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...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Reeh (link to original page) Parshat Reeh "And you shall be only joyful" (Deut.16:15) : The Danger of Thumb-twiddling. by Shira Leibowitz Schmidt In describing the fall harvest holiday of Sukkot (Deut.16:14-15) the Torah uses the word for joy (simha) twice:"You shall be joyful in your holiday…..and you shall be only joyful." (The popular holiday song merges these phrases, from two different verses, into one lyric: "v'samahta b'hagekha, v'hayita akh smeah"). Not only is the superfluity puzzling, but the meaning of being "only joyful" is obscure. Abraham Ibn Ezra posits that...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Ekev (link to original page) Parshat Ekev To the Wilderness Parshat Ekev, (perek 8, pasuk 2) establishes the time the children of Israel spent in the wilderness as one of great spiritual significance. We are commanded by Moshe to "Remember the way which God has led us these forty years in the desert". The desert strips away everything inauthentic, tests us so that God–and we ourselves–"can know what is in your hearts." It is no coincidence that the Torah itself was given in the desert, as the Midrash Rabbah tells us....
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vaetchanan (link to original page) Parshat Vaetchanan "Destroyers" and Idol Makers", Even In The Observance Of Mitzvot"!? Mishel Ben Soussan In the commentary of "Mey Hashiloah", Rabbi Yosef Leiner from Izbitza (the eighteenth century), is used to shedding light on verses that are seemingly of secondary importance and reveals very deep levels in these verses. I want to suggest here a commentary that characterizes his original and exciting thinking. I based it here on the rest of the articles of the commentary of "Me Hashiloah", and of the "Beit Ya'akov" (his...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Mattot – Massai "Until the Death of the High Priest" Pinchas Laiser In memory of the pure soul of Joel Joseph Fine Who was taken in the midst of his life On the 26th of Tammuz 5758. One of the surprising laws that appear in Parshat Ma'asei relates to the punishment of an unintentional murderer, who is sentenced to dwelling in a city of refuge "until the death of the high priest." The Torah does not specify a specific time period for the punishment, but connects...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Shelach Factual reporting and making a value judgement One of our Spanish commentators, Isaac Arama, interprets the spies' behavior in his classic work Akedat Yizhak. The spies' crime, he avers, lay in the fact that instead of acting as neutral observers contenting themselves with the facts, they gave their opinion on this matter. Isaac Arama brings home his point by the following parable: It can be compared to a man who says to his agent, "Go to the warehouse and have a look at a tallit...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Hukat (link to original page) Parshat Hukat THE SIN OF MOSES … G-d rebuked both Moses and Aaron in the most severe manner ( in Deut. 32:51): "You were unfaithful to Me," "You did not uphold My sanctity" – and that was why G-d decreed that they would die outside Canaan. We ask, How did Moses break faith with G-d? What was his sin? How did he not uphold G-d's sanctity? These matters are not explained in the Torah. Those who studied and delved into the Torah raised many and varied...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Nasso – Shavuot THE OTHERNESS OF SHAVUOT By Mordechai Beck Though Judaism is deeply rooted in the day-to-day traffic of the mundane world, it also contains a profound and radical sense of otherness — the idea that the core of reality is something human beings can only rarely glimpse, let alone touch. Shavuot, The Feast of Weeks, illustrates how the two dimensions are essentially one. Called in the Torah the Feast of the First Fruits (chag habikkurim) and Pentecost (lit. the fiftieth day) in Greek, Shavuot...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Emor (link to original page) Parshat Emor Knesset Israel Cannot Be Divided. Mati Hershkovitz The Book of Leviticus is called the "Laws of the Priests" and the early Torah portions of Leviticus indeed deal with the service of the priests and the process of anointing and preparing them for their priestly duties. However, the latter Torah portions in Leviticus mainly relate to purification and sanctification of the people of Israel. Only in the Torah portion of Emor do we return to the subject of priestly purification and sanctification. The Torah portion...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Acharei Mot – Kedoshim (link to original page) Parshat Acharei Mot- Kedoshim "…and that they may offer their sacrifices no more to the goats (se'irim)…": This refers to the demons; they are called se'irim because one's body shudders (yista'er) when one sees them. (Note similarly that crazy people see demons in the form of goats.) The phrase "no more" teaches us that the Israelites made such sacrifices in Egypt. (Ibn Ezra to Lev. 17:7; hinted at in Ibn Ezra to Lev. 16:7). Atonement for Sins: Then and Now "Your lips are...