She'elat Etgar

Question Most years we read נצבים and וילך on the same shabbos. This year, they each get their own! What's different? Answer Which parsha to which week? Did you know the division of the Torah into weekly "parshos" is actually a minhag? The most broadly accepted version of the minhag is to divide the Torah up so we can complete it once a year at the end of Sukkos with Simchas Torah. But it's not the only minhag. The gemara discusses a system in Bavel where the parshios were spread over three years ( Megilah 29b )! To make the minhag to finish the Torah every single year work, we need to carefully divide the parshas up across the shabbosos of the year. There are 54 parshas in the Torah, but only about 50 shabbosos in a typical year. We manage to fit all the parshas in by sometimes reading a double parsha in a single week. There are actually seven "parsha pairs" that can be read together or separately depending on how the shabboses of the year fall out. If a lo...

Question What mitzva can you keep in chutz la'aretz even though it's תלויה בראץ and in our times  even though it requires the בית המקדש? Answer A man of Gd We need to start this week with some background. It's very common in navi for a pasuk not to refer to a navi by name. Instead, it will use the title "איש האלוקים" - "man of Gd". Why? To answer that we need to understand what it means to be a navi of Hashem. Consider the gemara the mesilas yesharim quotes in his introduction מכאן אמר רבי פנחס בן יאיר:   תורה מביאה לידי זהירות, זהירות מביאה לידי זריזות, זריזות מביאה לידי נקיות, נקיות מביאה לידי פרישות, פרישות מביאה לידי טהרה, טהרה מביאה לידי חסידות, חסידות מביאה לידי ענוה, ענוה מביאה לידי יראת חטא, יראת חטא מביאה לידי קדשה, קדשה מביאה לידי רוח הקדש , רוח הקדש מביאה לידי תחית המתים. From here, Rebbe Pinchas ben Yair learned: learning Torah causes a person to be careful with aveiros, being careful with aveiros causes a person to run to do mitzvos, runnin...