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Parsha of the Week

        I will not be able to post for the next few (about 3) week's but please go ahead and study the parsha by your self. Please come back to Parsha Time in a few week's when I continue to post.
Sorry for any inconvenience.      

        Last week’s Parsha was Parshas Devorim, which was about Moshe rebuking the Jewish people by giving them a Mussar. We said that foolish people ignore a Mussar and that wise and smart people will take what you said to heart (and correct themselves).


         In this week’s parsha, Parsha Vaetchanan, Moshe saw that the Jews were taking what he had said to heart, causing him to consider the Jewish people ready for a review of the Torah. Moshe said to the Jews, that originally Hashem wanted to teach them all the Ten Commandments. But when Hashem was going to say the Third Commandment, the Jewish people were to scared to hear his awesome voice. That is why Moshe now will act as Hashem’s messenger and he told The Ten Commandments to the people.

                The Ten Commandments are:

  1. I am your G-d who took you out of Egypt.
  2. You shall have no other G-d in my presence.
  3. Do not pronounce G-d’s name in vain.
  4. Keep the Shabbos day to sanctify it.
  5. To honor one’s father and mother.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery.
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not bear false witness against your fellow man.
  10. Not to desire another’s property.


    Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!

    0:45PM EST: Tragedy struck the Los Angeles Frum community on Erev Tisha B’Av, with the cold-blooded murder of R’ Mordechai Bayer, HYD, of Valley Village, CA. R’ Mordechai, who was in his 60’s, was a well-known community Askan in Los Angeles.
    According to initial reports, the incident is being labeled as a dispute between a landlord (Mordechai Bayer) and his tenant (reported to be an Asian man), at a Hollywood T-shirt store on the 54000 block of Sunset Boulevard. Although details are still sketchy, it appears that Mr. Bayer was collecting rent from his tenant at approximately 12:40PM, when a dispute broke out. It ended with his killer shooting him, and then taking his own life.


    The local Chevra Kadisha & Hatzolah are working with authorities to have the Niftar released to ensure a timely Levaya.
    Further details will be posted as soon as they are available to us.

    Boruch Dayan Emmes…

    Also there is more on this topic at
    Vidyid.

    Source:
    http://www.theyeshivaworld.com

    This week’s Parsha is Parshas Devorim; which is the first Parsha featured in the 5th Book of The Chumash (The 5 Books of Moses). It is also called Shabbos Chazon.
    The Five books of the Chumash (Five book of Moses) are:
    1.      Beraishis
    2.       Shmos
    3.       Vayikra
    4.       Bamidbar
    5.       Devorim

            In this week’s parsha Moshe gives his final speech to the Jewish people before his death. He gave this speech to about 600,000 Jewish people. When Moshe was a little boy, he burned his tongue, causing him to stutter. Since Moshe’s voice was not strong enough for everyone to hear him, a miracle happened. Whatever Moshe wanted to say, Hashem’s presence said it, and spoke for Moshe. This way the Jewish people were able to hear Moshe’s speech. 


            In Moshe’s speech he rebuked the Jewish people by giving them a Mussar (instruction, discipline, or conduct). Most people do not like hear a Mussar. If you give a Mussar to a foolish person he will ignore the Mussar and dislike you. If you give a Mussar to a wise and smart person he will thank you and correct himself.    
           
            There is a story when a rabbi of a Shul was giving a Mussar to his congregation on a Shabbos morning. The rabbi was saying how people should keep Shabbos and after he finished the Board Members said to him that it is not nice to talk about keeping Shabbos when some people don’t keep Shabbos. The following week the rabbi gave a Mussar on keeping kosher and again the Board Members came to him and said that it is not appropriate to talk about keeping kosher when some people don’t keep kosher. The following week the Rabbi spoke about the importance to be married to a Jewish person. The Board members came up to him again and said you cannot talk about this subject, not everyone is married to a Jewish Person. So the rabbi said, what do you what me to talk about? Then the Board Members said, we want you to talk about Judaism. Rabbi said, talking about keeping Shabbos, keeping Kosher, and marrying a Jewish person is all Judaism. A Rabbi who speaks to his congregation and they never get mad at him is not a good Rabbi because he is afraid to do his job by giving Mussar.


            The sages said that during Moshe’s generation people were wise. Since Moshe said his Mussar, the Jewish people realized their sins, but they didn’t mind to be rebuked because they knew that Moshe loved them. We can compare this to a child being rebuked by his teacher or parents.


    Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!

             This week’s parsha is a double parsha which is called Parshas Matos and Parshas Masei.These are the last parshas in the book of Bamidbar.


            In this week’s Parsha we will discuss the war with the Midyanim and the death of Bilam. For the past several parshas we were learning about the evil ways of Bilam, and finally, this week we will talk about his death. Just as Bilam’s life was interesting and full of events, his death was also very interesting.

             The Jewish people assembled their army with trumpet blasts, as it is required by the Torah. When the Midyanim saw that there were only 12,000 men, they thought that they will win this war very easily.  The battles were led by 5 Midyanite Kings, which included Bilam as well. One would wonder, what was Bilam doing in Midyan? The truth is he came to redeem his money from the leaders of Midyan. It was Bilam who gave them an advice how to destroy 24,000 Jewish men. He told them to send out Midyanite women and seduce the Jewish men. That’s when plague happened, and it killed 24,000 Jewish men. Now Bilam came to collect his payment for his expert advice. And it happened to be that there was a war. So he went to the battlefield as well.

            Bilam used his magic powers to save himself and the five kings. They flew up in the air until they reached the “Divine Throne”, but Pinchas followed him there. The five kings fell down, and Pinchas had a “little chat” with Bilam. Pinchas explained Bilam how evil he was to Jewish people to give such an advice to Balak which caused to kill 24,000 Jewish men. Afterwords, Pinchas pulled out his sword, and he slew Bilam.

            At the end, the Jewish people won this war, and the soldiers brought back all the treasure (booty), without keeping even one piece of it. Moshe and Elazar, the High Priest, were impressed by the clear and pure mind of the Jewish soldiers, and rewarded them by distributing the treasure (booty).

            This week’s Parsha is Parshas Pinchas. We will discuss the subject of the final counting of Jewish people in the Desert. The Jewish people were counted before this, about one month after they received the Mishkan, which is mentioned in Parshas Bamidbar.

            G-d commanded that the Jews should be counted one more time. They were counted in the Desert, during the 40th year in their exile. There were a few reasons for the new census. Let’s discuss some of them



    1)       During the evil times of Balak and Bilam, which was discussed in last week’s Parsha, many Jewish people sinned. There was a suspicion that the Jewish nation was mixed together with the gentile (Non-Jewish) nation. In order to change people’s mind, Hashem made the Jewish boys look like their Jewish Father.  Also, many sinners died during the plague, and they needed to know how many righteous people survived. The righteous people were dear to Hashem, and they were rewarded by Hashem.  There is a story, that a herd of sheep was attacked by a wolf. Many sheep were killed by the wolf. When they got rid of the bad wolf, they needed to know how many sheep were left, because they were very dear to the shepherd. In this story, Balak and Bilam are compared to the wolf, and the sheep to Jewish nation.


    2)       The Jewish people were very close to the border of the Land of Israel. They needed to know exactly how many people will enter the land, because the land was divided between the people.
    Moshe and Elazar (Aharon’s son) were in charge of the counting. Every man between the ages of 20 and 60 received a half shekel coin. The Levites were counted separately, from the age of one month old and older. At the end, Elazar added up the numbers per each tribe.


     Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!

     Sponsored by anonymous for refuah shelamia for Bernie Kaufman