Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayelech – Shabbat Teshuva Open for us the gate of prayer, Even at the closing of the gate, Even now that the day has declined   Gates, Locked and Unlocked Rabbi Eliezer said: Since the destruction of the Temple, the gates of prayer are locked, for it is written, Also when I cry out, He shuts out my prayer (Lamentations 3:8). Yet though the gates of prayer are locked, the gates of tears are not, for it is written, Hear...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayelech Rabbi Eliezer said: Since the destruction of the Temple, the gates of prayer are locked, for it is written, Also when I cry out, He shuts out my prayer (Eikhah 3:8). Yet though the gates of prayer are locked, the gates of tears are not,  for it is written, Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry, hold not your peace at my tears (Tehillim 39:13)… Rav Hisada said: All gates...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Vayelech So Moshe wrote down this song on that day, and he taught it to the Children of Israel.     (Devarim 31:22)   “This song” – From “Haazinu hashamayim”  (32:1)  through “effecting atonement for the soil of his people.”  (Rashi on 32:22) This refers to the Torah, for we have already learned that the Torah is called “song”. (Haamek Davar, ibid.)   It is important to understand how it is that the Torah can be called “song” – after all, is it written in the style of...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Va'yelech (link to original page) Parshat Vayelech Shabbat Shuva – Yom Kippur 1998 Rabbi Levi said: Great is repentance which reaches the Throne of Glory, as it is written: "Return Israel to the Lord your God" (Babylonian Talmud Tractate Yoma, 86 a) The limits of Moshe's capacity: Various perspectives "I can no longer come and go": could it be that he is exhausted? It comes to teach us that "his eyes had not dimmed and his natural powers had not left him", but what is the meaning of "I can no...