Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Chaye Sara And ephron's field at machpelah by mamre, the field and the cave that was in it and every tree in the field, within its boundaries all around, passed over to abraham as a possession, in the full view of the hittites, all the assembled in the gate of his town (Bereishit 23;17) And the field of ephron passed – This is the explanation: After he transferred the silver, it came into his ownership,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayera And God appeared to him at the Oaks Mamre, and he was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day (Gen.18:1) And He appeared to him – to visit the sick (Baba Metsia 96) Rabbi Hama bar Hanina said: This was on the third day after his circumcision, and the Holy One came and inquired after his health. (Rashi ad loc.) Foreigners malign Judaism and those who carry it...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha And noah, a man of the soil, Began and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk, And exposed himself within his tent. (Bereshit 9:20) "And Noah, a man of the soil, began…" – He became hollow and profaned himself ; why did he "plant a vineyard – he should have planted something of positive use, not a single shoot and not...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Sukkot He will shelter me in his sukkah on an evil day grant me the protection of his tent (psalm 27:5) If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of justice and of righteousness in the state, marvel not at the matter; for one higher than the high watcheth, and there are higher than they. (Ecclesiastes 5"7) He will hide me in His pavilion , he will grant me the protection of his...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Yom Kippur (link to original page) To remind ourselves to make a better world Esti Melamed The shabbat proceeding Yom Kippur ( even though this year it was the shabbat immediately following Rosh Hashana) is one in which a significant step is taken in preparing for the sacred day. On this day we read the haftara from the Book of Hosea that begins "Return Israel to the Lord your God," a verse that gives the shabbat its name. Hosea's message to the...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Rosh Hashana Our father, our king. Inscribe us In the book of forgiveness and absolution Good and upright is the Lord: the Option of Correction is One of God's Graces Good and upright is the Lord . How is He good? In that He is upright. How is He upright? In that He is good. They asked wisdom: What is the sinner's punishment? It said: Evil will pursue the sinners (Proverbs 13:21). They asked prophecy: What is the sinner's punishment?...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tavo In the morning you will say "Would that it were evening" And in the evening you will say "Would that it were morning" From your heart's fright with which you will be afraid And from the sight of your eyes that you will see. (Devarim 28:67) And your life will dangle before you: This refers to the danger from the enemies in whose midst they dwell; they will fear day and night and not...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tetseh You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox falling by the way and ignore him. You shall surely raise them up with him. (Devarim 22:4) You shall not see your brother's donkey. In Parashat Mishpatim (Shemot 23:5) the text reads "If you see your enemy's donkey" whereas here we read "your brother's donkey". This comes to teach that if one was your enemy he should return to being your brother in helping to...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut it down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege. (Devarim 20, 19) For a tree of the field is man's life – I have already explained...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaetchanan The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are living. (Deut. 5:3) Not with our fathers – alone did He make the convenant, but with us – as in "and your name shall no longer be called Jacob alone, but also Israel with it." As it states in Midrash Tehilim about "From the mouths of babes and nursing infants you...