Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayigash JOSEPH COULD NO LONGER CONTROL HIMSELF BEFORE ALL HIS ATTENDANTS, AND HE CRIED OUT, "HAVE EVERYONE WITHDRAW FROM ME!" SO THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE ABOUT WHEN JOSEPH MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BROTHERS. (Bereishit 45:1-2) Joseph could no longer control himself – Loss of Control? Consideration for his Brothers and Father? Joseph could no longer control himself – he could no longer make the effort to remain unrecognized by them, as he...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Miketz – Chanuka ONCE PHARAOH WAS ANGRY WITH HIS SERVANTS, AND PLACED ME IN CUSTODY IN THE HOUSE OF THE CHIEF STEWARD, TOGETHER WITH THE CHIEF BAKER. WE HAD DREAMS THE SAME NIGHT, HE AND I, EACH OF US A DREAM WITH A MEANING OF ITS OWN. A HEBREW YOUTH WAS THERE WITH US, A SERVANT OF THE CHIEF STEWARD; AND WHEN WE TOLD HIM OUR DREAMS, HE INTERPRETED THEN FOR US, TELLING EACH OF...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayeshev WHEN JOSEPH CAME UP TO HIS BROTHERS, THEY STRIPPED JOSEPH OF HIS TUNIC, HIS ORNAMENTED TUNIC THAT HE WAS WEARING. (Bereishit 37:23) Come and see the work of God, who is held in awe by men for his acts (Psalms 66:5)… and regarding Joseph it says his brothers saw that he was loved by his father – by the purple swath from which was made the ornamented tunic . Four...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayishlah THE MESSENGERS RETURNED TO JACOB, SAYING, "WE CAME TO YOUR BROTHER ESAU; AND MOREOVER HE HIMSELF IS COMING TO MEET YOU, AND THERE ARE FOUR HUNDRED MEN WITH HIM." (Bereishit 32:7) It appears to me in this matter that Esau did not receive the messengers properly and paid them no heed. Perhaps they did not even come before him for he did not at all give permission for them to come before him...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH; YOU SHALL SPREAD OUT TO THE WEST AND TO THE EAST, TO THE NORTH AND TO THE SOUTH. ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BLESS THEMSELVES BY YOU AND YOUR DESCENDANTS. (Bereishit 28:14) You shall spread out to the west… All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you. But the word paretz, wherever it is used, signifies...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot WHEN ISAAC WAS OLD AND HIS EYES WERE TOO DIM TO SEE, HE CALLED HIS OLDER SON ESAU AND SAID TO HIM, "MY SON." HE ANSWERED, "HERE I AM." (Bereishit 27:1) Isaac's Dim Eyes: Fate, Punishment, or Blessing? When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see , another view: meire'ot – the power of that act of seeing:...
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 LET THE MAIDEN TO WHOM I SAY, "PLEASE, LOWER YOUR JAR THAT I MAY DRINK," AND WHO REPLIES, "DRINK, AND I WILL ALSO WATER YOUR CAMELS" – LET HER BE THE ONE WHOM YOU HAVE DECREED FOR OUR SERVANT ISAAC. THEREBY SHALL I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE DEALT GRACIOUSLY WITH MY MASTER. (Bereishit 24:14) The Needs of Man and his Animals, and the Quality of Mercy Our Sages derived from the passage...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayera HIS WIFE LOOKED BEHIND HIM AND SHE THEREUPON TURNED INTO A PILLAR OF SALT. (Bereishit 19:26) His wife looked behind him – behind Lot. And she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt – By salt she had sinned and by salt she was punished. He said to her : "Give a little salt to these strangers" and she answered him, "Do you mean to introduce this bad custom, also, into our...
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 SARAI, ABRAM' WIFE, HAD BORNE HIM NO CHILDREN. SHE HAD AN EGYPTIAN FEMALE SLAVE WHOSE NAME WAS HAGAR. AND SARAI SAID TO ABRAM, "LOOK, THE LORD HAS KEPT ME FROM BEARING. CONSORT WITH MY MAID; PERHAPS I SHALL BE BUILT UP THROUGH HER." AND ABRAM HEEDED SARAI'S REQUEST. (Bereishit 16:1-2) Perhaps I shall be built up through her – Thanks to the merit I gain for inviting a rival into my...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Noah LET US GO DOWN AND DISRUPT THEIR LANGUAGE SO THAT EACH WILL NOT UNDERSTAND HIS FELLOW'S LANGUAGE. (Bereishit 11:7) Dor HaPalagah – Ruthless Unity and Reforming Dissolution Else we be scattered all over the world – One must understand why they worried that some of their number might move to another land; clearly, this is connected to the same words which they shared. Since people differ in their...