Beth Hamidrash

Description

Hello and welcome! This page provides a weekly commentary from the rabbi and other information from his office. Rabbi Ilan Acoca was born and raised in Bat-Yam, Israel. At the age of thirteen he moved to Montreal, Quebec. He got his Rabbinical ordination from the Rabbinical institution Yeshiva Gedola Beth Hamidrash L'horaah in Montreal. In addition he has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Universite De Montreal. Rabbi Acoca serves as the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Hamidrash in Vancouver, BC and is a certified Mohel (traditional circumciser). He is a member of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of British Columbia and the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver. He is also a member of the Rabbinical Council of America and the National Council of Young Israel. Rabbi Acoca is married to Dina and they have six children. The Jewish people were commanded to slaughter the sheep as the Korban Pesah and put its blood on the doorposts of their houses. In that way G-d would see the blood and pass over their houses during the plague of the Destruction of the Firstborn. We would therefore assume that the blood should be put on the outside of their homes. Rashi tells us that in fact they were to put the blood on the inside, where they themselves could see it, and it should be a sign for them. The message we can derive from here is that putting the blood was not just an arbitrary act which would protect them. By slaughtering the sheep, which was worshipped by the Egyptians, they showed that they were breaking their ties to any idol-worship that they might have had. In order to reinforce this, they put the blood on the inside of the doorposts so that they themselves could see it and be strengthened in their resolve to abandon idol-worship. Although a person can make a resolution to become better, when he sees a constant reminder of his resolve, this gives him the strength to go even further. Hashem saw this merit of the blood and therefore passed over their houses to protect them, since He saw their commitment to serve Hashem exclusively. We would do well to apply this to our own lives and try to reinforce our acceptance of certain positive traits by seeing how the negative traits are not good for us. This will help us serve Hashem better. Shabbat Shalom!

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