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
Matos Masai 5785
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YouParsha Matos Masai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKlCiBB-2jM Genocide
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In Parshas Matos Masai, Numbers 30 - end, the tribes of Reuven and Gad approached Moshe requesting that they be allowed to live in Transjordan. After much wrangling and stipulation, the two tribes and half the tribe of Menashe were allowed to live outside the border of Israel.
One of Moshe's complaints to the tribes was that he wanted to live in Israel more than anything. How could they not want to live in Israel - it is the holy land, after all?
The Arizal (16th century kaballist) explains that there was a defect in these two and a half tribes making them unworthy of living in Israel. Reuven was conceived under false pretexts. Yaakov thought he was with Rochel. The Arizal writes that thinking about another woman at the time of conception will have an ill effect on the child. When Gad was born, Leah named him because "Bagad". This word when read means good fortune has come but as it is written, means deception. Gad's soul was connected to an underlying deception. The Hebrew word Menashe means forget. Because there are good thing and bad things that can be forgotten, only half of Menashe was refused residency in Israel.
Moshiach's arrival will be preceded by the ingathering of the exiles. Every Jew will live in Israel - even Reuven, Gad and that half of Menashe that inherited Transjordan. All imperfections will be removed from the world. May we merit it soon.
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Less than a week after the tzaddik Rabbi Levi Yitzchak moved to Berdichev in 1785 to serve as chief rabbi there, three men knocked on his door to ask him to decide a question of Jewish law. It would be his very first case as a rabbinical judge. A wealthy merchant from the nearby town of Hemelnick brought several barrels of honey. Just then, the price of honey dropped sharply. Not wanting to suffer a loss on his investment, he asked an acquaintance to store the honey for him until the price rose again. The two were old friends, and they did not make a contract or call in witnesses.
Time went by. The keeper of the honey became sick and died. Everything happened so quickly, he never had a chance to explain to his family anything about his business. When the price of honey rose, the owner of the barrels came to collect his honey from the sons who had taken over their father's business. They, however, having heard nothing about it, refused to honor the merchant's claim. After some discussion, they decided to present the case before the new rabbi.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak listened to the litigants carefully. Of course, he would have to rule against the out-of-town merchant. Torah law stipulates that no claims against orphans can be made without document or witnesses. Reb Levi Yitzchak hesitated to pronounce his verdict.. Why, in his first days in his new position, did the Almighty arrange for his inaugural judgment to be something so straightforward and clear-cut, with no room to compromise? The other thought that bothered him was: Everyone in town knew these friends would have trusted each other. It was obvious that the honey did belong to the merchant. With no recourse, Reb Levik excused himself and prayed.
Suddenly, the owner of the honey jumped off his seat as if struck by a bolt of lightning, and exclaimed: "Honored Rabbi, please forgive me. An old memory just flashed through my mind. I am talking about something that happened fifty years ago. When I was a young boy, our father died suddenly, leaving us a large inheritance in cash and possessions. One day, the father of these two young men claimed that some barrels of wine and oil were his and he had stored them with our father. My brothers and I were still quite young and we all went to the town rabbi. He ruled in our favor, explaining that nothing can be taken from the inheritance of orphans without absolute proof. What I just realized is that the money we received by selling that wine and oil is the exact as my honey, which is now in the possession of the sons of my departed friend!"
Now, all was clear to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak: Divine Providence had presented him this case, so early in his new tenure, to teach him an important lesson. Not always is what seems obvious and true to human eyes is necessarily the truth, or even fair. Absolute truth resides only with the laws of the Torah. Some accounts may take fifty years for resolution. What is guaranteed is that the Master of the Universe constantly oversees to be sure that justice is done
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