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Chomer Lidrush
Some ideas to turn your gears heading into the parsha
1) Every Jew has something to contribute to our Mesorah
Rav Shimshon Pincus offers an empowering idea: every Jew has a personal chelek in Torah, a unique perspective or chidush that only they can reveal. Torah isn’t just a static text waiting to be learned; it is a dynamic, unfolding dialogue that we must struggle to understand, and each of us – and our engaging with the Torah – is part of that process.
Some bring out their chelek through providing a new answer to a Torah quandary or a new insight that adds to the richness of our mesorah. But others reveal theirs through a question asked as someone else is presenting. How many chiddushim started with a student’s question? But if we aren’t showing up at all, if we choose not to participate or engage in learning and searching, our part might never come to light. This, Rav Pincus explains, is the deeper meaning of bittul Torah: not just time wasted, but a whole part of Torah being lost, remaining hidden.
This idea echoes two remarkable moments in the Torah: The Bnos Tzelofchad, in our parshah, whose sincere inquiry brought about a new halachic revelation, and the petitioners of Pesach Sheini, whose yearning for connection changed the calendar of sacrifice. In both cases, Torah was expanded because someone dared to step forward, not just to listen but to participate. Put differently, they are two examples of Jews demanding an expression of their own chelek – and it works. Every Jew has something to contribute; the Torah needs your voice.
2) Individual Effort
“The consensus, it seems, is that one man by himself can do little, if anything, in the face of evil or injustice.” Pinchas, grandson of Aharon Hakohen, is celebrated for his individual effort that earned him a covenant of peace and eternal kehunah. Our former Executive Vice President, Rabbi Basil Herring, explores Pinchas’ example of acting as “one man, all alone … against a status quo that was led by a man of superior standing and authority.” We all wish for change in the world; Pinchas did something to enact it. Full piece from The Jewish Imagination here.
(See a similar idea, with additional mareh mekomos from R. Ben Zion Firer’s Hegyonah shel Torah here.)
You can also connect a fascinating piece from Rav Hirsch zt”l on the connection between Pinchas and Eliyahu and always fighting for what’s right. Particularly now, it is our task, first and foremost, to do battle for our most sacred values, to muster the courage to make our convictions known, to isolate ourselves and, if need be, to remain isolated in our beliefs. We must nurture, at least within the small circles of our homes and families, a secure future for that righteousness and valor which we regard as everlasting and inalienable.
Full text, from Collected Writings, here.
3) Standing Down – and the Power of Apologies (even if you did nothing wrong!)
The chatas of Rosh Chodesh is offered La-Hashem – seemingly on His behalf!
שבועות ט
אמר ר"ל: מה נשתנה שעיר של ראש חודש שנאמר בו לה'? אמר הקב"ה: שעיר זה יהא כפרה על שמיעטתי את הירח
Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s “admission” of sinning against the moon models proper extraction of oneself from machlokes
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