Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Kedoshim OUR CHALLENGE: RESPECTING NON-JEWS WHILE REMAINING DIFFERENT FROM THEM by Shira Leibowitz Schmidt When new styles of modern women's fashions reached the Jewish communities of Galicia in the early 19th century, the hassidic women began to be swept along with the prevailing trends. Rabbi Haim Halberstam (b.1793) was asked the following question ("she'elah"): Is it permissible for a Jewish woman to wear the kind of stylish headdress ("mitznefet") worn by the Gentile women?" The "mitznefet" was a kind of hair covering which, along with...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vayikra – Purim (link to original page) Parshat Vayikra- Zachor- Purim PURIM'S UNACCEPTABLE MASK By Mordekhai Beck The desire for revenge is compelling yet just as equally circular, endless and invariably self-defeating. In the Bible, its roots lead us back to Cain's slaughter of Abel. Although the rabbis offer at least three reasons for this first fratricide — economic competition, ideology and sexual jealousy(Bereshit Rabba 22) — in the final resort, nothing really justified it, the reasons coming as an afterthought because we — the readers — cannot accept that such...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Beshalach (link to original page) Parshat Beshalach Remarks in memory of Yohanan Lorwin, z"l, Inbal Perelson, z"l, and Elias Gerasi, z"l By Deborah Greniman One year ago, peace activist Yohanan Lorwin was swept away in a flash flood in the Judean Desert, together with two other peace activists with whom he had set out on a hike. Yohanan, American-born and religious, was a good friend of several Netivot Shalom members. Inbal Perlson, kibbutz-born and secular, was an expert on Arabic music; Elias Gerasi was a Palestinian peace activist. The following lines,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Bo (link to original page) Parshat Bo Guarding the Doors of Israel Dov Gotlieb The departure from Egypt was accompanied by revealed miracles, a concrete proof of the "hand of G-d" and of heavenly, direct involvement with what occurs here on earth. The miracles reached their climax with the plague of the death of the firstborn – the straw that broke Pharaoh's hardened heart. The surprising and strange element of this plague is the hasty preparations for it and their ending point of staining the beam above the door and the...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Miketz (link to original page) Parshat Miketz Your Other Brother, In another Year, Another Place Pinchas Leiser In memory of the souls of my dear parents Natan Ben Yisrael Ya'akov and Shoshanah Leiser Zal, who died on the eighth day of Hanukah 5734 Miriam Bat Pinchas and Chanah Leiser Zal, who died on the 21st of Tevet 5756. "'And he will send away your other brother, and Binyamin': It seems that according to the p'shat, Shimon was not wanted by his father because of what happened in Sh'chem. Therefore it is...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vayishlach (link to original page) Parshat Vayishlach "Jacob was very frightened and distressed" by Ephraim Chamiel "Jacob was very frightened and distressed." Genesis Rabbah (76, 2) says, "He was afraid that he would be killed and distressed that he might kill others" and in Brachot (4, 71) "He thought that some sin might cause ." All the classic commentators use these Midrashim to explain the question of why Jacob was afraid, for he had received an explicit promise from the Almighty: "I will protect you wherever...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Vayera Transforming the Burning Voice Shalom Bahbut The story of the binding of Isaac provides us with the opportunity to grapple with one of the central issues facing modern society within both the religious and society/political realms. G-d addresses Abraham in this event on several occasions. The first time, at the beginning of the test, it is written: "After these events, G-d tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham', and Abraham said, 'Here I am.' 'Take your son, the only one you love – Isaac –...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Lech Lecha (link to original page) Parshat Lech Lecha A House Or A Name? Yonathan Ben-Dov Parshat Lech-Lecha presents before us Avram, who is Avraham. Indeed, we know Avram from the end of the previous portion, in which it is told of his wandering with Terah to Haran and of the death of Terah. But there is a big change in the continuity of the story of the book of B'reshit, spreading from the creation to the death of Joseph, because of the famous calling of Avram in the beginning of...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Nitzavim (link to original page) Parshat Nitzavim REVEALED AND CONCEALED Tsipi Laser-Holendar In one of the weekend newspapers of the past few weeks, an interview was published with Meir Amit who was the head of the Mosad (Israel Intelligence). At the end of the interview, in reaction to a journalist's question about the big secret that stays with him is still in the realm of a secret, Meir Amit said that he could not reveal the secret, because the meaning of the work of intelligence and the Mosad is in not...