(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shmini And fire went out from before the lord And consumed them and they died before the lord. (Vayikra 10:2) And they died before the Lord – Because they thought that they did something favorable before Him. (Ibn Ezra, ibid. ibid) …There is no doubt that their intention was desirable; for they were called "those close to me" even after their sin. Their desirable intent finds expression in the words of the Torat Cohanim: "They too were in a state of...
Now if his hand cannot attain two turteldoves or two young pigeons, (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav – Pesach The torah speaks about four children One who is wise and one who is wicked; one who is simple And one who does not even know how to question (Yerushalmi, Pesahim 70b) What does the wise child ask? What is the meaning of the testimonies, statutes, and judgments which the Eternal our God has commanded us? You shall explain to him: 'The Lord delivered us from Egypt,...
Now if his hand cannot attain two turteldoves or two young pigeons, (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayikra Now if his hand cannot attain two turteldoves or two young pigeons, He is to bring as his offering for what he sinned a tenth of an efah of flour for an offense-offering; he is not to put on it any oil, He is not to place on it any frankincense, for it is an offense-offering A tenth of an efah– A person's consumption for a single day. (Ibn...
(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday You shall not kindle a fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day (Shemot 35:3) You shall not kindle fire – Said the Holy One, blessed be He: My fire, meaning the fire of Hell, rests for you; let your fire also rest. Hashabbat, Vayomer – The first and last letters of Hashabbat, Vayomer form the word Torah, hinting that the main time for Torah is on the Sabbath, when man is free...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tissa Six days shall work be done And the seventh day a day of rest holy to the lord Whosoever shall work on the sabbath day Shall surely die. (Shemot 31:15) Six days shall work be done – And one passage says 'Seven days shall you work', meaning that when you do the will of the Omniscient, your work shall be done by others, your male servants and your female servants, but when you do...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tetzave – Shabbat Zachor A perpetual burnt offering for your generations at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the lord, Where i shall meet with you there to speak to you. And i shall meet there with the israelites and it shall be consecrated through my glory (Shemot 29:42-43) There – In the place where rests the testimony of His Torah, there will God meet with us, there he awaits us. If we look forward...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Truma And this is the donation that you shall take from them: Gold and silver and bronze, and indigo and purple and crimson, And linen and goat hair, and reddened ram skins And ocher-dyed skins and acacia wood. (Shemot 25:3-4) And acacia trees – Some of our ancients claimed that our father Jacob planted them and the Israel took them from Egypt on Moshe's command, and the proof is 'acacia wood, such as the indigo and...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Mishpatim And should men brawl and collide with a pregnant woman, And her fetus come out but there be no other mishap, He shall surely be punished according to What the woman's husband imposes upon him, As the judges determine (Shemot 21:22) Should men brawl – This refers to Hebrews who are brawling, hitting one the other, as in 'Why do you hit your fellow'. (Ibn Ezra, ibid. ibid) Should men brawl – With their...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Yitro The lord said to moshe, "go down, warn the people Not to break through to the lord to gaze, lest many of them perish". (Shemot 19:21) Warn the people not to break through – when I will speak with them, lest, having risen to the level face-to-face prophecy like you, they will think that they can ascend to be close to you. (Seforno ibid. ibid.) Moshe was charged: "You shall set bounds...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat And he took six hundred picked chariots And all the chariots of egypt (Shemot 14:7) Picked chariots – Important and chosen chariots. (Rashbam, ibid., ibid.) And all the chariots of Egypt – And from where were the beasts? Should you say they were of the Egyptians, it is written (Shemot 9), "and all the livestock of Egypt died". And should you say, they were of the Israelites, does it not say...