Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Mishpatim "If a fire shall go forth and find thorns, and a stack of grain or a standing crop or a field is consumed, the one who kindled the fire shall make restitution." (Shemot 22:5) If a fire shall go forth – by itself… and our sages of blessed memory interpreted this in Baba Kama (60b) in terms of the destruction of the Temple, as it is written (Yeshayahu 64:10): "Our holy...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Yitro You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servant, his maidservant, his ox, his ass, nor whatever he possesses. (Shemot 20:14) You Shall Not Covet. It is common knowledge that desire depends upon the heart, and the essence of the commandment is that man must relinquish all thought of possessing that which his friend possesses – property and movables – and turn his heart away from this...
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 When, in the evening, the Lord gives you meat to eat and bread to satiety in the morning, as the Lord hears your complaints that you complain against Him – for what are we? – not against us are your complaints, but against the Lord! (Shmot 16:8) Not against us are your complaints – You directed the complaint against us when you said that we brought you out . But it...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Bo No one saw his fellow and no one rose from where he was three days, but all the Israelites had light in their dwelling places. (Shemot 10:26) A man could not see his brother – Something new appeared before their eyes, a partition between the light and their eyes. Even people close to each other could not see one another. And so it is written in Midrash Rabba: "A darkness one can feel" – how...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Miketz – Chanuka And behold, out of the Nile came up seven cows, of handsome appearance and robust flesh, and they grazed in the reed grass. (Bereishit 41:2) A Bountiful Economy Makes Possible Social Justice, Equality, and Peace of handsome appearance: This was a symbol of the days of plenty, when creatures appear handsome to one another, for no one envies his fellow. (Rashi ad loc, Judaica Press translation) Out of the Nile: In good...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayeshev And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age; and he made him a fine woolen coat. (Bereishit 37:3) and he made him a k'tonet passim – It was an excellent garment, as in the verse ukhtonet tashbetz (Shemot 28:4), and his brothers were envious because of it. The Sages expounded upon this: "One should never favor one of his...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayishlah Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that Jacob's two sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, and they came upon the city with confidence, and they slew every male. And Hamor and his son Shechem they slew with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah out of Shechem's house and left. (Bereishit 34:25-26) Simeon and Levi are brothers; stolen instruments are their...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayetze And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it. (Bereishit 28:12) "The Omnipresent has many ladders" Ascending and descending upon it: R. Hiyya and R. Yanai . One said, "ascending and descending upon the ladder," and one said, "ascending and descending upon Jacob." Bar Kapra taught: No dream lacks an interpretation. And behold a ladder...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and they found there a well of living waters. And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds… so he named the well Esek (Bereishit 26:19-20) So he named the well Esek – He gave it a name so that when the day came when he would overpower them Gerar's shepherds would not be able to say, "The well is ours." And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled –...
Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Chaye Sara And he said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there place for us for lodging in your father's house?"(Bereishit 24:23) For lodging: lodging means one night’s lodging. – lin is a noun. But she replied, laloon, meaning many lodgings. (Rashi ad loc) And she said to him, "Both straw and fodder are plentiful with us; also a place to...