(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Chukkat That they take you a perfect red cow That has no blemish and on which no yoke has been put. And you shall give her to eleazar the priest… (Bemidbar 19:2-3) We have already explained that the whole intention with regard to the Sanctuary was to affect those that came to it with a feeling of awe and of fear; as it says: Ye shall fear My Sanctuary. Now if one is continually in contact with a venerable object, the impression...
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Korach And moshe was very incensed and he said to the lord, "do not turn to their offering. Not a donkey of theirs have i carried off, And i have done no harm to any one of them." (Bemidbar 16:15) In those days… in this time? Not a donkey of theirs have I carried off – I never took a donkey of theirs even when I travelled from Midian to Egypt, I had my wife and my sons ride on the donkey,...
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shelach For the tribe of asher, sethur, son of michael (Bemidbar 13:13) And these are their names: For the tribe of Reuven, Shammua the son of Zaccur – Said R. Yitzchak: This is something we have on tradition from our fathers, the spies were named in accordance with their actions, but we have detected only one, "Sethur the son of Michael. Sethur because he undermined the works of the Holy One, blessed be He; and Michael [was...
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Behaalotcha And miriam was shup up outside the camp seven days, And the people did not journey onward Until miriam was gathered back in (Bemidbar 12:15) And the people did not journey onward – (Sotah 9) – This is the honor which the Omniscient bestowed upon her as reward for the hour she waited when Moshe was cast into the Nile, as is written (Shemot 2) 'And his sister stationed herself from afar etc." (Rashi, ibid., ibid) And the people did...
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nasso May the lord bless you and guard you. May the lord light up his face to you and grant grace to you. May the lord lift up his face to you and give you peace. (Bemidbar 6:24-26) R. Shimeon b. Halafta said: The Holy One, blessed be He, found no vessel that could contain blessing for Israel save that of peace, as it is written: 'The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace'....
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Behar – Behukotay Should your brother come to ruin and sell his holding, his redeemer who is related to him shall come and redeem what his brother sold (Vayikra 25:25) And should your brother come to ruin and his hand buckle under you, you shall hold him as a resident alien, and he shall live under you. (Vayikra 25:35) And should your brother come to ruin under you and be sold to you, you shall not work him the work of a slave....
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Emor A person who touches these shall be unclean till evening and shall not eat of the sacred donations Until he bathes his body in water, And the sun sets and he becomes clean (Vayikra 22:6-7) Until he bathes his body in water – Could it be that he may wash limb by limb? The text instructs "And the sun sets and he becomes clean" – just as the setting sun cleanses his entire body at once, so here, all at once....
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Achary Mot – Kedoshim You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; You shall fear your god: i am the lord. (Vayikra 19:32) even before an aged sinner; therefore the verse comes to teach zaken and zaken can refer only to one who has obtained knowledge – so explains Rashi. Torat Kohanim (Chap 7, 11) presents the text as...
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tazria – Metzora – Yom Haatzmauth When you come into the land of canaan which i am about To give to you as a possession, and i inflict An eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess… (Vayikra 14: 34-35) The reason for 'When you come into the land" – For this exists only in the land , because of its high standing, because the Sanctuary is within them and His honor is within...