SHABBAT SHALOM (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Sukkot "You shall live in booths seven days; All the citizens of Israel shall live in booths" (Leviticus 23:42)   The citizens – that is citizens. Of Israel – including sojourners, (Rashi, ibid). This excludes women from time-bound mitzvot but does include sojourners and freed slaves. The literal translation, according to the Kabala, alludes to "One law shall you have for sojourners and citizens of the land." (Numbers 9:14) "All the dwellers in Canaan are aghast," (Numbers 13:5). So that it...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Sukkot He will shelter me in his sukkah on an evil day grant me the protection of his tent (psalm 27:5) If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of justice and of righteousness in the state, marvel not at the matter; for one higher than the high watcheth, and there are higher than they. (Ecclesiastes 5"7)   He will hide me in His pavilion , he will grant me the protection of his...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Sukkot And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period. (Vayikra 23:40)   My son, I already wrote to you several times about the preceding matter, that a person is affected by his habitual behavior, and his ideas and all his thoughts are...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Sukkot And you shall rejoice in your Festival – you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your gates. (Devarim 16:14)   Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon says: The Holy One, blessed be He, said – "If you have four householders, you have And you shall rejoice in your Festival – you, and your son, and your daughter, manservant,...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ha'azinu – Sukkot All seven days, one makes one's sukkah into regular and one's home into an occasional . If rains fall, at what point may one leave the sukkah? When the porridge becomes spoiled . spun a parable: To what may this be compared – to a servant who came to pour a cup for his master, and he poured a jug on his face. (Mishnah Sukkah 2:9)...