Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Ki Tissa (link to original page) Parshat Ki Tissa Leader and Nation by Moshe David Her The Torah portion Ki Tisa deals with, among other things, the episode of the Golden Calf. In this episode, various contradictory viewpoints are expressed regarding what are appropriate characteristics of a leader, and also regarding the thorny question of the connection between a leader and the masses. We already know from the beginning of the book of Exodus that Moses was not a man of words but rather heavy of mouth and tongue (Ex. 4:10)...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Tetzave (link to original page) Parshat Tetzave What Sin did Saul Commit? (Religious Commands opposing Moral Obligations or opposing Appeasing G-d through Sacrifices) Hanna Kasher The reservation expressed in Ecclesiastes "Do not be overly righteous" (Ecclesiastes 9:16) deviates from the philosophy regarding the trait of righteousness found throughout the Bible. This attribute, often used to describe many of G-d qualities (see, for example, Deuteronomy 32:4, Isaiah 45:21, and Psalms 11:7), usually depicts ideal conditions. However, some commentators relate to the reservation expressed in the phrase "Do not be overly righteous" by...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Mishpatim (link to original page) Parshat Mishpatim The Rights of the Other Efraim Hamiel Why did the Torah choose to start the first Jewish legal codex given to the people of Israel after the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, concentrated in the portion of Mishpatim, with the laws about the Hebrew slave? This question has exercised the minds of Bible commentators down the generations, as these laws do not seem of central importance in the laws of Israel. Nachmanides decided that this commandment is a reminder of the exodus...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Yitro (link to original page) Parshat Yitro Yitro heard and came Aharon Shlomoff In beloved memory of Haya Ronit Mendel Bat Ziva Esther and Aharon Shlomoff 24 Shevat 5748 May her soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life. Of the 54 Torah portions, only five are named after individuals: Noah, Yitro, Korah, Balak, and Pinhas. Why did these five individuals deserve to have Torah portions named after them? Even our three forefathers didn't achieve this honor. Nor did Moses, our greatest prophet, the receiver of the Torah and...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Beshalach (link to original page) Parshat Beshalach "And G-d did not lead them through the Way of the Philistines": The Goal and the Paths. Ilan Michel At last, it happened. After repeated requests, threatened with and then subjected to plagues, with divine intervention, the Egyptian tyrant finally gives in and accedes to the repeated demand of Moses, the leader of Israel: "Let my people go." A new era in the history of Israel commences, the transition from slavery to freedom. Therefore many commentators tried to understand the essence of the first...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Bo (link to original page) Parshat Bo 'And they should put it on the doorposts and on the lintel': on the inside. But perhaps it really means on the outside? This is what the verse means by 'and the blood should be as a sign for you' – a sign for you, and not for others. (Mechilta Bo Masehet Depascha Parasha 6) The blood on the lintel: On the inside? On the outside? What for? Many have said that putting the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts was to...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vaera (link to original page) Parshat Vaera "On the borders (lit.wings) of their garments" – in allusion to God having delivered them from Egypt, as it states. (Ex XIX,4) "And I bore you on eagles' sings". The Tzizyot are to be placed on a garment having four corners but not on one that haws three or one that has five corners thereby alluding to the four different terms used by God in describing the deliverence from Egypt, for it states *Ex. VI 6-7) "and I will bring forth"," and I shall...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Shemot (link to original page) Parshat Shemot "All Those Who Seek Your Life Have Died" by Yaakov Bing At the burning bush, G-d appointed Moshe to carry out a great mission: to approach Pharaoh and take the Children of Israel out of Egypt. G-d saw the distress of His people in Egypt and heard their cry. Moshe tries to refuse G-d's command and claims that the mission is too great for him ("Who am I?"). The Children of Israel won't believe him, he isn't a man of "words", and even refuses...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vayechi (link to original page) Parshat Vayechi Simeon and Levi: Similar but still Different. By Yaakov Deutsch If we follow the annals of Simeon and his tribe in the Bible, we cannot help but notice their bitter fate. When Joseph suspects the brothers of spying and wishes to imprison one of them until they bring their younger brother, he takes Simeon (Genesis 42:24). One of the princes of the tribe of Simeon, Zimri the son of Salu, is he who sinned with the Midianite princess in front of Moses and the...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vayigash (link to original page) Parshat Vayigash Joseph heals the breach in his father's house by Uriel Simon The gates of Torah interpretation have not been locked and never will be locked. Every generation has its interpreters, and the contribution each interpreter makes to the understanding of the Torah lies, among other things, in the new difficulties he finds in the texts. On the face of it, it is odd that questions which so much taxed and perturbed later commentators were not raised by their predecessors at all. But when we...