Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah

VAYERA: REVELATION ALL AROUND US

2009-11-06T16:00:36.545+02:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanThere is a Talmudic expression that salvation can come in the "blink of an eye,""b'heref ayin." That refers to the kind of salvation that is waiting in the wings for the propitious moment. But in our parsha, Va'yera, we learn of another kind of salvation- the salvation that was always right in front of us before our very eyes, but because of depression and

LECH LECHA; GOING, GOING, GONE

2009-10-30T06:09:50.533+02:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman"...as bread and wine are brought forth to sanctify this moment of mankind's first recorded act of altruism, so too we use bread and wine to sanctify the Sabbath, which crowned Creation, G*d's enduring act of altruism for all time.""We are bidden to circumcize even our hearts to serve G*d. This means, in the deepest sense, ironically, that only through

NOACH; A CHANGE IN THE NATURE

2009-10-23T05:21:03.830+02:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanLet's see. Take two of every species. Seven pairs of the kosher (clean) species (Gen 7:2). And take food for them all as well. Lions and tigers, leopards, panthers and bobcats are all carnivores by nature. And yet they ostensibly were vegetarian while on board the ark. Otherwise the antelope, elk, sheep, zebra and deer would nowhere be found once the hatches

BREISHEET: GUARDIAN OF EDEN

2009-10-16T17:22:59.500+02:00

Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanThe ultimate challenge in life is in giving back, in repaying the Source of Life for the gifts which we have freely received. Paid forward, we have yet to earn them. Through giving back, whether by tzedaka (righteousliving), tefilah (self-judgment) or teshuva (turning to G*d), gemilut chasadim (deeds of loving kindness) or learning Torah, we restore equilibrium

ROSH HASHANA: FRESH STARTS

2009-10-16T16:58:08.422+02:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanRosh Hashana is the time of new beginnings and fresh starts. It's about changing. We change the world only when we change ourselves.The word "shana" in Hebrew means many things. It is most commonly translated as year, but it also has many deeper related meanings. Shana also means "teach,"and the word "mishna," the oral teachings, comes from the same root.

HAAZINU; SHABBAT SHUVAH- ANSWER YOUR SOUL

2009-09-25T23:50:04.743+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanThe Messianic Age represents the fulfillment of that "going beyond." The Pagan Idea represented the eternal cyclicity of life. The Judaic Revolution realigned human consciousness to synchronize with the DNA blueprint, substituting the two dimensional pagan circle theory which has no sense of progression, with the three dimensional Hebraic spiral theory - G*d

NITZAVIM VAYELECH: CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION

2009-09-11T10:17:22.389+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanNitzavim means "are standing." Who is standing? The Jewish people in Deuteronomy at Moses' farewell to arms? Who else might be standing?Rosh Hashana is a traditional time of visiting the matzevah, the burial place of our loved ones. A matzevah is literally the memorial stone, the headstone that contains our essential data. We are to pause before it, we, the

KI TAVO: On Being an Am Segula

2009-09-04T19:30:13.068+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanWhat does it mean to be called the Chosen Nation? Actually, the term used in Ki Tavo isAm Segula, often translated as "treasured nation." But whether understood as chosen or as treasured, it seems to be frequently misunderstood.It does not imply supremacy or arrogance. Rather, it embraces the idea of service. As Israel is a mamlechet kohanim, a nation of

KI TEITZEI: LOVING AND HATING

2009-08-28T04:16:44.751+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanBehind everything which we hate there is to be found a Divine lesson for us. Sometimes we hate a person because he reminds us of a defect in our own character. That is a Divine message. Sometimes we hate someone because they are so good that we become jealous of him and look for petty ways to find fault with him to assuage our sense of regret for our own

SHOFTIM: TWO HEARTS, ONE YEARNING

2009-08-22T00:06:44.273+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanJewish DNA reflects a yearning to simultaneously ascend two figurative mountains: the universal call to serve humanity on the one hand, and the particular call to serve the Jewish people on the other hand, and in so doing preserve our culture, religion and heritage and be alone with our G*d.Ultimately through fulfilling both yearnings we then come to serve G

RE'EI: LIKE WATER FOR BLOOD

2009-08-14T07:10:58.687+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanNative Americans honor the spirit of the hunted animal by drinking its blood. They recognize the spiritual nature intrinsic to the blood, and seek thereby to identify with its spiritual essence. The Torah, on the other hand, also recognizes the spiritual essence of life being in the blood, but at the same time forbids us from drinking it.In parshat Re'ei we

EKEV: TRANSFORMING EVIL WITH KINDNESS

2009-08-07T18:36:41.921+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanThe most spiritually refined often have the harshest challenges. Both the refined Eve and the refined Jacob faced challenges from evil personified in their lives. Eve was challenged/tempted by the nachash/snake, while Jacob competed for the blessing and had his life threatened by his brother, Esav.Eve with hindsight, could finally recognize that the snake

VAETCHANAN: TWO TABLETS- ONE LAW

2009-08-08T00:20:25.423+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanWhy were the Ten Commandments given on two tablets? Why not just one? G*d could just have easily put them all down on just one big tablet, or he could have used a slightly smaller sized font.After all, the finger of G*d, the etzbah elokim, comes in different sizes.The two tablets represent the two essential revolutionary ideas of Judaism. One is that how we

TISHA B'AV: TRIANGULATION COMPLETE

2009-07-29T22:26:02.169+03:00

By Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman2012 may indeed herald a year of cleansing for humanity as a whole. It may usher in a new era of radical awareness of our common humanity, a new era of recognition of the futility of an ethos of hatred and division, of separation from the heart of our Creator. Perhaps it may take a new world war to achieve this awareness. Or perhaps not. The messianic age,

DEVARIM: ELEVEN- ASHTEI ASAR

2009-07-24T22:13:17.974+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanSeven - eleven. Seven is the holy number marking the dawn of creation. Eleven is the number heralding the final redemption, when we will see in each other our deepest connection. The number eleven is the number of brotherly unity, the same brothers who begged Yosef for forgiveness in unity as one heart. The Great Shabbos is coming soon when the heart of all

MATTOT MASSEI: PEACE IN THE HEART

2009-07-17T18:37:26.055+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman"Peace is the greatest blessing. Speech is what makes us human. Keeping our word makes us close to Divine."This week's commentary is dedicated to the memory of my holy father, I.J. Melman, whose yahrzeit is on this coming Sunday, Tammuz 27. His life was dedicated to transforming the world and making it better and closer through kindness and the promise of

PINCHAS: DAUGHTERS AND FESTIVALS

2009-07-10T09:02:10.563+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanJudaism has been responsive to women's concerns since its inception. Any alleged signs of discrimination had more to do with combating the cultural mores and social norms and customs of the general culture which the earliest Hebrews absorbed. But Judaism itself had always ascribed a high premium and an esteemed sense of worth to its women and their role as

CHUKAT/BALAK: ANTIDOTE TO ZERO SUM FEAR

2009-07-03T23:34:27.055+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin HaKohen MelmanHow much of life is seen as a zero sum game? How often do we view our neighbor's gain as our loss? This jealousy/covetousness is the source of evil. When we believe that there is not sufficient abundance in the universe for all of us we resort defensively to a hoarding posture. So, homeopathically, we must eliminate this zero sum thinking with a ritual which

KORACH: THE COMING OF THE THAW

2009-06-25T09:08:51.552+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanKorach was a man ahead of his time. Rather than labeling him as the wrong man at the right time, let us say he was the right man at the wrong time. NOW is his time.Korach asked Moses who put him over all the people to rule over them? For his insolance against a righteous humble man such as Moses, who was the epitome of the reluctant leader, he suffered a

SHELACH: AGENTS OF THE EXILE; THE SECRETS OF THE TALLIT AND TEFILLIN

2009-06-19T02:37:10.682+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanExile can be a state of mind. But it can also be very real. The Nation of Israel was on track to be united with the Land of Israel, when the sin of the spies caused a deep rupture, thus delaying the reunion until the passing of the generation that was accustomed to a negative slave mindset. Thus the exile of the mind led to an exile of the body. Our thoughts

B'HA'A'LOS'CHA: HUMBLY YOURS

2009-06-13T00:18:26.850+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin HaKohen MelmanThe Torah tells us in this week's parsha, B'ha'alos'cha, that Moshe was"anav mikall adam," meaning that he was"the humblest of all men."What does that really mean? Now you must understand that this was in the context of Miriam's famous slander episode. How did he react to her behavior? Did he submit meekly to her accusations? Did he pretend he didn't know

NASO: GIVING YOUR A.L.L.

2009-06-05T04:21:31.195+03:00

By Rabbi Baruch Binyamin HaKohen MelmanIn this week's parsha, Naso, we have two seemingly unconnected ideas. One, the priestly blessing, is the age-old formula for the kohanim to bestow blessings upon the people. The other is the trial by ordeal of the "sota," the accused adulteress. We will see that they are not so far apart, that everything in Torah deeply connects in an organic, integrated

SHAVUOT: WE ARE ALL GERIM (PROSELYTES) ; movin' to the center, but feeling lonely just the same (also for Nitzavim Vayelech)

2009-05-28T06:28:40.451+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanThe ger, the convert to Judaism, follows in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu, the Patriarch Abraham, and of Sarah Imenu, the Matriarch Sarah, who were themselves gerim. They chose a new path for themselves, following the deepest yearning of their heart for the ultimate truth that there is One G*d who demands righteousness and ethical behavior. The ger is

BEHAR/BECHUKOTAI: BABY KNOWS BEST

2009-05-15T07:26:52.783+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanOn the deepest level the baby knows that everything is connected. Our task, the Torah seems to be telling us, is to recharge ourselves, to view life again from the perspective of an infant, and to know that G*d will meet all our needs for us. Some of us resent G*d because our parents may not have met all our needs for us.In the shemittah year we let go of

KEDOSHIM: 19:18 LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF (my secret revealed)

2009-05-01T18:47:49.396+03:00

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen MelmanIn Leviticus 19:18 there is the most awesome and complicated mitzvah in the Torah:"Love your neighbor as yourself, I am Hashem. Ve'ahavta leReyacha kamocha, ani Hashem."My secret for remembering that this mitzvah is Lev 19:18 is as follows. Now once I explain my secret I guess it won't be much of a secret anymore, but here goes:Lev, although short for

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