Terumah 5782 – Building a Mishkan in our Homes
I
A TECHNICAL MITZVAH WITH TREMENDOUS REWARD
In Honor of Our Parents
ראובן בן רוזית
רחל בת בילא
On their 50th Anniversary
The Kassin Family
I
A TECHNICAL MITZVAH WITH TREMENDOUS REWARD
In Honor of Our Parents
ראובן בן רוזית
רחל בת בילא
On their 50th Anniversary
The Kassin Family
Tonight, we are going to begin a series on a subject that is very intriguing to most people, a subject that really has much more relevance than most people wish to acknowledge. It’s the subject called gilgul neshamos. In English, the word is reincarnation.
We see in the gemara Rosh Hashanah (16a) that on the chag of Sukkos we are judged regarding water. It says: On Chag we are judged on water. Now, lechorah on Rosh
Hashanah, a person was already judged regarding all his personal matters and all of it was sealed on Yom Kippur. So what is the idea of being judged on water on Chag?
The parshah begins with the episode of Yaakov preparing himself for his ultimate meeting with Eisav, and the Torah tells us about Yaakov Avinu’s emotional state. It is rare for the Torah to reveal the emotional states of our avos and our imahos. But on rare occasions, Hashem pulls back the curtain. You have to realize that if the Torah does that, it means it’s important for us to know about it. We could face the same situation and we can learn from the Torah how to deal with.
In the past, we have spoken about a massive problem, a challenge the people have with kinah, jealousy, and with sinah, hatred. Today, we would like to discuss the ways and means to deal with these issues. If you think about it, it is really a pachad how much kinah and sinah good individuals have and suffer from – even righteous people, chashuve people. I once heard of a story about two big tzadikim who had a sichsuch (argument) between them, and each one had tainos on the other. One of them was a very…
I’d like to share with you today a mindset that one should have regarding the mitzvos of Purim. There is a mitzvah of mishloach manos איש לרעהו on Purim that the Yidden were mekabel upon themselves and it’s something that we still do with a great pump. People spend tremendous amounts of energy and money on this mitzvah today, as we see in all the ads, magazines and newspapers. The problem, however, is…
We’re coming down from the mountain. Shavuos is over. You know, there is one maalah of Yom Tov over Shabbos. The Ramban says that the neshamah yeseirah of Shabbos leaves by Motzei Shabbos. By Yom Tov, it doesn’t leave. But lema’aseh, after matan Torah, you know what Hashem said? שׁוּבוּ לָכֶם לְאָהֳלֵיכֶם, “Go back to your tents” (Devarim 5:27). Go home. Do you know what Hashem wanted us to do? To take the Torah we just learned, take the Torah we were just mekabel, and bring it home.