The Torah Tavlin Website is generously sponsored this week by the Hoffman family לרפו"ש הילד בן חנה רבקה בתוך שאר חולי ישראל
ABOUT US
The words "Torah Tavlin" are best known from a phrase in the Gemara in the tractate Kiddushin: "בראתי יצר הרע ובראתי לו תורה תבלין" - "I created the Yetzer Hara, and I've also the Torah Tavlin" - as an antidote; it is only in this passage that the context compels this translation. The word “Tavlin” has many understandings in the teachings of Chazal, but it is literally translated as “Spices.” Just as a master chef will employ a refreshing blend of spices and ingredients to make his culinary creation into a masterpiece, so too, does Hashem blend together a Divine brand of seasoning - “Tavlin” - into His Living Torah for us to absorb, each according to our individual understanding. Through the countless pages of our commentators, from thousands of years ago up to the present day, we “taste” these spices in every word and posuk in the Torah, and our intellectual senses are overloaded. It is the “Sam Hachaim” - the elixir of life, and the truest manner to experience the Torah.
THE WEEKLY MESSAGE
Chag HaPesach
Pharaoh’s entire army drowned in the sea - not one of them remained!
The pasuk states that every Egyptian drowned in the sea, there did not remain "עד אחד" - "Not a one." What is the Torah adding by saying these words? It could have just as well left these words out. Is the Torah teaching us something more?
Yes, answers R' Moshe Chaim Ephraim zt”l of Sedlikov, based on the words in אז ישיר that the Jews sang after their miracle: “ה’ איש מלחמה ה’ שמו”. Rashi explains that Hashem's weaponry with which he battles the enemy is with His Holy Name. Just as we find in the Zohar that Dovid defeated the giant Goliath by employing the words of Krias Shema, "שמע ישראל ה’ אלקינו ה’ אחד", which denotes the unique Oneness of Hashem's Name. It is this Name that protects and saves us from harm.
When we recite Shema, the letter "ע" from the first word and the letter "ד" from the last word, should be drawn out with intense devotion, as prescribed in halacha. Thus, the Torah is telling us that when Hashem rendered the mighty Egyptian army harmless, destroying them in the depths of the sea, it was done through "עד אחד" - the all powerful and omnipotent Name of Hashem, which is clearly denoted in the first pasuk of Shema.
