Danny Ginsbourg

'Remember us for life'

Our prayer to G-d during the Ten Days of Repentance is analyzed here in tribute to the victims of the Manchester terror attack.

Parashat Ki Tavo:

Blessing and curses

‘Do not think that these oaths are imposed on you alone- as if, but for this, you would not serve Hashem.'

Parashat Ki Teitze:

Dishonest weights are an abomination in G-d's eyes

The wisest of men King Solomon - exclaimed (Mishlei 11:1): "Deceitful weights are an abomination of the Lord, but a perfect weight is His Will."

Parashat Shoftim: The King of Israel

'He shall write..two copies of this Torah...'

The two Sifrei Torah represent the two ways of serving Hashem.

Parashat Re'eh:

A blessing and a curse

An enlightening look at commentators through the centuries on the question of the wording of the verses on the blessings and curses regarding Torah observance.

'Hashem will bless you and multiply you'

Great good awaits those who toil in the ocean of the oral Torah - as well as those who go in the way of עקב: fulfilling all the mitzvot.

Parshat Ve'etchanan:

'You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness"

Begun? Why does Moshe Rabbeinu use that verb after all the miracles of the Exodus and the sojourn in the desert?

Parashat Devarim:

"Come and possess the land"

Instead of trusting G-d, they sent the spies and the rest is history.

Parshiyot Matot-Maasei:

'The descendants of Reuven and Gad had an abundance of livestock'

‘Our Sages comment, that because Reuben and Gad were so attached to their wealth, till they were prepared to settle outside the land, they were the exiled from it, before the other tribes.'

Parshat Pinchas:

A covenant of peace

Why Hashem caused Moshe to forget the halakha when confronted by Zimri, and for it to be recalled by Pinchas.

Parashat Balak:

'A nation that dwells alone'

Our Sages took care to maintain this separation, enacting decrees so that we do not mingle with the nations, such as forbidding their wine, lest we thereby come close to their daughters, and the like.

Parashat Chukat:

"Ascend o well - call out to it"

‘This is truly ‘a gift’ - as our parsha promises - to become like a well of flowing water - of Torah.’

Parashat Korach:

The Levite who wanted to be High Priest

Did the intelligent Korach not feel the contradiction in his words?

Parashat Shlach:

Juxtaposition - and not by chance!

Answering an age-old question: Why does the story of the spies follow the story of Miriam's punishment for slander?

The complainers

‘This was the severity of their transgression, that: it was not meat that they desired, but that they desired desire.

Parashat Naso:

The sanctity of Aaron

The Kohen loves the people and they, in turn, love him.

Parashat Bamidbar:

Why was the tribe of Levi so much smaller than all the others?

Torah commentaries address the reason for the small number of levites when compared to every other tribe.

Parashat Behar-Bechukotai:

Shmita as a continuation of the revelation at Sinai

A person who is not subjugated to Torah - but to his possessions and his wealth - can not observe the mitzvah of shemita, whilst he still feels that he is the master of his fields.

Parashat Emor:

Why is Shabbat listed among the holidays?

Torah commentaries weigh in on the philosophic and practical issue of the difference between Shabbat and the other festivals and why Shabbat is mentioned with them despite that.

A survey of commentaries:

'Do not do as Egypt did, nor Canaan'

Commentaries weigh in on what exactly this prohibition means.

Parashat Tazria-Metzora

Conundrum: The difference in purification time between male and female births

‘Why are the periods of impurity - and then purity - of the mother who gives birth to a girl, double the periods where she gives birth to a male?’

Parashat Shmini:

Moses said to Aaron: Approach the altar and perform your service

Why did Aaron have to be convinced to approach the altar?

Passover:

Two faces of "the day after"

Though we had no merits - ‘no פתח no opening’ - Hashem still redeemed us.

Parashat Vayikra:

Hashem called to Moshe saying...

Not everyone merits to attain the upper part of the Torah, the concealed Torah which is in the hands of Hashem - however, every Jew is obliged to engage in the other two ‘lower’ parts of the Torah - the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, which are in alluded to as 'saying’ and ‘speaking’.

Pekudei:

Moshe could not enter the tent of meeting - why?

Commentators weigh in on why the greatest of Prophets could not enter the Tabernacle after it was put up - see the end of the Book of Exodus.

Vayakhel:

The men came with the women

‘The men needed to donate their ornaments to atone for their souls; but the women who did not want to give their ornaments for the calf did not require atonement. ‘Why, then, should the women give their ornaments?

Just one half-shekel, no more and no less?

’The wealthy shall not increase and the indigent shall not decrease’ - why?

Parashat Tetsave:

The priestly robe atones for lashon hara'a

The instrument of speech is a priceless gift to our people to serve Hashem, more so than any of our other organs. The robe was designed to remind us of that.

Terumah:

'They shall make a sanctuary for Me..for the Torah in the Ark

A collection of commentaries on our Sages' question: ’’THEY shall make an Ark’’- in plural, unlike the other utensils, which they are also commanded to make, but where the command is in the singular: ‘YOU shall make..’ - why?

'Distance yourself from a false word"

From our childhood, we indulge in a world of imagining, until that which we imagine becomes our reality....

Yitro:

'Thou shalt not covet'

Ibn Ezra comments: Many have wondered about this commandment: how can one not covet in your heart, a nice thing, which is goodly in his eyes? Read his famous answer and other commentaries' explanations of it below.

When Pharaoh sent them out

Who freed the slaves - Hashem or Pharaoh?

Parashat Bo:

'In your blood you shall live, in your blood you shall live'

Various commentators weigh in on a question on the Torah reading. Did Bnei israel in Egypt not have any Mitzvot, so that Hashem felt compelled to give them these two new Mitzvot - pesach and milah - in the merit of which they were redeemed from Egypt?

Parashat Vaera:

"The staff of Aaron swallowed their staffs"

The Egyptians acted as a snake, in their cruelty adding affliction and suffering, way beyond what had been decree.

'These are the names' - a haunting title for this week's parsha

Names truly reflect the forces with which the creation, so named, was created.

Vayechi:

The blessed partnership of Yissachar and Zevulun

Those engaged in commerce, must sustain those engaged in Torah, and, further, they themselves are thereby deemed to be engaged in Torah toil!

Vayigash:

'I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?'

Why did Joseph ask a question to which he had already been give the answer?

Pharaoh: There is no one as wise and discerning as you, Joseph

Who asked Yosef to offer his advice, in addition to proffering the solution to the dream, with which he was charged?

Yosef's two dreams

Selected commentaries explain why Joseph's brothers were angered by his dreams.

Vayishlach:

Do you have plenty?

The wicked, in their own eyes, consider themselves to be tzaddikim, and that all that is given to them is their due.