Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle)

 

 

Candle Lighting and Habdalah Times: https://www.chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.htm

 

Roll of Honor:

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His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David and beloved wife HH Giberet Batsheva bat Sarah

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His Excellency Adon Shlomoh ben Abraham

His Excellency Adon Ya’aqob ben David

 

For their regular and sacrificial giving, providing the best oil for the lamps, we pray that GOD’s richest blessings be upon their lives and those of their loved ones, together with all Yisrael and her Torah Scholars, amen ve amen!

 

Also, a great thank you and great blessings be upon all who send comments to the list about the contents and commentary of the weekly Torah Seder and allied topics.

 

 

Blessings Before Torah Study

 

Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us through Your commandments, and commanded us to actively study Torah. Amen!

 

Please Ha-Shem, our GOD, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and our offspring's offspring, and all the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your delight. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Amen!

 

Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations, and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!

 

Ha-Shem spoke to Moses, explaining a Commandment. "Speak to Aaron and his sons and teach them the following Commandment: This is how you should bless the Children of Israel. Say to the Children of Israel:

 

May Ha-Shem bless you and keep watch over you; - Amen!

May Ha-Shem make His Presence enlighten you, and may He be kind to you; - Amen!

May Ha-Shem bestow favor on you and grant you peace. – Amen!

 

This way, the priests will link My Name with the Israelites, and I will bless them."

 

These are the Laws for which the Torah did not mandate specific amounts: How much growing produce must be left in the corner of the field for the poor; how much of the first fruits must be offered at the Holy Temple; how much one must bring as an offering when one visits the Holy Temple three times a year; how much one must do when performing acts of kindness; and there is no maximum amount of Torah that a person must study.

 

These are the Laws whose benefits a person can often enjoy even in this world, even though the primary reward is in the Next World: They are: Honoring one's father and mother; doing acts of kindness; early attendance at the place of Torah study -- morning and night; showing hospitality to guests; visiting the sick; providing for the financial needs of a bride; escorting the dead; being very engrossed in prayer; bringing peace between two people, and between husband and wife; but the study of Torah is as great as all of them together. Amen!

 

 

A Prayer for Israel

 

Our Father in Heaven, Rock, and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness.

 

Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.” Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.

Shabbat: ”Vayaseetah Paroket” ”ועשית פרכת”

“And you shall make a veil”

 

 

Contents of the Torah Seder

 

·        The Veil – Exodus 26:31-33

·        Arrangement of the Tabernacle – Exodus 26:34-37

·        The Altar of Burnt Offerings – Exodus 27:1-8

·        The Court of the Tabernacle – Exodus 27:9-19

 

Rashi & Targum Pseudo Jonathan for: Shemot (Exodus) 26:31 – 27:19

 

 

 

  

 

Welcome to the World of Pshat Exegesis

 

In order to understand the finished work of the Pshat mode of interpretation of the Torah, one needs to take into account that the Pshat is intended to produce a catechetical output, whereby a question/s is/are raised and an answer/a is/are given using the seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel and as well as the laws of Hebrew Grammar and Hebrew expression.

 

The Seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel are as follows

[cf. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=472&letter=R]:

 

1. Ḳal va-ḥomer: "Argumentum a minori ad majus" or "a majori ad minus"; corresponding to the scholastic proof a fortiori.

2. Gezerah shavah: Argument from analogy. Biblical passages containing synonyms or homonyms are subject, however much they differ in other respects, to identical definitions and applications.

3. Binyan ab mi-katub eḥad: Application of a provision found in one passage only to passages which are related to the first in content but do not contain the provision in question.

4. Binyan ab mi-shene ketubim: The same as the preceding, except that the provision is generalized from two Biblical passages.

5. Kelal u-Peraṭ and Peraṭ u-kelal: Definition of the general by the particular, and of the particular by the general.

6. Ka-yoẓe bo mi-maḳom aḥer: Similarity in content to another Scriptural passage.

7. Dabar ha-lamed me-'inyano: Interpretation deduced from the context.

 

 

Welcome to the World of Remes Exegesis

 

Thirteen rules compiled by Rabbi Ishmael b. Elisha for the elucidation of the Torah and for making halakic deductions from it. They are, strictly speaking, mere amplifications of the seven Rules of Hillel, and are collected in the Baraita of R. Ishmael, forming the introduction to the Sifra and reading as follows:

 

1. Ḳal wa-ḥomer: Identical with the first rule of Hillel.

2. Gezerah shawah: Identical with the second rule of Hillel.

3. Binyan ab: Rules deduced from a single passage of Scripture and rules deduced from two passages. This rule is a combination of the third and fourth rules of Hillel.

4. Kelal u-Peraṭ: The general and the particular.

5. u-Peraṭ u-kelal: The particular and the general.

6. Kelal u-Peraṭ u-kelal: The general, the particular, and the general.

7. The general which requires elucidation by the particular, and the particular which requires elucidation by the general.

8. The particular implied in the general and excepted from it for pedagogic purposes elucidates the general as well as the particular.

9. The particular implied in the general and excepted from it on account of the special regulation which corresponds in concept to the general, is thus isolated to decrease rather than to increase the rigidity of its application.

10. The particular implied in the general and excepted from it on account of some other special regulation which does not correspond in concept to the general, is thus isolated either to decrease or to increase the rigidity of its application.

11. The particular implied in the general and excepted from it on account of a new and reversed decision can be referred to the general only in case the passage under consideration makes an explicit reference to it.

12. Deduction from the context.

13. When two Biblical passages contradict each other the contradiction in question must be solved by reference to a third passage.

 

Rules seven to eleven are formed by a subdivision of the fifth rule of Hillel; rule twelve corresponds to the seventh rule of Hillel, but is amplified in certain particulars; rule thirteen does not occur in Hillel, while, on the other hand, the sixth rule of Hillel is omitted by Ishmael. With regard to the rules and their application in general. These rules are found also on the morning prayers of any Jewish Orthodox Siddur.

 

Reading Assignment

 

 

 

Rashi’s Commentary for: Shemot (Exodus) 26:1 – 27:19

 

31 a dividing curtain Heb. פָּרֽכֶת. [This is] a word denoting a dividing curtain. In the language of the Sages [it is called] פַּרְגוֹד (Chag. 15a), something that separates between the king and the people.

 

blue, purple Each type was doubled in each thread with six strands.-[from Yoma 71b]

 

the work of a master weaver Heb. מַעֲשֵׂה חשֵׁב I have already explained (verse 1) that this is weaving of two walls, and the designs on both sides of it are unlike one another.

 

cherubim He shall make designs of creatures.

 

32 four pillars inserted into four sockets, with hooks attached to them [the pillars], bent on the top [in order] to place upon them a pole around which the top of the dividing curtain was wound. These hooks are the וָוִין [mentioned in the next verse, given this name] because they are made in the shape of [the letter] “vav” (ו). The dividing curtain was ten cubits long, corresponding to the width of the Mishkan [from north to south], and ten cubits wide, like the height of the planks. [It was] spread out at the one-third [point] of the Mishkan [from east to west], so that from it [the dividing curtain] toward the [Mishkan’s] interior were ten cubits, and from it [the dividing curtain] toward the exterior were twenty cubits. Hence, the Holy of Holies was ten [cubits] by ten [cubits], as it is said: “And you shall place the dividing curtain beneath the clasps” (verse 33), which join the two sets of the curtains of the Mishkan, the width of the set being twenty cubits. When he [Moses] spread them on the roof the Mishkan from the entrance [all the way] to the west, it [the first set of curtains] ended after two-thirds of the [way into the] Mishkan. The second set covered [the remaining] third of the Mishkan with the remainder [of the curtains] hanging over its rear to cover the planks.

 

35 And you shall place the table The table was in the north, drawn away from the northern wall [of the Mishkan by] two and one-half cubits. The menorah was [placed] in the south, drawn away from the southern wall [by] two and one-half cubits. The golden altar was placed opposite the space between the table and the menorah, drawn a short distance toward the east. They [the table, menorah, and golden altar] were all situated in the inner half of the Mishkan. How was this? The length of the Mishkan from the entrance to the dividing curtain was twenty cubits. The altar, the table, and the menorah were drawn away from the entrance toward the western side ten cubits.-[from Yoma 33b]

 

36 And you shall make a screen Heb. מָסָךְ, a curtain that is a protector opposite the entrance, like “You made a hedge (שַׂכְתָּ) around him” (Job 1:10), an expression of protection. [Note that the “samech” and the “sin” are interchangeable.]

 

the work of an embroiderer The figures [on the screen] are produced on it with needlework-just as the face [was] on one side, so was the face on that [other] side.-[from Yoma 72b, Baraitha Melecheth HaMishkan, ch. 4]

 

an embroiderer Heb. רֽקֵם, the name of the craftsman, not the name of the craft. Its Aramaic translation is עוֹבַד צַיָיר, work of an artist, but not צִיוּר עוֹבֵד, work of artistry. The measurements of the screen were the same as the measurements of the dividing curtain, [namely] ten cubits by ten cubits.- [from Baraitha Melecheth HaMishkan, ch. 4]

 

Chapter 27

 

1 And you shall make the altar...and its height [shall be] three cubits The words are [to be understood] literally. These are the words of Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Jose says: It says here “square,” and concerning the inner altar, it says “square” (Exod. 30:2). Just as there, its height was twice its length [i.e, it was one cubit long and two cubits high], here too, its height was twice its length. [This method of expounding is known as גְּזֵרָה שָׁוָה, similar wording.] How then do I understand “and its height [shall be] three cubits"? [This means measuring] from the edge of the sovev [the ledge surrounding the altar] and higher.-[from Zev 60a] [According to Rabbi Judah, the altar was literally three cubits high. According to Rabbi Yose, it was ten cubits high, with the upper three cubits above the ledge mentioned in verse 5]

 

2 its horns shall be from it [This means] that he should not make them [the horns] separately and [then] attach them to it [the altar].

 

and you shall overlay it with copper to atone for brazenness, as it is said: “and your forehead is brazen (נְחוּֽשָה)” (Isa. 48:4). [I.e., נְחֽשֶת, which means copper, is also used idiomatically to mean brazen or bold.]-[from Tanchuma 11]

 

3 its pots Heb. סִּירֽתָיו, sort of kettles.-[from targumim]

 

to remove its ashes Heb. לְדַשְׂנוֹ, to remove its ashes [and place them] into them [the kettles]. This is what Onkelos rendered: לְמִסְפֵּי קִטְמֵיהּ, to remove its ashes into them. In Hebrew, some words [are used in such a manner that] one word [i.e., the same root] changes in its meaning to serve [both] as building and demolishing [i.e., it has a positive and a negative meaning], like, “it took root (וַתַַּשְׁרֵשׁ)” (Ps. 80:10), “a fool taking root (מַשְׁרִישׁ)” (Job 5:3), and its opposite, “and it uproots (תְשָׁרֵשׁ) all my grain” (Job 31:12); similar to this, “on its branches (בִּסְעִיפֶיהָ) when it produces fruit” (Isa. 17:6), and its opposite, “lops off (מְסָעֵף) the branches” (Isa. 10:33); similar to this, “and this last one broke his bones (עִצְּמוֹ)” (Jer. 50:17) [עִצְּמוֹ, which usually means “became boned,” here means] “broke his bones”; similar to this, “and stoned him with stones (וַיִּסְקְלֻהוּ בָּאֲבָנִים)” (I Kings 21:13), and its opposite, "clear it of stones (סַקְּלוּ מֵאֶבֶן) ” (Isa. 62:10), [meaning] remove its stones, and so, “and he fenced it in, and he cleared it of stones (וַיִּסְקְלֵהוּ)” (Isa. 5:2). Here too, לְדַשְׁנוֹ means “to remove its ashes  (דִשְׁנוֹ),” and in Old French, adeszandrer, to remove ashes.

 

and its shovels Heb. וְיָעָיו. [Its meaning is] as the Targum [Onkelos renders: וּמַגְרפְיָתֵיה]: shovels with which he [the kohen] takes the ashes. They are [similar to] a kind of thin, metal lid of a pot, and it has a handle. In Old French [it is called] videl, vedil, vadil, [all meaning] shovel.

 

and its sprinkling basins Heb. וּמִזְרְקֽתָיו, with which to receive the blood of the sacrifices.

 

and its flesh hooks Heb. וּמִזְלְגֽתָיו. Sort of bent hooks, with which he [the kohen] would strike the [sacrificial] flesh. They [the hooks] would be imbedded into it, and with them, he would turn it over on the coals of the [altar] pyre in order to hasten its burning. In Old French [they are called] crozins, [meaning flesh] hooks, and in the language of the Sages [they are called], צִינוֹרִיּוֹת (Yoma 12a).

 

and its scoops Heb. וּמַחְתּֽתָיו. They had a cavity in which to take coals from the altar and to carry them onto the inner altar for incense [which was within the Mishkan]. Because of their [function of] scooping (חֲתִיּֽתָן), they are called scoops (מַחְתּוֹת), like “to scoop (לַחְתּוֹת) fire from a hearth” (Isa. 30:14), an expression of raking fire from its place, and likewise, “Can a man rake (הֲיַחְתֶּה) embers with his clothes?” (Prov. 6:27).

 

all its implements Heb. לְכָל-כֵּלָיו. Like כָּל כֵּלָיו.

 

4 grating Heb. מִכְבָּר, a word meaning a sieve (כְּבָרָה), which is called crible [in French], [meaning] a sort of garment made for the altar, made with holes like a sort of net. This verse is inverted, and this is its meaning: And you shall make for it a copper grating of netting work.

 

5 the ledge of the altar Heb. כַּרְכּֽב, a surrounding ledge. Anything that encircles anything else is called כַּרְכּֽב, as we learned in [the chapter entitled] Everyone May Slaughter (Chul. 25a): “The following are unfinished wooden vessels: Any [vessel] that is destined to be smoothed or banded (לְכַרְכֵּב).” This [refers to the practice] of making round grooves [or bands] in the planks of the walls of wooden chests and benches. For the altar as well, he [Bezalel] made a groove around it a cubit wide. [The groove was] on its wall for decoration, and that was at the end of three (other editions: six) cubits of its height, according to the one who says that its height was twice its length and [asks] how then can I understand [the verse] "and three cubits its height"? [Three cubits] from the edge of the ledge and higher. There was, however, no surrounding ledge [i.e., walkway] on the copper altar for the kohanim to walk on, except on its top, within its horns. So we learned in Zev. (62a): What is the ledge? [The space] between one horn and the other horn which was a cubit wide. Within that there was a cubit for the kohanim to walk, and these two cubits are called כַּרְכּֽב. We [the Sages of the Gemara] questioned this: But is it not written, "beneath the ledge of the altar from below"? [Thus we learned] that the כַּרְכּֽב was on its [the altar’s] wall, and the “garment” of the grating was below it [the ledge]. The one who answered [i.e., one of the Sages of the Gemara] replied: “There were two [ledges], one for beauty and one so that the kohanim should not slip.” The one on the wall was for decoration, and below it, they adorned [it with] the grating, whose width extended halfway up the altar. Thus, the grating was a cubit wide, and this was the sign of the middle of its [the altar’s] height, to distinguish between the upper “bloods” and the lower “bloods” [i.e., the blood of the sacrifices required to be sprinkled on the top of the altar and the blood of the sacrifices required to be sprinkled on the bottom of the altar]. Corresponding to this, they made for the altar in the Temple a kind of red line [other editions: the “girdle” of the red line] in it [the altar’s] center [point] (Middoth 3:1) and a ramp upon which they [the kohanim] would ascend it [the altar]. Although [the Torah] did not explain it in this section, we were already informed in the parsha [that begins] “An altar of earth you shall make for Me” (Exod. 20:21-23): “And you shall not ascend with steps.” [I.e.,] you shall not make steps for it on its ramp, but [you shall make] a smooth ramp. [Thus] we learn that it [the altar] had a ramp. [All the above] we learned in the Mechilta (Exod. 20: 23). The “altar of earth” [mentioned in Exod. 20:21] was the copper altar, which they filled with earth in [all] the places of their encampment. The ramp was to the south of the altar, separated from the altar by a hairbreadth. Its base reached [until] a cubit adjacent to the hangings of the courtyard on the Mishkan’s southern [side], according to [the opinion of] those who say that it was ten cubits high. According to the opinion of those who say that the words are [to be understood] literally -"its height [shall be] three cubits" (verse 1)—the ramp was only ten cubits long. I found this in the Mishnah of Forty-Nine Middoth. [What I stated,] that it [the ramp] was separated from the altar by the width of a thread [i.e., a hairbreadth], [derives from] Tractate Zevachim (62b), [where] we learned it from the text.

 

7 into the rings Into the four rings that were made for the grating.

 

8 hollow, out of boards Heb. נְבוּב לֻחֽת as the Targum [Onkelos and Jonathan] renders: חֲלִיל לוּחִין. [There should be] boards of acacia wood from all sides with a space in the middle. But all of it shall not be [made of] one piece of wood [that would measure] five cubits by five cubits, like a sort of anvil [i.e., like one solid block].

 

9 hangings Heb. קְלָעִים. Made like the sails of a ship, with many holes, braided, and not the work of a weaver. Its Aramaic translation is סְרָדִין [a sieve], like the Aramaic translation of מִכְבָּר, which is סְרָדָא, because they were [both] perforated like a sieve.

 

on one side Heb. לַפֵּאָה הָאֶחָת. The entire side is called פֵּאָה.-[from targumim] [Although פֵּאָה usually means a corner, in this case it refers to the entire side.]

 

10 And its pillars [shall be] twenty Five cubits between [one] pillar and [another] pillar.

 

and their sockets [I.e., the sockets] of the pillars were copper. The sockets rested on the ground and the pillars were inserted into them. He [Bezalel] made a sort of rod, called pals in Old French. [It was] six handbreadths long and three [handbreadths] wide, with a copper ring affixed to it [each rod] in the middle. He would wrap the edge of the hanging around it [the rod] with cords [placed] opposite every pillar. He would hang [each] rod by its ring from the hook that was on [each] pillar. [The hook was] made resembling a sort of “vav” (ו) its end upright and one end inserted into the pillar, like those [hooks] made to hold up doors, which are called gons, hinges in Old French. The width of the hanging hung below [the hooks], and this was the height of the partitions of the courtyard.-[from Baraitha Melecheth HaMishkan, ch. 5]

 

the hooks of the pillars Heb. וָוֵי הָעַמֻּדִים. They are the hooks.

 

and their bands Heb. וַחֲשֻׁקֵיהֶם. The pillars were encircled all around with silver threads. I do not know whether [they were encircled] on their entire surface, [or only] at their top or in their middle, but I do know that חִשׁוּק is an expression of girding [or belting], for so we find in [the episode of] the concubine in Gibeah: “And with him was a team of saddled (חֲבוּשִׁים) donkeys” (Jud. 19:10), which is translated into Aramaic [by Jonathan] as חֲשִׁיקִין.

 

13 on the eastern side Heb. לִפְאַת קֵדְמָה מִזְרָחָה. The eastern side is called קֶדֶם, a word meaning the face [or front], and אָחוֹר signifies the back. Therefore, the east is called קֶדֶם, which is the face, and the west is called אָחוֹר, as it is said: “the back (הָאַחֲרוֹן) sea” (Deut. 11:24, 34:2), [which is translated into Aramaic as]יַמָּא מַעַרְבָא, the western sea.

 

fifty cubits These fifty cubits were not all closed off with hangings, because the entrance was there, but [there were] fifteen cubits of hangings for [one] shoulder of the entrance from here [from one side] and similarly for the second shoulder. There remained the width of the space of the entrance in between, [which was] twenty cubits. This is what is said [in verse 16]: “And at the gate of the courtyard shall be a screen of twenty cubits,” [i.e.,] a screen for protection opposite the entrance, twenty cubits long, which equaled the width of the entrance.

 

14 their pillars three Five cubits between [one] pillar and [another] pillar. Between the pillar that is at the beginning of the south, which stands at the southeastern corner, until the pillar that is [one] of the three in the east, there were five cubits. And from it [this pillar] to the second one [there was a space of] five cubits, and from the second to the third [were] five cubits, and likewise for the second [i.e., the northeastern] shoulder, and four pillars for the screen. Thus, there were ten pillars on the east, corresponding to the ten pillars on the west.

 

17 All the pillars around the courtyard, etc. Since [the text] explained only [that there were to be] hooks, bands, and copper sockets for the north[ern] and the south[ern sides], but for the east[ern] and the west[ern sides] no hooks, bands, or copper sockets were mentioned, therefore [the text] teaches it here. [Lit., it comes and teaches here.]

 

18 The length of the courtyard the north[ern] and the south[ern sides] from east to west were one hundred cubits.

 

and the width fifty by fifty The courtyard in the east was fifty [cubits] by fifty [cubits] square-for the Mishkan was thirty [cubits] long and ten [cubits] wide. He [Moses] placed its entrance on the east, at the edge of the outer fifty [cubits] of the length of the courtyard. Thus, it [the Mishkan] was all in the inner fifty [cubits of the courtyard], and its length ended at the end of thirty [cubits of the inner fifty]. Hence, there was a space of twenty cubits behind it, between the hangings in the west and the curtains of the rear of the Mishkan. The Mishkan was ten cubits wide in the center of the width of the courtyard. Thus, it had twenty cubits of space to the north and to the south- from the hangings of the courtyard to the curtains of the Mishkan-and similarly to the west. And [there was] a courtyard of fifty by fifty [cubits] in front of it [These are the outer fifty cubits, which faced the entrance of the Mishkan.] -[from Eruv. 23b, Baraitha Melecheth HaMishkan, ch. 5]

 

The height...five cubits [I.e.,] the height of the partitions of the courtyard, which was the width of the hangings.

 

and their sockets [shall be of] copper [This is mentioned] to include the sockets of the screen, so that you would not say [that] copper sockets were mentioned only in regard to the pillars of the hangings, but the sockets of the [pillars of the] screen were of another kind [i.e., a different material]. So it appears to me that for this [reason], they [the copper sockets] were repeated.

 

19 All the implements of the Mishkan that were required for its assembling and its disassembling, e.g., sledge hammers to drive in the pegs and the pillars.

 

the pegs [These were] like copper bars, made for the curtains of the tent and for the hangings of the courtyard, tied with cords all around [them] at their bases [i.e., at the bases of the curtains and the hangings], so that the wind would not lift them up. But I do not know whether they [the pegs] were driven into the ground or whether they were tied [with cords] and hung-their [heavy] weight weighted down the bottoms of the curtains so that they would not move in the wind. I say, however, that their name [i.e., pegs] indicates that they were driven into the ground. Therefore, they were called יְתֵדוֹת, and this verse supports me [my assertion]: “a tent that shall not fall, whose pegs (יְתֵדֽתָיו) shall never be moved” (Isa. 33:20).  

 

 Ketubim: Tehillim (Psalms) 63:1-12

 

 

Rashi’s Commentary on Psalms ‎‎‎‎63:1-12

 

1 in the desert of Judah when he was fleeing from Saul.

 

2 I seek You Heb. אשחרך, I seek and search for You, as (Job 7:21): “and You shall seek me (ושחרתני), but I am not here”; (Job 8:5), “If you seek (תשחר) God.”

 

My soul thirsts for You I thirst and long to come to You in Your house of prayer.

 

my flesh longs for You Heb. כמה, an expression of desire. There is no similar [Scriptural expression].

 

in an arid land in the desert.

 

3 As I saw You in the Sanctuary, etc. Heb. כן, like כאשר, as. I thirst to see Your strength and Your glory as I saw You in the Sanctuary, the Tabernacle of Shiloh. My soul will be sated with the visions of Your strength and Your glory.

 

5 Then I shall bless You in my lifetime Heb. כן, like אָז, then, because אָז is translated ובכן. That is to say: Then, when I come before You, I shall bless You all the days of my life.

 

in Your name I shall lift my hands to pray and laud.

 

6 when my mouth praises with expressions of song Heb. ושפתי, languages of songs, as (Gen. 11:1): “And all the earth was of one language (שפה),” which is translated: לישן חד.

 

7 on my couch When I lie on my couch, I remember Your love.

 

in the watches of the night.

 

I meditate about You Heb. אהגה. I think about You.

 

9 Your right hand has supported me that I should not fall.

 

10 But they My enemies.

 

seek my soul to make it desolate They come upon me in ambush on a dark day so that I should not sense their presence.

 

may they come into the depths of the earth In a low place; let them come and fall into the grave and the pit.

 

11 May he be dragged by the sword May enemies come upon my pursuers and drag each one of them with a sword, killing him. This is an elliptical verse, since it does not explain who will drag him. יגירהוּ is an expression of dragging, as (Micah 1:4): “as water poured down (המוגרים) a steep place”; (Job. 28:4), “A stream bursts forth from the place of its flow (גר).”

 

the portion of foxes (I found: the portion of foxes May their dwellings be destroyed, that foxes should walk there.)

 

12 And may the king rejoice He says this about himself because he had already been anointed.

 

may all who swear by Him boast When they see that You will save me, all those who cleave to You and swear by Your name will boast and praise themselves.

 

for...will be closed Heb. יסכר, will be closed up, as (Gen. 8:2). “The fountains of the great deep...were closed (ויסכרו).”

                                               

Meditation from the Psalms

Psalms ‎‎63:1:12

By: H.Em. Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David

 

In Psalms chapter 63, David sought refuge from his pursuers, but he became stranded and trapped in the parched wasteland of the Judean desert. Radak identifies this as the wilderness of Ziph, where David was hiding from Saul. Norah Tehillot notes that the setting of this psalm is not identical to that of Psalm 54, for the people of Ziph^[1] threatened David twice. David’s first encounter in Ziph, recorded in I Samuel 23:19-29, took place when the Ziphites informed Saul of David’s hiding place; then David narrowly escaped at the Rock of Division.^[2] Psalm 54 is dedicated to that incident; therefore, it begins (v.2), When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, ‘Indeed, David is hiding in our midst’.

 

The Ziphites betrayed David a second time, as described in I Samuel 26:2-3. At that time, however, David was not as concerned about the physical threat which they posed; rather, he mourned the suffering of his soul, which was exiled in a spiritual wilderness, completely cut off from the spiritual centers of Israel. Since our psalm is based on the latter incident, David here makes no direct mention of the Ziphites. Rather he expresses anguish over his isolated location, the wilderness of Judah.

 

Outside, Saul and his army surrounded him. From within, David was attacked by a terrible thirst which utterly drained his energy.

 

Oblivious to these dangers, David erected a massive fortress of faith which insulated him from the ravages of his hostile physical environment. His vast intellectual powers were completely preoccupied with the desire to draw even closer to G-d.

 

David’s thirst in the wilderness was essentially spiritual. He longed to gaze upon G-d’s splendor and he yearned to hear the teachings of Torah scholars, who reveal the ways of G-d.

 

Indeed, David’s soul was ablaze with love for his Maker. This flaming thirst could be quenched only by closeness to HaShem, as David states: In the shadow of Your wings I shall joyously sing.^[3]

 

Midrash Shocher Tov^[4] observes that this psalm foretells that the exiled children of Israel will cry out, ‘Our souls are weary and parched; we yearn for the refreshing words of Torah, but the Gentiles will not allow us this.’ Thus will the words of the prophet^[5] be fulfilled: Behold the days are coming, says my Lord HaShem / Elohim, when I shall send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a thirst for hearing the words of HaShem.^[6]

 

Since the midash identifies Psalms chapter 63 as the hymn of Israel in exile, I thought we should explore the idea of exile, galut, in greater depth.

 

Exile means to leave “your land, your birthplace and your father’s house”, the spiritual equivalent of which is to leave one’s desires, one’s character traits, and the conclusions reached by the human intellect, anything which is a barrier to total submission to the yoke of heaven. In short, a Jew must flee and wander from his egocentric existence and embrace a new life founded on the conclusions of true soul-searching and repentance. Then such galut^[7] is an atonement, both for intentional and unintentional transgressions, and one is saved from the seekers of vengeance, from any unfavorable pronouncements of heavenly justice for one’s sins.

 

The classic example of an individual in exile is found in the inadvertent murderer. The inadvertent murderer must flee to a City of Refuge in order to have his life spared. Not only must cities of refuge be built, but, the Rambam writes, “the court is obliged to define the paths that lead to the cities of refuge, to repair them and to broaden them...”

 

There is a special aspect of Torah, as our Sages say,^[8] “The words of Torah provide refuge.” Someone who kills a person by mistake is not subject to death, but exile, therefore “I will assign you a place (makom) to which he can flee”.^[9] Note that it says ‘a place’ (makom) and not ‘a city of refuge’.

 

Exile, galut, is also a form of atonement:

 

Makkoth 2b R. Johanan said that the sanction for this (substitutive penalty of a flogging) may be obtained by argument a fortiori, thus: Now, what do we find in the case of one who had effected his intended act [of murder]? He is not banished. Is it not then logical [to argue from this] that zomemim who had not [actually] effected their intended act should not be banished?

 

But does not this [very] argument point to a reverse conclusion? For is it not logical [to argue] that he who had effected the intended act [of murder] is not to go into banishment, so as not to obtain the possibility of atonement; whereas the zomemim who have not effected their intended act, should be allowed to go into banishment, so as to obtain the possibility of atonement? Hence the derivation as from the text, given by Resh Lakish, is the best.

 

In Galut we do not have unity and sovereignty in our homeland, the exact tools needed to accomplish our mission of representing HaShem to the world and forging the world into a vessel for His presence. With this perspective, what should our reaction be to this reality? Our knee jerk reaction may be despair: why continue if we cannot fulfill our purpose?

 

After the first galut from Jerusalem, the prophet Yirmeyahu^[10] wrote a letter to the exiled nobleman of Jerusalem addressing this exact question. His answer was as simple as it was powerful;

 

Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 29:5-7 Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men, and they shall bear sons and daughters, and multiply there and be not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have exiled you and pray for it to HaShem, for in its peace you shall have peace.

 

Now that we have a bit of background, lets examine some “case histories” of those who have gone into exile.

 

Adam and Chava

 

Adam and Chava were created as eternal beings. They were designed to live forever. It is only through their sin that death entered the world. Not only death for Adam and Chava, but death for everything and everyone in the world. Even time dies. When a moment is gone, it is “dead”, never to return.

 

Adam and Eve were placed in a utopian, redemptive setting, the garden of Eden, but were forced into the first galut as a consequence of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their consumption of this fruit resulted in their eventual death and their galut from Gan Eden. The fact that the cycle of exile and redemption begins with the first humans is very significant; their story thus becomes the model of the existential predicament of mankind. Thus sin caused Adam and Chava to leave their makom, their ideal place:

 

Midrash Rabbah - Numbers XXIII:13 THEN YE SHALL APPOINT YOU CITIES OF REFUGE... THAT THE MANSLAYER... MAY FLEE THITHER (XXXV, 11). This bears on the Scriptural texts, Good and upright is the Lord, therefore doth He instruct sinners in the way (Ps. XXV, 8). Remember, O Lord, Thy compassions and Thy mercies (ib. 6). David says: Sovereign of the Universe! Were it not for Thy mercies which came to the timely assistance of Adam, he could not have survived. For it says, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. II, 17), but Thou didst not do so unto him. Thou didst merely exclude him from the Garden of Eden and he lived nine hundred and thirty years, and only then did he die. What didst Thou do to him? Thou didst merely drive him from the Garden of Eden; as it says, So He drove out the man (ib. III, 24). Why was he driven out? Because he brought death upon future generations, and deserved to die immediately, but Thou didst have compassion upon him and didst drive him out, as is the fate of one who commits murder in error, such a man having to be an exile from his own home to the cities of refuge. Consequently it says, ‘Remember, O Lord, Thy compassions and Thy mercies,’ for they have been from of old (Ps. XXV, 6).

 

Pirke D’Rebbi Eliezer points out that when Adam was sent out of Gan Eden, he was exiled to Har HaMoriah.^[11] According to some opinions in Chazal^[12] this took place immediately after the judgment which took place on the sixth day of creation, before the beginning of that first Shabbat.

 

Har Moriah is the place of the Temple. It is the place of the Akeida. It is the ultimate place of Torah. It was in the Temple that the tablets of the testimony and the Torah scroll written by Moshe were kept. Thus we learn that when Adam inadvertently killed the world he was exiled from his makom to a place of Torah.

 

Kayin and Hevel

 

After Kayin killed Abel he was condemned to wander in galut. He had to leave “his makom”. This passage is particularly interesting because Kayin expresses the fact that this is an extremely severe punishment:

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 4:9 And HaShem said unto Kayin, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? 10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. 13 And Kayin said unto HaShem, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

 

Kayin will eventually be killed by Lemech.^[13] In the meantime, his exile had no end, unlike the Torah requirement for the unintentional manslayer who was released when the Kohen Gadol died. So, why did Kayin escape the death penalty? The answer has two parts.

 

1.  Since there were no witnesses to the crime, a Bet Din^[14] would not be able to convict. Hence, he had the status of an unintentional manslayer and was condemned to galut.
2. When a man is guilty of murder, HaShem gives the guilty verdict and He applies the penalty. Hence Kayin was killed, midda-kneged-midda,^[15] by Lemech. Chazal teach that HaShem normally executes this penalty within one year of the time of the crime.

 

Yosef and His Brothers

 

When Israel and his family went into galut, if was shortly after Yosef’s brothers desired to kill him, but sold him instead. This is a very similar situation to the manslayer. Indeed, the Midrash even links these events with the cities of refuge:

 

Midrash Rabbah - Genesis LXXXIV:15 AND THE MAN SAID. LET US GO TO DOTHAN. For such are the designs of the Almighty. AND THEY SAW HIM AFAR OFF, etc. (XXXVII, 18). Said they: ‘Let us kill him by inciting the dogs against him’. AND THEY SAID ONE TO ANOTHER: BEHOLD, THIS DREAMER COMETH (XXXVII, 19). The Rabbi said: They exclaimed, ‘Behold, it is he, who is coming wrapt in his dreams!’ R. Levi said: They exclaimed that this one was to ensnare them into serving [foreign] overlords. COME NOW THEREFORE, AND LET US SLAY HIM... AND WE SHALL SEE WHAT WILL BECOME OF HIS DREAMS (XXXVII, 20). Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to them: Ye say, AND WE SHALL SEE, and I say, WE SHALL SEE: indeed we shall see whose words will be fulfilled.’

 

15. AND REUBEN HEARD IT, etc. (XXXVII, 21). Now where had he been? R. Judah said: Every one of them attended his father one day, and that day it was Reuben’s turn. R. Nehemiah said: [Reuben reasoned]: I am the firstborn and I alone will be held responsible for the crime. The Rabbis said: [Reuben reasoned]: He includes me with my brethren, and I am not to rescue him! I thought that I had been expelled [from the company of my brethren] on account of that incident, yet he counts me together with my brethren-And, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars (Gen. XXXVII, 9)-shall I then not deliver him! Said the Holy One, blessed be. He, to him: ‘Thou wast the first to engage in life saving: by thy life! the cities of refuge will be set up [first] nowhere else than within thy borders’; thus it is written, Bezer in the wilderness, in the table-land, for the Reubenites, etc. (Deut. IV, 43).

 

Moshe and the Egyptian

 

Moshe killed the Egyptian then he needed to flee to Midian. Remember that Moshe was a Hebrew who was adopted by an Egyptian and raised as a prince in Paro’s palace. When he went into galut for killing the Egyptian, he was leaving his parents, his adopted parents, and his status as a prince. His galut took him to Midian where he became a shepherd and a stranger in a strange land.

 

Shemot (Exodus) 2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

 

Why did not Moshe deserve the death penalty? Why was he treated as an unintentional manslayer when he clearly intended to kill him?

 

Rashi says that Moshe killed the Egyptian with the explicit Divine Name (Shem HaMaforash).^[16] The Malbim explains that a non-Jew who strikes a Jew is subject to the death penalty, but not at human hands, death from Heaven. This Moshe facilitated by invoking the Shem HaMaforash. Thus we see that Moshe was merely the conduit for HaShem to slay the Egyptian who was mistreating a Jew. Because Moshe was the conduit, the Torah tells us that Moshe slew the Egyptian.

 

Now, if you have difficulty with this explanation, consider that HaShem did not inflict any penalty on Moshe except galut, the penalty for unintentionally killing a man. Further, Moshe would later be chosen to be “king” of the Jews and to be the leader of the Jewish people for forty years. This is not the normal penalty for a murderer. Since HaShem dealt with Moshe midda-kneged-midda, we know that Moshe was only guilty of unintentional killing.

 

Midrash Rabbah - Deuteronomy II:29 THEN MOSES SEPARATED. R. Aibo said: When Moses fled he began to sing a song, as it is said, And dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well (Ex. II, 15). Just as Israel sang a song by a well, so too Moses sang a song by a well. R. Levi said: [He sang a song] because the section dealing with the homicide’s [flight] to the Cities of Refuge was carried into effect through him.

 

In The Wilderness

 

The wandering of the Jews in the desert was another example of the exile of the unintentional manslayer. The spies derogatory report caused the Bne Israel to shun the land and reject the Word of HaShem. This sin would result in the deaths of most of those who had left Mitzrayim.^[17] Because the people did not realize that their sin would have this consequence, HaShem sent them into galut, forcing them to wander for forty years.

 

Bamidbar (Numbers) 13:31 - 14:1 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. 1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2  And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3 And wherefore hath HaShem brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

 

There is, in fact, a striking similarity between the galut of the Jews in the wilderness and that of an accidental murderer. The Jews in the wilderness never knew when they would be asked to move. When the cloud rose, they needed to pack their belongings and move on to the next location. In the instance of the cities of refuge, the manslayer’s galut ended with the death of the Kohen Gadol, an event that could not be predicted. In both cases, there was no predetermined time for the relocation to end, adding to the sense of instability.

 

It is interesting to note that the galut of the generation of the wilderness did not end until the death of the Kohen Gadol, Aaron:

 

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:6 And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead.

 

Shortly after Aaron’s death, Joshua led the Bne Israel into the promised land and the Galut ended. This suggests that the death of Aharon was an atonement for the Bne Israel.

 

The ending of the galut in the wilderness and the entering of the Promised land hints also to the final redemption.

 

Exile in Megillat Ruth

 

In Sefer Ruth, Elimelech abandoned eretz Israel during the famine that struck Israel in the days of the judging of the judges. Since Elimelech was a leader of the generation with the financial resources to help the poor during this famine, his abandonment of the poor, undoubtedly, contributed to their deaths. While he exiled himself voluntarily, in the end HaShem insured that the exile was permanent. Elimelech never returned to eretz Israel.

 

In our study of Megillat Ruth, we saw that Elimelech’s exile is reminiscent of Adam’s exile. Like Adam’s exile that resulted in the birth of righteous Seth, so Elimelech’s exile led to the “dove from Moab”, Ruth.

 

The exile of Elimelech led to the fields of Moab. As we learned in our study of Ruth, we know that a field is a remez, a hint, to a place of Torah study. Elimelech’s exile led to Ruth’s exile. She, too, ended up in a field, the field of Boaz. Additionally, Ruth became a part of the messianic line.

 

Babylonian Galut

 

The Midrash makes an explicit connection between the cities of refuge and the Babylonian galut. This suggests that in general, if we see a galut we should look for the sin of inadvertent man slaying:

 

Midrash Rabbah - Numbers XXIII:14 THEN YE SHALL APPOINT YOU CITIES (XXXV, 11). It is also written, SIX CITIES OF REFUGE (ib. 13). YE SHALL GIVE THREE CITIES BEYOND THE JORDAN, AND THREE CITIES SHALL YE GIVE IN THE LAND OF CANAAN (ib. 14). There were three in the Land of Israel, in the west, and three beyond the Jordan, in the east, in the land of the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh; as it says, Bezer in the wilderness, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites (Deut. IV, 43). This gives you three in the east. The three in the west were: Hebron, belonging to Judah, Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim--this was Neapolis--and Kedesh in Galilee, belonging to the tribe of Naphtali. Moses divided [Transjordan] among Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, and set apart from these lands three cities; as it says, Then Moses separated three cities (ib. 41). But Joshua divided [the land] among all the tribes and gave to the tribe of Levi forty-eight cities, of which the priests took thirteen, the rest going to the Levites. Three cities of refuge they took in their lot, but in the Land the tribe of Levi took nothing. Why? They shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His inheritance (ib. XVIII, 1). You find that Sennacherib carried them off in three sections. On the first occasion he exiled the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh. On the second, the tribe of Zebulun and the tribe of Naphtali; as it says, In the former time he hath lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali (Isa. VIII, 23). On the third occasion he exiled the rest of the tribes; as it says, But on the latter he hath dealt a more grievous blow--hikbid (ib.); ‘Hikbid’ implies that he swept them out (hikbidam) as with a broom (makbed). Nebuchadnezzar also drove out the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in three installments. On the first occasion he exiled Jehoiakim and on the second Jehoiachin. What did he do to him? He bound him [and seated him] in his most honored carriage; as may be inferred from the text, ‘For behold I shall send her away like the queen-mother1; as a queen-mother is honored by men, so was Jehoiachin honored by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuzaradan exiled Zedekiah This gives you three exiles. The Holy one, blessed be He, said: ‘In this world, as a result of iniquities, Israel were exiled and dispersed through the gates of the Land,’ as it says, And I fan them with a fan in the gates of the land (Jer. XV, 7). For Sennacherib was the lord of the world, and used to exile some to one place and others to another. He drove Israel to Babylon and brought those who were in Babylon here.3 In the time to come, however, If any of thine that are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee (Deut. XXX, 4). And gather together the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isa. XI, 12). Isaiah in the same strain says, The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (ib. XXXV, 10).

 

Mashiach ben Yosef and the Bne Israel

 

The sins of the Bne Israel resulted in the death of Yeshua HaMashiach, albeit inadvertently. That same generation that saw Yeshua crucified also saw the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash, the symbol of Mashiach’s body, and the subsequent galut; the longest galut in our history. The tikkun for our sins that inadvertently caused the death of Mashiach, is to go into galut to a take refuge in Mashiach, the ultimate place (makom) of Torah.

 

Chazal tell us that the first Temple was destroyed because Israel had violated the “cardinal sins” of idolatry, murder, and immorality, while the second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred:

 

Yoma 9b Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of three things that occurred in it: Idolatry, unseemly provocative sexual behavior, and bloodshed... But the Second Temple, where they occupied themselves with Torah, Commandments and acts of benevolence, why was it destroyed? Because there was baseless hatred. This teaches that baseless hatred is equated with three sins: idolatry, provocative sexual behavior and bloodshed.

 

Now Mashiach has told us that hatred is related to killing in:

 

Matityahu (Matthew) 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

 

We can infer that our actions of unintentional man slaying were the cause of the destruction of the second Temple. We can also understand that it is the atonement of Mashiach, The Living Torah, that will end this bitter exile. It is the death of Mashiach ben Yosef, our Kohen Gadol, which provides the atonement which will allow us to enter the Promised Land, our makom, under the leadership of Mashiach ben David!

 

Thus we see that the solution to the manslayer’s exile is Torah and that the ultimate end to our national exile is found in The Living Torah, Mashiach. We must seek to study Torah and perform the mitzvot in order to gain the atonement of galut.

 

City of Refuge = Torah

 

All of these unintentional manslayers went into galut because of their sin. They were forced to leave their makom, their place, because they caused others to lose their place in this world. The goal of the galut is the tikkun, the correction, of the individual that can be found in Torah. The reason for galut in the cities of refuge was to force the manslayer to study Torah and confront the mitzvot twenty-four hours a day. The constant interaction between the manslayer and the Levites would be life-changing and would enable the manslayer to change his heart.

 

From this, we understand that the Temple’s destruction and ensuing galut for which we mourn, on Tisha B’Ab. Exile is analogous to a city of refuge. Just as the inadvertent manslayer exiled himself to a city of refuge, so too, the Jewish people were exiled because of inadvertent sins. Their tikkun is found in their study of Torah.

 

At this point, we can shed new light on what lies behind Simchat Torah, which Chazal combined together with Shemini Atzeret, the day after Succoth. In Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:41, the Torah relates that Moshe before his passing, set aside the three ‘Arei Miklat’ cities of refuge, on the eastern side of the Jordan. Immediately afterwards in Devarim 4:44, the pasukim teaches, ‘And this is the law which Moshe set before the children of Israel’. The Baal HaTurim points out that this pasuk comes to teach that a person must exile one’s self to a place of Torah, as is taught in:

 

Avot 4:14 Exile yourself to a place of Torah.

 

Rabbenu Bachya points out that the pesukim come to teach me that Torah protects a person even more than an ‘Ir Miklat’ (city of refuge) for the ‘Ir Miklat’ saves only for a sin done inadvertently while Torah saves from all sin. Furthermore, the Midrash describes a dialogue between Klal Israel and HaShem in which Klal Israel want to know how they will atone for their sins when the existence of cities of refuge will cease. HaShem’s answer is that there will always be Torah!

 

 

 

Ashlamatah: Yehezchel (Ezekiel) 16:10-18, 60

 

 

Rashi’s Commentary on Yehezchel (Ezekiel) 16:10-18, 60

 

10  And I clothed you with embroidered garments: “And I clothed you with embroidered garments of the spoils of your enemies.”

 

and I shod you with badger: [Jonathan renders:] And I put shoes of glory on your feet.

 

and I girded you: Heb. וָאֶחְבְּשֵּׁךּ. [Jonathan renders:] and I hallowed priests of you to be serving before Me with turbans of fine linen.

 

and I covered you with silk: Heb. מֶשִּׁי, soie in French. And the High Priest with colored raiment, and [according to] Midrash Aggadah (Mid. Song 4:2), these are the seven clouds of glory, as it is written (Exod. 13:22): “He did not move (יָמִישּׁ) the pillar of cloud by day.”

 

11  And I adorned you with ornaments: E pare toy, and I adorned you. [Jonathan renders:] And I adorned you with the adornment of the words of the Torah, written on the two stone tablets.

 

and I put: Heb. וָאֶתְּנָה [lit. and I gave,] through Moses.

 

bracelets: Heb. צְמִידִים [from צמד, to join]. I joined one commandment opposite the other, five opposite five.

 

12  And I put a nose ring on your nose: [Jonathan renders:] And I placed the ark of My covenant among you.

 

and earrings on your ears: Heb. וַעֲגִילִים, a word for an earring. [Jonathan interprets:] And the cloud of My glory covering over you. [The clouds of glory are called וַעֲגִילִים] because they surrounded them in a circle (עִגּוּל).

 

and a crown of glory on your head: [Jonathan renders:] And an angel was sent from before Me leading at your head, as it is said (Micah 2:13): “and their king passed before them, and the Lord was at their head.”

 

13  And you adorned yourself with gold and silver: [Jonathan renders:] And I placed My Tabernacle among you, adorned with gold, silver, curtains of linen, colored tapestries and embroidery, and mannawhich was as good as fine flour, honey and oilI fed you, and you became exceedingly rich and strong, and you prospered and ruled over all the kingdoms.

 

fine flour, honey, and oil you ate: The manna, which would change to any flavorto fine flour, honey, and oilyou ate. The Midrash Aggadah (Mid. Song 4:2) [points out that] thirteen items are enumerated here, and corresponding to them, the Holy One, blessed be He, ordered them to bring the thirteen items enumerated in the donation for the Tabernacle (Exod. 25:1-7). Nevertheless, He is destined to repay them in the future with thirteen items (Isa. 4:5f.): “And the Lord shall create over every dwelling of Mount Zion, etc. And a tabernacle shall be for shade by day from the heat, etc., from stream and from rain, etc.”

 

became exceedingly beautiful: An expression of beauty.

 

14  for it is all inclusive: Heb. כָּלִיל, an expression of all- inclusive beauty (23:12). Another explanation: כִּי כָּלִיל הוּא, for it was perfect. Another explanation: כִּי כָּלִיל couronne in French, like (Lev. 21:12): “crown (נֵזֶר),” which is translated כְּלִיל by Targum.

 

15  and you went astray because of your fame: You relied on the fame of the beauty that spread concerning you.

 

and you poured out your harlotries: You displayed your beauty to every passerby until the lust for your harlotry gushed upon them [arousing them] to seduce you into fornicating with them.

 

to him it would be: And once they desired you, you surrendered yourself to them; and to anyone who requested your harlotry, it would be his. Jonathan renders: and it was not fitting for you to do so, as though it were written לֹא יְהִי. This entire allegory represents the Calf of the desert and the other idolatry that the tribe of Dan worshipped in the desert, as it is written (Deut. 25:18): “all those who trailed after you,” and we find in the Pesikta (d’Rav Kahana p. 27b): This is the tribe of Dan, for the cloud would reject them, because the were all idolators.

 

16  mounds of colored garments: Covered with spotted garments of various colors, pla[t] rees in Old French, multi-colored.

 

this should not have come: It was not proper for this to come, non a venir et non a etre in French, [which was] not to come nor to be.

 

17  male images: Since he compares her to a female harlot, he compares the image to a male who fornicates with her.

 

60  But I shall remember My covenant: That was with you in the days of your youth.

 

 

Nazarean Talmud

Sidra of Shmot (Exodus) 26: 31 – 27:19

“V’Et-HaMishkan Ta’aseh” - “And the Tabernacle you will make”

                                                      By: H. Em Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham

 

 

Nazarean Codicil to be read in conjunction with the following Torah Seder

 

 

Commentary to Hakham Tsefet’s School of Peshat

 

Signs

 

Signs, Signs, everywhere are signs …

Blocking up the scenery … Breaking my mind …

Do this … Don’t do that … Can’t you read the sign?[20]

 

The Hebrew equivalent of σημεῖον  (sēmeion) is אוֹת (ot). The frustration of the Master is apparent. These religious leaders of the day coming to him and seeking something he has been trying to convey to them since the start of His ministry.  The first occurrence of אוֹת is”

 

Shemot (Exodus) 4:8 And it shall be, if they do not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, they shall believe the voice of the latter sign.[21]

 

Which is rather surprising, given that Bereshit (Genesis) had signs throughout. From the whirling Malach (Angel) after Adam and Chava were expelled (exiled) to Yosef and his dreams. The burning bush which Moses saw was definitely a sign from Heaven, yet the Hebrew word is מַרְאֶה (Mor-eh)[22]. Which means sight or vision. אוֹת according to Strongs is a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.: - mark, miracle, (en-) sign, token. It is our belief that man has always sought a sign from stellar regions. An indication from outside this physical realm that this is what he should do or that is where he should go or, more importantly, something is what he should believe and trust. It appeals to man’s laziness to have a go-to doctrine that he doesn’t have to research or investigate. That’s all the Pharisees wanted. Give us a sign Yeshua ben Joseph that you are the Mashiach and we will follow you. Do whatever you say. Trust you. But Yeshua was not falling for their trap. For He knew their hearts.  That they did not want to relinquish their positions to this young upstart. Surely, they remembered his prowess in Torah at his Bar Mitzvah.[23]

 

I would assume they remembered it well, for He most likely schooled them with burning questions in reply to their superficial answers.

 

Mashiach signs

 

Rambam stated there are several signs of the coming of Messiah[24]

·        If there arises a leader among Jews who is a descendant of King David

·        Is a diligent student of Torah, both Written and Oral

·        Devoted to Mitzvahs (pious as King David)

·        Brings Jews back to observance of Torah

·        Fights G-d’s battles (military and otherwise)

 

Rambam goes on to say that the Messiah will rebuild the 3^rd Temple and gather the exiles back to Israel

Yeshua fulfills all of them except for building of the third temple. Which would have been rather difficult seeing the second was still standing.

 

Authority

 

 “hey, what gives you the right…”

 

The Pharisees were merely wanting to know the authority Yeshua was doing these signs and wonders. They did not deny them. They just wanted to know the power behind them. A reasonable request to be sure. It would not be bad if present day worshippers would investigate the source or power behind some of the signs they see in their churches. The healings and prophecies might be from the Holy One, blessed be He, but it might not. Most likely not; one would think.

 

Denial

 

Yeshua’s rebuke of the leaders should tell us volumes as what we should ask of whom. His apparent despair of their question also hints to the error of their ways. He kept pointing to Torah. For example, look at Luke 6:31. “But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Mosheh and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded even if one should rise from the dead.’ ”[25] A quick search in e-sword[26] revealed Moses mentioned 57 times in the Gospels. In every one of them, Yeshua was reiterating that we should heed His commandments and keep all His statutes. 

 

Peroration

 

“… so I got me a pen and a paper … and I made up my own little sign..

I said,” Thank you, Lord, for thinking about me … I’m alive and doing fine.”

 

Mr. Emerson wrote this song in 1970. They (the producers of the record) put it on the ‘B’ side. No doubt, thinking the religious tone of the ending would be lost and the message forgotten. But HaShem had other plans. The song took off. They had to re-release it, and it made the top 25 songs of that year. That is no small feat for a song that spouts belief in HaShem in a secular music world.

 

As we seek leadership and learning, who do you listen to and who do you dismiss as a heretic. We must always seek guidance from the Torah. A good baseline rule is if it goes against the Torah, it most assuredly is heretical. The second thing we do is seek advice and counsel from the Rabbis that HaShem has placed in authority over us. They are not masters and us slaves. They are teachers, and we are students. Also, paradoxically, we are teachers, and they are students. HaShem’s most glorious plan is that we all have a role in bringing Mashiach back to us and that we be ready for Him.

 

Some Questions to Ponder:

 

1. From all the readings for this week, which particular verse or passage caught your attention and fired your heart and imagination?
2. In your opinion, and taking into consideration all of the above readings for this Sabbath, what is the prophetic message (the idea that encapsulates all the Scripture passages read) for this week

 

 

 

Blessing After Torah Study

 

Barúch Atáh Adonai, Elohénu Meléch HaOlám,

Ashér Natán Lánu Torát Emét, V'Chayéi Olám Natá B'Tochénu.

Barúch Atáh Adonái, Notén HaToráh. Amen!

Blessed is Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe,

Who has given us a teaching of truth, implanting within us eternal life.

Blessed is Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!

“Now unto Him who is able to preserve you faultless, and spotless, and to establish you without a blemish,

 

“Shabbat Hagadol”

Next Shabbat: “V’Atá Tetsavé” – “And you give orders”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai

Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham

 

Edited by His Honor Paqid Adon Ezra ben Abraham.

A special thank you to HH Giberet Giborah bat Sarah for her diligence in proof-reading every week.