This week’s we have a double parasha.  Nitzavim, meaning “Standing,” covers Deuteronomy 29:10 – 30:20.  Vayelech, meaning, “And He Went,” covers Deuteronomy 31:1 – 31:30. In chapter 29, the people are gathered before the Lord to enter into covenant with Him.   In verse 15, we find that not only does this covenant involve those present […]

This week’s Torah portion is entitled Kee Taytzay, which means, “when you go out,” and covers Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19. This passage deals with issues related to morality, marriage, divorce, following through on vows, and other issues. Chapter 21 deals with a woman captured in battle.  If the soldier is pleased with this woman, she […]

Our parasha this morning is entitled Shoftim, which is translated “Judges.” This passage covers Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9. Our parasha opens in chapter 16:18 with a discussion of the role of judges and how they are to administer justice and this discussion is continued in the first half of chapter 17. Dispensing fair and impartial […]

Our parasha passage for today is entitled R’eh, meaning “See” and covers Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17.  The title “see” comes from the first verse of the parasha, where Moses reminds the people, saying, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse…” And this is the key theme of the parasha.  Blessings […]

The text of this parasha will be posted later.

This week our parasha is Va’etchanan, meaning “and I pleaded,” and covers Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11. This parasha contains many laws, the Shema, and the Ten Commandments. This morning I will focus on Moses’s plea and how it speaks to us today. In the previous parasha, Moses recapped the history of our people. At the end of […]

D’varim means “words” and is also the Hebrew name of the 5th and final book of the Torah. The title comes from the first verse in chapter 1: “These are the words…” Deuteronomy contains Moses’ written account (his words) of Israel’s journey through the wilderness after leaving Egypt. It also contains deeper explanations of the […]

The Torah readings for this week consist of two parasha. First, we have Mattot, meaning “tribes,” taken from Numbers 30:1–32:42. Secondly, we have Masei meaning “journeys,” which begins in Numbers 33:1 and continues through 36:13. Moses was instructed to speak to all the leaders of Israel and tell them the commands of Adonai concerning vows. If […]

The parasha for this Shabbat, entitled Pinchas, covers Numbers chapters 25-29, and is named after a man some might suggest took the law into his own hands. In the previous chapters, the King of Moab attempted to hire Balaam to curse Israel – something God was never going to allow, since He had already blessed […]

This week, we have a double parasha.  Chukat, which means “statute,” Numbers, 19:1 – 22:1, and Balak, Numbers 22:2 – 25:9, the Moabite king who wants to destroy Israel. I’m just going to focus on some major points from each parasha. Chapter 19 explains the sacrifice of the red heifer. The red heifer was designated […]