SHABBAT SHALOM (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim Should a slain person be found on the soil… Lying in the field, it not being known who struck him down. Your elders and your judges shall go out and measure To the towns that are around the slain person. (Devarim 21:1-2)   And measure – Even if it is clearly closer to a certain town, it is obligatory to engage in measuring, for all the unusual activity will cause people to come out of the measured towns [to see...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim When you come to the land that the lord your god Has given you… And you say: i will appoint over me a king, Like all the nations which surround me. You shall surely appoint over yourself a king Whom the lord your god shall choose (Devarim 17, 14-15)   And you will say I will appoint over myself a king. Said R' Nehorai: This passage speaks contemptuously of Israel, for it is written (I Samuel...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut it down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege. (Devarim 20, 19)   For a tree of the field is man's life – I have already explained...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim You shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess. Prepare the road for yourself and divide into three parts the boundary of your land, which the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, and it will be for every killer to flee there. (Devarim 19:2-3)   And direct roads were leading from one to the other, as it is said,...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim When you come to the land the Lord, your God, is giving you, and you possess it and live therein, and you say, "I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me,"  you shall set, yes, set a king over you, one whom the Lord, your God, chooses. (Devarim 17:14:15)     And you say… You shall set, yes, set a king over you – Commandment or Compliance with the Will of...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim THERE SHALL NOT BE FOUND AMONG YOU ANYONE WHO PASSES HIS SON OR DAUGHTER THROUGH FIRE, A SOOTHSAYER, A DIVINER OF TIMES, ONE WHO INTERPRETS OMENS, OR A SORCERER, OR A CHARMER, A PITHOM SORCERER, A YIDO'A SORCERER, OR A NECROMANCER. (Devarim 18:10-11)   All these things are lies and falsehood, and with them the ancient idolaters misled the nations of the lands into following them, and it is not proper that Israel, who are...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim WHEN YOU BESIEGE A CITY FOR MANY DAYS TO WAGE WAR AGAINST IT TO CAPTURE IT, YOU SHALL NOT DESTROY ITS TREES BY WIELDING AN AX AGAINST THEM, FOR YOU MAY EAT FROM IT, BUT YOU SHALL NOT CUT IT DOWN. IS THE TREE OF THE FIELD A MAN, TO GO INTO THE SIEGE BEFORE YOU? (Devarim 20:19)   For you may eat from it, but you shall not cut it down. Is the...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim FOR IT IS THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO MARCHES WITH YOU TO DO BATTLE FOR YOU AGAINST YOUR ENEMY, TO BRING YOU VICTORY. (Devarim 20:4)   Since the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you, let your camp be holy; let Him not find anything unseemly among you and turn away from you. (Devarim 23:15)   For it is the Lord Your God...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Shoftim IF SOMEONE SLAIN IS FOUND IN THE LAND THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ASSIGNING TO YOU TO POSSESS, LYING OUT IN THE OPEN, THE IDENTITY OF THE SLAYER NOT BEING KNOWN… (Devarim 21:1)   If someone slain is found: "But not in times when is commonplace" (Sifri). This commandment is observed in times when laws are enforced and murder and killing are rare, when a slain body on the ground is something...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Shoftim WHEN IN YOUR WAR AGAINST A CITY YOU HAVE TO BESIEGE IT A LONG TIME IN ORDER TO CAPTURE IT, YOU MUST NOT DESTROY ITS TREES, WIELDING THE AX AGAINST THEM. YOU MAY EAT OF THEM, BUT YOU MUST NOT CUT THEM DOWN. ARE TREES OF THE FIELD HUMAN TO WITHDRAW BEFORE YOU INTO THE BESIEGED CITY? (Devarim 20:19)     But you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human…...