- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Family and Society
1411
As such it is difficult to measure the "why" part of this week's parsha. It is sufficient to note the "how it happened" part to realize that its message of contrasting periods of serenity and tragedy has been painstakingly accurate and contains not one word of hyperbole. The destruction of the Temples, the Crusades and pogroms, the Inquisition and the Holocaust are all graphically described in this week's parsha. Such is the prophetic power of the Torah.
In personal life, the longer one lives the more likely tragedy will somehow visit them. The Torah makes provision for this eventuality in its laws of mourning. We all hope for lives of goodness, pleasantness and secure serenity.Yet almost inexorably problems, disappointments and even tragedy intrudes on our condition. In Vayikra, the death of the sons of Aharon remains the prime example of tragedy suddenly destroying a scene of pride, satisfaction and seeming accomplishment.In this week's parsha the description of the punishment of Israel for its backsliding comes after a background of blessings and security. The past century presented the Jewish people with horrors of unimaginable intensity and of millennial accomplishments. THe situation of extreme flux in our national life has continued throughout the sixty years of the existence of the State of Israel.The unexpected and sudden but apparently regular change of circumstances of national Jewish life mirrors the same situation so recognizable to us from our private personal lives where we are constantly blindsided by untoward and tragic events.So thejarring contrast that the two main subjects of the parsha present to us are really a candid description of life and its omnipresent contradictions, surprises and difficulties.So though we pray regularly for health and serenity we must always be cognizant of how precarious are true situation Thus as we rise to hear the conclusion of the book of Vayikra we recite the mantra of "chazak, chazak, v'nitchazek" - let us be doubly strong and strengthen others! So may it be.

Peace Rather Than Tripping
From Siach Shaul 353-4
Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt"l | Iyar 16 5782
BECHUKOTAI
Rabbi Berel Wein | 22 Shvat 5784
The Clearest Sign That Redemption Is Near
Israel National Torah
Baruch Gordon | Iyar 19 5782

Why Bad Things Happen To Good People
Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair | Iyar 26 5781

Al Ha’eitz Eaten a Variety of Fruits
Rabbi Daniel Mann | 5773

Al Ha’eitz Eaten a Variety of Fruits
Rabbi Daniel Mann | 5773

The Halachos of Pidyon Haben
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Sivan 29 5778

Can We Offer Korban Pesach Without the Beis HaMikdash?
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5770
Daf Yomi Shevuot Daf 17
R' Eli Stefansky | 20 Iyar 5785

Good Free Will Enables the Temporary Choosing of Bad, Even Terrible
Ayn Aya Shabbat v, 79
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Iyar 5785
