Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech And I will hide My face on that day, because of all the evil they have committed, when they turned to other deities. (Devarim 31:18)   The meaning of I will hide is that if they call Me I will not answer; it is metaphorically like someone who does not see and does not know what to do. And the doubling of the verb (haster astir) is a linguistic convention known to grammarians. (Ibn Ezra ad...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech You are all standing this day before the Lord your God, the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers, every man of Israel, your young children, your women, and your convert who is within your camp both your woodcutters and your water drawers. (Devarim 29)   Once the disciples spent the Sabbath in Yavneh. R. Yehoshua, however, was not there on that Sabbath. When the disciples came to visit him, he said to them:...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech AND LATER GENERATIONS WILL ASK – THE CHILDREN WHO WILL SUCCEED YOU, AND FOREIGNERS WHO COME FROM DISTANT LANDS AND SEE THE PLAGUES AND DISEASES THAT THE LORDS HAS INFLICTED ON THAT LAND. ALL ITS SOIL DEVASTATED BY SULFUR AND SALT, BEYOND SOWING AND PRODUCING, NO GRASS GROWING IN IT, JUST LIKE THE UPHEAVAL OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH, ADMAH AND ZEVOIIM, WHICH THE LORD OVERTHREW IN HIS FIERCE ANGER. (Devarim 29:18-25)   Had not...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech AND A LATER GENERATION, YOUR DESCENDANTS, WHO WILL RISE AFTER YOU, ALONG WITH THE FOREIGNER WHO COMES FROM A DISTANT LAND, WILL SAY, UPON SEEING THE PLAGUES OF THAT LAND AND THE DISEASES WITH WHICH THE LORD STRUCK IT: SULFUR AND SALT HAVE BURNED UP ITS ENTIRE LAND! IT CANNOT BE SOWN, NOR CAN IT GROW , NOT ANY GRASS WILL SPROUT UPON IT. IT IS LIKE THE OVERTURNING OF SODOM, GEMORRAH, ADMAH...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech WHEN SUCH A ONE HEARS THE WORDS OF THESE SANCTIONS, HE MAY FANCY HIMSELF IMMUNE, THINKING, "I SHALL BE SAFE THOUGH I FOLLOW MY OWN WILLFUL HEART"- TO THE UTTER RUIN OF MOIST AND DRY ALIKE. THE LORD WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM; RATHER THE LORD'S ANGER AND PASSION RAGE AGAINST THAT MAN, TILL EVERY SANCTION RECORDED IN THIS BOOK COMES DOWN UPON HIM, AND THE LORD BLOTS OUT HIS NAME FROM UNDER HEAVEN. THE...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech FOR THE COMMANDMENT THAT I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY: IT IS NOT TOO EXTRAORDINARY FOR YOU, IT IS NOT TOO FAR AWAY! IT IS NOT IN THE HEAVENS, FOR YOU TO SAY: WHO WILL GO UP FOR US TO THE HEAVENS AND GET IT FOR US AND HAVE US HEAR IT, THAT WE MAY OBSERVE IT… RATHER, NEAR TO YOU IS THE WORD, EXCEEDINGLY, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART, TO OBSERVE IT!...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech AND MOSHE INSTRUCTED THEM AS FOLLOWS: EVERY SEVENTH YEAR, THE YEAR SET FOR REMISSION, ON THE FEAST OF BOOTHS, WHEN ALL ISRAEL COMES TO APPEAR BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD IN THE PLACE THAT HE WILL CHOOSE, YOU SHALL READ THIS TEACHING ALOUD IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL ISRAEL. GATHER THE PEOPLE – MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE SOJOURNER THAT IS IN YOUR GATES, IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY HEARKEN, IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY LEARN AND HAVE AWE FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD, TO...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Nitzavim (link to original page) Parshat Nitzavim REVEALED AND CONCEALED Tsipi Laser-Holendar In one of the weekend newspapers of the past few weeks, an interview was published with Meir Amit who was the head of the Mosad (Israel Intelligence). At the end of the interview, in reaction to a journalist's question about the big secret that stays with him is still in the realm of a secret, Meir Amit said that he could not reveal the secret, because the meaning of the work of intelligence and the Mosad is in not...