Welcome to the short, practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar and Daily Aliyah. As always, you can Order The Daily Aliyah <https://mosaicapress.com/product/the-daily-aliyah/> and receive your hard copy of these daily practical and relevant Torah thoughts (all proceeds go to Daily Giving), or join this Whatsapp group <https://chat.whatsapp.com/GFRNDpSWoFHGhHYziqAGYv> to receive one per day. I hope you find this meaningful... _______________________________________________ The end of our parashah details the Asham sacrifice, brought by “one that sins and is guilty” of robbing from others, withholding funds from others, failing to return a deposited object (5:23–24), and other similar acts. Atonement for any of these actions includes adding a fifth to the monies reimbursed. First, why does the Torah use the seemingly duplicativee words “sins” and “is guilty?” Don’t those terms connote the same culpability? Second, why is there a unique penalty in this case of adding a fifth to the reparations? The Kli Yakar suggests that depriving others of money or property not only decreases their rightful assets but also deprives them of performing charitable acts with those assets. The Gemara concludes that one may give up to 20 percent of their assets to charity, corresponding to the 20 percent penalty introduced here in our pasuk. We can use this deeper association of the effects of stealing and withholding to answer our first question: it is necessary to not only recognize when we sin but also understand that our actions have more profound repercussions. When we realize our sins’ ramifications and what they can prevent others from doing, we are on our way to reforming our actions and transforming their ramifications. Shlomo Ressler _____________________________________________ Quotation of the week: “Recognizing the deeper impact of our misdeeds is the first step toward transformative atonement.”