(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Achary Mot – Kedoshim You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; You shall fear your god: i am the lord. (Vayikra 19:32)   even before an aged sinner; therefore the verse comes to teach zaken and zaken can refer only to one who has obtained knowledge – so explains Rashi. Torat Kohanim (Chap 7, 11) presents the text as...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Achary Mot – Pessah Rabbi Hiya taught: the Torah spoke of four son; a wise son, a wicked son, a stupid son, and a son who does not know how to ask. (Yerushalmi Pesahim 10,4)   My honored father of blessed memory said: that at first it was said, "Blessed be He who gave Torah to His people Israel, blessed be He," and afterward, "the Torah spoke of four sons," because by virtue of the Torah it...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (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 he goats: one lot "For the Lord," and the other lot, "For Azazel." (Vayikra 16:8)   …regarding this I think it more correct that the two goats alluded to the entire Israelite community, but in different senses. When they were good and upright, following their God and cleaving to Him, then they will be for the Lord. Their sacrificed portions and inner parts,...

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 – Pesach THE HE GOAT SHALL THUS CARRY UPON ITSELF ALL THEIR SINS TO A PRECIPITOUS LAND, AND HE SHALL SEND OFF THE HE GOAT INTO THE DESERT. (Vayikra 16:22)   The Scape Goat Since the scapegoat, was an atonement for all Israel, the High Priest made confession over it in the name of all Israel… The scapegoat atoned for all transgressions mentioned in the Torah, both light and grave, whether committed presumptuously...

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 THEN MOSES AND AARON CAME AND SAID TO PHARAOH: "THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL: SEND MY PEOPLE OUT SO THAT THEY CAN WORSHIP ME IN THE WILDERNESS.  (Shemot 5:1)   Starting with Words From the wilderness of Kedeimot – Although the Omnipresent had not commanded me to proclaim peace unto Sidon I learnt to do so from what happened in the wilderness of Sinai, i.e., from an incident that relates to...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Achary Mot AND FROM THE ISRAELITE COMMUNITY HE SHALL TAKE TWO HE-GOATS FOR A SIN OFFERING AND A RAM FOR A BURNT OFFERING.                                                                                                                                  (Vayikra 16:5)   The Azazel Goat As Symbolic Carrier of Sins It appears to me that the reason that all the chattat (sin) offerings, both individual and public, are goats, i.e., the goats of the festivals and the goats of New Moons, and the goats of Yom HaKippurim and the goats...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Acharey Mot – Kedoshim "YOU ARE NOT TO WITHHOLD (PROPERTY) FROM YOU NEIGHBOR, YOU ARE NOT TO COMMIT ROBBERY. YOU ARE NOT TO KEEP OVERNIGHT THE WAGES OF A HIRED-HAND WITH YOU UNTIL MORNING." (VAYIKRA 19:13) "You are not to keep overnight" – In Those Days – at this Time. The withholding of wages has a demoralizing effect upon both employer and employee. The employer loses his awareness of sin. Often we hear explanations and rationalizations of withholding of wages, as though the employer has the...