Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze So Jacob took a stone and set it up a monument. And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones," and they took stones and made a pile, and they ate there by the pile. And Laban called it Yegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Gal ed. And Laban said, "This pile is a witness between me and you today." Therefore, he called it Gal ed. (Bereishit 31: 45-48) And Jacob said to his kinsmen:...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot AND THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND… AND ISAAC WENT TO ABIMELECH THE KING OF THE PHILISTINES, TO GERAR. AND THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM, AND SAID, "DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT; DWELL IN THE LAND THAT I WILL TELL YOU. SOJOURN IN THIS LAND, AND I WILL BE WITH YOU… AND I WILL MULTIPLY YOUR SEED LIKE THE STARS OF THE HEAVENS, AND I WILL GIVE YOUR SEED ALL THESE LANDS, AND ALL...
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 ISAAC WENT FORTH TO PRAY IN THE FIELD TOWARDS EVENING, AND HE LIFTED HIS EYES AND SAW, AND BEHOLD, CAMELS WERE APPROACHING. AND REBECCA LIFTED HER EYES, AND SHE SAW ISAAC, AND SHE FELL FROM THE CAMEL. (Bereishit 24:63-64) And she saw Isaac, and she fell from the camel – Panic or Modesty? She saw him tall and majestic, breaking a new path as he walked towards the field; she was small...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayera AND HE LIFTED HIS EYES AND SAW, AND BEHOLD, THREE MEN WERE STANDING BESIDE HIM, AND HE SAW AND HE RAN TOWARD THEM FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT, AND HE PROSTRATED HIMSELF TO THE GROUND. (Bereishit 18:2) We have already stated that the forms in which angels appear form part of the prophetic vision. Some prophets see angels in the form of man, e.g., And behold three men stood by him (Bereishit 18:2); others...
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 ABRAM SAID TO LOT, "PLEASE LET THERE BE NO QUARREL BETWEEN ME AND BETWEEN YOU AND BETWEEN MY HERDSMEN AND BETWEEN YOUR HERDSMEN, FOR WE ARE KINSMEN. IS NOT ALL THE LAND BEFORE YOU? PLEASE PART FROM ME; IF LEFT, I WILL GO RIGHT, AND IF RIGHT, I WILL GO LEFT." (Bereishit 13:8-9) if left, I will go right Wherever you dwell, I will not distance myself...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Noah MY RAINBOW I HAVE PLACED IN THE CLOUD, AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN OF A COVENANT BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE EARTH. (Bereishit 9:13) My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between My utterances and the earth. (Keter Yonatan Bereishit 9:13) The sign and its meaning are told us, about that there can be no doubt. It only remains to consider the connection between...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Bereishit AND THE LORD SAID TO CAIN, "WHERE IS ABEL YOUR BROTHER?" AND HE SAID, "I DO NOT KNOW. AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?" AND THE LORD SAID TO CAIN, "WHERE IS ABEL YOUR BROTHER?" AND HE SAID, "I DO NOT KNOW. AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?" (Bereishit 4:9) Where is Abel your brother? – …since He asked him: Where is Abel your brother? and did not ask, "Why did you kill your brother?" Cain thought...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Simhat Tora AND THIS IS THE TORAH WHICH MOSES SET BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. (Devarim 4:44) R. Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of the verse, And this is the Torah which Moses set before the children of Israel? If one is worthy – it will be an elixir of life for him, if one is unworthy – it will be an elixir of death for him. This is as...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ha'azinu – Sukkot All seven days, one makes one's sukkah into regular and one's home into an occasional . If rains fall, at what point may one leave the sukkah? When the porridge becomes spoiled . spun a parable: To what may this be compared – to a servant who came to pour a cup for his master, and he poured a jug on his face. (Mishnah Sukkah 2:9)...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Vayelech – Shabbat Teshuva Gates, Locked and Unlocked Rabbi Eliezer said: Since the destruction of the Temple, the gates of prayer are locked, for it is written, Also when I cry out, He shuts out my prayer (Lamentations 3:8). Yet though the gates of prayer are locked, the gates of tears are not, for it is written, Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry, hold not your peace at my tears (Psalms 39:13)… Rav...