Parsha:

Bo 

Collections: R' Brander 4 Minute Video Series

Description

We are told in Tractate Shabbat that when Rabbi Elazar ben Arach, the greatest student of Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai, returned to the Beit Midrash after his time away, was called to read from the Torah. Reading from this week's Torah portion, he came to the verse: “hachodesh hazeh lachem", this is the way you consecrate the new month - instead he read, “hacheresh haya libam”- their heart has become deaf. The Maharsha, Rabbi Shmuel Eidels (1555-1631) in his commentary on the Talmud, asks: “Why is this story of Rabbi Elazar ben Arach scripted and choreographed around our Torah portion, and the first mitzva of the Torah, the mitzva of consecrating the new moon?”