Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-52) — G-d’s language of rebuke and blessings. The Shorashim Torah Study and Overview Guide The greater part of the Torah reading of Haazinu is a song, but it is a song of rebuke. Why would Moshe use his last day to rebuke his people and do it as a song? The song [...] Read more »
We read in parshat Vayelech the following Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. (Deut 31: 18-19) G-d’s word, the Bible, has been described in many ways. [...] Read more »
Nitzavim-Vayelech (Deut. 29:9–31:30) — The Torah portion of teshuva, returning to one’s core. The portion gives directions and tools for both the private and the national spiritual return. The Shorashim Torah Study and Overview Guide The Parshah of Nitzavim, which comes before Rosh Hashana, prepares the people for individual and national repentance. The code word [...] Read more »
The beginning of the Torah Portion of Ki Tavo begins with the Hebrew word VeHaya: And it will be,( Ve Haya) when you come into the land which the Lord, your God, gives you for an inheritance, and you possess it and settle in it,( Deuteronomy 26:1) . We are told by the Midrash Rabba [...] Read more »
Parshat Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8) — This portion focuses on the centrality of joy in our lives and in our walk with our Creator. The Shorashim Torah Study and Overview Guide Moshe tells the people that when you enter the land and begin to settle and cultivate it you must bring the first ripened fruits [...] Read more »
The people of Israel have entered into the month of Elul and are preparing themselves for the introspection and soul searching of the Tishrei festivals. Yet around this land, dark clouds seem to be gathering. There is talk of massive uprisings and rioting by the Palestinians. Syria is dissolving into its different constituents and may [...] Read more »
Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) — The battles around us are intimately connected to the battle within us. The Shorashim Torah Study and Overview Guide. This Torah Portion returns to enumerate an array of differing commandments. In fact, this Torah portion includes seventy-four of the Torah’s 613 commandments. Why would Moshe interrupt his narrative of the [...] Read more »
Moshe Kempinski The beginning verses of the Torah portion of Shoftim become the clarion call for true justice amidst the people of Israel.” You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show favoritism, and you shall not take a bribe, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts just words. “ Deuteronomy 16:19) [...] Read more »
Parshat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9) — The struggle between thejudgment of the heavenly court and the final judgments of G-d. The Shorashim Torah Study and Overview Guide Moshe teaches the people of Israel to appoint judges and law-enforcement officers in every city. “Justice, justice shall you pursue,”That is to say that the important characteristics of a [...] Read more »
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