Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayeshev These lamps are holy and we are not permitted to make use of them but rather only to see them And we are not permitted to make use of them, but rather only to see them, etc. And it says that the commandment is to see the Hanukkah lamp. This means that the Hanukkah lamps give light for each Israelite soul so that it will be able to see itself in the manner of self-seeing...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayishlah I am unworthy of all the kindnesses and from all the truth that You have rendered Your servant, for with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. (Bereishit 32:11) for with my staff From here we learn that a person should recall the bad days in tranquil times in order to take notice of his advantage and thank the Holy One, blessed be He for it. That is why...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob drew near and rolled the rock off the mouth of the well, and he watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. (Bereishit 29:10) Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother. The expression Laban, his mother's brother is repeated three times in this verse, because she told him...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan aram, to take himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him, he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan." And Jacob hearkened to his father and his mother, and he went to Padan aram. (Bereishit 28:6-7) In Bereishit Rabbah (39), R. Yitzhak began by saying: "Hearken, daughter, and see, and incline...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Chaye Sara Now it came about, when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a golden nose ring, weighing half , and two bracelets for her hands, weighing ten gold . And he said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there place for us for lodging in your father's house?" And she said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor." (Bereishit 24:22-4)...
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 was with the lad, and he grew, and he dwelt in the desert, and he became an archer. (Bereishit 21:20) An archer – Multiple Interpretations An archer – roveh kashat – one who shoots arrows with a bow. because of his occupation, like hamar , gamal , tzayad . Therefore, the letter shin is punctuated with a dagesh. He would dwell in the desert and waylay the...
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 the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. (Bereishit 12:1) Go forth – lekh lekha – for your own good and benefit I will aggrandize your name there. This requires study: even if his name would not be aggrandized and – God forbid – all the evils befall him there, in...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Noah These are the generations of Noah, Noah was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God. (Bereishit 6:9) In all cases where the Omnipresent busied Himself to raise up from anyone a nation or a chain of descendants, He took care, as here, in recording the fact, to use the expression generation. Accordingly you will find generations mentioned twelve times in Scripture: These are the generations of the heaven and...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Bereishit With the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for you were taken therefrom, for dust you are, and to dust you will return. (Bereishit 3:19) And in the midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 20 ) it is further stated: "And it will cause thorns and thistles to grow for you – Had you merited it, you would have taken herbs from the Garden of...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Sukkot And you shall rejoice in your Festival – you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your gates. (Devarim 16:14) Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said – "If you have four householders, you have And you shall rejoice in your Festival – you, and your son, and your daughter, manservant,...