Israel and The Sin of Expulsion

by Moshe Burt
Our Parsha Bamidbar speaks of the spiritual beauty and innovation which results from diversity within a unity, within uniformity.
Once getting past the numbers crunching of the census, our Parsha speaks of Degalim: the flags of the Sh’vatim (Tribes), as a paradigm of Unity, yet which expresses diversity within the various components, […]

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by Moshe Burt
Parshiyot Behar and Bechukotai are another of a number of power-packed doubleheaders, this one emphasizing the connection between the Jew and Eretz Yisrael.
Our Parshiyot parallel the laws of Shabbos with Shemittoh. And so, six days you shall work and you shall rest, refrain from all manner of avodah on the seventh day… to […]

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Commentary:
As this week’s Parshat HaShevua is Parsha Emor, it seems appropriate apply precepts which I have derived from our Parsha to our collective current malaise:
The function of the Kohen in relationship to his fellow Jews is meant to be the paradigm of how the Jews are meant to relate to the nations as a […]

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Bibi’s infamous Yes vote for the expulsion of our Gush Katif brethren.
This blog has closely observed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public reactions to the tirades of US president Obama and secretary of state Clinton in the aftermath of licensure for building in Ramat Shlomo. Among Netanyahu’s public statements have been declarations that construction in Jerusalem […]

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by Moshe Burt
The positioning in Torah of our Parsha Emor, following last week’s Parsha Kedoshim gives rise to thought and contemplation.
In the previous 2 twin Parshas; Acharei Mos and Kedoshim, and Tazria and Metzora before them, we learn about the Kohen as the only one Divinely invested with ruling as to Tumah or Ta’Hara regarding […]

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by Moshe Burt
Our twin Parshiyot; Acharei Mos and Kedoshim are what baseball fans refer to as another of the “doubleheader” parshas. And just as Parshiyot Tazria and Metzora are extensions of each other, visa vi Tumah and Ta’Hara regarding post-birth, regarding skin, hair, clothing or regarding one’s home or building; Acharei Mos and Kedoshim […]

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by Moshe Burt
In learning about the laws of tzara’as, we find posukim which are a pelah, a wonderment.
Torah relates in our Parsha;
.
“If the tzara’as will erupt on the skin, and … will cover the entire skin of the afflicted from his head to his feet, wherever the eyes of the Kohen can see — […]

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By Moshe Burt
After learning in Parsha Tzav that for seven days, Moshe taught Aaron HaKohen and his sons the laws of their Avodah (the Kohanic Service, i.e. in the Tabernacle and later in the Beit HaMikdash — ” The Temple”) in the Mishkan, our Parsha Shemini begins by relating that on the eighth day, Aaron […]

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by Moshe Burt
Our Rabbanim inform us that for the Pesach Seder to have meaning, beyond the external, superficial or by-rote ritual, we have to feel ourselves as if in Mitzrayim; the oppression, the being put upon, the slave labor and persecution soo overpowering and all-pervasive that we lose the will and the capability of verbally […]

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by Moshe Burt
In our Parsha, Tzav is Moshe’s command from Hashem to Aaron HaKohen and his sons to take up and clothe themselves in their Vestments, their garments of service in the Mishkan, and to begin their daily Avodah (service and offerings in the Mishkan).
For seven days, Moshe taught Aaron HaKohen and his sons the […]

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