Parshas Bamidbar - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

במדבר f. 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. 
5. Why should being someone's rebbe make one considered his father?
6. Why is the passuk switching in the next passuk to just call them the sons of Aharon?
7. (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.” 
8. 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?
9. Why did this only first become an issue when it came to counting shevet Levi?
10. 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?                                                                                   
11. Why do we eat dairy on Shavuos?

Parshas Behar-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?

Acharei Mos-Kedoshim

~ Something to Think About ~

 אחרי-מות פרשת 

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. Rashi 16:1 – Why necessary to spook Aharon out here by this mitzva more than anyone else by any other? And why Aharon more than anyone else? He understood right away with “va'yidom aharon ” that his children deserved to die?

2. Rashi 16:5 – Why would merely changing the clothes require tevilas yadayim v'raglaim?

3. 16:8 – Why were the two goats chosen via lottery arbitrarily to decide which one was la'hashem and which la'a'za'zel?

4. 17:10 The passuk (17:10) when describing prohibition of eating blood says that anyone who eats blood – Hashem will direct his face upon them and cut them off from their people. Rashi explains further that Hashem will turn aside, so to speak, from all his other concerns to deal with this person. What is so bad about eating blood that the Torah takes so seriously? (Extra Credit: Where else in the Torah does the Torah use the same expression and Rashi explain the same way? What is the connection?)

5. The Gemara in Yoma says that the picking of which goat was “for Hashem” and which was to go “to Azazel” was determined solely by the lot they had. Rashi in Parshas Kedoshim, though, explains the issur of “lo sinachshu” and “lo s'oneinu” (not to practice divination; and not to believe in luck) as viewing arbitrary events as meaningful omens. If one is not supposed to believe in luck or arbitrary outcomes, why is it that we use a lottery to determine which goat should be used on Yom Kippur as an offering to Hashem and which should go to its death in Azazel?