Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel YOU SHALL NOT KINDLE FIRE IN ANY OF YOUR DWELLING PLACES ON THE SABBATH DAY. (Shemot 35:3) If I learned that one rests from the eve of the Seventh Year for the Seventh Year, so one should similarly rest from the Sabbath eve for the Sabbath? And also – it is an a fortiori argument: the Seventh Year does not entail a punishment of extirpation or a judicial...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tissa AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES: "GO, DESCEND, FOR YOUR PEOPLE THAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT UP FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT HAVE ACTED CORRUPTLY. THEY HAVE QUICKLY TURNED AWAY FROM THE PATH THAT I HAVE COMMANDED THEM; THEY HAVE MADE THEMSELVES A MOLTEN CALF! AND THEY HAVE PROSTRATED THEMSELVES BEFORE IT, SLAUGHTERED SACRIFICES TO IT, AND SAID: 'THESE ARE YOUR GODS, O ISRAEL, WHO HAVE BROUGHT YOU UP FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT.'"...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tetzave YOU SHALL MAKE A BREASTPIECE OF JUDGMENT, WORKED INTO A DESIGN. YOU SHALL MAKE IT LIKE THE WORK OF THE EPHOD… AND YOU SHALL FILL INTO IT STONE FILLINGS, FOUR ROWS OF STONES… AND THE STONES SHALL BE FOR THE NAMES OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL TWELVE, CORRESPONDING TO THEIR NAMES… THUS SHALL AARON CARRY THE NAMES OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL IN THE BREASTPIECE OF JUDGMENT OVER HIS HEART WHEN HE ENTERS THE...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Truma AND YOU SHALL ERECT THE TABERNACLE IN THE FASHION THEREOF, AS YOU HAVE BEEN SHOWN ON THE MOUNTAIN. (Shemot 26:30) As you will have been shown on the mountain – the Divine and the Human R. Joshua of Sakhnin said in the name of R. Levi: When the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Moses, Make Me a Tabernacle, he should have just put up four poles and spread out the Tabernacle over...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Mishpatim AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, "COME UP TO ME TO THE MOUNTAIN AND REMAIN THERE, AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE STONE TABLETS, THE LAW AND THE COMMANDMENTS, WHICH I HAVE WRITTEN TO INSTRUCT THEM." (Shemot 24:12) It has been taught, R. Jose stated: Neither did the Shekhinah ever descend to earth, nor did Moses or Elijah ever ascend to Heaven, as it is written, The heavens are the heavens of...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Yitro AND MOSES SAID TO THE LORD, "THE PEOPLE CANNOT ASCEND TO MOUNT SINAI, FOR YOU WARNED US SAYING, SET BOUNDARIES FOR THE MOUNTAIN AND SANCTIFY IT.' " (Shemot 19:23) The Holiness of a Place is not Essential Holiness When the sound of the ram's-horn is drawn out, they may go up on the mountain Our Sages intended to tell us that actually the main principle of the religion is to uproot all matters...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach THEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CAME INTO THE MIDST OF THE SEA ON DRY LAND, AND THE WATERS WERE TO THEM AS A WALL FROM THEIR RIGHT AND FROM THEIR LEFT. (Shemot 14:22) And the Lord led the sea with the strong east wind – as described in the Torah, the splitting of the Red Sea was a miracle combined with natural elements, since if God had not wished to make any use...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Bo THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, "STRETCH FORTH YOUR HAND OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT FOR THE LOCUSTS, AND THEY WILL ASCEND OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT, AND THEY WILL EAT ALL THE VEGETATION OF THE EARTH, ALL THAT THE HAIL HAS LEFT OVER." SO MOSES STRETCHED FORTH HIS STAFF OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT, AND THE LORD LED AN EAST WIND IN THE LAND ALL THAT DAY AND ALL THE NIGHT. ...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera AND HE RAISED THE STAFF AND STRUCK THE WATER THAT WAS IN THE NILE BEFORE THE EYES OF PHARAOH AND BEFORE THE EYES OF HIS SERVANTS, ND ALL THE WATER THAT WAS IN THE NILE TURNED TO BLOOD. (Shemot 7:20) and all the water that was in the Nile turned to blood – Eichhorn and others following him believe that the blood and all the other plagues were natural phenomena that reoccur annually...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shemot AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM IN A FLAME OF FIRE FROM WITHIN THE THORN BUSH, AND BEHOLD, THE THORN BUSH WAS BURNING WITH FIRE, BUT THE THORN BUSH WAS NOT BEING CONSUMED. (Shemot 3:2) from within the thorn bush But not from any other tree, because of I am with him in distress (Ps. 91:15). (Rashi Shemot 3:2, Judaica Press translation) An angel of the Lord appeared...