MATTOT MASSEI: PEACE IN THE HEART
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 technology.
When he was just seven he asked his Rebbe at Chaim Berlin Yeshiva, if it is forbidden to light a fire on Shabbos, then why did G*d command Aaron to light the menorah each day, even on Shabbos, and to bring not one, but two offerings on Shabbos in the Holy Temple, in the Beit HaMiqdash? What a holy, deep question! But he was beaten for asking it and so his father took him out of yeshiva, and sent him to public school, for no one should ever hit a child for asking good questions! That is not the way of Torah! But the Torah's loss was the world's gain!
He went on to develop the first color television, the first fax machine, the infrared detectors the first satellites in space used for navigation, and night vision technology, emergency lights and computer infomatics, and was a founding member of the IEEE and the National Color Standards Commission.
This week's reading speaks about peace. About peace in the home/heart/hearth and peace in the nation. The parsha opens with an admonition to the tribal heads to tell the people that they must keep their oaths and not break their word. The spoken word is sacred.
Immediately thereafter it deals with vows made by a woman, and their possible annulment by her husband and/or father. How do these ideas connect? The linkage is the concept we call Shalom Bayit- Peace in the Home. Peace on the macro level and peace on the micro level. Peace in the national home and peace in the domestic home. Peace in the individual home between husband and wife, and peace in the House of Israel between the tribes. And most importantly, peace in the heart!
"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 technology.
When he was just seven he asked his Rebbe at Chaim Berlin Yeshiva, if it is forbidden to light a fire on Shabbos, then why did G*d command Aaron to light the menorah each day, even on Shabbos, and to bring not one, but two offerings on Shabbos in the Holy Temple, in the Beit HaMiqdash? What a holy, deep question! But he was beaten for asking it and so his father took him out of yeshiva, and sent him to public school, for no one should ever hit a child for asking good questions! That is not the way of Torah! But the Torah's loss was the world's gain!
He went on to develop the first color television, the first fax machine, the infrared detectors the first satellites in space used for navigation, and night vision technology, emergency lights and computer infomatics, and was a founding member of the IEEE and the National Color Standards Commission.
This week's reading speaks about peace. About peace in the home/heart/hearth and peace in the nation. The parsha opens with an admonition to the tribal heads to tell the people that they must keep their oaths and not break their word. The spoken word is sacred.
Immediately thereafter it deals with vows made by a woman, and their possible annulment by her husband and/or father. How do these ideas connect? The linkage is the concept we call Shalom Bayit- Peace in the Home. Peace on the macro level and peace on the micro level. Peace in the national home and peace in the domestic home. Peace in the individual home between husband and wife, and peace in the House of Israel between the tribes. And most importantly, peace in the heart!
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Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah: MATTOT MASSEI: PEACE IN THE HEART
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