Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nitzavim THEN, THE LORD, YOUR GOD, WILL BRING BACK YOUR EXILES, AND HE WILL HAVE MERCY UPON YOU. HE WILL ONCE AGAIN GATHER YOU FROM ALL THE NATIONS, WHERE THE LORD, YOUR GOD, HAD DISPERSED YOU. (Devarim 30:3) The Lord, your God, will bring back your exiles Hebrew. veshav, literally, The Lord, your God, will (Himself) return (with) your exiles. [That is, the verb shav is in the simple conjugation. Now, since we understand the verse...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tavo THE LORD WILL LEAD YOU AND YOUR KING WHOM YOU WILL HAVE ESTABLISHED OVER YOU, TO A NATION UNKNOWN TO YOU OR YOUR FATHERS; AND THERE, YOU WILL SERVE OTHER DEITIES OF WOOD AND STONE. (Devarim 28:36) And there you will worship gods, man's handiwork This is the greatest of punishments; none of the torments that befall a man are harsh compared to this evil and bitter disease in which the soul sinks...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ki Tetseh IF A BIRD'S NEST CHANCES BEFORE YOU ON THE ROAD, ON ANY TREE, OR ON THE GROUND, AND FLEDGLINGS OR EGGS, IF THE MOTHER IS SITTING UPON THE FLEDGLINGS OR UPON THE EGGS, YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE MOTHER UPON THE YOUNG.YOU SHALL SEND AWAY THE MOTHER, AND YOU MAY TAKE THE YOUNG FOR YOURSELF, IN ORDER THAT IT SHOULD BE GOOD FOR YOU, AND YOU SHOULD LENGTHEN YOUR DAYS. (Devarim 22:6-7)...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim THERE SHALL NOT BE FOUND AMONG YOU ANYONE WHO PASSES HIS SON OR DAUGHTER THROUGH FIRE, A SOOTHSAYER, A DIVINER OF TIMES, ONE WHO INTERPRETS OMENS, OR A SORCERER, OR A CHARMER, A PITHOM SORCERER, A YIDO'A SORCERER, OR A NECROMANCER. (Devarim 18:10-11) All these things are lies and falsehood, and with them the ancient idolaters misled the nations of the lands into following them, and it is not proper that Israel, who are...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Reeh HOWEVER, THERE WILL BE NO NEEDY AMONG YOU, FOR THE LORD WILL SURELY BLESS YOU IN THE LAND THE LORD, YOUR GOD, IS GIVING YOU FOR AN INHERITANCE TO POSSESS. (Devarim 15:4) FOR THERE WILL NEVER CEASE TO BE NEEDY WITHIN THE LAND. THEREFORE, I COMMAND YOU, SAYING, YOU SHALL SURELY OPEN YOUR HAND TO YOUR BROTHER, TO YOUR POOR ONE, AND TO YOUR NEEDY ONE IN YOUR LAND. (Devarim 15:11) However, there will be...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Ekev AND THE LORD WILL DRIVE OUT ALL THESE NATIONS FROM BEFORE YOU, AND YOU WILL POSSESS NATIONS GREATER AND STRONGER THAN YOU. EVERY PLACE UPON WHICH THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET WILL TREAD, WILL BE YOURS: FROM THE DESERT AND THE LEBANON, FROM THE RIVER, THE EUPHRATES RIVER, AND UNTIL THE WESTERN SEA, WILL BE YOUR BOUNDARY. NO MAN WILL STAND UP BEFORE YOU; THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL CAST THE FEAR OF YOU AND THE...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaetchanan AND DO NOT STEAL Do not murder… and do not commit adultery…and do not steal… and do not lust… We have already remarked that here, when Moses repeats the Decalogue, all the prohibitions of sinning against the life, the marriage, the property, the happiness, and the honor of one's fellow-men, as well as the mere lusting after what is forbidden, are all taken collectively together as one thought by the copulative letter vav. And we...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Devarim THEN WE TURNED AND WENT UP THE WAY OF BASHAN, AND OG, THE KING OF BASHAN, CAME FORTH TOWARD US, HE AND ALL HIS PEOPLE, TO WAR AT EDREI AND THE LORD SAID TO ME, "DO NOT FEAR HIM, FOR I HAVE GIVEN HIM, ALL HIS PEOPLE, AND HIS LAND INTO YOUR HAND, AND YOU SHALL DO TO HIM AS YOU DID TO SIHON, KING OF THE AMORITES, WHO DWELT IN HESHBON." (Devarim 3:1-2) and...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Mas'ey THE LORD SPOKE TO MOSES IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB, BY THE JORDAN AT JERICHO SAYING: COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT THEY SHALL GIVE TO THE LEVITES FROM THEIR HEREDITARY POSSESSION CITIES IN WHICH TO DWELL, AND YOU SHALL GIVE THE LEVITES OPEN SPACES AROUND THE CITIES. THESE CITIES SHALL BE THEIRS FOR DWELLING, AND THEIR OPEN SPACES SHALL BE FOR THEIR CATTLE, THEIR PROPERTY, AND FOR ALL THEIR NEEDS. THE AREAS OF OPEN SPACE...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Matot THE DESCENDANTS OF GAD AND THE DESCENDANTS OF REUBEN CAME, AND THEY SPOKE TO MOSES AND TO ELEAZAR THE PRIEST AND TO THE PRINCES OF THE COMMUNITY, SAYING, "…THE LAND THAT THE LORD STRUCK DOWN BEFORE THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL IS A LAND FOR LIVESTOCK, AND YOUR SERVANTS HAVE LIVESTOCK." THEY SAID, "IF IT PLEASES YOU, LET THIS LAND BE GIVEN TO YOUR SERVANTS AS A HERITAGE; DO NOT TAKE US ACROSS THE JORDAN."…THEY APPROACHED HIM...