Parshas Nasso - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת נשא

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. Why is the parsha of sotah so serious that based on suspicion we give her to drink from the bitter waters to determine whether she is guilty? We do not find this by other aveiros. For example, one who we suspect killed someone else, there is no potion to give him to determine his guilt, rather he is innocent until 2 witnesses come and go through the long process of demonstrating that their story is true and that the man is guilty?

2. Rashi (7:11) writes that Moshe did not know which order the n'si'im should bring their offerings: if it should be in age-order or in order of their travels. Why was Moshe unsure though, Hashem had not yet commanded Moshe the order of their travels so that should not have even been an option?

3. Why does the Torah repeat each karbon brought for each of the nasi'im? They are exactly the same! Why not just write it once and say that this is what each nasi brought?

4. The karbanos that the nasi'im brought consisted of a young bull, one ram, one sheep, and one he-goat. Rashi writes that the bull corresponds to Avraham, the ram corresponds to Yitzchak, and the sheep corresponds to Yaakov. The he-goat is to atone for the selling of Yosef.

a. What place does the goat for the atonement of Yosef have here?

b. Not all the shevatim were involved in the sale of Yosef – and certainly not Ephraim and Menashe who themselves come from Yosef? So Why was this a universal karbon for all the nasi'im?

5. Rashi (7:85) learns from the passuk that all the implements in the Beis Hamikdash were precise in their weight such as whether one would weigh them one by one or weigh them all together he would never find a discrepancy. What is Rashi coming to teach us? Obviously the collective sum of all the weights will always equal taking each weight separately and adding them together?

         

Parshas Bamidbar - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

 במדבר פרשת 

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. Rashi (1:2) writes that the way Moshe counted B'nei Yisroel was through collecting a half-shekel per person. Why did he have count them like this?

2. The passuk tells us that the people had to establish their genealogy according to their families. Rashi explains that they each brought documents of lineage and witnesses of their birth in order to precisely trace each one's ancestry. Why was this necessary? Why not just believe them in the first place?

3. What is the significance of a flag?

4. (5:1) Rashi notes that the passuk refers to Elazar and Isamar as the children of Aharon and Moshe – Aharon because he was their biological father, and Moshe because he was their rebbe. However, in the following passuk (3:2) it repeats and only calls them the sons of Aharon.

ñ  Why should being someone's rebbe make one considered his father?

ñ  Why is the passuk switching in the next passuk to just call them the sons of Aharon?

5. (3:16) When it came to counting shevet Levi, Rashi (2:16) comments that Moshe did not know what to do. He said, “How can I enter the tents to know the number of their nursing infants?” Hashem replied, “You go outside the tent and I will let you know the number of who is in which tent.”

ñ  If Hashem was going to tell him through a bas-kol how many were in each tent, why did Moshe have to go up to the tents to begin with?

ñ  Why did this only first become an issue when it came to counting shevet Levi?

6. When it came to counting B'nei Yisroel, the Torah tells us that only those that were at least 20 years old were counted whereas at the end of the parsha when it came to counting shevet Kehas, they were counted starting at 30. Rashi in each place comments based on the words the Torah uses to describe the specific ages that we learn from here that the age of going out to war is 20, and the age of strength is 30. What is the significance of this and why were they counted based on these two different scales?                                                                                   

7. Why do we eat dairy on Shavuos?

Parshas Bechukosai - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

בחקותי פרשת 

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. If the highest level of avodas Hashem is doing mitzvos lishmah, then why is it that in this pasha the Torah tells us that if “bechukosai teileichu”…then Hashem will give rain…?
2. Once the Torah did in fact choose to describe the rewards of those who walk in the way of Hashem, why choose the “minor leagues” of the rewards of this world as opposed to the major league rewards of Olam Haba’ah?