Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Balak HOW FAIR ARE YOUR TENTS, O JACOB, YOUR DWELLINGS, O ISRAEL! (Bamidbar 24:5) Your dwellings – How fair are they even when they are in ruins because then they are a pledge for you, and the fact that they are in ruins is an atonement for your souls, as it is said, The Lord has brought His fury to an end (Eikha 4:11). And by what means has He brought it...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Chukkat YOU SHALL GIVE IT TO ELAZAR THE PRIEST. IT SHALL BE TAKEN OUTSIDE THE CAMP AND SLAUGHTERED IN HIS PRESENCE. (Bamidbar 19:3) He said, You shall give – rather than you shall give… He said you shall give – for now and for future generations. Elazar, who was to slaughter it, took it from the court of law in order that they assign it to him to prepare...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Korach THEY ASSEMBLED AGAINST MOSES AND AGAINST AARON AND SAID TO THEM: TOO MUCH IS YOURS! INDEED, THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY, ALL OF THEM, ARE HOLY, AND IN THEIR MIDST IS GOD! WHY, THEN, DO YOU EXALT YOURSELVES OVER THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD? (Bamidbar 16:3) All of them are holy– All of them heard words directly from the Omnipotent at Sinai. (Tanhuma, quoted by Rashi, Bamidbar 16:3) All of them are holy – And...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shelach THE LAND THAT WE TRAVERSED AND SCOUTED IS AN EXCEEDINGLY GOOD LAND. (Bamidbar 14:7) Onkelos, however, translates, "Is it rich or is it poor" – for there are countries whose inhabitants are wealthy because their produce is inexpensive, and they are successful in their dealings and in commerce with their neighbors; and there are countries which are dependent upon their neighbors, and their own inhabitants are incompetent – even though the land...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Behaalotcha NOW THIS IS HOW THE MENORAH WAS MADE: IT WAS HAMMERED WORK OF GOLD, HAMMERED FROM BASE TO PETAL. ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN THAT THE LORD HAD SHOWN MOSES, SO WAS THE MENORAH MADE. (Bamidbar 8:4) It was hammered When you mount the lamps – You find that Moses had more difficulty with the making of the Menorah than with any other of the Tabernacle's vessels, so much so that the Holy One...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nasso AND THE PRIEST SHALL TAKE SACRED WATER IN A CLAY VESSEL AND THE PRIEST SHALL TAKE SOME OF THE DUST FROM THE FLOOR OF THE TABERNACLE AND PLACE IT IN THE WATER. (Bamidbar 5:17) Sacred water – i.e., water that has become holy through being in the laver, because it was made of the mirrors of the women who assembled at the entrance of the appointed tent, and this woman deviated from their...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Behukotay AND 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. (Vayikra 26:6) Peace as Challenge and Blessing And no sword shall cross your land: You shall be unaccustomed to using the sword. (The NeTziV Mi'Vollozhin's Ha'Emek Davar) Social peace shall be added to political peace: the events of war...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Behar SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND SAY TO THEM: WHEN YOU ENTER THE LAND THAT I GIVE YOU, THE LAND SHALL OBSERVE A SABBATH OF THE LORD. (Vayikra 25:2) The earth is the Lord's and all that it contains A Sabbath of the Lord – For the Lord's sake, that you must not think like farmers who let the land lay fallow one year in seven to preserve it fruitfulness. Rather, do...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Emor YOU SHALL FAITHFULLY OBSERVE MY COMMANDMENTS: I AM THE LORD. YOU SHALL NOT PROFANE MY HOLY NAME, THAT I MAY BE SANCTIFIED IN THE MIDST OF THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE – I THE LORD WHO SANCTIFY YOU. (Vayikra 22:31-32) Profanation of God's Name and Sanctification of God's Name There are other things that are a profanation of the Name of God. When a man, great in the knowledge of the Torah and reputed for...