יום חמישי י"ח באדר ב תשפ"ד 28/03/2024
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  • The Mission Continues

    As in the past so it remains today - we were and still are under the selfsame commitment to adhere to the directions of the Gedolei Yisrael, who stand guard against breaches of purity threatening our camp. When we were required to ask – we asked. When we were instructed to depart – we left. The moment we are summoned back to raise the flag, every other consideration is pushed to the side and we answer: We are ready!

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בראי היום

  • Harav Yisrael Friedman zy”a, the Rebbe of Husyatin

    מוטי, ויקיפדיה העברית

    The ancestral chain of Harav Yisrael Friedman, the founder of the Husyatin chassidic court, originates with the holy Baal Shem Tov. The Husyatin chassidus has its roots in Galicia and eventually came to Tel Aviv, during the turbulent years between the two World Wars.

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Place

  • Maccabi'im Gravesite

    In honour of Chanukah, we will discuss a fascinating, ongoing investigation attempting to establish the place of burial of Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol and his family.

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In Weekly Parsha

The Greatest Human

“And Hashem blew into Adam’s nostrils a living Neshama (soul) and Man became a living creature” (4:8).

Yosef Tropper 15/10/2009 21:52
On the sixth day of creation, after Hashem set up the world and all of its components, He then created the pinnacle of His entire creation. Man was the goal of it all! This man would be the focus and purpose of the vast world around him. Man would have the job of connecting to and serving his Creator. What can we learn from the verse’s description of the creation of this great being?

For starters, what is this verse even telling us in the first place? Hashem blew life into Adam by giving him a Neshama, a soul, and then man became a living creature. What does this all mean? Also, why all the repetition, just state that Hashem placed a soul into him, what is the meaning of the concluding words of the verse?

As usual, the answer to this question explains everything!

The animals were created and were also described as being a “living creature”, how then is the soul of man more special and higher than theirs?

Rashi informs us that man’s soul is different from the soul of all other living creatures in that it has the ability to think and talk.

Reb Moshe Feinstein however has a question on this. Although this is certainly true, however, from the  verse itself, it is very hard to see how man's uniqueness is expressed. The problem is that the words, “living creature” means: a being that can live on this earth, which refers to the ability to stay alive by means of eating, sleeping and self-protection. Animals are able to eat and sleep as well?! How then is man different?

He explains that the difference between a human and an animal is in their motivation. An animal only thinks about its physical existence, it has no noble thoughts beyond that. However, man’s “living spirit” was only found in him after Hashem blew into his nostril, “a living Neshama”. Hence, this connotes the specialness of man. When man takes care of his physical needs, when he eats and sleeps, it is not for selfish reasons, rather, it is l’shem shamayim, for the sake of heaven.

This is why the verse only calls man “a living being” after describing the fact that Hashem gave him a spiritual Neshama, soul. A true servant of Hashem utilizes the physical world in order to maximize his spiritual growth!

Yosef Tropper
www.closetotorah.com