Now if his hand cannot attain two turteldoves or two young pigeons, (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav – Pesach The torah speaks about four children One who is wise and one who is wicked; one who is simple And one who does not even know how to question (Yerushalmi, Pesahim 70b)   What does the wise child ask? What is the meaning of the testimonies, statutes, and judgments which the Eternal our God has commanded us? You shall explain to him: 'The Lord delivered us from Egypt,...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened thee. (Song of Songs 8,5)   R. Awira expounded: As the reward for the righteous women who lived in that generation were the Israelites delivered from Egypt. When they went to draw water, the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged that small fishes should enter their pitchers, which they drew up half full of water and half...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav – Zachor Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die not: for so I am commanded.   Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days – He warned them not to leave the door of the tabernacle by day or night, that is to say, until...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav – Pesach And he slaughtered , and Moses took some of its blood,  and placed it on the cartilage of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. (Vayikra 8:23)   The shalshelet marks a break between words and it always appears towards the beginning of a verse, over a verb conjugated in the singular. It comes to tell us that the subject of the...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav You shall not eat leaven with it; for seven days you shall eat with it matzot, the bread of affliction , for in haste you went out of the land of Egypt, so that you shall remember the day when you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. (Devarim 16:3)   The bread of affliction: bread that brings to mind the affliction they suffered in Egypt.  (Rashi ad...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav AND HE BROUGHT NEAR THE SECOND RAM, THE RAM OF THE INVESTITURES, AND AARON AND HIS SONS LEANED THEIR HANDS UPON THE RAM'S HEAD. AND HE SLAUGHTERED … AND MOSES TOOK SOME OF ITS BLOOD, AND PLACED IT ON AARON'S RIGHT EARLOBE, ON THE THUMB OF HIS RIGHT HAND AND ON THE BIG TOE OF HIS RIGHT FOOT.   If we have succeeded in explaining the three earlier uses of the shalshelet in...

(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS, AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THAT VERY DAY, THAT ALL THE LEGIONS OF THE LORD WENT OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. IT IS A NIGHT OF ANTICIPATION FOR THE LORD, TO TAKE THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; THIS NIGHT IS THE LORD'S, GUARDING ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS. (Shemot 12:41-42)   It is a night of anticipation – On it they were...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav A PERPETUAL FIRE SHALL BE KEPT BURNING ON THE ALTAR, NOT TO GO OUT. (Vayikra 6:6)   Why was the fire on the altar rather than elsewhere? Scripture said: Make for me an altar of earth (Shemot 20). Why of earth? Because man was created from earth and he was called Adam because he was taken from the adama . We make fire offerings and sacrifices on the altar – which is made of...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Tzav – Purim WHEN THE FIFTEENTH FALLS ON SHABBAT, THE MEGGILAH IS NOT READ ON SHABBAT, RATHER, IT IS READ EARLY ON THE DAY BEFORE SHABBAT, AND MONEY FOR THE POOR IS COLLECTED AND DISTRIBUTED THAT SAME DAY. TWO TORAH SCROLLS ARE TAKEN OUT ON THAT SHABBAT. THEN CAME AMALEK IS READ FROM THE SECOND; AL HANISSIM IS RECITED. THE PURIM FEAST IS NOT HELD UNTIL SUNDAY.   Like clouds, wind – but no rain...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Tzav I WILL SEND THE PROPHET ELIJAH TO YOU BEFORE THE COMING OF THE AWESOME, FEARFUL DAY OF THE LORD. HE SHALL RECONCILE FATHERS WITH SONS AND SONS WITH THEIR FATHERS, SO THAT, WHEN I COME, I DO NOT STRIKE THE WHOLE LAND WITH UTTER DESTRUCTION. (Malachi 3:23-4 from the haftarah for Shabbat HaGadol)     Rabbi Joshua said: I received a tradition from Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai who heard it from his teacher, who...