Weekly Parsha Thoughts

Ki Seitzei

The Midrash Tanchuma brings that in this parsha we learn about mitzvah goreres mitzvah and avaira goreres avaira.  The beginning of the parsha teaches us about avaira goreres avaira: if a person takes a yefas to’ar he will end up hating her. ...
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Shoftim

The passuk says ידינו לא שפכו(ה) את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו. Rashi explains: Do you think that the elders of Beis Din are killers that the Torah needs to tell us they aren’t? Rather, it means they didn’t send him off...
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Re’eh

The parsha starts off, “See I am giving before you bracha and klalah. The bracha, on condition, that you will listen to the mitzvos of Hashem… that I am commanding you today (as Rashi explains). And the klalah if you don’t listen...
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Eikev

In the second parsha of Shema it says:ושמתם את דברי אלה על לבבכם . The Gemara explains the word ושמתם is made up of two words: סם and תם, remedy and complete. The Torah is compared to סם חיים. Rashi explains it...
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Va’eschanan, Shabbos Nachamu

The Gemara brings: Rabban Gamliel, Rabi Eliezer ben Azariah, Rabi Yehoshua and Rabi Akiva were going up to Yerushalayim. When they reached the mountain called Tzufim, or were a certain distance from Yerushalayim from which they could see Yerushalayim, they ripped their...
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Devarim

The passuk says, “ and the Emori’im went out… and chased you (Bnei Yisroel) as bees would do.”  Rashi explains that just as a bee dies when it stings a person, so too the Emorim died when they hit Bnei Yisroel. The...
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