Welcome to Ohel Simha Park Avenue Synagogue
295 Park Ave, Long Branch NJ 07740
Phone: (732) 571-2711
Email:Business@OhelSimha.com

The Rabbi’s Message

"If you will walk in my statutes..." (Vayikra 26:3)
The perashah begins a whole series of blessings promised to
the Jewish people if they will "walk" in Hashem's statutes. Rashi
tells us this means to toil in Torah study. This is the source of all
the berachot, and conversely, when the section dealing with the
curses begins, Rashi tells us it is because there was no toil in Torah
study.
The question is asked: Why is this command called a euj -
statute - which means something with no understandable reason?
Isn't Torah study something which is logical, and yet the Torah
calls this h©,«EªjC - My statute? The answer is, to learn Torah just to
know what to do is not sufficient. There is a misvah to toil in
Torah study, to involve ourselves in the wisdom and beauty of
Torah, regardless of whether it is relevant at this moment or not.
This may not seem comprehensible to some and therefore it is
called a euj. Yet here we see that this is the basis for all of the
blessings and vice versa, oukau xj/
We have to ask ourselves truthfully, are we involved in Torah
study? Do we have a set time to toil in the understanding of the
Torah? Especially now, when the holiday of Shabuot, which
reenacts the giving of the Torah to our generation, is right around
the corner, we should be prepared to have an answer to this
question. As we read the perashah and see how many blessings
and, G-d forbid, curses are involved due to toiling in Torah study
or the lack of it, we should commit ourselves to a set time of Torah
learning, with toil and effort, so that we should merit all these
blessings for ourselves and our families. Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Shmuel Choueka