Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Nasso – Shavuot ON THE THIRD DAY, AS MORNING DAWNED, THERE WAS THUNDER, AND LIGHTENING, AND A DENSE CLOUD UPON THE MOUNTAIN,  AND A VERY LOUD BLAST OF THE HORN;  AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WERE IN THE CAMP TREMBLED. MOSHE LED THE PEOPLE OUT OF THE CAMP TOWARD GOD, AND THEY TOOK THEIR PLACES AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN (Bemidbar 19:16-17)     Acceptance of the Torah by Coercion v.s. Acceptance By Free...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Nasso – Shavuot THE LORD SPOKE TO MOSES, SAYING: SPEAK TO THE ISRAELITES AND SAY TO THEM: IF ANYONE, MAN OR WOMAN, EXPLICITY UTTERS A NAZARITE'S VOW TO SET HIMSELF APART FOR THE LORD… THROUGHOUT THE TERM OF HIS VOW AS A NAZIRITE, NO RAZOR SHALL TOUCH HIS HEAD; IT SHALL REMAIN CONSECRATED UNTIL THE COMPLETION OF HIS TERM AS NAZIRITE OF THE LORD (Bemidbar 6)   Growth of Hair As An Expression of Mourning Or A Partition Between the Nazarite and Society "Throughout the term...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Nasso And make expiation on his behalf for the guilt that he incurred through the corpse. (Bemidbar 6:11) "For the guilt that he incurred through the corpse: He was not careful regarding impurity of the corpse. Rabbi Elazar HaKapar said that he denied himself wine. (Rashi, ibid.) The Difference Between Asceticism and Holiness Should one say that since envy and passion and honor etc., are a bad path and they remove man from the world, I will renounce them completely, distancing myself from them as much...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Nasso – Shavouth May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord shine his face upon you and favor you. May the Lord lift up his face toward you and grant you Shalom! (Numbers 6:24-26) May the Lord bless you – your possessions and protect you – your possessions. Rav Natan said: May the Lord bless you – your possessions, and protect you – your person. Rabbi Yitchak said: . . . and protect you – from the evil inclination. May the Lord shine...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Nasso – Shavuot THE OTHERNESS OF SHAVUOT By Mordechai Beck Though Judaism is deeply rooted in the day-to-day traffic of the mundane world, it also contains a profound and radical sense of otherness — the idea that the core of reality is something human beings can only rarely glimpse, let alone touch. Shavuot, The Feast of Weeks, illustrates how the two dimensions are essentially one. Called in the Torah the Feast of the First Fruits (chag habikkurim) and Pentecost (lit. the fiftieth day) in Greek, Shavuot...