Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Behar – Behukotay YOU SHALL OBSERVE MY LAWS AND FAITHFULLY KEEP MY RULES, THAT YOU MAY LIVE UPON THE LAND IN SECURITY; THE LAND SHALL YIELD ITS FRUITS AND YOU SHALL EAT YOUR FILL, AND YOU SHALL LIVE UPON IT IN SECURITY. (Vayikra 25:18-19) You may live upon the land in security – this refers to external political security. You shall live upon it in security – this refers to secure internal physical prosperity....
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Emor ON SIX DAYS WORK MAY BE DONE, BUT ON THE SEVENTH DAY THERE SHALL BE A SABBATH OF COMPLETE REST, A SACRED OCCASION. YOU SHALL DO NO WORK; IT SHALL BE A SABBATH OF THE LORD THROUGHOUT YOUR SETTLEMENTS. (Vayikra 23:3) Thus Israel too is called holy: Israel is holy unto the Lord (Jeremiah 2:3); and the Sabbath is also called holy: and you shall keep the Sabbath for it is holy unto...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Achary Mot – Kedoshim AND AARON SHALL PLACE LOTS UPON THE TWO GOATS, ONE MARKED FOR THE LORD AND THE OTHER MARKED FOR AZAZEL. AARON SHALL BRING FORWARD THE GOAT DESIGNATED BY LOT FOR THE LORD, WHICH HE IS TO OFFER AS A SIN OFFERING; WHILE THE GOAT DESIGNATED BY LOT FOR AZAZEL SHALL BE LEFT STANDING BEFORE THE LORD, TO MAKE EXPIATION WITH IT AND TO SEND IT OFF TO THE WILDERNESS FOR AZAZEL....
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tazriya-Metzora – Yom Ha'Atzma'ut This issue is dedicated to Major Yehoraz Kasher z"l Upon his fortieth birthday 1 Iyar 5726 – 27 Tishrei 5752 They shall go to the Land of Israel with the permission and help of the kings of the nations, as it is written: And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations (Isaiah 66:20) And that kingdom shall endure and never end. (R. Ezra ben Shelomo, Commentary on...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shmini SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SAYING: THESE ARE THE BEASTS THAT YOU SHALL EAT OF ALL THE ANIMALS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. (Vayikra 11:2) This is the law of the Torah: The Lord"s utterances are pure utterances (Psalms 12) Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: We find that the Holy One blessed be He "bent" two or three words in the Torah in order to avoid saying an impure thing: From...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Pesach THEY BROUGHT MATZAH AND HAZERET AND HAROSET AND TWO COOKED DISHES BEFORE HIM, EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO COMMANDMENT REGARDING HAROSET. R. ELIEZER SAID IN THE NAME OF R. ZADOK: IT IS A COMMANDMENT. (Mishnah Pesahim 10:3) Even though there is no commandment regarding haroset – and if there is no commandment, why is it brought? Rabbi Ami said: Because of worms in the vegetables… R. Eliezer said in the name of R. Zadok:...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav A PERPETUAL FIRE SHALL BE KEPT BURNING ON THE ALTAR, NOT TO GO OUT. (Vayikra 6:6) Why was the fire on the altar rather than elsewhere? Scripture said: Make for me an altar of earth (Shemot 20). Why of earth? Because man was created from earth and he was called Adam because he was taken from the adama . We make fire offerings and sacrifices on the altar – which is made of...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayikra IF HIS OFFERING TO THE LORD IS A BURNT OFFERING OF BIRDS, HE SHALL CHOOSE HIS OFFERING FROM TURTLEDOVES OR PIGEONS. (Vayikra 1:14) From turtledoves or pigeons Rabbi Abahu said: A person should always belong to those who are chased rather than to those who give chase, for the turtledove and pigeon are the most hunted of birds, and Scripture allows them on the altar. (Bava Kama 93a) From...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayechi THEN JOSEPH ORDERED THE PHYSICIANS IN HIS SERVICE TO EMBALM HIS FATHER, AND THE PHYSICIANS EMBALMED ISRAEL. (Bereishit 50:2) "Literal" Truth and the Truth of "Drash" Rav Nahman and Rabbi Yitzhak sat to eat. R. Nahman said to R. Yitzhak: "Sir, relate some words of Torah." …He told him, "This is what Rabbi Yohanan said: ‘Our father Jacob did not die.'" He said to him: "Could it be that they eulogized him, embalmed...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tissa WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW THAT MOSES WAS SO LONG IN COMING DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN, THE PEOPLE GATHERED AGAINST AARON AND SAID TO HIM, "COME, MAKE US A GOD WHO SHALL GO BEFORE US, FOR THAT MAN MOSES, WHO BROUGHT US FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT – WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HIM." (Shemot 32:1) When the people saw that Moses was so long – bo shesh sha'ot...