This week’s Parsha Preview is co-dedicated to the refuah of Menachem Mendel Ben Faigie Ruchel, Moshe Avraham Ben Chaya Freidel, Gilon Chaim ben Yonit, Ofek Ben Tali, Shimon Ben Miriam, Avraham Moshe Ben Miriam Tova, Baruch Kalman ben Leiben Jacobs, Yocheved Bat Leah, Simcha Bat Mazel, Rav Moshe Refael Ben Chasiba Halevy, Baruch Ben Faigle, David Ben Mazal, Shmuel Baruch ben Golda, Sara Bat Hodda, Kyla Chaya Bat Sarah Polson, Leiba Bat Devorah Esther, Tova Rochel Bat Chaya, Yocheved Yaakovite bat Leah, Ita Tzipa bat Dveyra Basha, and Sorah Rivka bat Yehudis may Hashem grant them all a speedy recovery and a complete healing.
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Shelach
Numbers 13:1-15:41
Candle Lighting in
Candle Lighting in Thornhill 8:37 P.M.
Shabbat Mevarchim Chodesh Tammuz
Rosh Chodesh - Shabbat, June 12, 2010 & Sunday June 13, 2010. The Molad for Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is Shabbat June 12, 2010, 5:23 A.M. and 16 Chalakim Jerusalem Time.
Number Of Mitzvot in Parsha Shelach: 3
2 Mitzvot Aseh (Positive Commandments)
1 Mitzvot Lo Taaseh (Negative Commandments-Prohibitions)
Haftorah:(Additional portion, from Prophets, which is read after the Parsha)
Yehoshua / Joshua 2:1 – 24
Moshe sends the Spies on their mission.
The Spies return carrying the massive fruits of the land. They deliver their negative report and the nation looses its faith in G-d and Moshe.
Moshe successfully argues for the life of the nation, and Hashem issues the 40 year decree of wandering and dying. The Spies die, and the nation is informed of their own punishment. The laws of the Mincha - meal offering are stated. The laws of separating Challah - the dough offering, and the communal sin offering are stated. The individual sin offering; the incident with the man who transgressed Shabbat by gathering sticks; his punishment; and the Mitzvah of Tzitzit, conclude the Parsha.
In “Knead” of Tikkun
G-d spoke to Moshe, saying, "Speak to the Children of
For most of us “challah” is delicious egg bread that we eat at Simcha’s usually after uncle Joe makes the Bracha and waitresses pass around on platters and at “Shabbat meals” right after we recite Kiddush and drink the wine. However, to those who bake their own challot, it is also a term denoting the obligation to remove an olive-size piece of dough from each batch of dough that is 7 cups or more. If the dough is at 16 cups or more of flour, then a special blessing is recited at the time of the removal. “Lhafrish Challah min haissah”.
In Eretz Yisrael, this is Torah Law (when the majority of the Jews are living on the land); outside of Eretz Yisrael, the mitzvah to separate Challah is rabbinical.
In
This latter point is interesting because of the fact that this mitzvah appears in this week's parshah, when considering the Talmud's explanation as to why this mitzvah has particular relevance to women:
Why does a woman have the mitzvah of Challah? Rav Chisda said, The Holy One, Blessed is He, said, " 'First' I called you, and regarding 'First' I have warned you " (Shabbat 31b)
This explanation is somewhat vague, but when we learn the following, it becomes clearer:
Rebi Yochanan son of Chanina said: Twelve hours there were on that day (Day Six of creation); the first hour, his dust was gathered together; the second hour he was made a lifeless form, and the third hour, his limbs were shaped (Sanhedrin 38b).
In other words, when G-d set about making the first man, He did so in a manner that resembles the way we make bread. Into one location G-d gathered dust of the earth like flour being brought together from which to make dough. And then, like the baker who pulls off an olive-size piece of dough from the batter as Challah, so, too, did G-d "extract" Adam from the ground, giving him the status as the "Challah" of creation.
Thus, when "she ate and also gave to her husband with her" (Bereishit 3:6), Chava caused the "Challah of creation" to become blemished. Thus, as part of the tikun for this, a woman elevates her own dough each week, as well as light Shabbat candles for very much the same reason.
The mitzvah of Challah is one that is usually performed by a women (Mishnah, Shabbat 2:6), because, according to the Talmud, it is one of the ways womankind rectifies the giving of the forbidden fruit to Adam, back in the Garden of Eden. Since Adam was "kneaded" from the ground (see Sanhedrin 38b), he is called the "Challah" of creation, and eating from the forbidden fruit therefore damaged the "challah" of creation (Talmud Yerushalmi).
By taking Challah, a woman helps to rectify what was "damaged".
Since the actual eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil took place erev Shabbat, it is considered even more praiseworthy if a woman bakes erev Shabbat in order to fulfill the mitzvah of separating Challah (Mishnah Berurah 242:6). Hence the time-honored tradition of many Jewish women to bake Challot erev Shabbat, rather than to buy them, especially when the women is expecting a child; doing so, according to tradition, is supposed to be an important merit for a healthy and easy delivery. As well as for material blessing on a household.
There are many laws relating to the mitzvah of separating Challah, However, what concerns us here is the relevance of this mitzvah to the story of the spies. We have already seen how this is one of the few mitzvot from the 613 mitzvot that is "dependent on the land"; that is, that is only applicable when being performed in Eretz Yisrael. That is certainly one very important connection to the story of the spies, who rejected Eretz Yisrael.
However, as true as this may be, in this week's parshah, women are the heroes. For, as the Midrash points out, the women were not involved in the sin of the spies. Quite the opposite. The women agreed with Kaleiv and Yehoshua, who urged the Jewish people to overcome their fears of the new land and go up and possess it as a gift from G-d! So why place this mitzvah here, in this week's parshah?
The answer to this question also lies in an earlier parshah, Naso, which contained within it the mitzvah of the Sotah -- the suspected adulteress. For, if one considers the essence of the sin of the Sotah, it is that she was discontent with her lot in life, and felt compelled to go beyond her "misgeret," her Torah framework to achieve a sense of personal completion and gratification.
This was, in the case of the first woman, Chava, at the prompting of the snake, (midrash tells us that he was a physical manifestation of the yetzer hara) whose whole drive it is to make man unhappy with his lot in life, in order to drive him to forever seek more, and more, and more. Until the snake had arrived on the scene, Chava had been well aware of the existence of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but, content with her lot in life, had felt no need to trespass the command of G-d and eating from "stolen waters."
However, the snake pushed her (literally and figuratively) to consider the additional "benefits" she could achieve if she went beyond that which was permitted to her and "eat" from that which was not. The snake, the yetzer hara, the voice of discontentment -- convinced Chava that without the "more," she would be less, and, it is from within this mad pursuit of "more" that mankind usually stumbles and errs. I would not be surprised if the “Snake” had a degree in Marketing from Harvard.
This is one of the reasons why Naso ended with the Inauguration-Offerings of the princes, which, in spite of the fact that they were carbon copies of each other, were presented by the Torah each time as if they were unique, brought for the first time. Was it merely a lack of spiritual creativity that made each tribe replicate the previous ones, or, a message about just the opposite?
Like the Shemonah Esrai, which we daven each day at least three times daily. We learn from the Prince's repetition the idea of working within a framework to achieve spiritual, and ultimately, physical completion. By virtue of the fact that no two people are alike, no two peoples situation are alike and no two moments are the same, and no two prayers can be the same, or should ever be, the same. And, over the course of a lifetime, one's prayer should only improve at binding a person to G-d.
Change in life is essential, and it is the essence of growth. However, "change" can be achieved in one of two ways, and each can be valid depending upon the circumstances of the moment. One way is to change the world around us, while leaving our own lives intact and unchanged, for better or for worse. Or, the world can be left alone, while we make changes to ourselves from within, forever refining our character traits until we are able to make the best out of every spiritual situation the world throws our way. In general, that is the most honest and productive path to change and growth a person can travel.
Rejection of Eretz Yisrael by the spies represented a rejection of a Divinely-ordained framework, and the need to work within a specific framework in order to derive spiritual and physical satisfaction. For, such a lifestyle places great demands upon the individual to grow and change from within, especially in areas such a relinquishing self-reliance for reliance on G-d for things such as livelihood.
This was something, apparently, the men did not want to do, but something, on the other hand, the women were prepared to take on. The women's rejection of the spies' loshon hara and advice represented a tikun (repair) from the days of the snake and Chava. Theirs was a tikun that was embodied in the mitzvah of Challah, a symbol of the success achieved by the women in this week's parshah, and, a stern warning to the men, and all the generations of the Jews to follow who would similarly reject the centrality of Eretz Yisrael in their pursuit of Torah and closeness to G-d. Perhaps the Netureh Kartah need a refresher course in the art of taking Challah, and stand with their brothers even if they have a differing view of how Eretz Yisrael is run. Walking hand in hand with terrorists and Nazi’s will always be wrong.
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Shabbat Shalom Umevorach-A peaceful and Blessed Shabbat
Yitzchak Alloul
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