Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vayetze AFTER RACHEL HAD BORNE YOSEF, YAAKOV SAID TO LABAN, "GIVE ME LEAVE TO RETURN TO MY PLACE, TO MY LAND. GIVE ME MY WIVES AND MY CHILDREN, FOR WHOM I HAVE SERVED YOU, THAT I MAY GO; FOR WELL YOU KNOW WHAT SERVICES I HAVE RENDERED YOU. AND HE CONTINUED, "NAME THE WAGES DUE FROM AND I WILL PAY YOU…" HE SAID: "WHAT SHALL I PAY YOU?" AND YAAKOV SAID: "PAY ME NOTHING!… LET ME PASS THROUGH YOUR WHOLE FLOCK TODAY, REMOVING FROM THERE EVERY...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Toldot ISAAC WAS SEIZED WITH VERY VIOLENT TREMBLING, "WHO WAS IT THEN" HE DEMANDED, "THAT HUNTED GAME AND BROUGHT IT TO ME? MOREOVER I ATE OF IT BEFORE YOU CAME, AND I BLESSED HIM; NOW HE MUST REMAIN BLESSED!" WHEN ESAV HEARD HIS FATHER'S WORDS, HE BURST INTO WILD AND BITTER SOBBING AND HE SAID TO HIS FATHER: "BLESS ME TOO, FATHER…" AND ESAV SAID TO HIS FATHER: "HAVE YOU BUT ONE BLESSING, FATHER? BLESS ME TOO, FATHER!" AND ESAV WEPT ALOUD. AND HIS FATHER YITCHAK...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Chaye Sara YITZCHAK THEN BROUGHT HER INTO THE TENT OF HIS MOTHER SARAH, AND HE TOOK RIVKA AS HIS WIFE. YITZCHAK LOVED HER, AND THUS FOUND COMFORT AFTER HIS MOTHER'S DEATH. (Bereishit 24:67) SARAH'S BURIAL, YITCHAK AND RIVKA, AVRAHAM AND KETURA/HAGAR – CLOSING THE CIRCLE "Yitchak had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi" – For he had gone to bring Hagar to Avraham his father, so that he should wed her. (Rashi, Bereishit 24:62, as per Bereishit Rabba) "From the...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vayera THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM BY THE TEREBINTHS OF MAMRE; HE WAS SITTING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT AS THE DAY GREW HOT. LOOKING UP, HE SAW THREE MEN SANDING NEAR HIM. AS SOON AS HE SAW THEM, HE RAN FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT TO GREET THEM, AND HE BOWED TO THE GROUND. THE ESSENCE OF SIGHT HE SAW – Why "he saw" "he saw" twice? The first is to be understood according to its plain meaning. The second "saw" implies...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Lech-Lecha AND GOD SAID TO AVRAM: GO YOU FORTH FROM YOUR LAND AND FROM YOUR BIRTHPLACE AND FROM THE HOUSE OF YOUR FATHER TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU. "TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU" – FAITH, REVELATION AND RESPONSIBILITY "To the land which I will show you" – He did not designate a specific place. This is a trial within a trial; does a person go without knowing whither he is going? What did he do? Avram took...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Noah NOAH, WITH HIS SONS, HIS WIFE, AND HIS SONS' WIVES, WENT INTO THE ARK BECAUSE OF THE WATERS OF THE FLOOD. OF THE CLEAN ANIMALS, OF THE ANIMALS THAT ARE NOT CLEAN, OF THE BIRDS, AND OF EVERYTHING THAT CREEPS ON THE GROUND, TWO EACH, MALE AND FEMALE, CAME TO NOAH INTO THE ARK, AS GOD HAD COMMANDED NOAH. (Bereishit 7:7-9) THEY CAME TO NOAH INTO THE ARK, TWO EACH OF ALL FLESH IN WHICH THERE WAS BREATH OF LIFE. (Ibid. ibid. 15) ...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Bereishit "In Memory of Rosa Parks, who taught us the courage requisite for new beginnings" AND THE LORD SAID: LET THERE BE LIGHT – AND THERE WAS LIGHT "And the Lord saw that the light was good, and the Lord divided between the light and the dark" Bereishit – For The Sake of Reishit , For the Sake of Torah, For the Sake of Israel, For the Sake of Light, for the Sake of Peace Bereishit Barah – "In the beginning the Lord...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Simhat Tora "Rejoice and Be Happy on Simchat Torah" – On the Difference Between Joy (Sasson) and Happiness (Simcha) Simcha is present on the occasion of the beginning or the renewal of something which makes man happy; sasson is present when that something reaches positive completion, as per "Happy in their going out, and rejoicing upon arrival" – when they go out to shed light upon the earth, they are happy; when they reach the west, having completed their beneficial activity, they...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Sukkot MARK, ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH, WHEN YOU HAVE GATHERED IN THE YIELD OF YOUR LAND, YOU SHALL OBSERVE THE FESTIVAL OF THE LORD SEVEN DAYS: A COMPLETE REST ON THE FIRST DAY, AND A COMPLETE REST ON THE EIGHTH DAY. ON THE FIRST DAY YOU SHALL TAKE THE PRODUCT OF THE HADAR TREES, BRANCHES OF PALM TREES, BOUGHS OF LEAFY TREES, AND WILLOWS OF THE BROOK, AND YOU SHALL REJOICE BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD SEVEN DAYS. (Vayikra 23:39) On Rejoicing...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Ha'azinu SEE, THEN, THAT I, I AM HE; THERE IS NO GOD BESIDE ME. I DEAL DEATH AND GIVE LIFE; I WOUNDED AND I WILL HEAL; NONE CAN DELIVER FROM MY HAND. (Devarim 32;39) I Deal Death And Give Life – Only He Who Can Give Life Is Permitted To Kill Said The Holy One, Blessed Be He, to Moshe: "Moshe, son of whom are you?" He replied: "Son of Amram." "And Amram is the son of whom?" He replied: "Son of Kehat." Said...