Prism of Torah

101

Getting into Pesach mode • Parshas Vayikra • Ep. 121

Mar 26, 2020

9:54

Even small children want to be the strongest. Two four-year-olds, one in a garden and one on a balcony, stuck at home for weeks, are busy arguing about whose father is stronger. Where does that urge come from, and why does Parshas Vayikra, all about korbanos, always land right before Pesach?The Ramban's introduction to the sefer and the small aleph in the very first word, as the Baal HaTurim explains it, point to what a korban is meant to do to a person. It also gives a fresh look at where we place our trust when everything we rely on suddenly feels shaky.

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Today, Tomorrow The Chicago Bulls and the Golden Calf • Parshas Ki Sisa • Ep. 120

Mar 13, 2020

10:50

When Bnei Yisrael demand the golden calf, Aharon answers with one word, "tomorrow." A Midrash gathers three other places where that same word shows up: the war against Amalek, Esther's second party for Haman, and Shmuel sending Shaul to be anointed. All three are about Amalek, and the Midrash says Amalek falls only "tomorrow."What is Hashem hinting about the fight in front of us today? A mashal about how a certain army chooses its recruits, and what the test really measures, brings that one word into our own struggles.

103

Unveiling the Essence of Purim • Purim • Ep. 119

Mar 5, 2020

9:33

Chazal tell us to drink on Purim until we can't tell "cursed is Haman" from "blessed is Mordechai." Why would we want to blur that, when the Rambam warns against losing yourself to wine? And why does the Megillah keep returning to the same pattern: Haman's own plan, ring and hanging, turns back on him?The Ramchal's idea of why Hashem made a world that looks like it has opposing forces answers both questions at once. It also reaches the things in our own lives that seem to be going against us.

104

What's Important in Hashem's Eyes • Parshas Terumah • Ep. 118

Feb 27, 2020

6:55

Whose gift lands deeper: the expensive bouquet a busy husband orders with one last-second phone call on Erev Shabbos, or the flowers another man picks on his walk home? The same question hides in Parshas Terumah. The Torah lists the donations to the Mishkan from most valuable to least, yet the precious stones for the Efod and Choshen come last, though a Gemara says they were worth far more than gold. The Or HaChaim, drawing on a Gemara in Yoma, explains what Hashem is looking for when we give.

105

Being Extra Sensitive • Parshas Mishpatim • Ep. 117

Feb 20, 2020

8:21

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, yet Chazal teach that it means paying money. Why does the Torah write it in a way that sounds literal if it never was? And why do some Rishonim say the true din really would be to take the eye? Add to that the Ten Commandments split across two luchos, and a rule that has the person who dug the pit keep the dead animal and still pay.One idea runs through all of it, and it is about how we treat someone else. A rav taking a cup of water at a bris turns that sensitivity into something you can picture.

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Having The Right Perspective on Life • Parshas Yisro • Ep. 116

Feb 14, 2020

8:05

The Chofetz Chaim points out that Moshe named his sons in an order that doesn't match what happened to him. First Hashem saved him from Pharaoh's sword, which is Eliezer. Only afterward did he become a stranger in Midyan, which is Gershom. So why is Gershom the firstborn?The answer reaches the way we raise children and the way we live an ordinary day. A short parting scene has Rav Dessler seeing off a student at the train station with a blessing that sounds surprisingly small, until he explains what he meant.

107

Emuna & Bitachon (personal story) • Parshas Beshalach • Ep. 115

Feb 7, 2020

6:49

Bnei Yisrael are trapped between the sea and Pharaoh's army, they cry out to Hashem, and Hashem answers Moshe: "Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael and let them travel." Isn't crying out exactly what we are meant to do in a time of need?The Or HaChaim hears a difference between emunah and bitachon in these words, and it explains what Nachshon was really doing in the water. Rabbi Asaf Prisman also shares something personal from his own family that week, and why these pesukim spoke to him so directly.

108

The Exact Orchestra • Parshas Bo • Ep. 114

Jan 31, 2020

10:12

Chazal teach that the plague of hail had fire burning inside the ice. The plague of Arov is named for a mixture, though "wild animals" would describe it just as well. And Bnei Yisrael leave Mitzrayim in the middle of Nisan, not at some other time. What do these details have in common?The Ramchal on why Hashem created the world gives one thread that ties them together, and even reaches the name Moshe. A short mashal about someone who looks through a small hole into a room is about how easily we misread a scene, and what that does to our reactions in daily life.

109

Your Will of Protection • Parshas Vaera • Ep. 113

Jan 23, 2020

11:54

One comment from someone else, and a person who was strong for years suddenly has no appetite and no energy. Most of us have seen it, or lived it. Why does a single sentence do that?An idea Rabbi Asaf Prisman heard from Rav Boyer ties it to a small oddity in Parshas Vaera. The Torah says Bnei Yisrael couldn't listen to Moshe because of "shortness of breath and hard work," when you would expect the order to be reversed. The idea then follows a man in the camps who was cheerful when others couldn't understand how, and who was sad on the eve of Sukkos.

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Little Things Count • Parshas Shemos • Ep. 112

Jan 16, 2020

8:18

The Shabbos before an orphan bride's wedding, a rebbetzin who runs a tzedakah fund has paid for everything. Her husband asks one more question, and her answer catches him off guard.It connects to the two midwives in Parshas Shemos. Rashi says Shifra is Yocheved and Puah is Miriam, named for how they tended the newborns. They defied Pharaoh and kept the babies alive. So why does the Torah name them for the gentle details, and why does Rav Pinkus say that is what earned them such lasting reward?

111

Beating the enemy • Parshas Vayechi • Ep. 111

Jan 9, 2020

9:47

Yosef already says yes to burying Yaakov in Me'aras HaMachpeilah, and he has the power to do it. Yaakov still makes him swear. Later, when Pharaoh looks for a way out of that oath, Yosef answers him with a line that sounds almost like a threat to the king.Why would Yosef speak that way, and what did Pharaoh understand that stopped him? The Steipler, working from a Gemara in Sotah, explains what was really at stake. A soldier, a night alarm and an unfinished shoelace bring it to its sharpest point.

112

Judgment Day and Rebuke • Parshas Vayigash • Ep. 110

Jan 2, 2020

18:51

When Yosef reveals himself, he asks his brothers, "Is my father still alive?" Yehuda has just spent the whole conversation talking about their father's life, so what is Yosef really asking? And why does the Midrash Rabbah call the brothers' silence a warning about Yom HaDin?The Beis HaLevi reads it as a rebuke, delivered in a way most of us would never think to try. A mashal about a father who sails off to a faraway place to find riches, and what he carries home, asks us to look at where we put our effort.

113

Discovering Inner Beauty on Chanukah • Chanukah • Ep. 109

Dec 19, 2019

13:59

On a flight to Barcelona, a line of fathers and sons forms in the aisle, all waiting to reach the captain of a famous basketball team. Then comes a Friday night game, and a question about who is really on the plane.That scene sits beside a puzzle about Chanukah. The Greeks loved wisdom and beauty, yet the Mishkan was gold and silver, and we buy a lovely mezuzah case for hiddur mitzvah. So what exactly did the Greeks get wrong, and why did all four of their decrees target the same thing? A word from the Bnei Yissaschar on Tzion and Yavan turns beauty into something very different.

114

Double Trouble from Esav • Parshas Vayishlach • Ep. 108

Dec 12, 2019

11:17

The Torah says Yaakov was both afraid and distressed before meeting Esav, and then he prays to be saved "from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav." Why the double language both times? And why does Esav's kiss, and his offer to walk together, come up again at the end?The Beis HaLevi reads these pesukim with a sharp eye for what Yaakov feared most. A point from Rav Yitzchak Hutner on Purim and Chanukah carries it into our own surroundings, and what we are really guarding against there.

115

Going the Extra Mile for Chanukah • Chanukah • Ep. 107

Dec 11, 2019

10:03

Most of us do what is required and feel finished. Chanukah is the one place where halacha invites us to light more each night, though one candle is already enough. Why is the Gemara's main focus the jug of oil and not the military victory? And why is there no Torah holiday for thanking Hashem?The Ramban on Aharon and the menorah points toward an answer. A story about a school, and a teacher still waiting for her match, brings it home.

116

A blessing in disguise • Parshas Vayetzei • Ep. 106

Dec 5, 2019

16:05

Rachel gives up Yaakov to save her sister from embarrassment, and a few pesukim later Leah is furious with her over some dudaim. Why would Leah be so upset at the very person who rescued her? One idea answers that, along with two questions that seem unrelated: what makes Chanukah different from every other miracle, and what connects Yosef HaTzaddik to it?Rav Shlomo Kluger opens the way, and a soldier locked in a freezer on an army ship carries the story.

117

Continuous Giving • Parshas Toldos • Ep. 105

Nov 27, 2019

8:56

Why does Yitzchak's blessing to Yaakov begin with the word "and," when nothing came before it? Rashi and the Midrash Rabbah both notice the strange opening, and the Midrash hears in it a promise that Hashem will give, and then give again.A Rosh Yeshiva's idea about a child, his father and a credit card makes it concrete. It also asks how much of our own day is a quick payment to Hashem, and how much is a connection that keeps going.

118

Thirst to do good • Parshas Chayei Sarah • Ep. 104

Nov 21, 2019

6:25

Avraham says "a morsel of bread" and then runs to fetch the best meat for three guests. Efron says "it's free," then names 400 shekel, and then wants the finest silver. The Gemara in Bava Metzia sums it up: tzaddikim say little and do a lot, and the wicked say a lot and do little. But why is the speaking part in the line at all, when doing is what counts? Rav Yeruchem sees a link between the two. It touches the good we all mean to do and never quite get to, and how the Chofetz Chaim answered a request.

119

The ultimate test in life • Parshas Vayera • Ep. 103

Nov 14, 2019

9:08

Some parts of serving Hashem come to us easily, and some parts we quietly know we're avoiding. After the Akeidah the angel says, "Now I know that you fear Hashem." Now? Avraham had already left his home, been thrown into the fire and welcomed every guest. The Netziv compares him to a man close to the king who is told to harm his son, and asks what is different here. A second approach asks what made this one test unlike all the others Avraham had passed.

120

Be the best Yid • Parshas Lech Lecha • Ep. 102

Nov 6, 2019

10:00

A man in rags saves for months to buy the suit he's been staring at in a shop window. At the shop he tries it on and is furious. That mashal sits beside a question in Lech Lecha. Lot also left home with Avraham, so why did one end up as the model of good character and the other in Sodom? And why does Hashem list what to leave in what looks like the wrong order: land, then birthplace, then father's house? The Vilna Gaon on "ito" versus "imo" points to what going "with" someone really takes.

121

Our relationship with objects • Parshas Noach • Ep. 101

Oct 31, 2019

12:04

Rashi says Hashem held back Noach's children until he was 500, so that he wouldn't have to build more arks for righteous sons or watch wicked ones die. But wouldn't Noach have wanted the help? And why did the ark take 120 years to build? Rav Chaim Shmulevitz answers both. A Gemara in Yoma about Nikanor, a ship in a storm and two heavy gates makes his idea concrete. The things in our homes, and the people closest to us, are part of it.

122

The Optical Illusion World • Parshas Bereishis • Ep. 100

Oct 24, 2019

9:59

On the first day Hashem says "let there be light," and there is light. On the second, He says it and then "made" the Rakia. On the third He tells the land to bring forth grass, and the Torah adds that fruit and vegetables carry their own seed. Why does each day of Bereishis put one more step between Hashem's word and the result? And what is this setup meant to test in us? A mashal about villagers who rebuild a train, car by car, is about how easily we miss the first link.

123

Simchas Torah A Once-a-Year Spiritual Opportunity • Simchas Torah • Ep. 99

Oct 20, 2019

9:44

The Gemara says the days to call out to Hashem are the Aseres Yemei Teshuva, "when He is near." Yet the Zohar says Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah are an even better time to ask Hashem for anything at all. That seems backwards, since the Yamim Noraim just ended. What changed in these 21 days to make this moment closer still, and what should we be asking for? Rabbi Asaf Prisman closes with the last Simchas Torah of the Mir Yeshiva in its old city, when the students knew they might not get out, and one song they sang again and again.

124

Sukkos Partnering with Hakadosh Baruch Hu • Sukkos • Ep. 98

Oct 18, 2019

10:26

What makes the sukkah so special that the Gemara gives it the holiness of a korban, and a Midrash calls whoever sits in it a partner in creation? The four species already let us thank Hashem for the harvest, so why add a mitzvah that sends us out of our homes right when the work is done? The Meshech Chochma divides mitzvos into two kinds, and Rav Eliyahu Lopian explains why Har HaMoriah holds a holiness that Har Sinai did not. A friend standing at the funeral of a young man saw something at that moment that puts our daily choices in perspective.

125

True Happiness • Sukkos • Ep. 97

Oct 13, 2019

12:34

Abaye was the head of the yeshiva, and when a student finished a masechta he made it a Yom Tov for the Chachamim. Rashi goes out of his way to tell us who Abaye was. Why? A similar puzzle sits in the Navi, where David dances before the Aron and his wife Michal calls him an empty-headed man. What was she afraid he was losing, and how could David answer, "It is before Hashem"? The Kedushas Tzion's answer also takes in two questions about Sukkos: why it is the happiest Yom Tov, and why we read Koheles.

126

Missing the Mark in Mitzvos • Yom Kippur • Ep. 96

Oct 8, 2019

4:19

An Israeli basketball player on the way up, back pain, a team that wants him, and a question about how to keep Shabbos while playing. Then a broken bone and a friend who goes looking in a book. Before Yom Kippur, a Chofetz Chaim on the last pasuk of Koheles asks what a sin done in private leaves behind, and who will see it in the world to come. The story lands in a surprising place, and it asks something of us in teshuvah.

127

Maximizing Rosh Hashanah Spiritually • Rosh Hashana • Ep. 95

Sep 29, 2019

10:56

Why does Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment, come before Yom Kippur, when forgiveness should come first? And if it opens the Aseres Yemei Teshuva, why do we avoid even mentioning sin that day? The Ramban brings a Mechilta about a king approaching a city, and the residents who ask for his laws first. It frames a dispute among the Rishonim over the first of the Ten Commandments. Then comes the voice that tells us, "you'll only sin again," and what Hashem asks us to bring to the shofar instead.

128

Teshuvah - Hard or Easy? • Parshas Nitzavim • Ep. 94

Sep 26, 2019

11:25

Teshuvah is called "very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart," and the Ramban reads that pasuk as being about teshuvah. Yet look around, and look at ourselves: it hardly feels easy. Why would the Torah testify that it is? A mashal of prisoners who dig their way out of a cell has the one who stays behind in trouble, and a question that has bothered Rabbi Asaf Prisman for years about why the comparison works. Rav Chaim Shmulevitz points to what really stands in our way before Rosh Hashanah.

129

How to Request from Hashem in the Right Way • Rosh Hashana • Ep. 93

Sep 19, 2019

10:14

A small boy stands on the bank of a huge river, waiting for a giant ship to stop for him. A man nearby tells him he's wasting his time. That picture comes at the end of a look at Chana's tefillah on Rosh Hashanah. Why did Eli, such a holy man, suspect her of being drunk? And the Zohar calls someone who asks for personal needs on Rosh Hashanah like a dog, so how could Chana ask for a child that day? An approach to the word "shikor" opens the way to asking for what we need before Selichos.

130

Judged like a Tzaddik • Parshas Ki Seitzei • Ep. 92

Sep 12, 2019

14:13

The Midrash, quoted by Rashi, says Lot was saved from Sodom because he kept silent when Avraham told everyone that Sarah was his sister. That seems backwards. Silence about his own uncle hardly sounds like much, while the Torah spends so much time on Lot's open home for guests. Why did the quiet act outweigh the visible one? It leads to why Amon and Moav were barred from the Jewish people, and to what Hashem expects from each of us in Elul. A friend's phone call about his mother's illness and a sum due the next day closes it.

131

Of parents & managers • Parshas Shoftim • Ep. 91

Sep 6, 2019

11:27

When a body is found outside a city, the elders declare, "Our hands did not spill this blood." Who would suspect the most respected people in town? Rashi, citing the Gemara in Sotah, says what they are really clearing themselves of, and the question is how a visitor's meal and escort could lead to murder. The same Egla Arufa shows up in the wagons Yosef sent to Yaakov. Anyone who manages people or raises children will see a pattern in it, and a small habit at shul brings it into focus.

132

Preparing for Elul • Parshas Reeh • Ep. 90

Aug 29, 2019

10:04

After the command to destroy an Ir HaNidachas, the Torah adds a promise: Hashem "will give you rachamim and have mercy on you." Why does mercy appear in the middle of the harshest mitzvah in the Torah? And why does the pasuk say it twice? The Or HaChaim answers with how our own actions shape us, which Rav Chaim Shmulevitz applies to the weeks before Rosh Hashanah. On an Erev Shabbos in Bnei Brak, a man stopped beside an elderly woman at a large garbage bin, and what came of it may explain his success.

133

Educating our Kids • Parshas Eikev • Ep. 89

Aug 22, 2019

8:30

Most parents can get a child to daven or say Tehillim while they are standing right there. Is that what chinuch means? In Parshas Eikev the pasuk says to teach children to speak of Torah "when you sit, when you walk, when you lie down and when you rise." The Kesav Sofer asks why it spells all that out, and a distinction drawn by Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky fits his answer. A Rav and a Rebbetzin each ran a Tehillim group with the same prize, and the children's answers to one question were very different.

134

Understanding our goal in life • Parshas Vaeschanan • Ep. 88

Aug 15, 2019

8:17

If Yissachar and Zevulun share their income and their reward, why not simply split each day between learning and working? Why does the Torah take care to tell us how wealthy Avraham and Yaakov were? And if the Rambam says every Jew can reach the level of Moshe, how does a full day of hishtadlus fit with trusting that everything is from Hashem? A teaching Rabbi Asaf Prisman heard from Rav Boyer puts the hours we spend at work in a different light.

135

Connecting to Tisha B'Av • Tisha B'Av • Ep. 87

Aug 8, 2019

11:59

Most of us walk into Tisha B'Av feeling far from a Beis HaMikdash we never saw. How do you mourn something you can't even picture? And why do the kinos of this one day weep over the Holocaust and so many other tragedies from across Jewish history? Rabbi Asaf Prisman sets out to close that distance. Along the way, a man whose temper is hurting his marriage, his children and his job begs a great rav for help, and the rav sends his gabbai into the next room with very strange orders. What the man admits afterward reaches into every frustrating moment of an ordinary day.

136

The Importance of Being Part of a Community • Nine Days • Ep. 86

Aug 1, 2019

12:07

The Torah forbids counting Jews head by head, and so Kohanim drew a lottery by counting fingers, and we count a minyan with the ten words of a pasuk. Everyone says Ayin Hara, but does that really explain it? Rabbeinu Bechaye gives a different reason, one that runs from Pesach Sheini to the Shunamis to how we daven for the sick. For the Nine Days, it asks what protects a person simply by standing inside a community. A man shaken by a plane crash he missed gets a surprising answer from the Chazon Ish.

137

Finding your path to Hashem • Parshas Pinchas • Ep. 85

Jul 25, 2019

7:58

Rashi says Hashem answered Yitzchak's prayer and not Rivka's, because he was a tzaddik son of a tzaddik and she was a tzaddekes from a wicked home. That seems backwards, since rising above a bad home should count for more. The same question sits under the opening of Parshas Pinchas, which repeats that Pinchas was the grandson of Aharon, a man of peace, right after Pinchas did something that looked like the opposite of peace. What does it mean to find your own way to Hashem inside the home you grew up in? A grade eight math teacher, always calm, shows it.

138

Objectively realizing Hashem's Will • Parshas Balak • Ep. 84

Jul 18, 2019

8:43

Most of us have pushed a "no" until it sounded like a "yes." Bilaam did exactly that. Yet in Parshas Balak he seems to follow Hashem's instructions at every step, so why do Chazal and Rashi read every line of his story in the worst light? The Mishna in Pirkei Avos sets him against Avraham, and Rashi on the Akeidah shows what Avraham heard when Hashem's words could be taken two ways. A son begging his father to let him stay out late is a picture of how easily we cloud what Hashem wants from us.

139

Nature one big optical Illusion • Parshas Chukas • Ep. 83

Jul 11, 2019

9:48

A worried phone call after an ultrasound, and a drive to Rav Kanievsky for a bracha. That story closes a look at Moshe striking the rock in Chukas. Why is the punishment, missing Eretz Yisrael, so severe for hitting instead of speaking, when water from a rock is a Kiddush Hashem either way? And why was Moshe told to strike the rock back in Beshalach? Rav Shimshon Pinkus explains the difference, and why the world we call "nature" sits at the heart of it.

140

Arguing the real way • Parshas Korach • Ep. 82

Jul 4, 2019

6:51

Pirkei Avos calls the argument of Korach "Korach and his followers," yet the argument was with Moshe. Why name the wrong side? The Mishna also says an argument for the sake of heaven will "endure," and one that isn't will not. What does it mean for an argument to last, and what makes one argument for heaven at all? Anyone who has argued with someone who only wanted to be heard will recognize the problem. This is a look at what we are really after whenever we disagree, and the question to ask ourselves in the middle of one.

141

The ability to influence • Parshas Korach • Ep. 81

Jun 27, 2019

15:03

Chazal say Korach's wife pushed him into the rebellion against Moshe, and On ben Peles's wife kept him out of it. A Gemara in Sanhedrin and a Midrash on Moshe's words to Beis Yaakov point the same way. Why does a woman's influence reach so deep, and what is it about the heart that gets past the mind? The question reaches how we build a family, and why the Torah warns us not to follow our hearts. A recent wedding in Eretz Yisrael closes it, where a quiet influence showed itself.

142

Eating kugel too early • Parshas Behaaloscha • Ep. 80

Jun 21, 2019

7:59

The Torah says Moshe was humble "me'od," exceedingly, when "humble" alone would have said it. Why the extra word? And why does the Rambam tell us to walk the middle path in every trait, except pride, where he says to go to the extreme? Rabbi Asaf Prisman brings a Chofetz Chaim on one pleasure in this world that is unlike all the others. A family hoping to welcome a great Rabbi in Russia, a surprise arrival, and a simple question about Shabbos food make the point.

143

Enjoying life • Parshas Naso • Ep. 79

Jun 13, 2019

7:07

The Torah calls a nazir holy, and in the same breath says he must bring a sin offering. Rashi brings Rabbi Elazar HaKappar: his sin was denying himself wine. So is he holy or guilty? One answer settles it, but then the Ramban on "kedoshim tihiyu" seems to praise exactly this kind of abstaining, and the contradiction returns. At a eulogy for Rav Steinman, one speaker describes him in a way the next speaker politely corrects, and the correction holds the real answer.

144

Embracing 'Naase Venishma' • Shavuos • Ep. 78

Jun 6, 2019

8:48

For years, the Gemara about two crowns for "naaseh" and "nishma" sounds like praise for doing before understanding. But the Gemara words it as: first they said naaseh, then nishma. What does that order create? A thought in the introduction to one of the Beis HaLevi's seforim gives the order a new meaning, and the Nefesh HaChaim adds why effort itself binds us to Torah. A neighbor who waters a seed for years with nothing to show for it brings the idea home just before Shavuos.

145

The real purpose of life • Parshas Bechukosai • Ep. 77

May 30, 2019

8:15

"Im bechukosai teilechu," Hashem says, and Rashi explains it cannot mean keeping the mitzvos, since that comes next. It means toiling in Torah. But chukim are laws we cannot understand, so what is hard to understand about learning, and why "walk"? And how can the prayer at a siyum say that others toil without reward, when every worker is paid? The word "amal" holds the key. A Vilna Gaon mashal of a king, a river and buckets with small holes reveals who understood it.

146

Emor & Sefiras HaOmer Insights • Parshas Emor • Ep. 76

May 17, 2019

13:04

The Korban HaOmer is named after a measure, an omer, even though the same volume is used in the Mincha offering and called a tenth of an eifah there. Why did the Torah choose that name here? And why does the counting toward Shavuos start from this offering? Rav Yosef Salant in Be'er Yosef finds one earlier use of the word that answers both. On a flight, an elderly woman hands Rabbi Asaf Prisman a small card with three cartoon pictures, and each one says something about being busy.

147

Delving into the Concept of Sefiras HaOmer • Sefiras Haomer • Ep. 75

May 2, 2019

12:00

Anyone counting toward something they long for counts down. So why do we count up the 49 days from Pesach to Shavuos? And if Torah is the point of leaving Mitzrayim, why not give it the moment we left? The Chinuch finds what Pesach is really for in a pasuk in Shemos, and Rav Pincus adds what these days are meant to build in us. A friend's careless comment to a couple without children for twenty years, and a wager that came with it, ends at the door of Rav Chaim Kanievsky.

148

Getting Rid of the Mitzri in Us • Pesach • Ep. 74

Apr 24, 2019

11:46

After ten plagues, Hashem says the Egyptians will "know that I am Hashem" only when the sea splits. What did they not know until then? And what did Pharaoh mean by "Who is Hashem?" The Ramban's distinction between Hashem's names answers both, and explains why the redemption came in two stages. It also asks how much of Mitzrayim we still carry with us. A man who lost everything in someone else's failed investment puts the idea into a real life.

149

A Yid's View of a Negative Experience • Pesach • Ep. 73

Apr 18, 2019

11:42

Rabban Gamliel lists the three things we must mention at the Seder: Pesach, Matzah, Maror. Maror comes last, though the bitterness of Mitzrayim came first. Why that order? Building on the Malbim, the answer touches how a Yid is meant to view a hard experience. A story from a dentist's waiting room, where something goes wrong with someone's father, closes it. Anyone coming to the Seder with something bitter of their own will hear it differently.

150

Death and life in the hands of the tongue • Parshas Metzora • Ep. 72

Apr 9, 2019

12:26

We are commanded to remember what Miriam said about Moshe, yet we also may not speak badly about another Jew. Isn't remembering it a kind of lashon hara on her? And how can it be to her merit that the whole camp waited for her, when it highlights her sin? The Rambam in Hilchos Tumas Tzaraas describes exactly what she said and what she meant by it, and Rav Zev Leff explains why this moment in the Torah is the sharpest lesson in how careful we must be with our words. At a seudah, the Chofetz Chaim is pressed by a talmid for a promise, and he asks for one in return.

Prism of Torah

Prism of Torah

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