Parshas Vayikra - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת ויקרא

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. (1:1) The Baal Haturim writes that the small aleph in “Vayikra” was a compromise between Moshe and Hashem. Moshe only wanted the Torah to say “Vayakar” to express that Hashem only happened to appear to Moshe as the Torah expresses when Hashem went to Billam. So, the compromise was to have the aleph but in smaller font. The question is though: Granted Moshe was the humblest man who ever lived, however, humility does not mean sinking to a low-life level of Billam. The middah of anavah sometimes requires one to utilize his full self esteem and specifically do things to show that he represents the will of Hashem. So, how could Moshe suggest that The Torah recall his encounters with Hashem in the same way it does for Billam?

2. Besides for in this week's parsha by Hashem talking to Moshe by the Ohel Moed, there are two other times in the Torah when Hashem “calls” Moshe before speaking to him. When were they?

3. (1:2) The passuk says, “When a person from among you will bring a karbon...” Rashi comments that the Torah uses the word “Adam” to teach us that just as Adam, the first man, did not bring any offering from that which was stolen since everything was his, so too any person must never bring an offering of a stolen animal. Why would the Torah go out of its way to give such a dramatic example? The idea of not being allowed to bring a stolen animal is one that is already taught in the passuk, and the concept of mitzva ha'ba'ah b'aveira (not being allowed to do a mitzva brought about through a means of doing an aveirah) is already known. So why is this extreme example also necessary?

4. There is a concept in this week’s parsha (Rashi 1:3) as well as many times throughout the Gemara that we sometimes force people to do things against their will until they say “okay, I'll do it”. At that point it is actually considered as if it is indeed their will. How could that be if they were forced to say it?

5. Where is there a hint in the parsha to the concept that an idea becomes a reality and “created” in a sense only when a person speaks out the idea verbally?

6. Why does Rashi repeat multiple times regarding karbon chatas (sin offering) that it must be brought with the intent for the sake of being a sin-offering?

Parshas Ki Sisa - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת כי תשא

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. (30:12) Why must B'nei Yisroel be only counted indirectly by using an object?
2. (30:13) When the Torah uses an expression of “zeh” (“this”), it means Hashem showed something to Moshe. What was so complicated about the shekel that Moshe needed a prop to visualize it?
3. (30:18) Why is the kiyur listed in this week's parsha and not in Terumah or Tetzaveh  with the other keilim in the mishkan?
4. (30:19) Why was it necessary for the Kohanim to be mekadeish their feet with the kiyur?
5. (31:3-4) Once the Torah already tells us that Betzalel had ruach Elokim, why was it necessary that he have wisdom, understanding, and knowledge? Furthermore, Rashi explains that “da'as” (knowledge) refers to ruach hakodesh. What is the difference between ruach Elokim, which is mentioned explicitly in the passuk, and ruach hakodesh which is hinted to in “da'as”?
6. (31:18) The passuk and Rashi tell us that Moshe learned the Torah from Hashem Himself, and yet right after he he finished he needed to review it. How could this be? If Hashem, surely the best teacher, was teaching Moshe, certainly the best student, why would it be necessary to already start review immediately after completing?
7. (32:13) Rashi brings from the gemara Berachos that after Hashem threatened to wipe out klal yisroel and restart with Moshe's family alone, that Moshe argued back that “If a chair with three legs cannot stand, then certainly a chair with one leg cannot stand...” The three legs Moshe was referring to were: Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov...

1.    Moshe came from them as well obviously so whatever zechusim they had to offer would not cease if Hashem would continue B'nei Yisroel with Moshe's family alone. So what was Moshe's argument?

2.    Even if Moshe was arguing that their zechusim would be no longer, still from the fact that Hashem was offering must be that the key qualities in Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were all in Moshe as well. So what was Moshe's response of being a one-legged chair? That may be true, but perhaps he was a three-in-one with a massive leg just as able to hold up the table.

8. (32:15) Why is it important that The Torah tells us here about this specific attribute of the luchos?
9. (32:18) Moshe says to Yehoshua that he does not hear the sound of shouting of might nor the sound of shouting of weakness, rather a distressing sound. The word “a'nos” used to say “distressing” is also part of the first two expressions “kol a'nos gevurah” and “kol a'nos chalusha”. Why did Moshe not just simply say “kol gevurah” and “kol chalusha”?
10. (32:19) When Moshe threw down the luchos, Rashi describes that Moshe thought to himself, if for transgressing on karbon pesach where it says that you can't feed it to a stranger, and that is only one commandment, so certainly the whole torah I cannot give to klal yisroel who are now “strangers” for having sinned with the cheit ha'eigel! What was this kal v'chomer exactly?
11. (32:34) Rashi tells us that in every bad thing that comes to the world there contains an element of the cheit ha'eigel in it. Why is this 'fair' that we are punished for something done at Har Sinai? Hashem says he does not punish children for their fathers, providing they do not follow in his bad ways?
12. (33:4, 33:6) The passuk at first says that  each man did not put on his crown, and then one passuk later says that Hashem told Moshe to tell klal yisroel to take off their crowns. Which crowns were being referred to? And how could we resolve this contradiction?
13. (33:11) Rashi, all the way at the end explains in the passuk that Hashem said to Moshe, “ I am angry at Yisroel and you are angry at Yisroel, who will draw them near to repent....?” Why not answer simply: No one. If they were both furious with klal yisroel, who cares what will ultimately happen to them?
14. (34:6) Why is Hashem's rachamim (mercy) necessary before a person sins?
15. (34:27) Why are we forbidden to write down Torah she'ba'al peh? And why do we in fact have it written down?
16. Where is there a hint in this week's parsha as to what to do if one is lost in the desert                and does not know which day is shabbos?

Parshas Tetzaveh - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת תצוה

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. The Rosh and Ba'al Ha'Turim along with others point out that this is the only parsha which does not contain Moshe's rabbeinu name (since his birth in parshas shemos). Why is this? And why was this parsha chosen to be the one to leave out Moshe's name (especially considering the fact that the reason Moshe's name was erased has to do with an episode in next week's parsha)?

2. The passuk tells us (28:12) that the avnei shoham were placed on the shoulder straps so that Hashem would remember the B'nei Yisroel as a zechus for us. Why does Hashem need us to remind Him of the greatness of the shevatim ?

3. Rashi (29:24) tells us that the “wavings” were to hold back the harmful winds and the harmful dews. What does waving back and forth, up and down have anything to do with chasing away harmful winds and dews?

4. If the Urim V'tumim had incredible powers to let the Kohen Gadol know answers to difficult questions, then why couldn't Shlomo Ha'Melech ask it where he could find the shamir instead of capturing and asking Ashmedai (King of Sheidim)?

1.    Depending on how you answered, how do you understand how Eili the Kohen Gadol could have used it to find out whether Channah (shmuel han'avi's mother) was drunk or not?

2.    What is wrong about asking the Urim V'tumim questions that you could obtain from another source?

5. What was the purpose of the bigdei kehuna?

6. How could there be a mitzva to wipe out Amalek and yet a mitzva to remember them?

Parshas Terumah - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת תרומה

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. What were the three ways which the B'nei Yisroel could participate in to help build the aron?

2. The Gemara tells us that Betzalel was the one who had to correct Moshe and tell him to build the mishkan first before its keilim (vessels). Didn't Moshe already know this from Hashem? And even if not, why didn't he think to build the mishkan first anyway?

3. Why is it that the dimensions of the aron are all incomplete measures?

4. (Shemos 25:10) Hashem commanded that the poles of the aron never leave it. Why?

5. The aron was made of three arons : gold, wood, and gold. How do we know that it is from three arons together and not just a wooden one with gold on inside and outside? Also, what is the significance of being made with three arons as opposed to one?

6. Rashi (25:21) sites a machlokes as to whether the luchos were placed into the aron before the lid had been placed on it to complete it, or after it had been put on was it then removed to insert the luchos and then put back on. What is the significance of this machlokes?

7. The Gemara (Menachos 29a) tells us that Hashem had to show Moshe three things which he just could not understand until he saw them: Rosh Chodesh, the Menorah, and sheratzim. How could it be that Moshe was not able to understand Hashem's clear explanation that he should need visual props to help him understand?

8. Why was the Shulchan taught before the Menorah? The Menorah represents ruchniyus whereas the Shulchan represents gashmiyus. Shouldn't the Menorah be listed first?

9. The first Ba'al Ha'Turim in this week's parsha says that Hashem told Moshe that when speaking to B'nei Yisroel to donate for the mishkan, that he should do so in a nice, soft, appeasing voice. Why more so here than any other time?

10. Why is it that when talmidim used to say a good s'vara, the rebbe would exclaim “kaftor v'pherach!” ?

11. Why were hammers used for the mishkan, but disallowed for beis hamikdash?

Parshas Mishpatim - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת משפטים

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. The Ba'al Ha’turim sees a remez (hint) in the parsha to the fact that a Jewish judge must first try to create a compromise between two fighting parties before judging the case. Why is this true though? Shouldn't we focus on getting the correct judgment rather than settling on a compromise which is definitely not the truth?

2. The Jewish slave who decides to stay by his master must get his ear peirced. The mechilta (34) comments that this is because he became a slave by not listening to the commandment at Har Sinai not to steal. Why then should the ear be pierced more here than by one who does any other aveirah?

3. Rashi writes that even if non-Jews judge regarding certain matters as Beis Din, still one should not go to them to judge even in such a case. Why is this? Why would this be considered giving chashivus to avodah zarah if it is well known that the Torah's perspective is the same as society's perspective in this area?

4. Why does the Torah interrupt between the passukim of hitting and cursing one's parents with “וגנב איש ומכרו...מות יומת” ?

5. The passuk in Perek 22 Passuk 17 says, “מכשפה לא תחיה”. Sorcery is against the Torah and is taken seriously.

                   a. What is fundamentally wrong with sorcery?

                   b. Why is the mitzva worded as “The sorcerer you should not let live”.                             Instead of: “Don't practice sorcery” or “If you practice sorcery, you                           will be put to death”, or at least. “One who does sorcery, you should                              kill”?

                   c. I am not sure if this would fall under “כשוף" , but what is the origin of                Avada Kedavra [והמבין יבין ]?

6. Rashi (22:24) says that every word אם in the Torah implies a voluntary act – except for in three places. What are these three places? And is there a connection between them?

7. Rashi (23:7) writes that one could not accept a bribe even to judge correctly. What is this case? Is someone offering a bribe to judge correctly? Is a bribe being offered to judge one way which the judge feels is correct? Either way, why not take the bribe? It shouldn't even be considered a bribe in such a case but more like an incentive to judge correctly?

8. Which mitzva in this week's parsha was neglected by the Jews during the time of ירמיה הנביא?

Parshas Yisro - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת יתרו

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. What did Yisro hear that no one else did?

2. According to the one who holds that Yisro was attracted by the fact that B'nei Yisroel won the war against Amalek, what was so special about it? Granted they were untrained, but still the B'nei Yisroel had an army of 600,000 men between 20 and 60. Certainly it couldn't have been such a tremendous surprise that they won.

3. Rashi writes that Yisro had 7 names. One of them was Yeser – which became Yisro after he converted. If so, didn't Yisro really only have 6 names at any given time?

4. Yisro is called Choveiv because of his love for the Torah. Why did Yisro receive such a name any more than Moshe, Aharon, or any of Bnei Yisroel in the midbar?

5. (18:2) Rashi sounds good in the broad sense but what specifically was Aharon worried about? Moshe’s wife and children would not have become slaves? Moshe was from shevet Levi?

6. Yisro came over to Moshe and asked “What are you doing?” Moshe responded, “Judging the people and helping them with their questions.” Yisro then clarified and said that he meant why is Moshe the only one judging instead of creating a system of ranks where more people could be helped at a time. What was this conversation between Moshe and Yisro? And why didn't Moshe think of this himself?

7. Where did Yisro get his “da’as Torah” from which seems to have been good enough to match Moshe?

8. (18:21) Where did Yisro get his qualifications from that he suggested be requirements for people to judge k’lal Yisroel?

9. When describing Moshe's two sons the Torah writes “Shem Ha'echad Gershom...” and “Shem Ha'echad Eliezer...” The Torah refers to them both as “The first” even though Gershom was older because Eliezer was named for an earlier event that Moshe experienced. What is the significance behind each of their names? And why did Moshe name his first son for a later event and his second son for the earlier one?

10. The Aseres Hadibros are a Pangrammatic Lipogram (consists of all the letters in Hebrew Aleph Beis except for one). Which letter is missing? Why? [See Parshas Yisro - The Ten Commandments: A Pangrammatic Lipogram]

11. The Aseres Hadibros in this week's parsha are slightly different from the ones found in Parshas Va'eschnan. What are the differences? Why are there differences?

12. (20:5) We see that Hashem is referred to as a “jealous G-d”. How could we understand Hashem’s “jealousy”?

13. There are many examples throughout chumash that one should knock on a door before entering, as to not startle those inside. Where is there an example in this week's parsha?

14. Rashi (18:7) writes that he does not know who bowed to who but when the passuk says “ish”, we figure out that it refers to Moashe....How could Rashi be so sure? Yisro too is called an “ish” by the torah (see Shemos 2:21)?

15. Why in the aseres ha'dibros does Hashem refer to Himself as the one who took us out of Eretz Mitzrayim, and not the One Who created the world?

16. How could Hashem give us such a commandment not to desire something? How is it possible to control our emotions to the point of not having a feeling of wanting something?

17. Why wasn't the Torah given in Eretz Yisroel?

Parshas Bo - Parsha Stumpers

~ Something to Think About ~

פרשת בא

Parsha Stumpers

By: Daniel Listhaus

1. (10:7-11) Pharoah’s advisors told him to let the men go, and Pharaoh himself was willing to let the men go. If so, why did he ask Moshe “mi va’mi ha’hol’chim – who is going?” Why not just tell them at the onset that he as only willing to let the men go?

2. (10:17) Why by this makka did Pharaoh ask Moshe to daven to remove it “from me”?

3. (10:22) Rashi writes that during choshech – the wicked who did not wan to leave mitzrayim were killed. Who were these wicked who did not want to leave and why would they want to stay? Why did their wanting to stay warrant labeling them as reshaim?

4. (10:26) The Torah is unclear what would have happened oif Pharaoh would have let the B’nei Yisroel go? Would they have come back after “they went to serve Hashem”?

5. Why didn't Dasan and Aviram die during makkas choshech ?

6. After Pharoah tells Moshe, “Never come back...”, Moshe says, “You have spoken well, I will never come to you again”. How could Moshe say this? How did he know that Hashem wouldn't command him to back to Pharoah?

7.     Throughout the Torah and Gemara we find many examples where the Hashem or tzadikim go out of the way to ensure that no appearance will be given off that could mislead others to think erroneously. For example, when Hashem was going to destroy s'dom, Avraham argued that if there is even one righteous person, then Hashem must save the whole city because otherwise people will think that Hashem does not rule with justice. Additionally we find this concept a few times in this week's parsha. For example, there is a reference when Pharoah tells Moshe that he sees “ra'ah” will be with them in the midbar (desert)....later in the Torah by the eigel ha'zahav when Hashem was going to wipe out klal yisroel, Moshe argued that Hashem could not do that because then perhaps the Mitzriyim will say that it was  “ra'ah” that did it. Also, there is a famous rashi and gemara berachos regarding Moshe switching the lashon to “כחצות” instead of  "בחצות” to ensure that the mitzriyim would not accuse him of being a liar if the makas bechoros wouldn't occur precisely at midnight. Another example is the gemara in shekalim which discuss that the kohanim could not have cuffs on their pants or have pockets lest them be accused of taking money from the beis hamikdash. It seems from all these examples that even in extreme circumstances we are so careful to make sure to give off a proper appearance even when it means making an exception to dong the right thing. Considering all this, how will we deal with the following rashi in this week's parsha: Rashi mentions that by makas bechoros every house had many people who died. Rashi goes so far as to say that the mitzriyim started saying, “this is not like the other decrees/makkos of Moshe because here he said that only the bechorim would die and yet everyone seems to be dying!” Why in this circumstance did Hashem do the “correct” thing and kill the bechorim despite the fact that it looked like He was killing random mitzriyim? Why suddenly was He not afraid that Moshe would be called a liar? When do we use this principle of remaining נקי and when should we put that aside?

8. In the introduction to meseches s'machos, R' Yochanan says that although Hashem “hit” the bechorim of Mitzrayim at night, they did not really die until the next morning. Where in davening is there a רמז to this?

9. What is significant about the dogs not barking?

10. Who killed the bechorim? Why was it necessary to have something to differentiate between the Jews and mitzriyim more than by any other makkah?

11. How do we know to wear Tefillin on the left hand? What is the significance of wearing it on the left hand?

12. Two of the four parshiyos in out Tefillin could be found in this week's parsha. What are they? And what is so significant about them that they should be in the tefillin alongside Shema?

13. If the reshayim of Bnei Yisroel died during makkas choshech, why didn't Dasan and Aviram die then as well?