Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayechi A CUB A GROWN LION IS JUDAH. FROM THE PREY, MY SON, YOU WITHDREW. HE CROUCHED, RESTED LIKE A LION, AND LIKE A LION, WHO WILL ROUSE HIM? (Bereishit 49:9) A cub a grown lion is Judah. You combine within yourself the valor of youth (a cub) and the sobriety of old age (a grown lion). You do not seek war and booty for their own sake. You are not a...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayigash AND JOSEPH SAID TO HIS BROTHERS, "I AM JOSEPH. IS MY FATHER STILL ALIVE?"… HASTEN AND GO UP TO MY FATHER, AND SAY TO HIM, 'SO SAID YOUR SON, JOSEPH: "GOD HAS MADE ME A LORD OVER ALL THE EGYPTIANS. COME DOWN TO ME, DO NOT TARRY. AND YOU SHALL DWELL IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN… AND I WILL SUSTAIN YOU THERE FOR THERE ARE STILL FIVE YEARS OF FAMINE LEST YOU BECOME IMPOVERISHED,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Miketz AND THE ANGEL WHO SPOKE WITH ME RETURNED, AND HE AWAKENED ME AS A MAN WHO WAKES UP FROM HIS SLEEP. AND HE SAID TO ME, "WHAT DO YOU SEE?" AND I SAID, "I SAW, AND BEHOLD A CANDELABRUM ALL OF GOLD, WITH ITS OIL-BOWL ON TOP OF IT, AND ITS SEVEN LAMPS THEREON; SEVEN TUBES EACH TO THE LAMPS THAT WERE ON TOP OF IT. AND TWO OLIVE TREES...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayeshev SO JOSEPH'S MASTER TOOK HIM AND PUT HIM INTO PRISON, THE PLACE WHERE THE KING'S PRISONERS WERE IMPRISONED, AND HE WAS THERE IN THE PRISON. (Bereishit 39:20) Beit Hasohar Linguists explain sohar as an arched chamber, similar in expression to agan hasohar (Song of Songs 7:3). In my opinion it is an underground house having a small opening above ground, through...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayishlah JACOB BECAME VERY FRIGHTENED AND WAS DISTRESSED; SO HE DIVIDED THE PEOPLE WHO WERE WITH HIM AND THE FLOCKS AND THE CATTLE AND THE CAMELS INTO TWO CAMPS… I HAVE BECOME SMALL FROM 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: 8, 11) Two camps So he divided the people,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze AND JACOB WENT ON HIS WAY, AND ANGELS OF GOD MET HIM. AND JACOB SAID WHEN HE SAW THEM, "THIS IS THE CAMP OF GOD," AND HE NAMED THE PLACE MAHANAIM. (Bereishit 32:2-3) and angels of God met him: In the same way that the Lord showed him the ladder and the angels on his way to Padan Aram in order to strengthen his heart, here too, upon his return to his homeland,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot AND THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED WITHIN HER, AND SHE SAID, "IF SO, WHY AM I THIS?" AND SHE WENT TO INQUIRE OF THE LORD. AND THE LORD SAID TO HER, "TWO NATIONS ARE IN YOUR WOMB, AND TWO PEOPLES WILL SEPARATE FROM YOUR INNARDS, AND ONE PEOPLE WILL BECOME MIGHTIER THAN THE OTHER PEOPLE, AND THE ELDER WILL SERVE THE younger. (Bereishit 25:22-23) Two Nations – Conflict or Reciprocal Enhancement? Two...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Chaye Sara AND ABRAHAM AROSE AND PROSTRATED HIMSELF TO THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND, TO THE SONS OF HETH. AND HE SPOKE WITH THEM, SAYING, "IF IT IS YOUR WILL THAT I BURY MY DEAD FROM BEFORE ME, LISTEN TO ME AND ENTREAT FOR ME TO EPHRON THE SON OF ZOHAR. THAT HE MAY GIVE ME THE MAKHPELAH CAVE, WHICH BELONGS TO HIM, WHICH IS AT THE END OF HIS FIELD; FOR A FULL PRICE...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayera AND THE LORD CAUSED TO RAIN DOWN UPON SODOM AND GOMORRAH BRIMSTONE AND FIRE, FROM THE LORD, FROM HEAVEN. AND HE TURNED OVER THESE CITIES AND THE ENTIRE PLAIN, AND ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITIES, AND THE VEGETATION OF THE GROUND. (Bereishit 19:24-25) When He overturned the cities in which Lot had dwelt It should be asked: What was the point of this overturning and great judgment of Sodom? There were certainly...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Lech-Lecha THEN THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM AND SAID: I WILL GIVE THIS LAND TO YOUR OFFSPRING AND THERE HE BUILT AN ALTAR TO THE LORD WHO APPEARED TO HIM. (Bereishit 12:7) I will give this land to your offspring: The promise, the Timing of its Fulfillment, and its Stipulations. And said: I will give to your offspring – Even though I took you out of the land of your birth to...