Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Truma They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. (Shemot 25: 10) Abba Hanan said in the name of R. Elazar: One verse says, You shall make yourself an ark of wood, and another verse says: They shall make an ark of acacia wood, How can this be? The one applies to when...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Mishpatim But if there is a fatality, you shall give a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. (Shemot 21: 23-4) Between the Plain Meaning of Scripture and the Halakhah A life for a life, an eye for an eye… a hand for a hand – A life he pays; he does not pay money for life. Rabbi says:...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Yitro Moses told his father in law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on account of Israel, all the hardships that had befallen them on the way, and the Lord had saved them. (Shemot 18:8) Moses told his father-in-law: to attract his heart, to draw him near to the Torah (Mekhilta). (Rashi Shemot 18:8) For if otherwise, why did he tell him? he...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them. They were very frightened, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them – Nosim is not written here, but rather nosei'a . This tells us that they all formed squadrons marching as one man; from here...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Bo This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year. (Shemot 12:2) This month shall be to you the head of the months – By way of example: A son was born to a king, and the king made a celebration. The son was taken into captivity for many years. Eventually he was redeemed, and the king made for him a...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera Take your staff and stretch forth your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their bodies of water, and they will become blood, and there will be blood throughout the entire land of Egypt, even in wood and in stone. (Shemot 7:19) Say to Aaron: Since the Nile protected Moses when he was cast into it, it therefore was not smitten by him,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shemot So now, go! I will be with your mouth, and I will instruct you what you shall speak. (Shemot 4:12) The midrash states (Yalkut 183): If it says I will be with your mouth, why does it also say, and I will instruct; and if it says and I will instruct, why does it say I will be with your mouth? Rather, I will be with your mouth refers to the ability to speak, while...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayechi Naphtali is a swift gazelle; who utters beautiful words. (Bereishit 49:21) Naphtali is a swift gazelle – The plain meaning is that he was blessed with swiftness, that the sons of Naphtali will run as swiftly as gazelles and to be the first to announce good tidings and make them known, like a gazelle who delivers a letter fastened between her horns. And according to the midrash (Bereishit...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayigash And they told him all of Joseph's words that he had said to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of their father Jacob was revived. (Bereishit 45:27) all of Joseph’s words: He (Joseph) gave them a sign, viz., in what topic he was engaged when he (Joseph) separated from him (Jacob). the section dealing with the heifer ...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Miketz He searched; he started with the eldest and finished with the youngest, and the goblet was found in Benjamin's sack. (Bereishit 44:12) he started with the eldest. So that they would not realize he knew that the goblet was by Benjamin and did it in order to estrange himself from them. and the goblet was found in Benjamin's sack. They humiliated him and called him "thief son of a thief," in accordance with Scripture, and...