Mendel Bluming | Blogger

There is only one person in the entire Torah whose date of passing is shared with us in the Torah. It is Aaron, Moses’ brother. The Torah teaches us that he passed away on the first of the Hebrew month of Av.   What is significant about the date of his passing because of which he is the only person about whom we are told the exact date of his passing, his Yahrtzeit? The date of Aharon’s  passing is the beginning each year of an intense 9 days of Jewish mourning. During these next 9 days we do not purchase clothing or any large purchases, we suspend building, we do not bathe or hear music or dance for pleasure, we do not cut hair and we do not eat meat or drink wine (besides Shabbat and one who is ill etc) The reason for the mourning is to commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temples which according to Jewish teaching was caused by baseless hatred among the Jewish People. Aaron dedicated his life to strengthening bonds of friendship and relationship (as we are taught i...

Moses is stunned and is silent not knowing how to proceed. Momentarily he forgot what the right course of action was.   At that moment Pinchas steps forward and takes the necessary action and averts further catastrophe, as the Torah attests. When Moses stands with the Jewish people between a rock and a hard place, with the Egyptians behind and a vast ocean in front of them and he tells the people to just be silent that is the moment that a leader steps up. Nachshon ben Aminadav begins walking right through the ocean and as a result the ocean split. This is just a thought not applicable to Moses who truly empowered his people. Sometimes great leaders due to their incredible presence and shining brilliance, deep insight and phenomenal experience, leave no space for others to step forward and to lead. In your family, and your company, and your community there are very capable leaders who if given the space will do a phenomenal job leading. Moses steps back and others immed...

When the prophet Bilaam is forced to bless the Jewish people he says (Bamidbar 23:8) that G-d does not see anything negative in the Jewish people. Rashi explains that when Jacob criticized the rage displayed by Shimon and Levi in destroying the city of Shechem he criticized their anger rather than criticizing them. He saw them as good people just having acted in an inappropriate manner.   When you critique another do you criticize them and invalidate them or do you question their deed? It often makes all the difference in whether they feel annihilated and defensive or (hopefully) appreciative for the helpful guidance. Rabbi Mendel (Menachem) Bluming Potomac Maryland

The Jews had arrived at the border of the Kingdom of Edom and asked for permission to travel through their country. In order to inspire sympathy and understanding from the Edomites, Moshe gave them a bit of the background to their journey:   We are distant relatives, he reminded the Edomites. Our respective ancestors, Yakov and Esau, were brothers. As a nation, we’ve been doing it tough. We were slaves in Egypt and only recently escaped. We’re finally heading towards our promised homeland and it would be much appreciated if you’d agree to allow us safe passage.  In the end, the Edomites denied our request and the Jews were forced to travel the long way around, through the desert. A fascinating teaching of Rashi casts a whole new light on the nature of inter-generational relationships.  In his message to the King of Edom, Moshe relates that “ Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we sojourned in Egypt for a long time, The Egyptians mistreated us and our forefathers.”...