Parashat Metzora / פרשת מצרע

LET’S STUDY ONKELOS STUDY GUIDE METZORA (CHAPTER 14:1–15:33) SUMMARY OF THE TORAH PORTION The purification process of the metzora is outlined; the indigent metzora is allowed to bring fewer sacrifices; a house afflicted with tzara’at has a special purification procedure; the Torah addresses the impurity derived from female and male bodily discharges and under what…

Parshas Tazria-HaChodesh

Parshas Tazria Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Aliya: The laws of purity and impurity as they pertain to childbirth are…

Parshas Shemini

Parshas Shemini Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. 1st & 2nd Aliyot: The Parsha begins on Nissan 1, 2449. The seven-day inauguration of Aharon and…

Shabbat Parah / שבת פרה

Shabbat Parah (“Sabbath [of the] red heifer” שבת פרה) takes place on the Shabbat before Shabbat HaChodesh, in preparation for Passover. Numbers 19:1-22 describes the parah adumah (“red heifer”) in the Jewish temple as part of the manner in which the kohanim and the Jewish people purified themselves so that they would be ready (“pure”)…

Parashat Tetzaveh / פרשת תצוה

“The fourth row of stones [in the breastplate] was chrysolite, onyx, and jasper.” (28:20) QUESTION: The Jerusalem Talmud (Pei’ah 1:1) says we can learn a lesson i n kibud av — honoring one’s father — from a non-Jew by the name of Dama ben Netina. Once, the yashpeih (jasper) stone of the breastplate got lost,…

Parashat Tetzaveh / פרשת תצוה

UNIVERSAL TORAH: TETZAVEH By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum Torah Reading: TETZAVEH Exodus 27:20-30:10 Haftara: Ezekiel 43:10-27. LIFE IN THE HOUSE In last week’s parshah of TERUMAH, the Torah taught us the form and shape of the House of G-d with all its vessels. In this week’s parshah of TETZAVEH, we receive instructions about the daily activities…

Parashat Mishpatim / פרשת משפטים

Parshas Mishpatim Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. The following Aliya summary will list the numerous laws detailed in Parshas Mishpatim. A total of 53 Mitzvot…

Parashat Ki-Teseh

Parashat Ki-Teseh begins with the exceptional law of “Eshet Yefat Toar,” which deals with the case of a soldier who encounters an attractive foreign woman while fighting a war, and desires her. The Torah allows the soldier in such a case to marry the woman after fulfilling certain conditions. The commentators explain that the Torah…

Torah Reading: KI SEITZEI

Torah Reading: KI SEITZEI Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19.Haftara: Isaiah 54:1-10. THE HOME AND THE FAMILY The opening mitzvah of the parshah, that of the beautiful captive, takes us directly inside the home, which is where the captive is taken to “grow her hair and nails”. Life in the home and in the family is a central theme…

Parashat Shoftim / פרשת שופטים

Next read in the Diaspora on 22 August 2015. Parashat Shoftim is the 48th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading.  Shoftim 18 Judges and officers shalt thou appoint to thee in all thy cities which the Lord thy God will give thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people…

WHAT DOES G-D ASK OF YOU?

In parshas Eikev one of the main focuses of Moses’ reproof is the sin of the Golden Calf. This represents the exact opposite of the relationship with wealth and prosperity that G-d wants in the rectified Land of Israel. The sin of the Golden Calf represents the pursuit of material prosperity and pleasure for their…

Deuteronomy Chapter 1 דְּבָרִים

Deuteronomy Chapter 1 דְּבָרִים א  אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים, אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּעֵבֶר, הַיַּרְדֵּן:  בַּמִּדְבָּר בָּעֲרָבָה מוֹל סוּף בֵּין-פָּארָן וּבֵין-תֹּפֶל, וְלָבָן וַחֲצֵרֹת–וְדִי זָהָב. 1 These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan; in the wilderness, in the Arabah, over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. ב  אַחַד עָשָׂר יוֹם…