Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vayigash YOSEF COULD NO LONGER RESTRAIN HIMSELF IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL WHO WERE STATIONED AROUND HIM, HE CALLED OUT: HAVE EVERYONE LEAVE ME! SO NO ONE STOOD IN ATTENDANCE UPON HIM WHEN YOSEF MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BROTHERS. HE PUT FORTH HIS VOICE IN WEEPING: THE EGYPTIANS HEARD, PHARAOH'S HOUSEHOLD HEARD. THEN YOSEF SAID TO HIS BROTHERS: I AM YOSEF. IS MY FATHER STILL ALIVE? BUT HIS BROTHERS WERE NOT ABLE TO ANSWER HIM, FOR THEY WERE CONFOUNDED IN HIS PRESENCE. YOSEF SAID TO...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Miketz HE FELL ASLEEP AND DREAMT A SECOND TIME; HERE, SEVEN EARS OF GRAIN WERE GOING UP ON A SINGLE STALK, FAT AND GOOD, AND HERE, SEVEN EARS, LEAN AND SCORCHED BY THE EAST WIND, WERE SPRINGING UP AFTER THEM. THEN THE LEAN EARS SWALLOWED UP THE SEVEN EARS FAT AND FULL. PHARAOH AWOKE, AND HERE: (IT WAS) A DREAM! (Bereishit 41:5-6) BETWEEN FAITH AS SATISFACTION OF NEEDS AND FAITH AS A MISSION Said Rabbi Yochanan: The wicked exist by their gods, "Pharaoh dreamt...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vayeshev THEY SAW HIM FROM AFAR, AND BEFORE HE HAD GOTTEN TO THEM, THEY PLOTTED CUNNINGLY AGAINST HIM TO CAUSE HIS DEATH. THEY SAID EACH MAN TO HIS BROTHER: HERE COMES THE MASTER DREAMER! SO NOW, COME, LET US KILL HIM AND THROW HIM INTO ONE OF THESE PITS AND SAY: AN ILL-TEMPERED BEAST HAS DEVOURED HIM! THEN WE WILL SEE WHAT BECOMES OF HIS DREAMS! WHEN RE'UVEN HEARD IT HE TRIED TO RESCUE HIM FROM THEIR HAND, HE SAID: LET US NOT TAKE HIS LIFE!...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vayishlah YAAKOV WAS LEFT ALONE. AND A MAN WRESTLED WITH HIM UNTIL THE BREAK OF DAWN. WHEN HE SAW THAT HE HAD NOT PREVAILED AGAINST HIM, HE WRENCHED YAAKOV'S HIP AT ITS SOCKET, SO THAT THE SOCKET OF HIS HIP WAS STRAINED AS HE WRESTLED WITH HIM. THEN HE SAID, "LET ME GO, FOR DAWN IS BREAKING." BUT HE ANSWERED, "I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME." "AND A MAN WRESTLED WITH HIM UNTIL THE BREAK OF DAWN." – THE TORAH'S...
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) ...