This week's parshas is Parshas Ki Tavo, and you will learn about the topic of Bikurim.
You have an imagination, right? Let's just pretend that you are a farmer in Eretz Yisrael (Israel). You own grain fields, vineyards, and fields of vegetables. The crops are starting to come up from the ground. One day you come by to check on your crops and you see a golden stalk of ripe barley. This barley belongs to Hashem, and you have to bring it to the Bais Hamikdash (The Holy Temple) as "Bikurim". You go and get a piece of string and come back and tie the string around the first barley so this way you know which stalk ripened first. When harvest comes you put the stalk aside.
If you have a vineyard you should check it too, and when you see the first grape then you should also tie a string around it. What if there are several grapes that ripen at the same time? If several grapes ripen at the same time only one of them need to be set aside as "Bikurim". You might even have an apple tree or a field of potatoes, but you do not bring "Bikurim" from this tree. Why is it that you do not bring "Bikurim" from an apple tree or a field of potatoes? The answer is that there are only seven kinds of fruit that Eretz Yisrael (Israel) is famous for. Which are: Wheat, Barley, Grapes, Pomegranate, Figs, Olives, Dates
Bikurim is only brought from these varieties. These seven crops do not all ripen at the same time. When one ripens it is tied around with a string marking it and it is set aside until all of the kinds of crops that you have and can do "Bikurim" on are ready. When ready you may bring the crops to the Bais Hamikdash (The Holy Temple) as "Bikurim". If you scared that the fruit will spoil or get bad you may dry it. This makes it still usable. For example, when grapes are dried they become raisins.
If you give someone a gift you would wrap it nicely. "Bikurim" is a gift for Hashem and must be arranged nicely and brought to the Bais Hamikdash (The Holy Temple) anytime between Shavuos and Chanuka.
We bring Bikurim to Beis Hamikdash every year, except of the Shmita Year. That year the products are "hefker", they do not belong to anyone, so one cannot bring Bikurim in the Year of Smitta.
This week’s parsha is parshas Ki Teitzei, which is about Moshe continuing to teach mitzvos that would apply when the Jews lived in Eretz Yisrael (Israel). Moshe spoke about the unity of the Jewish people.
Sometimes during a war the Jewish army would capture and hold prisoners. What happened if a Jewish soldier saw a Non-Jewish captive woman and wanted to marry her? Hashem said, “If I forbid the Jews to marry a non-Jewish captive, some soldiers might not be able conquer their Yetzer Hara (The Bad Soul). They will do the sin anyway. I will, therefore, permit it, but they must keep special laws. These laws are quite difficult, so perhaps the soldier will change his mind.”
a. When the Jewish man brings home the non-Jewish captive, she must shave off all her hair. Hashem commanded this because the soldier may have liked the woman because of her hair, and if he did only like her hair now he would not want to marry her.
Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!
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).
- I am your G-d who took you out of Egypt.
- You shall have no other G-d in my presence.
- Do not pronounce G-d’s name in vain.
- Keep the Shabbos day to sanctify it.
- To honor one’s father and mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your fellow man.
- 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.
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
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.
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.
Sponsored by anonymous for refuah shelamia for Bernie Kaufman
This week’s Parsha is Parshas Balak. The question arised, what did Balak do to deserve a whole Parsha to be named after him? In the whole Torah there is no Parsha named after Moshe Rebbeinu, and we all know how much Moshe accomplished for Jewish people.
The reason Balak was given the honor that this week’s Parsha was named after him, was because of the merit of the sacrifices he sincerely brought to G-d, although his intention was to curse the Jews. Another big merit was that important descendents came out of his family, such as Ruth the Moabite and eventually King David. Either or these merits served him well.
Balak realized that one has to fight the Jews spiritually by cursing them and the other nations just fought the Jews with weapons, wars, and force.
Balak saw the fear of his people and their distrust of their kings, and he felt he had to act. So he took advice from the elders of Midian, who had known Moses in his youth. "His power is in his mouth," (meaning spirituality) they informed him. Balak proclaimed: "In that case we must fight fire with fire and find someone spiritual to do battle with him."
Bilaam had become famous in a previous war between Moab and giant King Sichon, in which the "curse of Bilaam" had won the war for Sichon. Upon learning of this, Balak sent Bilaam a message: "I know that whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is cursed. Please curse this nation (the Jews) and get them to leave the Mideast region." (Sound familiar?)
Today we will talk about details and the procedure for making the Parah Adumah, The Red-Heifer.
1) Take a Red Heifer which has not had a calf, the cow has Three Requirements:
A. The cow has to be completely red and the cow cannot even have two or more non-red hairs.
B. The cow can’t have any blemishes that would cause it not to be accepted as a Korban.
C. The animal never did any work which includes having a baby.
2) Lead it Out of Camp – there is not one specific person assigned to do this task, any man can do this.
3) The Cohen Gadol observes, as A Jew Slaughters It – again, any Jew can slaughter it
4) The Cohen Gadol dips his finger in the blood and sprinkles it 7 times
towards the Temple – standing on the East side of Jerusalem.
5) The Cow is Burnt Completely – they don’t take out its guts and
clean its insides as they normally would. On its fire they also burn
with it…
a. Hyssop (a low bush), Cedar (a tall tree) & Silk (from a worm)
b. Thread (dyed) Red
6) The Ashes are Gathered and Brought to the Temple – by any man
7) The One Who Slaughtered It Must Wash His Garments, Take a
Mikvah and Only Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure
when he started out!
8) The Cohen Gadol Must Wash His Garments, Take a Mikvah and Only
Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure when he started
out!
9) The One Who Gathers the Ashes Must Wash His Garments, Take a
Mikvah and Only Becomes Pure at Night – even though he was pure
when he started out!
(Tell the story of Dama Ben Nesina, who merited having a parah
adumah born in his flock because he didn’t wake his father up.)
Shabbat Shalom! Have a Good Shabbos!
