Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Miketz – Chanuka And behold, out of the Nile came up seven cows, of handsome appearance and robust flesh, and they grazed in the reed grass. (Bereishit 41:2) A Bountiful Economy Makes Possible Social Justice, Equality, and Peace of handsome appearance: This was a symbol of the days of plenty, when creatures appear handsome to one another, for no one envies his fellow. (Rashi ad loc, Judaica Press translation) Out of the Nile: In good...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayeshev And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age; and he made him a fine woolen coat. (Bereishit 37:3) and he made him a k'tonet passim – It was an excellent garment, as in the verse ukhtonet tashbetz (Shemot 28:4), and his brothers were envious because of it. The Sages expounded upon this: "One should never favor one of his...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayishlah Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that Jacob's two sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, and they came upon the city with confidence, and they slew every male. And Hamor and his son Shechem they slew with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah out of Shechem's house and left. (Bereishit 34:25-26) Simeon and Levi are brothers; stolen instruments are their...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it. (Bereishit 28:12) "The Omnipresent has many ladders" Ascending and descending upon it: R. Hiyya and R. Yanai . One said, "ascending and descending upon the ladder," and one said, "ascending and descending upon Jacob." Bar Kapra taught: No dream lacks an interpretation. And behold a ladder...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and they found there a well of living waters. And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds… so he named the well Esek (Bereishit 26:19-20) So he named the well Esek – He gave it a name so that when the day came when he would overpower them Gerar's shepherds would not be able to say, "The well is ours." And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled –...
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 he said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there place for us for lodging in your father's house?"(Bereishit 24:23) For lodging: lodging means one night’s lodging. – lin is a noun. But she replied, laloon, meaning many lodgings. (Rashi ad loc) And she said to him, "Both straw and fodder are plentiful with us; also a place to...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayera And they said to him: "Where is your wife, Sarah?" And he said: "Here she is in the tent." (Bereishit 18:9) And they said to him: . There are dots over the letters alef yod vav in the word eylav. And we learned: Rabbi Simeon the son of Eleazar says: "Wherever the letters are more than the dotted ones, you must expound on the letters, etc." And here, the dotted letters are...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha Rise, walk in the land, to its length and to its breadth, for I will give it to you. (Bereishit 13:17) Now it was about that time that Judah went down… (Bereishit 38:1) This is the meaning of what is written: A dispossessor will I bring to you who dwell in Mareshah (Micah 1:15). The Holy One said to Israel: I concluded with Abraham your father and told him, Rise, walk in the...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Noah Two by two they came to Noah to the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. (Bereishit 7:9) Two by two they came to Noah to the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. It seems proper to interpret God's commanding that two from each simply referring to the ingrained nature of animals, for nature is also called God. They came to...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Simhat Tora The Torah that Moses commanded us is a legacy for the congregation of Jacob. (Devarim 33:4) And it can be said that the word moreshet – "legacy" – refers to the Land of Israel, and then the verse's meaning will be that it is thanks to the Torah commanded to us by Moses that the Land of which the Torah writes, and I will give it to you as a legacy, I am the Lord...