At Home with Torah

At Home with Torah

Rabbi Avrohom Leitner

Mosaica Press / 385 pages

Rabbi Avrohom Leitner, has done a beautiful job in his At Home with Torah, compiling inspirational messages based on the weekly parsha.

Every entry contains a short, but inspiring and thought provoking message that is suitable for readers of all backgrounds. Launching off a specific passuk in the parsha, the author delivers a meaningful message through stories and anecdotes, along with from exceprts from traditional “divrei Torah sources.” The material is very “Shabbat table” friendly, making for a springboard for further discussion around the table.

The primary theme in the sefer is on connecting with Hashem and with what is spiritually important in life. There are one to four different entries per parsha. There is also a section containing divrei Torah on the holidays. Although distinctively yeshivish in style and content, it is written in a manner that will be enjoyed by everyone.

Here is a sample from Parshat Noach:

 
THE DOVE FOUND REST 

And the dove did not find rest for her feet… And the dove came in theevening and behold it held a torn leaf in its beak (Bereishis 8:9-10) 

One of the zemiros we sing on Shabbos day has the chorus: יונה מצאה בו מנוח ושם ינוחו יגיעי כח —
“The dove that was sent by Noach found rest on Shabbos. So too, we hard workers (yegi’ei ko’ach) will also rest on this special day.” 

Where do we see in the parsha that the dove rested on Shabbos? Quite the opposite: the posuk states that the dove did not find rest! 

One of the meforshim on the zemiros learns it from the continuation of the above psukim, as if it reads the way we wrote them. “It did not find rest…it waited seven days and then…it found rest.” What was this seventh day? Not necessarily the seventh day it left Noach, but rather the seventh day of the week, i.e., Shabbos! The dove was sent out the first time, but did not find any rest.ויחל עוד שבעה ימים “Noach waited another seven days,” and only then did the dove find rest. This was on the seventh day, Shabbos. 

Evidence of Shabbos 

The Yaavetz writes that it is well known that the Sambatyon River does not flow on Shabbos. It’s a miracle that shows us the existence of Shabbos. There is other miraculous evidence in the world to show us Shabbos: The dove does not tear off any growing food during Shabbos, but only eats from food that was already plucked before Shabbos!
This can also be seen in the posuk in this parsha. The dove came towards evening with a torn leaf from an olive tree. Why did she only come at night? The Pardes Yosef answers that because it was the seventh day, Shabbos, and she doesn’t pluck food on Shabbos; she waited until after nacht! 

Not that we, G-d fearing Jews need any evidence of Shabbos, but it sure warms up our hearts when we hear so!