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D'VAR TORAH: A LOOK AT THE TORAH PORTION OF THE WEEK

Each week we will share different commentaries on the Torah portion and/or the holiday.

September 4, 2021

NITZAVIM, DEUTERONOMY 29:9-30:2

August 28, 2021

KI TAVO, DEUTERONOMY 26:1-29:8

August 21, 2021

KI TEITZEI, DEUTERONOMY 21:10-25:19

August 14, 2021

SHOFTIM, DEUTERONOMY 16:18-21:9

August 7, 2021

RE'EH, DEUTERONOMY 11:26-16:17

July 31, 2021

EIKEV, DEUTERONOMY 7:12-11:25

July 24, 2021

VAETCHANAN, DEUTERONOMY 3:23-7:11

July 17, 2021

DEVARIM, DEUTERONOMY 1:1-3:22

 

July 10, 2021

MATOT-MASEI, NUMBERS 30:2-36:13

July 3, 2021

PINCHAS, NUMBERS 25:10-30.1

June 26, 2021

BALAK, NUMBERS 22:2-25.9

June 19, 2021

CHUKAT, NUMBERS 19:1-22:1

 

June 12, 2021

KORACH, NUMBERS 16:1-18:32

June 5, 2021

SH'LACH, NUMBERS 13:1-15:41

May 29, 2021 

BEHA'ALOTCHA, NUMBERS 8:1-12:16

May 22, 2021 

NASSO, NUMBERS 4:21-7:89

May 15, 2021

BAMIDBAR, NUMBERS 1:1-4:20

May 8, 2021

BEHAR, LEVITICUS 25:1-26:2

May 1, 2021

EMOR, LEVITICUS 21:1-24:23

April 24, 2021

ACHAREI MOT-KEDOSHIM, LEVITICUS 16:1-20:27

April 17, 2021

TAZRIA-METZORA, LEVITICUS 12:1-15:33

April 10, 2021

SHEMINI, LEVITICUS 9:1-11:47

March 27, 2021 

TZAV, LEVITICUS 6:1-8:36

March 20, 2021 

VAYIKRA, LEVITICUS 1:1-5:26

March 13, 2021 

VAYAKHEL-PEKUDEI, EXODUS 35:1-40:38

March 6, 2021 

KI TISA, EXODUS 30:11-34:35

February 27, 2021 

TETZAVEH, EXODUS 27:20-30:10

February 20, 2021 

TERUMAH, EXODUS 25:1-27:19

February 13, 2021 

MISHPATIM, EXODUS 21:1-24:18

February 6, 2021 

YITRO, EXODUS 18:1-20:26

January 30, 2021

BESHALACH, EXODUS 13:17-17:16

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January 23, 2021

BO, EXODUS 10:1-13:16

January 16, 2021

VA-EIRA, EXODUS 6:2-9:35

I (God) Appeared [to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]

January 9, 2021

SHMOT, EXODUS 1:1-6:1

January 2, 2021

VAYECHI, GENESIS 47:28-50:26

December 26, 2020

VAYIGASH, GENESIS 44:18-47:27

December 19, 2020

MIKETZ, GENESIS 41:1-44:17

In parshat Miketz we learn of how Joesph arrived in Egypt and his plan to bring Benjamin there as well.

December 12, 2020​

VAYEISHEV: GENESIS 37:1-40:23

Jacob now settled in the land of his father's sojourning, in the land of Canaan. - Genesis 37:1

December 5, 2020

VAYISHLACH, GENESIS 32:4-36:43

Jacob now sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, in the countryside of Edom. - Genesis 32:4

November 28, 2020

VAYETZEI, GENESIS 28:10-32:3

November 21, 2020

TOLDOT, GENESIS 25:19-28:9

November 14, 2020

CHAYEI SARAH, GENESIS 23:1-25:18

November 7, 2020

VAYERA, GENESIS 18:1-22:24

October 31, 2020

LECH LECHA, GENESIS 12:1-17:27

October 24, 2020

NOACH, GENESIS 6:9-11:32

October 17, 2020

BERESHIT, GENESIS 1:1-6:8

Bereshit is perhaps the most read part of the Torah as it starts our collective story.

Summary from My Jewish Learning: In this Torah portion, God creates the world. After Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they are banished from the Garden of Eden. Later Cain kills Abel. God then considers destroying all of Creation.

Commentary for Sukkot

From My Jewish Learning: This portion covers all the “sacred occasions” that are mentioned in the Torah.  It is only at the very end that Sukkot –and its symbols of the sukkah and four species – is mentioned.  In the Reform tradition only the part that specifically focuses on Sukkot (Leviticus 23:33-44) is read on the holiday

22:26.    The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

22:27.     When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to the LORD.

 

22:28.     However, no animal from the herd or from the flock shall be slaughtered on the same day with its young.

22:29.     When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, sacrifice it so that it may be acceptable in your favor.

 

22:30.     lt shall be eaten on the same day; you shall not leave any of it until morning: I am the LORD.

 

22:31.      You shall faithfully observe My commandments: I am the LORD.

22:32.     You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people -I the LORD who sanctify you,

 

22:33.      I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I the LORD.

 

23:1.        The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

 

23:2.        Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: These are My fixed times, the fixed times of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions.

 

23:3.        On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a sacred occasion. You shall do no work; it shall be a sabbath of the LORD throughout your settlements.

 

23:4.        These are the set times of the LORD, the sacred occasions, which you shall celebrate each at its appointed time:

 

23:5.        In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, there shall be a passover offering to the LORD,

 

23:6.        and on the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days.

23:7.        The first day shall be for you a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations.

 

23:8.        Seven days you shall make offerings by fire to the LORD. The seventh day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations.

 

23:9.        The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

 

23:10.      Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land which I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest.

 

23:11.       He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for acceptance in your behalf; the priest shall wave it on the day after the sabbath.

 

23:12.      On the day that you wave the sheaf, you shall offer as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb of the first year without blemish.

 

23:13.      The meal offering with it shall be two-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD; and the libation with it shall be of wine, a quarter of a hin. 

 

23:14.      Until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God, you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears; it is a law for all time throughout the ages in all your settlements.

 

23:15.      And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of wave offering – the day after the sabbath-you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete:

 

23:16.      you must count until the day after the seventh week-fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the LORD.

 

23:17.      You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as a wave offering; each shall be made of two- tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening, as first fruits to the LORD.

 

23:18.      With the bread you shall present, as burnt offerings to the LORD, seven yearling lambs without blemish, one bull of the herd, and two rams, with their meal offerings and libations, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.

 

23:19.      You shall also offer one he-goat as a sin offering and two yearling lambs as a sacrifice of well-being.

 

23:20.     The priest shall wave these-the two lambs together with the bread of first fruits as a wave offering before the LORD; they shall be holy to the LORD, for the priest.

 

23:21.      On that same day you shall hold a celebration; it shall be a sacred occasion for you; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a law for all time in all your settlements, throughout the ages.

 

23:22.     And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the LORD am your God.

 

23:23.     The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

 

23:24.     Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.

23:25.      You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD.

23:26.      The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

 

23:27.      Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD;

 

23:28.      you shall do no work throughout that day. For it is a Day of Atonement, on which expiation is made on your behalf before the LORD your God.

 

23:29.      lndeed, any person who does not practice self-denial throughout that day shall be cut off from his kin;

 

23:30.      and whoever does any work throughout that day, I will cause that person to perish from among his people.

 

23:31.       Do no work whatever; it is a law for all time, throughout the ages in all your settlements.

 

23:32.      It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe this your sabbath.

 

23:33.      The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

 

23:34.      Say to the Israelite people: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the LORD, [to last] seven days.

23:35.      The first day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations;

 

23:36.      seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring an offering by fire to the LoRD; it is a solemn gathering: you shall not work at your occupations.

 

23:37.      Those are the set times of the LORD which you shall celebrate as sacred occasions, bringing offerings by fire to the LORD – burnt offerings, meal offerings, sacrifices, and libations, on each day what is proper to it-

 

23:38.      apart from the sabbaths of the LORD, and apart from your gifts and from all your votive offerings and from all your freewill offerings that you give to the LORD.

 

23:39.      Mark, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the yield of your land, you shall observe the festival of the LORD [to last] seven days: a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day.

 

23:40.      On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

 

23:41.       You shall observe it as a festival of the LORD for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages.

 

23:42.       You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths,

 

23:43.       in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the LORD your God.

23:44.       So Moses declared to the Israelites the set times of the LORD.

This English translation is reprinted with permission from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures published by the Jewish Publication Society.

Saturday, September 26, 2020
HA'AZINU, DEUTERONOMY 32:1-32:52

This is the 53rd weekly Torah portion ( פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) and the 10th in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 32:1–52. Here, Moses shares a song to the Israelites that emphasizes their covenant with God.

Torah Commentary for Rosh HaShanah 2020

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