Parshas Vaeira begins with G-d’s answer to Moshe’s question from the end of the previous parsha, “Why have You done evil to this nation? Why did You send me?” G-d’s answer is lengthy, “And I appeared to Avrohom, to Yitzchok, and to Yaakov…” six long verses that include numerous subjects; an answer that, at first glance, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Moshe’s questions. All the commentators, led by Rashi, try to respond to this • Full Article

From the desk of Rabbi Nissim Lagziel, Mashpia in Oholei Torah: One of the mitzvos that appears at the end of parshas Korach is the mitzva of pidyon ha’ben. Every boy that is his mother’s firstborn, “petter rechem,” needs to be redeemed on his thirtieth day. The father of the baby gives five coins to the kohen and this is how he redeems his son • Full Article

From the desk of Rabbi Nissim Lagziel: Parshas Shelach is mostly about the sin of the spies. The fate of the spies, along with their generation whom they led to sin, is known. Nobody survived. None of them entered the Land except for Yehoshua and Kalev. The question that needs to be asked is, what will happen to them in the future? What will be the fate of the generation of the desert and the spies themselves in the era of Geula? Will they arise in the resurrection of the dead and merit the World to Come? • Full Article

From the desk of Rabbi Nissim Lagziel, Mashpia in Oholei Torah: Parshas Behaaloscha tells the story of Eldad and Meidad, two righteous men who were deserving of prophecy. In their great humility (11:26), “they did not go out to the tent but prophesied in the camp.” They were among the seventy outstanding individuals, men of spirit, who were chosen from the nation to serve under Moshe Rabeinu as the ‘Seventy Elders’ and to be partners in leading the nation, something like the first Sanhedrin in Jewish history, but they chose to stay home • Full Article

From the desk of Rabbi Nissim Lagziel, Mashpia in Oholei Torah: This week, we read parshas Naso, the longest parsha in the Five Books of the Torah. Among the many topics in the parsha, we will focus on nezirus. A person who makes a vow of nezirus cannot eat grapes nor drink wine (and any food or drink made out of them) • Full Article

From the desk of Rabbi Nissim Lagziel, Mashpia in Oholei Torah: This week, we begin to read and learn the fourth of the five books of the Torah, Sefer Bamidbar. In parshas Bamidbar there is a list of the census of the Jewish people as they are divided into tribes, along with the selection of the Levites to serve in the Mishkan/Mikdash… • Full Article