Divrei Torah

There is a line in a passuk in this week’s parsha—Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim—in which a strange commandment is given. In Vayikra 19:14, the passuk says, “ …וְלִפְנֵ֣י עִוֵּ֔ר לֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן מִכְשֹׁ֑ל…” “and before the blind, don’t give a stumbling block.” The confusion...

This week’s parsha begins with the words, "ויהי ביום השמיני", "It was on the eighth day" (Vayikra 9:1). As the eighth graders studied earlier this year, Rashi tells us this passage refers to the eighth day of the inauguration of the Mishkan, which fell on the first day of Nissan. For the seven previous days, Moshe...

As we are now up to Parshat Tzav, a parsha that primarily discusses offerings—a topic that can seem to be totally unrelated to our lives—it can be easy to just overlook the parsha in favor of addressing the elephant in the room, Pesach, which begins this motza'ei shabbos, but...

This week we will read Parshat Vayikra, the beginning of the book of the Torah dedicated to the korbanot, or sacrifices, offered to Hashem in ancient times. The idea of offering sacrifices might seem hard for us to relate to, as it is so different from the way that we worship today. But it is important to remember what the real...

In this week’s parasha, after the Jewish people did everything they were supposed to do regarding the Mishkan, Moshe Rabbeinu gave them a "Thank you." Rabbi Frand quotes the Reishe Rav, who questions why Bnei Yisrael were deserving of any compliments. After all, what they did was not a voluntary...