“One cannot compare someone who has reviewed his studies one hundred times to someone who has reviewed them one hundred and one.” (Chagigah)

Rabbi Yechezkail Levenstein zt”l explained that the latter is not someone who simply reviewed his studies one extra time. It describes someone who focused on “Achat” – the One -, as he studied.

We live with enhanced awareness of God on Rosh Hashana. We can take that awareness and add it to our studies, so that whenever we learn we remember “Achat” – The One.

Author Info: 



Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Rabbi Yose taught: Every action in which a person engages that is not in the service of the Holy One, Blessed is He, turns into a breath that goes drifting through the world. And when the person’s soul departs, that breath whirls it through the world like a stone in the sling (David and Goliath), as it is written, “The soul of your enemies He will sling from the hollow of a sling.” (Samuel I 25:29) Who will sling? That breath conducting it through the world. So, everything done under the sun that is not in the service of the Holy One, Blessed is He, turns into a breath – but it is breaking of spirit, for it breaks the spirit, rising and falling in the world, as it is written, Breath (ur’ut ruach), and shattering of spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

But whatever is service of his Lord is called ‘above the sun’ and becomes a holy breath. This is seed sown by a person in that world. What is its name? Righteousness, as it is written, “Sow for yourselves righteousness.” (Hosea 10:12) This conducts a person when his soul departs from him, raising him to a place where supernal glory is found, to be bound in the bundle of eternal life, as it is written, “Your righteousness will march before you.” (Isaiah 58:8) – leading you, raising you. To where? To the place of which it is written, “The glory of God will gather you in.” (ibid.)

All those souls conducted by that holy breath are gathered in by the one called “Glory of God”, enwrapped within it, as it is written: “The glory of God will gather you in.” This is called “Tranquility of Spirit”.

Happy are the righteous for all their actions make them worthy of the World to Come.

(Zohar, Volume 2:59a-b, Translation & Commentary by Daniel C. Matt – The Pritzker Edition 2007)

Breath is used to describe the effect of non-purpose driven action as we breathe without thinking. We take it for granted and forget that God used His breath, so to speak, to blow a soul into Adam.

The breath that is used to sound the shofar is directed upward, to ‘above the sun’ to remind us that we must live with a sense of great purpose, and that all for which we ask on Rosh Hashana must be to help us achieve our purpose, master ourselves and cleave to God.

Author Info: 



Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

I heard the following story about a soldier under his command, from a non-observant ranking IDF officer:

The young man lives in a small Moshav in Israel. His family finished the Seder around 4AM, and he sat down to learn Gemara for a few minutes before going to sleep. The phone rang just before he climbed into bed; he was summoned back to base for an IDF action in response to a bombing in Netanya.

He hurriedly dressed and began his trek. A car full of Israelis saw a soldier walking, hear where he was headed, and drove him to his base. He and his Chavrusot (Study Partners) climbed into their tank and drove straight into Nablus. They were on high alert for the next twelve hours.

His commander radioed in permission for the tank crew to sleep for four hours. They had to sleep inside the tank because it was far too dangerous outside. Everyone knew that the Hesder students had not slept in more than 24 hours, but a four hour break was the maximum the IDF could offer in such a tense situation.

They were exhausted. They were desperate for sleep, but there was something they had to first do; the entire crew took out their Gemaras and studied for 15 minutes before closing their tired eyes.

“He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are coming near to the battle against your enemies; let your heart be not faint; do not be afraid, do not panic, and do not be broken before them. For God, your Lord, is the One Who goes with you, to fight for you with your enemies, to save you.’” (Deuteronomy 20:3-4) We are prohibited from panicking and retreating during battle. (Rambam, Hilchot Melachim – The Laws of Kings and Their Wars)

Ever since reading the “The Red Badge of Courage” I have understood the difference between courage and the absence of fear. The Torah seems to demand that we go beyond the courage to face our fears and attain a level of no fear!

The young soldier of our story was frightened inside his tank, except, when he took out his Gemara to learn. He had no fear when he was studying. At that moment, he and his friends brought us back to the battles described in our verses: He used his Gemara to rise above his fears and experienced “God, the One Who Goes with you.”

I fear less for the soldiers who will study Gemara for 15 minutes before going to sleep than I do for the soldier who does not. I fear less for a nation with such people defending her than I do for a nation with Gemara-less soldiers.

There are times I experience life as a constant battle. (See Ready For Fight) Elul forces me to think ahead to the coming year and I wonder, and, admittedly fear, what lies ahead. The first blasts of the Elul Shofar this morning was a call to battle: I remembered the story of the young soldier and took our my Gemara. It works! The fear disappeared.

Author Info:

Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Anne Fadiman recently published a collection of essays entitled Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love. Ms. Fadiman invited famous writers to reread books that were important to them when they were young. Most of the essayists had not read the assigned books in many years, and were often enchanted all over again by a long absent friend.

I often return to Sefarim – Holy Books that played an important role in my development. There are some books on prayer that literally lifted my prayers to a new level. There are books on law that I was unable to put down when I first read them. I often bought numerous copies of these books to share with my children, students and friends. I taught some of them from beginning to end.

I recently returned to one of these books for what Ms. Fadiman would call a rereading. I could not believe that it was the same book I loved so much. I found myself disagreeing with practically every idea in the book. I was so shocked by the experience that I tried the same experiment with numerous other books, most, not all, with the same result. The rereadings were a disaster. I felt that was losing some important friends, even embarrassed that I had ever loved these books so much.

I changed. My thought and philosophy have developed, and I can still acknowledge the important role that many of these books played in my development.

I can read the weekly portion and Haftarah year after year and find myself re-enchanted each and every time. Each reading feels like the first. I read the same words every year and still feel as if I am reading them for the first time.

I can read the words of the Siddur – Prayer Book every single day and find myself enchanted all over again each and every time.

The re-enchantment comes from both the texts and me. The texts alone cannot offer constant re-enchantment without a reader who is willing to be enchanted all over again. I may be willing to be re-enchanted but if the text does not possess that magic power, I will experience disappointment.

Perhaps this is the call of Shema: Hear as if you never heard before. Allow yourself to be re-enchanted. “Na’aseh V’nishma” – We will do and we will hear – we will do in order to nurture the ability to be re-enchanted by what we hear all over again.

Author Info:

Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

“Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of the spies of the land, tore their clothes.” (Numbers 14:6) Whose clothes did they tear? The Kotzker explains that they torn the clothes of high position off the backs of the other spies. The first step is to expose the Emperor’s New Clothes. We often fall into the trap of measuring others by their externals and Joshua and Caleb wanted to expose the other spies for what they really were.

Author Info:

Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Every child is fascinated by the problem of the caterpillar and the butterfly. But most of us, forget these things and become absorbed in matters of consequence. Scientists form one group of individuals in whom childish traits persist: for the adult scientist still wonders about the problem of the caterpillar and the butterfly. He has never grown out of that exasperating period of childhood characterized by the eternal, “Why?”

Perhaps creative genius is simply the persistence of childishness into adulthood in certain individuals: The persistence of curiosity to make scientists and philosophers, Torah Scholars and Servants of God; of wonder to make poets and painters, rabbis and “prayors”. Of imagination, of dream stuff, in all these various categories, though it may be wiser not to pursue the childish analogy too far.

Which is exactly what happens in this week’s portion; The Children of Israel took the analogy of childishness too far. Moses even complains to God, “Did I conceive this entire people or did I give birth to it, that You say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a suckling, to the Land that You swore to its forefathers?” (Numbers 11:12) Rashi compares them to, “A child escaping from school.”

I can’t imagine watching the Clouds of Glory signal the camp to move without a sense of childish wonder. I can’t imagine eating Manna without a child’s excitement. I can’t imagine studying Torah without the fascination that made me treat my father as the original Google with my incessant insistence on “Why?”

However, childish wonder does not mean that we must act as children. We cannot eat at God’s table laden with treats only to complain about what’s missing. How can someone who maintains childish wonder when studying Torah simply accept ideas as a child being told what to do, without asking “Why?” Should that spirit of a child be expressed as belief in spiritual super heroes who are angelic since birth? Are we not taking that childish wonder a little too far?

Perhaps the people looked to Moshe with that same childish wonder. He went up to heaven and spent 40 days and nights with God. Wow! He is beyond us! He brought Manna. He brought water from a rock. He can do anything. He became their father and mother.

So, God instructed Moshe to appoint the Seventy Elders and He emanated Moshe’s spirit on to them and they began to prophecy. They experienced that Moshe was not some kind of super hero; he was what all of them could be. He too shared the childish wonder over God’s words and miracles, but as an adult on a serious search.

Perhaps we can read the name of the portion, Behaalotecha, as “When you grow up!” or, “Grow Up! Why Doncha?”

Author Info: 



Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

In Honor of Rabbi Moshe Stepansky and his comment to “The Futurist“: The Tanchumah (Bamidbar 2) teaches: This can be compared to a ruler who entered a province, and when its citizens saw him they fled. He entered a second province and the citizens ran away. He then went into a remote town, and when the citizens saw him, they began praising him. The ruler said, “This is the best city in the province. I will build my house here and I will live here too.” So too, when the Holy One, Blessed is He, came to the sea, it ran away from Him, as it is stated, “The sea saw and fled.” (Psalms 114:3) He appeared on Mount Sinai and they fled, as it is stated, “The mountains skipped like rams.” (Verse 4) He came to a remote wilderness, they, Yisrael, received Him and praised Him, as it is stated, “The wilderness and its cities will raise their voices in song.” (Isaiah 42:11) The Holy One, Blessed is He, descended into it, as it is stated, “The wilderness and the wasteland will rejoice over them, the wilderness will be glad and blossom like a lily.” (Isaiah 35:1)

This is an astounding Midrash, however we will attempt to explain it: Behold, all the miracles that God performed were in order that all should recognize and know that He is the Creator of all, and guides all that exists in both the upper and lower worlds, to do with them according to His Will. God implanted this belief in their hearts, and this, was the purpose of all the miracles.

This awareness was not temporary, for, although it did not actively function in them after time, it exists in their hearts as a “Zechair,” a living memory, as the verse says, “He made a memorial for His wonders.” (Psalms 11:4)

However, the Torah that God gave us, can be used to conceive His Divinity and Unity, and how He exercises Providence over all that exists.

This is the explanation of the verse, “The Tablets were God’s handiwork, and the writing was the writing of God.” (Exodus 32:16) God is “written into the Torah,” so to speak, and a person is able to conceive God’s actions through toil in Torah.

This is the meaning of the Midrash when it says that the sea fled, or “Barach,” which can also mean to expand into the future. The effect of the miracle expanded far into the future. The desert in the Midrash, refers to Torah (See the Zohar) The Holy One, Blessed is He, said, “Here I will build My home,” meaning that God lives within the Torah, and through Torah a person can find Him and His actions.

This is at any time and any moment. All the miracles live in the Torah, and a person can conceive the workings of all the miracles by studying Torah as if he actually experienced the miracles. This is why the Torah is described by the Midrash as the Home of God. “G-d’s essence hovers in the Torah and it is within the Torah that Man can try to understand how G-d operates. And that is what is meant as ‘G-d’s dwelling place’.” (Kol Simcha, Bamidbar)

Author Info: 



Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

In honor of Akiva S.: “One stormy night when my nephew Roger was about twenty months old I wrapped him in a blanket and carried him down to the beach in the rainy darkness. Out there, just at the edge of where -we-couldn’t-see, big waves were thundering in, dimly seen white shapes that boomed and shouted and threw great handfuls of froth at us. Together we laughed with pure joy, he a baby meeting for the first time the wild tumult of the oceans, I with the salt of half a lifetime of sea love in me. But I think we felt the same spine-tingling response to the vast roaring ocean and the wild night all around us.” (Rachel Carson – The Sense of Wonder)

I study bible once a week with a twelve-year-old, spectacular young man. Together, he, who has not studied much bible, and I, who has spent all my life studying, exult in the magic of the text. There is no age difference, no gap in knowledge, as we listen in to the joyous thundering of the words, showered with a fresh spray of insights and questions.

It is at such moments that I experience my greatest joy in Torah. I revel in its ability to speak to all, the young and old, the student and the rabbi, with the same power and intensity.

Perhaps that sharing was the role of the Levites in the Mishkan. The Cohanim stood above us, directing us in our offerings and service. The Levites connected us and allowed us to share the experience of standing in God’s Home.

Author Info: 



Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

It is 1AM and I am too excited to sleep. I just finished teaching a Talmud class on the complex laws of interest and profit. I readily acknowledge that I may be a strange person, but not because I am excited about a complicated Talmudic discussion.

I have one goal when studying or teaching Talmud: Engagement. The Mishna and the Talmud were written in a manner that invites the reader to step into the Batei Midrash – study halls – in Israel and in Babylon of 1600 to 2,000 years ago and participate in the passionate debates that shaped the direction of the Mishna, Talmud, and Halacha.

We can study the text with the superb commentary of the Artscroll and learn how the text has been explained over the ages. I don’t know how many thousands of people are studying Talmud because it has been opened up for them by the Artscroll Talmud.

I have taught Talmud to groups of highly accomplished people using the Steinsaltz Talmud and they too were guided by Rabbi Steinsaltz into the complex conversations of the generations. I was only satisfied when the debate became heated and passionate.

The Talmud is not a study of information, but of process. It trains us in the application of Halachic principles to new situations and challenges. It is insufficient to study the thinking process of the Sages of the Talmud, the Geonim, Rishonim and Acharonim. We will only learn how to apply their thinking if we are engaged in the debates.

Talmud study is an intense training process in logical thought. When we are engaged in the conversation we learn to distill the concepts, not just the laws. That is why when we study a Responsum of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, for example, we will find him applying the concepts of laws that, at first glance, seem distant from the immediate topic. Rav Moshe didn’t think in a checklist of laws, he thought conceptually, and, in his mastery of Torah, which flowed through his veins, he could apply the ideas of diverse Halachot to a single topic. Rav Moshe is part of the same conversation that began in the Mishna.

Even we, who do not begin to approach Rav Moshe’s mind or knowledge, can join in the same debate. The Talmud invites us to participate in the discussion and not remain on the sidelines as observers.

That is why I am so excited at 1AM. We engaged in a furious battle of ideas. We argued with, questioned, challenged, and carefully listened to, the voices of the Mishna, Talmud, Rashi, the Pnei Yehoshua and the Maharam. We were there in the room with all of them. We were exhausted when the debate ended, but thrilled to have participated, and changed by the experience.

Even better: At the conclusion of the class, someone commented, “We should use the same approach when we study any Biblical scene. We have to picture ourselves as active participants in the story.”

And that, my friends, is exactly why the Talmud nurtures engagement. It invites us to become active participants in every aspect of Torah. There are few things, if any, that are more exciting.

Author Info:
Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

We have posted the essays for this week:

Haftarah – Nasso: Identity

Table Talk – Nasso: Impressions

The Music of Halcha – Shabbat 26: Fire

The Voice of The Torah: Rabbi Chaim Goldberger

The Torah Connection: Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg

Words Can Heal: Rabbi Irwin Katsof: Your Kids May Be Armed and Dangerous

Stories of the Baal Shem Tov: Bentzion of Medziboz: Nasso

Keter Shem Tov: Bentzion of Medziboz: Chapter 140

For Our Members in Israel we have posted:

Haftarah: Beha’alotecha: Walkers

They can also review the Haftarah for Shabbat Chanukah:

Table Talk: Beha’alotecha: The Challenge of Change & The Vocabulary of Evil

Author Info:

Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.