Tetzaveh – Making Livings and Making Light
Most agricultural oils are produced from seeds. The olive is one of the few fruits that produce oil. And olive oil plays a major role in the Mishkan and Beis HaMikdash. It is a...
Author: Avi Shafran
Terumah – What’s in The Name
Although there are several explanations in various midrashim for the word li in the phrase viyikchu li (“And have them take for Me”), Rashi, famously, simply comments “lishmi” – “for My sake” [literally, “for...
Parshas Mishpatim – The Angels Were Right, But Wrong
When we think of the word na’aseh, “we will do,” it is usually in the context of the phrase na’aseh vinish’ma, “we will do and we will hear” – Klal Yisrael’s statement of commitment...
Yisro – The Barrel’s Secret
Last year, I noted what Rav Avdimi bar Chama bar Chasa says about the Sinaitic revelation, that “Hashem overturned the mountain above the Jews like a barrel [gigis] and said to them: ‘If you...
Parshas Bishalach – The Measure of a Mohn
One of the strangest pesukim in the Torah is the one that ends the account of the mohn. After stating that “the Bnei Yisrael ate the mohn for forty years, until they came to...
Parshas Bo – Choosing a Channel
Since free will is the fundamental element of the human being that places him in a realm apart from the rest of Creation, the question of how Hashem could “harden the heart” of...
Vo’eira – Nobody Will Get Stoned
Slight divergences between the Torah’s words or phrases and Targum Onkelos’ rendering of them are often laden with meaning. One such seemingly minor change is in the Targum’s translation of Moshe’s words: “Were...
Shemos – Best-Laid Plans
The account of Moshe’s being placed in the river, discovered by bas Par’oh and raised in royal surroundings would seem to be of no import regarding the main narrative of Shemos – Moshe’s...
Vayechi – In Praise of Diaspora
Eretz Yisrael is the desideratum to which the Torah’s entire narrative leads. From Hashem’s promising the Land to Avraham’s descendants, to our ancestors’ exodus from Mitzrayim and years of wandering in the desert, the...
Vayigash — No Fair
Imagine the emotions of Yosef’s brothers at the start of the parsha. They have been grievously treated by Tzafnas Pa’ene’ach, the Egyptian king’s viceroy, who accused them falsely of being spies, then insisted that...
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