The Weekly Mission- Torah Portion by Isaiah Rothstein

The Weekly Mission: Parshat Achrei-Mot Kedoshim 5772’ Blood, Purim, and the Real You The death of Nadav and Avihu offer tremendous insight into the relationship that Man aspires to create with him/herself and the Source thereafter. Our commentators suggest many different plausible reasons for the death of these two brothers. RaShI sources the Talmud which states it was because they instructed themselves what to do without the accord of Moshe. In addition another Tanna[i] extrapolates from the juxtaposed verse that it was because they did the temple service intoxicated. Lastly, the verses before this unfortunate event reveals that the fire that was meant to consume the offering was a fire from above (sent by G-d), while the fire offered by Nadav and Avihu was a Aish Zarah, a fire which did not belong. The three reasons provided all share the common denominator of seeking out personal authority through externalities. Denying the laws of the leader, deafening self-awareness, and app...

  Parshat Achrei Mot.–Kedoshim (5770): To Be Or, What NOT To Be “Do not perform the practice of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled, and do not perform the practice of the land of Canaan to which I bring you, and do not follow their traditions” [i]. In this week's parsha, the Jews have gone from the shackles of Egypt to the heightened spiritual experience of Har Sinai. The Jews now sit at the foot of Har Sinai and receive the instructions for the mishkan and the Temple service. After more than four-hundred years of Egyptian servitude, the Jews' slave mentality that fill the Torah’s story line remains alive and breathing in all of us today. When something is so deeply rooted in our being, it is our responsibility to rectify that which is wrong and unjust. As we begin a new journey from the land of Egypt, G-d commands us how to act and how not to act. Through His words, He shows us that the Jewish people are distinct and not like any other nation. We have specific morals...

Parshat Tazria-Metzorah 10’ (5770): Baseless Love Will Bring Redemption Holy Friends, Chodesh Tov! It is the BRAND NEW month of Iyaar! Lashon HaRah, commonly translated as slander, was and continues to be the gravest sin that the Jews actively do, regardless of observance and piety. The Torah tells us "You shall not wrong one another.”[i] The Torah implies in this verse, regardless of one wronging you, we are still to remain composed through their misguided conduct, and we do not wrong them. The Sages tell us: “Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of three things that occurred during that time: Idolatry, sexual behavior, and bloodshed... But the Second Temple, while the people occupied themselves with Torah, Commandments and Kind Deeds, why was it destroyed? Because there was baseless hatred. This teaches that baseless hatred is equated with three sins: idolatry, provocative sexual behavior and bloodshed.”[ii] The Time between the First Temple’s destruction and...

Parshat Tazria-Metzorah-Isolation Throughout Jewish history !e have struggled to find our home. We have transitioned in and out of cultures and civilizations to the point that we are no longer sure where we truly belong. In many cases, conversion was the only hope for survival. Our women were raped, our children were stolen, our minds were degraded to that of animals and our loved ones perished before our very eyes. After WWII, the Herzelian mentality has resurfaced: take away any separation between the Jew and the Gentile, thus the Jew and the Gentile will see each other as the same, and when it is the same, there is no need for persecution. But we don’t need Hitler to remind us, once a Jew always a Jew. As a people we are drenched in alienation, discrimination and in many cases terrorization. Our national confidence has never been worse, and our confidence that would allow us to present ourselves as a proud people is virtually non-existent.These insecurities not only have consequ...

The Weekly Mission: Parshat Shmini-Desiring the Path of Desire Pesach and Haggada As the Month of Nissan departs and the spring slowly reaches its pivotal moments we must allow ourselves to process the events that the previous season enabled us to experience. The Seder in its true essence is a psychological paradigm that teaches us how to take the necessary steps in order to leave the straights of perpetual slavery. Kadesh: my personal Exodus can, and will not begin if I do not believe I am worthy of such a departure. If I do not deem myself to be holy, how can I truly sanctify? Furthermore, if I cannot Mekadesh (separate) myself from that which I am enslaved to, how can I even implement that which I want to change—for I know In my heart that even if I long for personal salvation, its coordinates will never be known to me if I remain in the courtyards of fools.[i] Nirtzah: this final step on the latter does not only provide for us the ability to look below at each rung climb...

  Parshat Tzav-Shabbat HaGadol-The Shabbat of Loooove The holiness of Shabbat is likened to 1/60th of the afterlife.[i] Without delving into the nature of the afterlife, one can understand that in a deep sense, Shabbat is the essence of our being. Shabbat is a time that is specifically set aside for the Jewish people. It is not something that can escape us. Every week it arrives precisely at its time, regardless of whether or not we are ready. There are two biblical commandments regarding Shabbat: “And the Children of Israelguarded the Sabbath…” and, “Remember the Shabbat day and sanctify it”[ii]. Every Jew is supposed to incorporate these two aspects of the commandment into theirShabbat observance. The Netivot Shalom writes that shamor, or “guard,” is connected to fear, which is connected to the practice of Shabbat and the laws associated with it [iii].Zachor, however, which means, “remember,” is connected to love. Loving Shabbatmeans simply basking in the day’s holiness in ...

Parshat Vayikra - 5771-Rectify the sin Too often we come across spiritual leaders and we are perplexed by their seemingly paradoxical approach to life. On the one hand, these individuals pride themselves on eloquence, charisma and knowledge, but unfortunately, they aren’t always spiritual leaders, but rather, hot-headed people who have clear motives and agendas that seemingly deny the philosophies of the teachers before them. We need not look at Egypt to understand that when a culture that contains teachers which fail to preserve proper morals is bound to crumble. The questions we must ask are: how does the passion of teachers’ lofty goals to teach eventually go sour? How do those who start their journey as leaders with pure intentions, become corrupt at age fifty? In the midst of the detailed descriptions of the sacred offerings to G-d, we glance over an incredible amount of important things and we must be true to ourselves and recognize the fundamentals of Judaism – a topic’s se...