Inner Torah

In Parshas Toldos, we find an intriguing story with Yitzchak, Rivka and their sojourn in Gerar. Yitzchak is afraid that the natives will kill him in order to marry his beautiful wife. He claims she is his sister in order to save his life and they let the two of them be. But then one day, as described in Genesis 26:8: וַיְהִ֗י כִּ֣י אָֽרְכוּ־ל֥וֹ שָׁם֙ הַיָּמִ֔ים וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף אֲבִימֶ֙לֶךְ֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים בְּעַ֖ד הַֽחַלּ֑וֹן וַיַּ֗רְא וְהִנֵּ֤ה יִצְחָק֙ מְצַחֵ֔ק אֵ֖ת רִבְקָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ When some time had passed, Abimelech king of the Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac sporting with his wife Rebekah. Abimelech understands by the nature of their intimate relationship that they are more than brother and sister. He gets upset at Yitzchak and claims that he almost causes him to sin by allowing him to live with his wife who he thought was single. The Torah tells us that Yitzchak goes on to plant crops, yields a hundred fold bounty, causes jealousy from the natives and h...

One of the most enigmatic and perplexing episodes in the entire Torah is the story of Lot and his daughters. In Genesis 19:33-35, the Pessukim describe the twisted turn of events where Sodom is destroyed and the only people to escape alive are Lot and his daughters. His daughters are convinced that they are the sole survivors of humanity and the only way to continue the human race is to conceive from their father and perpetuate mankind.  They ply their father with wine and subsequently conceive, night after night, naming their sons Ammon and Moav, implicitly and explicitly implying their incestual act. The commentaries are replete with details and analysis of this outlandish event. Generally, our sages view their act as heroic, as they genuinely thought they were doing the right thing.  But Lot? He is a complex character in general, where some sources describe his righteous nature, after all, he was spared from the destruction of Sodom. On the other hand, many sources paint hi...

In Parshas Lech Lecha, Avraham starts his journey, which is really our journey to Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is a central point in the entire Torah with a tremendous amount of depth and meaning. I’d like to focus on one topic and see how this connects back to Avraham and his epic voyage to the Promised Land.  We know, as the Torah tells us in Parshas Bo, that there is a Mitzvah of Kiddush Hachodesh, sanctifying the new month. This isn’t just an arbitrary Mitzvah. This was the first Mitzvah we were given as a Jewish people and a Mitzvah which helps us partner with Hashem to create the holiness of the Jewish calendar and fix all of our Chagim and ensuing Mitzvos connected to them.  The Rambam, in Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh 5:3 teaches us that this Mitzvah was uniquely suited to be performed in Eretz Yisrael by the Sanhedrin. But after our exile, our sages fixed the calendar based upon astronomical calculations, no longer the technical witnessing of the new moon. We see a basic...

  Have you taken a close look at your Tefillin lately, especially the Tefillin Shel Rosh? Remarkably, within these small leather boxes contain all of the secrets of Hashem and His universe. Hashem himself wears Tefillin and Moshe desperately wanted to achieve the highest level prophecy imaginable by seeing Hashem’s Tefillin, His true essence, but he was denied. Our Tefillin are mirror reflections of Hashem’s Tefillin, so it makes sense that there is a lot of higher level wisdom packed into these little boxes.  One of the details I’m referring to is the fact that the Tefillin Shel Rosh are divided into four separate components. I was in a shiur by a regarded Posek in Safrus and Tefillin and he was urging everyone to make sure that these four boxes aren’t actually touching each other and there is enough space in between the sections that light could pass through. I had heard about this idea before but wasn’t so familiar, so I decided to dive in a little bit deeper into the Halac...

  One of the most enigmatic details of Parshas Noach and really the entire Torah is the episode of the drunken sleep of Noach. In Genesis 9:21, after the flood finishes, the Torah says: וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן־הַיַּיִן וַיִּשְׁכָּר וַיִּתְגַּל בְּתוֹךְ אָהֳלה And he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and he uncovered himself inside his tent. The Torah then goes on to describe how his son Ham sees his father naked and tells his brothers, Shem and Japheth. In contrast, Shem and Japheth cover Noah respectfully, walking backward so as not to see him. But what exactly is going over here? Noach was someone supremely righteous, a unique star in humanity. And while it’s true, the commentaries point out his lackings compared to Avraham Avinu, the mere fact that this is his comparison means that he achieved a cosmic level of holiness and greatness far beyond anything we could imagine.  With this in mind, how do we understand his post-flood actions? Do we assume that he was merely traumatized ...

  Having learned for many years in Litvish Yeshivas, it always bothered me about why Chabad doesn’t sleep in the Sukkah.  I heard the idea that the holiness of the Sukkah was too intense for them to sleep. But to me, this seemed to contradict blatant halachos in the Gemara and Shulchan Aruch.  Yes, our halachic codes give exemptions for sleeping in the Sukkah: cold, discomfort, privacy, safety… but overwhelming spiritual lights isn’t one of them! But as my understanding and appreciation for the world of Penimius Hatorah matured, I decided to take a fresh look at the question, why does Chabad (and other Chassidim) find an exemption from sleeping in the Sukkah.  It all starts with understanding a concept called Makif of Binah. It was this Makif of Binah that the Mittler Rebbe of Chabad felt the deep presence of and for this reason could not fall asleep in the Sukkah.  To give some background, in Kabbalah and Chassidus, there are two different types of lights or Di...