Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tazria – Metzora The religious establishment has struggled to shape the religious character of Yom Ha'atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim, and this issue continues to engage various sectors of the religious community. It cannot be solved without coming to an understanding of the religious value of the historical events associated with those holidays. Let it be said at the outset: we are not concerned here with the significance of a "prophetic vision" or "messianic destiny" involving "the Kingdom...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shmini Do not drink wine that will lead to intoxication, neither you nor your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, so that you shall not die. an eternal statute for your generations. (Vayikra 10:9) Do not drink wine that will lead to intoxication, etc. This commandment was mentioned here because wine was created solely to comfort mourners (Eruvin 65a), and Aaron thought that he would at least be allowed...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Pesach R. Hiyya taught: The Torah spoke in reference to four sons: a wise son, a wicked son, a stupid son, a son who does not known how to ask. (Yerushalmi Pesahim 70b) Each of Us Contains Something of the Four Sons The Torah spoke in reference to four sons, etc. It seems that this parallels the four expressions of redemption , for redemption must take leave of four kinds of exile. These questions are...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav You shall not eat leaven with it; for seven days you shall eat with it matzot, the bread of affliction , for in haste you went out of the land of Egypt, so that you shall remember the day when you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. (Devarim 16:3) The bread of affliction: bread that brings to mind the affliction they suffered in Egypt. (Rashi ad...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayikra But if he cannot afford two turtle doves or two young doves, then he shall bring as his sacrifice for his sin one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall not put oil over it, nor shall he place frankincense upon it, for it is a sin offering. (Vayikra 5:11) Rabbi Yehuda said: Beloved is a mitzvah performed at its proper time, for he brings a tenth of an...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: "These are the things that the Lord commanded to make. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tissa He took from their hand, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molten calf, upon which they said: "These are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you up from the land of Egypt!" (Shemot 32:4) These And this should be explained in accordance with their midrash, may they be blessed, on the verse, One man out of a thousand I found, but a woman among all...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tetzave And you shall make the robe of the ephod completely of blue wool… A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the bottom hem of the robe, all around. It shall be on Aaron when he performs the service, and its sound shall be heard when he enters the Holy before the Lord and when he leaves, so that he will not die. (Shemot 28:31,34,35) and its sound shall be...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Truma And you shall make two golden cherubim; you shall make them of hammered work, from the two ends of the ark cover. And make one cherub from the one end and the other cherub from the other end; from the ark cover you shall make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall have their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings, with their faces toward one another; toward the ark...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Mishpatim An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. (Shemot 21:24) An eye for an eye – Plain Meaning and Drash An eye – Rav Saadya said, we cannot interpret this passage literally. For if a person struck his fellow's eye, causing him to lose a third of his eyesight, how can he possibly be smitten in an identical degree, neither more nor less?...