The Dubno Maggid asks: The Midrash says Moshe offered to give an accounting of all the donations but the proof text the Midrash brings says that one shouldn’t make a cheshbon with the Gabbai Tzedakah! Download the mekorot Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

After Shaul left a survivor (Agag), going against what he was commanded, he tells Shmuel “I fulfilled the word of God”. How could he make such a claim? Why does Mordechai tell Esther that if she doesn’t go to the king to save the Jews not only she but also her family will be lost? […]

There are 2 mitzvot connected to Amalek – remembering what they did and eliminating them. We are never vulnerable to the external Amalek unless there is a part of Amalek that is in our character. Thus, even if we can’t eradicate Amalek externally, we can eradicate those aspects of our personalities. The two traits of […]

In the special Torah portion for Zachor, G-d commands the Jewish people to remember the terrible and heinous deeds of the evil Amalek nation. Zachor et asher asah lecha Amalek, baderech betzetchem Memitzrayim, Remember that which Amalek did to you, on the way when you left Egypt, This verse of Zachor is puzzling and unusual, in that […]

In addition to Purim and it’s mitzvot, there are other mitzvot associated with Adar including the obligation to read the four parshiyot (Shekalim, Zachor, Parah, HaChodesh), Taanit Esther, and the custom of giving machatzit hashekel. Are women obligated in the four parshiyot? Why do we fast on Taanit Esther? Download the Mekorot Recorded at OU […]

There were two half-shekel offerings: a one-time donation (for the building of the mishkan) and the annual half shekel (for korbanot) – building fund vs. operating budget. Why was there an upper limit for the machatzit hashekel, why can’t a rich person give more? Reish Lakish says that the Machatzit HaShekel counters the shekalim that […]

What is the connection between Purim, Parshat Parah and whether or not the Midrash means that Vashti had an actual tail? Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

Why do we derive the melachot of Shabbos from the mishkan – we don’t keep shabbos because of the Mishkan, we keep Shabbos because Hashem rested on the 7th day? Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

Why don’t we fulfill zechirah, remembering what Amalek did, on purim itself; why does it have to come first and why specifically on shabbos? Why did Esther insist that her book be canonized as part of Tanach?

“It was on the eighth day that Moses summoned Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel.” (Vayikra 9,1). “It was on the eighth day…” Eighth day of what? Rashi explained it “the eighth day after the seven days of inauguration (Miluim) which preceded it, and it is the first of Nisan in the […]