Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Beshalach – Tu BiShevat Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them. They were very frightened, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And behold! the Egyptians were advancing after them – Nosim is not written here, but rather nosei'a . This tells us that they all formed squadrons marching as one man; from here...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Bo This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year. (Shemot 12:2) This month shall be to you the head of the months – By way of example: A son was born to a king, and the king made a celebration. The son was taken into captivity for many years. Eventually he was redeemed, and the king made for him a...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera Take your staff and stretch forth your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their bodies of water, and they will become blood, and there will be blood throughout the entire land of Egypt, even in wood and in stone. (Shemot 7:19) Say to Aaron: Since the Nile protected Moses when he was cast into it, it therefore was not smitten by him,...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shemot So now, go! I will be with your mouth, and I will instruct you what you shall speak. (Shemot 4:12) The midrash states (Yalkut 183): If it says I will be with your mouth, why does it also say, and I will instruct; and if it says and I will instruct, why does it say I will be with your mouth? Rather, I will be with your mouth refers to the ability to speak, while...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayechi Naphtali is a swift gazelle; who utters beautiful words. (Bereishit 49:21) Naphtali is a swift gazelle – The plain meaning is that he was blessed with swiftness, that the sons of Naphtali will run as swiftly as gazelles and to be the first to announce good tidings and make them known, like a gazelle who delivers a letter fastened between her horns. And according to the midrash (Bereishit...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayigash And they told him all of Joseph's words that he had said to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of their father Jacob was revived. (Bereishit 45:27) all of Joseph’s words: He (Joseph) gave them a sign, viz., in what topic he was engaged when he (Joseph) separated from him (Jacob). the section dealing with the heifer ...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Miketz He searched; he started with the eldest and finished with the youngest, and the goblet was found in Benjamin's sack. (Bereishit 44:12) he started with the eldest. So that they would not realize he knew that the goblet was by Benjamin and did it in order to estrange himself from them. and the goblet was found in Benjamin's sack. They humiliated him and called him "thief son of a thief," in accordance with Scripture, and...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayeshev These lamps are holy and we are not permitted to make use of them but rather only to see them And we are not permitted to make use of them, but rather only to see them, etc. And it says that the commandment is to see the Hanukkah lamp. This means that the Hanukkah lamps give light for each Israelite soul so that it will be able to see itself in the manner of self-seeing...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayishlah I am unworthy of all the kindnesses and from all the truth that You have rendered Your servant, for with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. (Bereishit 32:11) for with my staff From here we learn that a person should recall the bad days in tranquil times in order to take notice of his advantage and thank the Holy One, blessed be He for it. That is why...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob drew near and rolled the rock off the mouth of the well, and he watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. (Bereishit 29:10) Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother. The expression Laban, his mother's brother is repeated three times in this verse, because she told him...