Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Reeh THEY EVEN OFFER UP THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN FIRE TO THEIR GODS… (Devarim 12:31) BE CAREFUL TO OBSERVE ONLY THAT WHICH I ENJOIN UPON YOU: NEITHER ADD TO IT NOR TAKE AWAY FROM IT.  (Devarim 13:1)   "Neither add to it" – Five compartments in the tephillin, five species for the lulav, four blessings in the priestly benediction. (Rashi ibid., ibid.)   The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Wants Life, and Is Not Interested In Human Sacrifice "Neither add to it" – because you...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Reeh   These you may eat from all that is in the sea; every one that has fins and scales, you may eat.  (Devarim 14:9)   “These are the living creatures that you may eat” – This teaches us that Moshe would hold the creature for Israel to see, saying “This you may eat and this you may not eat. This you may eat from all that is in the water, and this you may not eat. These you are to detest from fowl . ....

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Reeh (link to original page) Parshat Reeh "And you shall be only joyful" (Deut.16:15) : The Danger of Thumb-twiddling. by Shira Leibowitz Schmidt In describing the fall harvest holiday of Sukkot (Deut.16:14-15) the Torah uses the word for joy (simha) twice:"You shall be joyful in your holiday…..and you shall be only joyful." (The popular holiday song merges these phrases, from two different verses, into one lyric: "v'samahta b'hagekha, v'hayita akh smeah"). Not only is the superfluity puzzling, but the meaning of being "only joyful" is obscure. Abraham Ibn Ezra posits that...