Back in 1996, Rabbi Finman was asked to speak to the niece of one of his students. After spending many hours answering her questions, the woman gave Rabbi Finman her e-mail address. Rabbi Finman wrote the woman a note and included in it a short insight into that week's Parsha and a short Chasidic story.
Realizing that this was something no one was yet doing,, Rabbi Finman sent the missive to his mailing list of about 30 people. Requests from recipients friends came pouring in. The next week Rabbi Finman sent the e-Parsha to 100 people. Within a year more than 2000 people were receiving it. Today, more than 14,000 receive the e-Parsha weekly and the requests keep coming in.
Eikev 5785
Vaeschanon 5785
Dvorim 5785
Matos Masai 5785
Balak 5785
Dvorim 5785
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The YouParsha Dvorim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdG7qAEJ4kU Conquering the Canaanite Lands - Today
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Parshas Dvorim, Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:23, features the beginning of Moshe's farewell soliloquy to the Jewish people on Mount Nebo. The beginning of Deuteronomy details the journey of the Jews in desert for 40 years. Even though it was orated by Moshe, our sages say that the Divine presence spoke through Moshe's throat (the Book of Deuteronomy has the same holiness as the previous four books of the Bible). The end of the book describes Moshe's passing. Nebo alludes to the 50th level of understanding as the N in Hebrew has the numerical value 50 and bo means on it. This 50th level is beyond human comprehension and Moshe only achieved it the day he passed away.
The Torah describes Moshe as being the humblest person who ever lived. That humility allowed his own ego and persona to move aside, so to speak, in order to convey Hashem's message. Moshe's burial site is described as, "No one knows where it is." People saw Moshe enter a cave. People on the bottom of the mountain saw the cave above people on the mountain. Those people on the top saw the cave below them. This idea of the top being on the bottom and vice versa is a very basic tenant of Chasidic philosophy.
For Hashem, what we call bottom - this physical world, is really the top - the ultimate expression of Divine will. This physical world is the reason for the entire creation process and therefore is the focal point of Hashem's essential revelation. For us bottom dwellers what we call top - the levels of spiritual expression are really bottom - mere effulgence of G'dly revelation. The entire spectrum of spirituality is in order that we in this terrestrial domain should have an inkling as to how the world was created. All the revelations by the prophets of seraphim, chayos, ofanim, etc describe how the creation system works, but Hashem did not make the creation for them.
This world is the only realm where Torah and Mitzvahs as expressions of Hashem's essential Will can be performed. The performance of any mitzvah elevates the entire spectrum of creation as we thereby fulfill the purpose of Creation.
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There was once a very successful timber merchant in Russia who spent most of his time studying Chasidus. The man was a deep thinker. He was once going over the books, entering accounts receivables and accounts payables. When he came to the bottom of the page, he saw the words, "Sach Hakol - colloquially meaning total but literally "the sum of it all." The merchant thought for a while, staring at these worlds. He finally wrote at the bottom of the page, "Ein od milvado - there is none other than Hashem."
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