Blog - Torah Insights

 Why We Bless Before We Eat

There is a biblical commandment to bless G-d after we eat food, as the Torah states “And you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good land He has given you.” (Deuteronomy 8:10). Yet, the rabbis introduced blessings to say before we eat food. As the Mishanh in tractate Berachot describes the specific blessing for each category of food:

How does one recite a blessing over fruits? Over different fruits that grow on a tree one recites: Who creates fruit of the tree, with the exception of wine. Over wine one recites: Who creates fruit of the vine. Over fruits that grow from the earth, one recites: Who creates fruit of the ground, with the exception of bread, as over bread one recites: Who brings forth bread from the earth. Over herbs and leafy vegetables one recites: Who creates fruit of the ground. (Talmud Berachot 35a)

The Talmud seeks to understand the premise for reciting a blessing before eating food. After some attempts to derive it from a Biblical verse, the Talmud concedes that the source is based on a logical argument: 

The fundamental obligation to recite a blessing over food is founded on reason: One is forbidden to derive benefit from this world without a blessing.

But why not? 

The Talmud further explains that the entire world belongs to G-d:

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: One who derives benefit from this world without a blessing, it is as if he enjoyed objects consecrated to the heavens, as it is stated: “The earth and all it contains is the Lord’s, the world and all those who live in it” (Psalms 24:1)...Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa said: Anyone who derives benefit from this world without a blessing, it is as if he stole from God and the community of Israel. 

Yet, this explanation requires further clarification. Yes, the blessing acknowledges that the world belongs to G-d, but how does that give a person the right to “steal” and partake of G-d’s bounty? The blessing does not seem to be a request for permission to enjoy that which belongs to G-d.

One Answer is alluded to in this week’s portion. The Torah relates the laws of Terumah, the gift of produce given to the priest. The Torah describes how the Terumah must be eaten in a state of ritual purity, and it must be eaten exclusively by the poreists: “No non-Kohen may eat holy things; a kohen's resident and his hired servant may not eat holy things”.

Yet there is an exception. A servant, who was purchased by a Kohen, may partake of the Terumah: 

And if a Kohen acquires a person, an acquisition through his money, he may eat of it, and those born in his house they may eat of his food. (Leviticus 22:11)

The world and all of its bounty belongs to G-d, we have no right to seize his property. Yet, when we bless, we acknowledge that he is “our G-d, king of the universe”; if He is our king and we are his servants whom he has acquired, then, like the servant allowed to consume the holy Terumah, we may benefit from the blessings and bounty of the world,  considering that we are doing so as part of our Divine service. Our interaction with the world is infused with spiritual purpose and intention, transforming the material substance into energy to fuel holiness, goodness and kindness.

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Hisvaduyos 5771 3:347

Do Good Fences Make Holy Neighbors?

The Torah's enjoins us to "be holy" in the Parsha that deals primarily with interpersonal relationships, indicating that the test of holiness lies not in the halls of study and prayer, or secluded in nature, separate from civilization, but rather in the societies we create and the relationships we build. 

Creating a society that protects both the individual's rights as well as his sense of responsibility to others, is a balance that the Talmud spends lots of time and energy negotiating. 

In the first Mishnah of Tractate Baba Batra, the Talmud describes neighbors who share the use of a courtyard and decide to split their partnership and erect a wall.  

MISHNA: Partners who wished to make a partition [meḥitza] in a jointly owned courtyard build the wall for the partition in the middle of the courtyard. What is this wall fashioned from? In a place where it is customary to build such a wall with non-chiseled stone [gevil], or chiseled stone [gazit], or small bricks [kefisin], or large bricks [leveinim], they must build the wall with that material. Everything is in accordance with the regional custom… 

Therefore, if the wall later falls, the space where the wall stood and the stones belong to both of them, to be divided equally.

Almost two thousand years, before Lewis Samuel Warren and Louis Brandies coined the term "right to privacy", in the Halachilk conclusion of the Talmudic discussion the Torah recognizes the right to privacy, classifying "damage through sight" as damage, and therefore each neighbor can compel the other to participate in allocating the space and the materials for building a wall that will protect their privacy. 

But walls can also create moral challenges, allowing the homeowner to separate himself from the pain of others. 

Indeed, later in the Tractate, when the Mishnah states that neighbors living in the same courtyard may compel each other to pay for a gatehouse, the Talmud asks:

Is this to say that making a gatehouse is beneficial? But wasn't there that pious man, with whom the prophet Elijah was accustomed to speak, who built a gatehouse, and after-ward Elijah did not speak with him again? The objection to the building of a gatehouse is that the guard who mans it prevents the poor from entering and asking for charity. 

The Talmud suggests a solution that balances the right of the members of the courtyard to protect their privacy, while also encouraging their moral and ethical obligation not to sever themselves from the pain of others: 

The Gemara answers: This is not difficult: This, the case presented in the Mishna, is referring to a gatehouse built on the inside of the courtyard, in which case the poor can at least reach the courtyard's entrance and be heard inside the courtyard; that, the story of the pious man and Elijah, involves a gatehouse that was built on the outside of the courtyard, completely blocking the poor's access to the courtyard's entrance.

Returning to the first Mishah, to the story of the neighbors who build a wall dissolving their "partnership", upon careful analysis we can see that the Mishnah may be signaling a subtle but important message about neighbors. The entire Mishnah instructs on the process of resolving the partnership. Yet, the conclusion of the Mishnah, "Therefore, if the wall later falls, the space where the wall stood and the stones belong to both of them, to be divided equally", implies that they indeed remain partners! They share ownership of the bricks and of the place of the wall. 

The Mishnah signals to us that we can choose to minimize the partnership with our neighbor, but we cannot eliminate it. We live together, and we therefore impact each other. 

This Mishnah sets the tone for the entire Tractate and for our understanding of relationships within society. Yes, we may and should protect our own rights, space, and privacy, yet we must also remember that we are in a partnership with the people around us. We are interconnected and interdependent with the broader community. 

Planting Seeds 

We left Egypt. We received the Torah. We built the temple. Now, it’s back to real life.    

The center of the book of Leviticus discusses various laws of ritual impurity, and devotes no less than two portions to the specific details of the impurity of the Tzaraat. It is therefore surprising that the name of the Parsha introducing the impurity, “Tazria”, which means “to seed”, referring to the opening statement “a woman who will give seed and give birth to a son”. Ritual impurity is the antithesis of life; how can a section dedicated to the intricacies of ritual impurity, particularly the isolating affliction of Tzaraat, be introduced by a word brimming with promise of new life and growth?

The transition from the beginning to the middle of the third book is abrupt. From a place of holiness and joy, we come face to face with the realities of life that include sadness, death, and spiritual, psychological, and physical challenges. We often wonder why G-d would want us to engage with a challenging environment rather than remaining within the spirituality of the temple.  

The answer, of course, is planting seeds. 

The challenging environment is not meant to destroy the seed; on the contrary, the seed germinates and produces something immeasurably greater: a plant, a flower, a fruit-bearing tree. The purpose of the challenge is the incredible growth it unleashes. 

While we don’t always see how the challenge is, in fact, a step in the process of growth, which is why the details of the impurity and the process of the purification are divided into two distinct portions, we believe that this is indeed the case. In some years, including this one, we combine both portions into one Shabbat reading, empowering us to sense, within the planting process, the blossoming of life that is sure to follow. 

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likutei Sichos 22, Tazria Metzora 

Tasting Paradise -  From Tabernacle to Kosher 

The eighth day arrived. 

After many months of great effort, donations, design and construction, the Tabernacle was finally set up. After seven days of inauguration, the Divine presence descended:

And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire went forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fats upon the altar, and all the people saw, sang praises, and fell upon their faces. (Leviticus 9:23-24)

Immediately after this climatic event in Jewish history, the Torah transitions, perhaps abruptly, to discuss the laws of kosher food, describing the animals, insects, and birds that are kosher for consumption:

And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, to say to them:

Speak to the children of Israel, saying: These are the creatures that you may eat among all the animals on earth (11:1-2)

To understand the connection between the Divine presence dwelling in the Temple and the laws of kosher, we have to zoom out and consider the Torah’s vision of human history. 

Adam and Eve began life in the garden of Eden, where they lived in harmony with themselves, each other, nature, and G-d. They were placed in the garden “to work it and to guard it”. They were commanded not only  to refrain from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but, though sometimes overlooked, they were commanded to eat of all the other fruit of the garden “And the Lord God commanded man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.” In Eden, eating itself was a Divine commandment, because Eden is a state of harmony between the physical and the spiritual, where the process of eating is not merely a biological necessity or physical pleasure but a spiritual experience as well. 

When Adam and Eve sinned they shattered the harmony of Eden, and caused a separation between the physical and spiritual. They were therefore expelled from Eden to a world of dichotomy, division, and conflict. Their task? To recreate the harmony of Eden, where peace, harmony, and the knowledge of G-d will permeate every aspect of creation.  

Building the temple was an integral step in the story of human history, for the temple is a miniature Eden, a place where heaven and earth embrace. Thus, the third book of the Torah, describing the service in the temple, is the first time “Adam” is used as the word to describe the Human being, being that the harmony of Adam was restored in the temple. 

But the temple is only the beginning. It is the model of what the rest of the world must become. 

In Eden eating is a Divine commandment. Once the temple was built, we are empowered to extend the sanctity of eating wherever we may be on earth. Once the temple was built we received instructions on how to ensure kosher eating, where the food becomes energy not only for the body but also for the soul; fueling a life of meaning, purpose, and passionate devotion to kindness, and intense connection to G-d.

Love in Leviticus 

The third book of the Torah, the book of Leviticus, focuses on the laws of offerings in the temple, ritual purity, priests, and ritual law. It appears to be a book focusing less on love and connection and more on obligation and service. 

Yet, the opening word of the book tells a different story. 

The third book begins: 

And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

Rashi points out that this verse is unique; the Torah usually tells us that G-d spoke to Moses, but here the Torah adds an  something additional detail, , namely, that G-d first "called" to Moses, and only then "and the Lord spoke to him": 

Rashi explains that calling Moses represents love and affection:  

All forms of God's communication with Moses, whether they were in a form of speaking (וַיְדַבֵּר), in the form of saying (וַיֹאמֶר), or in the form of commanding (צַו), were preceded by a call (קְרִיאָה), an expression of affection.

One may view the Torah's commandments as "service" to G-d - there is something that G-d desires, and we are called upon to fulfill his will. Rashi reminds us that the Torah is an expression of G-d's love toward us. When G-d asks us to do something, He is asking us to seize an opportunity to connect.

Just as G-d’s call to Moses expressed love and connection, so too, within our own relationships, a request can be more than a practical need—it can be a call for closeness. When someone asks something of us, it may reflect a deeper longing to be seen, valued, or understood. And when we ask of others, if we do so with sensitivity, humility, and care, we mirror the divine model: using speech not just to convey a need, but to build a bridge between souls.  

Just as G-d calls us, we, too, call to G-d. 

In the parlance of the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud, the Hebrew word for reading the Torah is Kriah, which means both reading and calling. When we read the words of Torah, we are not merely reading G-d's communication to us, but rather, we feel His love for us, and in turn, we "call" to Him, expressing our desire to connect. 

As The Alter Rebbe, founder of the Chabad movement, writers in Tanya: 

Torah study is referred to as "calling" . This phrase means that in Torah study, one calls G‑d to come to him, so to speak, as a man calls to his friend to come to him, or as a child will call his father to come and join him and not to part from him. (Tanya, Chapter 37)

Unlike the ancient Greek name Leviticus, the Hebrew name of the third of the Torah is Vayikra, "And He called"; reminding us of G-d love for us and His deep desire for connection to us. 

The Pekudei Paradox 

Many spiritual seekers don’t like Judaisim. 

They want to transcend, to free themselves of the trappings of the mundane, and to connect to the infinite. They see Judaisim as being very technical, regulating precisely how and when to perform the Torah’s commandments. 

Are they right? 

They are correct in that they identify the core paradox of Judaism. 

Judaisim is not about transcending the finite to connect to the infinite, nor is it about being grounded in the real world. The paradox of Judaism is the realization that the essence can be found only in the paradoxical fusion of the infinite within finite space and reality. 

The Midrash teaches that the reason and motivation for creation is that “the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have an home in the lower realms”, yes the infinite, unfathomable G-d, desired specifically to be in the “lower realms”, in the most physical, tangible, finite space. The same is true with the Divine commandments, which is the Divine will being fulfilled through specific actions, performed in a specific time and place.

This paradox is expressed in the final portion of the book of Exodus, Pikudei. Pikudei begins with an accounting of the precise number of all the material used to construct the tabernacle (“These are the numbers of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, which were counted at Moses' command”), and concludes with the description of the Divine presence dwelling in the tabernacle (“And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan.”)

The Hebrew word Pekudei itself captures this paradox. Pekudei means ”{counted} numbers”, a number is a defined entity, yet Pikudei also means intimacy and union (as in the Talmudic statement “a man has a duty to be intimate {Lifkod} with his wife”). For indeed, the deepest love is expressed not by sharing words and ideas, but by a physical union. The deepest bond can not be expressed by a spiritual connection, but rather by a physical action. 

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos 26, Pekudei 2

Ideal Vision vs. Real Life

The world we live in is inherently imperfect and often falls short of the ideal visions we create in our minds.

Often, the fantasy of a vacation, an experience, or a relationship is far more pristine than the realities of real life, where we struggle through tension and distraction in order to achieve moments of joy and connection. Often, the perfect picture we imagined distracts us from appreciating the blessings we have.   

After two portions dedicated to G-d conveying to Moses the commandment to build the Tabernacle and its furnishing, in this week’s portion, the Torah repeats every detail and tells us how Moses conveyed the commandment to the Jewish people who fulfilled the commandment and actually constructed the temple.

Why the repetition? The Torah could have avoided tens of verses by stating that Moses repeated the commandment to the Jewish people, who then fulfilled all that they were commanded to do. 

The repetition points to the tension between the ideal and the actual. 

The Torah is highlighting the critical importance, not the perfect temple Moses heard about on Mount Sinai, but rather the actual temple built by people in the real world. Our efforts to perform good deeds are imperfect, flawed, and complicated, yet that is precisely where G-d chooses to dwell. For G-d wants a home not in the perfect, ideal, heaven, but rather in the flawed and imperfect earth. 

Is Purim the Greatest Holiday? 

Purim is a unique holiday in many ways, which leads to the question, is Purim greater or less significant than all other holidays? On the one hand, it seems that the joy of Purim is greater than other holidays, as the Talmud states, "Rava said: A person is obligated to become intoxicated with wine on Purim until he is so intoxicated that he does not know how to distinguish between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordechai". On the other hand, Purim is the only holiday when we do not recite the Hallel, {Hallel is the song of praise from King David's Psalms recited on every major holiday}.

Why, in fact, don't we say Hallel on Purim, asks the Talmud, and offers two answers: 

The first answer is: "Hallel is not recited on a miracle that occurred outside the Land of Israel". 

The Talmudic sage Rava offers another answer: "The reading of the Megilla itself is an act of reciting Hallel." In other words, Rava fundamentally disagrees with the first answer; while the first answer says that Hallel is not recited, Rava argues that we do indeed recite praise to G-d, it's just that the praise is offered in a different format; instead of reciting Hallel we read the story of the scroll of Esther. 

The Talmud states, ״One who reads Hallel every day is tantamount to one who curses and blasphemes God. {He displays contempt for Hallel by not reserving it for days on which miracles occurred}". That's because although we understand that the natural order itself is also an expression of the Divine, nevertheless, Hallel is recited only for a miracle where the hand of G-d is revealed and obvious. 

Purim is a unique holiday. There were no obvious miracles, only a series of coincidences over more than a decade that orchestrated the salvation of the Jewish people. The Talmud, therefore, states that one opinion is that we do not recite Hallel upon the Purim miracle as it occurred outside of the land of Israel, the place where G-d’s providence is obvious and palpable.

Rava offers a deeper explanation. Rave says that reading the Megillah is in itself a form of Hallel. Rave tells us that while it is true that the miracle of Purim occurred outside of Israel, both literally and figuratively, while it is true that, at first glance, the presence of G-d is not indisputably obvious, nevertheless, "The reading of the Megilla itself is an act of reciting Hallel". When we read the Megillah and adapt its perspective, we learn to see the story, we discover the common theme that threads together the seemingly unrelated events. When we read the Megillah and internalize its message, we learn to see the presence of G-d within nature. The Megillah itself triggers the requirement to say  Hallel and also serves as a distinctive form of Hallel for the unique miracle that is clothed within nature. 

The ramifications of Rava's perspective are profound. The joy of Purim is greater than the joy of all other holidays, because celebrating Purim and reading the Megillah empower us to feel the presence of G-d, not only in Israel but also throughout the entire world; not only in the extraordinary but also in the ordinary, not only in the apparently holy, but also in the seemingly mundane.   

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Purim 5722  

Finding Fulfillment 

The second half of this week's portion addresses in great detail the seven days of Miluim, the inauguration and initiation of the priests to the temple service. After reading about the commandment to build the temple in the last portion and reading about the commandment to fashion beautiful garments for the priests in the first half of this week's portion, the Torah describes the process by which the priests were initiated into the priesthood, a process that took seven days, requiring unique offerings and services. 

The Hebrew word for the inauguration, Miluim, literally means to fill. The verse states "and you {Moses} shall fill the hand of Aaron and his sons", and refers to the offerings as "fulfillment", and the seven days as days of "fulfillment". What exactly does "fulfillment" mean in the context of inauguration, and why does the Torah use this unusual expression for the inauguration? 

The Kabbalists explain that the seven days of inauguration were designed to "fulfill" and "correct" the seven days of creation we read about in the book of Genesis. G-d created a beautiful world, but unfortunately the human being did not engage with the world in a wholesome manner, he defied the will of his creator by following the temptation of the tree of knowledge. He was therefore expelled from the tranquility and innocence of Eden.  

The construction of the temple was the opportunity to fill the world with what it was lacking from the time of the seven days of creation. The introduction of the temple, symbolizing the spiritual relationship with G-d, allowed a person to feel fulfilled. No amount of material possessions or pleasures can bring the person fulfillment, for the physical is inherently temporary and fleeting; it cannot confer a sense of fullness and permanence which it does not possess. Only by building a home for G-d, by filling the material objects and experiences with spiritual and holy meaning, can a person truly "fill" the physical world created during the seven days of creation with true fulfillment, pleasure, and joy that emerged from the seven days of the inauguration of the temple. 

Adapted from the Kedushat Levi

Temple or Home? 

We are at the point in the story when G-d asks for a temple. We were liberated from Egypt. We received the Torah, and now G-d tells Moses to speak to the children of Israel, telling them: “Make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.”

When we think of a sanctuary or temple, we think of a grand structure, a monument, a citadel that expresses the grandeur of G-d, an imposing building designed to make a person feel small and humble in its presence. Yet, as we read through the details of this week’s Torah portion, we realize that the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, was actually a furnished home, incorporating the essential elements and furniture of a modest, but beautiful home.    

A home needs two basic rooms (larger homes have two categories of rooms): an outer room for eating, relaxing, and living, a room to spend time with family and friends, a room with a table and some light; and an inner room, a bedroom, a personal and intimate space. The Tabernacle, too, possessed these two rooms, “the holy”, the outer chamber with a table, a menorah, and an alter; and an inner room, the “holy of holies”, the place of intimacy with G-d, which contained only the ark with its covering of Cherubim, male and female winged figures, symbolizing the romantic and intimate bond between G-d and the Jewish people.    

Perhaps the overarching lesson of this Parsha is that, G-d wants his temple to look like a home, to indicate that the reverse is also true: each of our homes can be a temple for G-d. As G-d wants to dwell not only in the grandeur of a temple but also in the daily life experienced in our homes. 

Further in the book, the Torah relates, “he places the menorah in the tent of meeting facing the table”. The Table and the Menorah must be placed across from and facing each other. The Torah is teaching us that the table with the showbread, symbolizing the physical needs and experiences of life, must face the Menorah, which symbolizes the spiritual parts of life. Our home becomes a home for G-d when our physical experiences are impacted and illuminated by spiritual light and purpose. Every activity can create a home for G-d when it is a component of our spiritual purpose and journey.   

G-d is in the Details 

Where in the World is Mount Sinai? 

The Jewish people are very good at preserving their history. We know where and when all the significant events of our past occurred. There is, however, one exception. The location of the most important event of our history, the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, is unknown.  

Immediately after G-d descended on Mount Sinai and imparted the Ten Commandments, G-d conveyed to Moses a grammatically problematic statement:

An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall slaughter beside it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. Wherever I will mention My name, I will come to you and bless you. (Exodus 20:21)

Rashi explains that “I will mention my name” actually means that the Jewish people will mention G-d’s explicit name. Nevertheless, the verse says, “I will mention”, because the verse is referring to the place at which G-d will give us permission to use His explicit name: 

Hebrew אַזְכִּיר, lit., I will mention. [This should apparently read תַּזְכִּיר, you will mention. Therefore, Rashi explains that it means: whenever] I will permit you to mention My Explicit Name, there I will come to you and bless you. I will cause My Shechinah to rest upon you. From here you learn that permission was given to mention the Explicit Name only in the place in which the Shechinah comes, that is in the Temple in Jerusalem. There, permission was given to the priests to mention the Explicit Name when they raise their hands to bless the people. 

While, according to Rashi, this verse refers to one specific place, the sages of the Mishnah introduce a revolutionary interpretation. The Mishnah states that “when ten people sit together and occupy themselves with Torah, the Shechinah abides among them”, and then explains that the same is true for five people, three people, and two people. The Mishnah continues:  

How do we know that the same is true even of one? As it is said: “In every place where I will mention my name I will come unto you and bless you”. (Avos 3:6)

According to the sages of the Mishnah, immediately after the awesome experience at Sinai, G-d informed Moses that whenever one person, wherever he or she may be, studies Torah, the Divine presence will rest there. In other words, there is no need to know the precise location of Mount Sinai because whenever we study Torah, we recreate the revelation of Sinai wherever we may be.  

How is it possible that every Jew can transform any corner of the world? How can our mortal lips utter words that will accomplish the seemingly impossible, transporting the experience of Sinai to the most distant location on earth? It is because when we speak words of Torah it is G-d’s words speaking through us. The verse says, “I will mention my name”, although the verse means that the Jewish people will call G-d’s name, because whenever we study Torah, when we voice the words of G-d, it is G-d speaking through us.

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Shabbat Yisro 5751    

How to Split a Sea 

They were trapped. 

The Jewish people had just departed Egypt, hoping to experience freedom and liberation, but now they were trapped. Pursuing  them was the Egyptian army, the Red Sea was before them. They did what you would expect them to do, they called out to G-d. 

The Torah recounts G-d's response: 

The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them travel. (Exodus 14:15)

G-d's response is totally unexpected. After all, what is wrong with prayer? Isn't it a Mitzvah to pray to G-d when in distress? 

The Ohr Hachaim, the 18th-century commentator and mystic, explains that, the Jewish people were not worthy of the great miracle of the sea splitting on their behalf. G-d commanded Moses "speak to the children and let them travel", the people should travel forward with faith that G-d would protect them. The miracle would occur in the merit of the faith they would display.

This story is a lesson on how we can achieve personal freedom in our own lives. Occasionally, we feel stuck, we don't see how our own challenge or difficulty can be resolved. Our natural impulse is to remain paralyzed. What is the point of taking positive action when we don't see how it  will solve the overarching problem? This attitude is, in fact, what keeps us "imprisoned" in the adverse circumstance. G-d gives us  the key to freedom, "speak to the children and let them travel"; the key to liberation is taking a positive step. This will trigger a divine blessing which will free us of negativity,  bringing us to a place of positivity and liberation.