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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Shmot
- Ki Tisa
I suspect that it was Aharon’s great and unconditional love for the Jewish people that drove him to cooperate in the construction of the Golden Calf. Moshe’s love for Israel was also unbounded and unconditional but Aharon was incapable of Moshe’s tough love approach. He therefore sought to mitigate the evil act that he felt was inevitably coming and tried to soften the eventual consequences of that act. He was willing to provide Israel with the excuse - "Look, Aharon was with us and he participated in the Golden Calf so it was not entirely our fault nor could it have been that bad." There is a concept in Judaism called aveirah lishmah - a sin committed knowingly but for a higher purpose, for the sake of Heaven itself, so to speak. A sin committed for the sake of the eventual salvation of the Jewish people from destruction is still a sin but it has a moral content to it that allows the sinner to rise and recover from participating in that sin. Aharon’s love of Israel, even though in this case misplaced and exaggerated was nevertheless the cause of his redemption and his becoming the High Priest of Israel for all history. Such an insight aids in understanding the complexities of personality and circumstance that this week’s parsha occasions. It is beyond human abilities to make such reckonings and judgments. However the Torah does allow us a glimpse as to how Heaven deals with such issues and we should be most grateful for having that insight brought to our knowledge and attention.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part II
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
Parashat Hashavua Happiness for the Right Reasons
[With painful longing, we share these divrei Torah from our co-Rosh Kollel for close to 40 years, Harav Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l.]
