Shabbat Shalom: Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Moses said to the Lord, ‘May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the …
Shabbat Shalom: Chukat-Balak (Numbers 19:1-25:9) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “The entire House of Israel wept over Aaron” (Numbers 20:29) Why was Moses, the greatest prophet who ever lived and who sacrificed a princedom in Egypt to take the Hebrews out of Egypt, denied entry into the land of Israel? Was it because he …
Shabbat Shalom: Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Moses said to Korach: ‘Hear me, sons of Levi: Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart … Must you also seek the priesthood?’” (Numbers 16:8-10) Last week’s portion of Shelah, in which the desert Israelites …
This week’s “Shabbat Shalom” has been sponsored by Dr. Larry Bryskin in memory of Judy (Yehudit bas Levi) Steinbergwhose yahrzeit is on 28 Sivan Shabbat Shalom: Shelach Lecha (Numbers 13:1-15:41) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “We should go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30) The …
This week’s parsha commentary has been sponsoredby the Charif family of Sydney, Australia in memory of Bryna (Bertha) bat Nottel Noteh Charif whose yartzheit is on 21 Sivan Shabbat Shalom: Behaalotcha (Numbers 8:1-12:16) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the …
Shabbat Shalom: Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – This week’s reading of Naso describes the “Sota,” the woman who acts immodestly. At the very least, she sequesters herself alone with a man despite the fact that her husband warned her against seeing that person. She therefore undergoes the test of the …
Shabbat Shalom: Shavuot By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – The Scroll of Ruth contains one of the most idyllic stories in the Bible, a tale of “autumnal love” between a widow (Ruth) and a widower (Boaz), within the backdrop of diaspora inter-marriage, conversion to Judaism, and the agricultural life in ancient Israel. The Rabbinic Sages …
Shabbat Shalom: Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – ‘And God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they came out of the Land of Egypt’ (Numbers 1:1) Bamidbar, or “In the desert,” …
Shabbat Shalom: Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25:1-27:34) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “And you shall count for yourselves seven cycles of Sabbatical years, seven years, seven times… forty-nine years… you shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants; it shall be the Jubilee year for you.” (Leviticus 25:8-10) This …
Shabbat Shalom: Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “And I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel” (Lev. 22:32). The portion of Emor opens with a strange commandment to the kohanim-priests of Israel: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the priests children of Aaron, and …
Shabbat Shalom: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim (Leviticus 16:1-20:27) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “And you shall observe My decrees and My laws which a human being shall …
Shabbat Shalom: Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Speak to the children of Israel saying, when a woman conceives (tazria) …
