Ten Minutes of Torah

with

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Beha’alotcha – 5767

Note: There was no study sheet last week due to the Shavuot Festival

במדבר פרק יא :ו

וְעַתָּה נַפְשֵׁנוּ יְבֵשָׁה אֵין כֹּל בִּלְתִּי אֶל הַמָּן עֵינֵינוּ:

Numbers 11:6

Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!"

RASHI:

“Nothing but this manna to look to!" – From morning to night.

RAMBAN

“Nothing but this manna to look to!" – meaning that even the food on which we live is not in our possession so that our soul can be nourished and satisfied with it; but we desire it and look to it at all times, in anticipation that it will come to us. … They thus gave expression to the known proverb: One cannot compare a person who has bread in his basket with one who does not have bread in his basket.

QUESTION

1. Against which quality of the Manna were the people complaining about according to each of these commentaries?

ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S QUESTION:

1. What does the word ‘week’ mean in this interpretation.

In this commentary, ‘week’ means a week of years – i.e. 7 years.

2. How does this commentary explain the contradiction between verses 4:3 and 8:24.

According to Ibn Ezra, a person reaches the age of greatest strength when they reach 4 ‘weeks’ i.e. 28 years of age. Perhaps he connects this age to the idea of a month – which is 4 weeks long. In any case, the Torah uses a round number to specify the age of those who came to work in the temple. In one place, it rounded the number down to 25, in the other it rounded it up to 30. According to this there is no contradiction, as both sources consider 28 to be the ideal age.

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Ten Minutes of Torah was prepared by Rabbi Chaim Weiner, based on the methods of Prof. Nechama Leibowitz. Rabbi Weiner studied and corresponded with Prof. Leibowitz for several years.

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HOME SICK ?

“I left my family.,. I forsook my house. There with the sweet and beloved children, whom I brought up on my knees, I left also my soul … “ [Ramban]

This is how Ramban recalls his home [pictured above] in Girona, after being forced to flee his home and move to Jerusalem in his old age.

Join me on my One Day Special trip to Girona to find out more about one of the leading Rabbinic authorities of all time, his life and teachings and the tragic events that led to his escape.

Girona - One Day Special

15 July, 2007

The Programme

Nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, on the border between Spain and France, the beautiful city of Girona was one of the most important centres of Jewish life in the Middle Ages. It has left a lasting mark on Jewish life to this day. Looking at the back of my Talmud, I once discovered that almost all of the commentaries were written in Girona. This was the home of Ramban - Nachmanides - who wrote an important commentary on the Torah, hundreds of Responsa, profound commentaries on the Talmud and was also an important Kabbalist.

Girona was the northern most Jewish community in Spain, and it sat on the cultural border between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic worlds. This is where Spanish and Ashkenazi Jews first met each other, with surprising results.

We will walk the narrows lanes of the old city where the Jewish quarter is preserved, visit the home of Ramban, walk the walls of the city, and open Girona's secrets through its sites and literature. This short trip will whet your appetite and leave you wanting more.

Cost: Only £60.00 pp + flights. This includes all transportation in Spain, one Kosher meal and all entrance fees, sessions and programmes.

CHECK IT OUT AT: www.jewishjourneys.supanet.com