A Nod’s as Good as a Wink to a Blind Man

“They returned from spying out the Land… They went and they came to Moshe and Aharon and to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel… and brought back the report to them and the entire assembly. They reported to him and said…” (13:25-27)

Innuendo is the weapon of choice of the slanderer. Far more vitriol can be implied with a wink or a nudge than with damning words.

“I really can’t tell you anymore…” The ellipsis that leaves a sentence infinitely unfinished is more condemning than mere words can ever be. The rising inflection that never returns downward, or the hanging pause that speaks volumes — “No really, I’ve said too much already!” These are the tools of trade of successful character assassination.

“They returned from spying out the Land… They went and they came to Moshe and Aharon and to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel… and brought back the report to them and the entire assembly. They reported to him and said…”

Notice that in the first sentences the spies addressed the “entire assembly”, and then the Torah says that they reported to “him” — i.e., to Moshe alone.

The spies spoke openly to the assembly the praise of the Land of Israel, and mentioned nothing negative in public. Rather, they behaved as if there were other things about which they would rather not comment on openly.

Treachery motivated their actions. They wanted the Jewish People to be afraid of some unmentioned fear by speaking only to Moshe, unheard by the masses, but in their full view.

• Source: based on M’lo HaOmer in Talelei Orot