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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Yisro
One Must Have a RebbeDon’t Be a Blind FollowerThe Danger of Heretical ThoughtsMake Clear What You’re Protesting Against And Yisro, priest of Midyan, father-in-law of Moshe, heard all that G-d did for Moshe and Israel His people… And Yisro came… (18:1,5) Reb Elyakim Shlessinger once asked the Brisker Rav why his wife’s grandfather, Reb Yaakov…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Beshalach
The Zionist Leaders are AmalekReligious MKs Lend Legitimacy to the GovernmentJudaism Versus IdolatryLeaving Egyptian Exile Early And Moshe said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see Hashem’s saving that He will perform for you today… Hashem will fight for you, and you will be silent.” (14:13-14) Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich (1863-1944), the…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Bo
Natruna Means Waiting PatientlyDon’t Come In Unless You’re InvitedPurifying the Fiftieth GateThe Difference Between the Exodus and the Future Redemption And it will be for you to guard… Do not eat of it raw… (12:6,9) The Pesikta DeRav Kahana says that these verses contain hints to the Four Exiles and their redeemers. The chapter begins,…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Va’eira
Why Did the Fish Have to Suffer?The Lesson of the Hamotzi BlessingDon’t Antagonize the Nations in Exile And G-d spoke to Moshe, and said to him, “I am Hashem.” (6:2) Why does the Torah switch in mid-sentence from “Elokim” to “Hashem”? At the end of last week’s parsha, Moshe said, “Why have You dealt badly…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Shemos
The Meaning of Vayoel MosheExile Means Subservience to G-dThe Wicked SonIngathering the Exiles Lest they multiply, and when there be a war, they be added to our enemies…and Egypt made the children of Israel perform hard labor. (1:10,13). Rabbi Avraham Loewenstam of Emden, in his work Tzeror Hachaim (published 1820), writes that in every Jewish…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Vayechi
The Zionists Are Nourished From the YeshivosJews Have No Authority During ExileLet Us Gather TogetherThe Comfortable Exile And Yaakov called to his sons, and said, “Gather and I will tell you what will happen (yikra) to you in the end of days.” The Satmar Rav asked: The word “yikra” is usually understood to mean “happen,”…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Vayigash
The Holy Tongue or Modern Hebrew?Don’t Straddle Both Sides of the FenceZionists Endanger the Jewish People “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Binyamin see that it is my mouth speaking to you.” (45:12) Rashi says that Yosef was speaking now in the Holy Tongue, and that was the proof that he…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Mikeitz
Confronting LeadersMoshiach Ben Yosef And Yisroel their father said to them, “If so, do as follows: Take from the best of the land in your vessels, and bring the man a gift: a bit of balsam and a bit of honey, wax and lotus, pistachios and almonds… And may G-d Almighty cause the man to…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Vayeishev
A Sin for the Sake of HeavenWho Will Support My Children? And they hated him, and could not speak to him peacefully. (37:4) The Chasam Sofer writes that the words could be read differently: “lo yachlu” – they could not stand – “dabro leshalom” – that Yosef spoke to them peacefully. Yosef had been telling…
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Parsha Pearls: Parshas Vayishlach
Never Put All Your Eggs in One BasketThe Satan Calls Himself “Israel”Another Reason for the DiasporaBow Your Head to the Wave And Yaakov was very afraid, and he was in distress; and he divided the people who were with him, the sheep, the cattle and the camels into two camps. (32:8) This passage is a…