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Which statement captures the Torah (תורה)'s most fundamental principle? A Midrash presents four competing views, with the surprising winner being the daily tamid sacrifice. This reveals that Jews are entrusted with "operating the world" through prayer and mitzvos — a role that brings tremendous responsibility rather than arrogance.
The shiur begins by examining a fascinating Midrash that presents four opinions about the most fundamental principle in Torah (תורה). Rabbi Akiva suggests "ve'ahavta lerei'acha kamocha" (love your neighbor as yourself), but Ben Azzai questions this - what if someone has low self-esteem? Ben Azzai counters with "zeh sefer toldos ha'adam" - that humans are created in God's image with divine attributes. Ben Zelma offers "Shema Yisrael" as the ultimate principle, which Rabbi Zweig explains as both accepting God as our Lord and committing to act as examples that will inspire the world to recognize God. Surprisingly, Shimon ben Pazit argues that the verse about the daily tamid sacrifice - "es hakeves echad ta'aseh baboker" - is the Torah's most important statement. Initially this seems incomprehensible, but Rabbi Zweig develops a profound explanation through analyzing the Sukkos (סוכות) sacrifices and Rashi (רש"י)'s commentary.
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Parshas Pinchas - Daily Tamid Sacrifice
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Why does the Torah separate Avrohom's eulogy for Sarah from his crying for her? The shiur shows that Sarah required a public eulogy focused on the communal loss of a leader, not Avrohom's private grief. This teaches that we must view Jewish tragedies through a national lens first, seeing attacks on Am Yisrael as collective losses that dwarf personal concerns.
