Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Balak HE TOOK UP HIS THEME AND SAID: FROM ARAM HAS BALAK BROUGHT ME, MOAB'S KINGFROM THE HILLS OF THE EAST: COME, CURSE ME JACOB, COME, TELL ISRAEL'S DOOM! HOW CAN I DAMN WHOM GOD HAS NOT DAMNED, HOW DOOM WHEN THE LORD HAS NOT DOOMED? AS I SEE THEM FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOPS, GAZE ON THEM FROM THE HEIGHTS, THERE IS A PEOPLE THAT DWELLS APART, NOT RECKONED AMONG THE NATIONS. (Bamidbar 23: 7-9)...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Chukkat THIS IS THE RITUAL LAW THAT THE LORD HAS COMMANDED: INSTRUCT THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE TO BRING YOU A RED COW WITHOUT BLEMISH, IN WHICH THERE IS NO DEFECT AND ON WHICH NO YOKE HAS BEEN LAID. (Bamidbar 19:2) …Cow -this is Israel, Israel has balked like a stubborn cow (Hoshea 4:16). Red, this is Israel, Their limbs were ruddier than coral (Eikhah 4:7). Without blemish, this is...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Korach AND MOSES SAID, "BY THIS YOU SHALL KNOW THAT IT WAS THE LORD WHO SENT ME TO DO AL THESE THINGS; THAT THE ARE NOT OF MY OWN DEVISING: IF THESE MEN DIE AS ALL MEN DO, IF THEIR LOT BE THE COMMON FATE OF ALL MANKIND, IT WAS NOT THE LORD WHO SENT ME. BUT IF THE LORD BRINGS ABOUT SOMETHING UNHEARD-OF, SO THAT THE GROUND OPENSUP ITS MOUTH AND SWALLOWS THEM UP...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Shelach THE WHOLE COMMUNITY BROKE OUT INTO LOUD CRIES, AND THE PEOPLE WEPT THAT NIGHT. ALL THE ISRAELITES RAILED AGAINST MOSES AND AARON. "IF ONLY WE HAD DIED IN THE LAND OF EGYPT,"THE WHOLE COMMUNITY SHOUTED AT THEM, "OR IF ONLY WE MIGHT DIE IN THS WILDERNESS! WHY IS THE LORD TAKING US TO THAT LAND TO FALL BY THE SWORD? OUR WIVES AND CHILDREN WILL BE CARRIED OFF! IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR US...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Behaalotcha ON THE DAY THAT THE TABERNACLE WAS SET UP, THE CLOUD COVERED THE TABERNACLE, THE TENT OF THE PACT; AND IN THE EVENING IT RESTED OVER THE TABERNACLE IN THE LIKENESS OF FIRE UNTIL MORNING. IT WAS ALWAYS SO: THE CLOUD COVERED IT, APPEARING AS FIRE BY NIGHT. AND WHENEVER THE CLOUD LIFTED FROM THE TENT, THE ISRAELITES WOULD SET OUT ACCORDINGLY; AND AT THE SPOT WHERE THE CLOUD SETTLED, THERE THE ISRAELITES WOULD...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Nasso THIS WAS THE DEDICATION OFERING FOR THE ALTAR FROM THE CHEIFTAINS OF ISRAEL UPON THE DAY OF ITS BEING ANOINTED: SILVER BOWLS, TWELVE; SILVER BASINS, TWELVE; GOLD LADLES, TWELVE. (Bemidbar 7: 84) TOTAL OF HERD ANIMALS FOR SACRIFICES OF WELL-BEING, TWENTY-FOUR BULLS; OF RAMS, SIXTY; OF HE-GOATS, SIXTY; OF YEARLING RAMS, SIXTY. THAT WAS THE DEDICATION OFFERING FOR THE ALTAR AFTER ITS ANOINTING. (Bemidbar 7:88) Unity is Possible When the Good...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Emor COMMAND THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE TO BRING YOU CLEAR OIL OF BEATEN OLIVES FOR LIGHTING, FOR KINDLING LAMPS REGULARLY. (Vayikra 24: 2) To bring to you clear oil of beaten olives – This section is repeated, because the menorah is next to the table in order to illuminate the table bearing the lehem ha'panim . Here is explicitly stated that all of this is done for the sake of setting...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Behar – Behukotay IF YOU FOLLOW MY LAWS AND FAITHFULLY OBSERVE MY COMMANDMENTS… I WILL GRANT PEACE IN THE LAND, AND YOU SHALL LIE DOWN UNTROUBLED BY ANYONE; I WILL GIVE THE LAND RESPITE FROM VICIOUS BEASTS, AND NO SWORD SHALL CROSS YOUR LAND… I WILL ESTABLISH MY ABODE IN YOUR MIDST, AND I WILL NOT SPURN YOU. AND I WILL WALK IN YOUR MIDST; I WILL BE YOUR GOD, AND YOU SHALL BE MY...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Achary Mot – Kedoshim WHEN YOU REAP THE HARVEST OF YOUR LAND, YOU SHALL NOT REAP ALL THE WAY TO THE EDGES OF YOUR FIELD OR GATHER THE GLEANINGS OF YOUR HARVEST. YOU SHALL NOT PICK YOUR VINEYARD BARE, OR GATHER THE FALLEN FRUIT OF YOUR VINEYARD; YOU SHALL LEAVE THEM FOR THE POOR AND THE STRANGER: I AM THE LORD. (Vayikra 19: 9-10) Anyone who leaves the gleanings, the forgotten sheaf and...