interpretation of parts of Tanach by close reading, not derivation (Pronounced "par-sha-noot")
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9 views
Who is Tzippor?
Parashat Balak indirectly refers to Tzippor five times (by introducing Balak as "ben Tzippor"). I don't believe Rashi brings down any background regarding Tzippor. If there is little known about ...
1
vote
1answer
23 views
Who did “וַיֹּצִאֵנוּ” in Num. 20:16?
Chukas 20:16:
וַנִּצְעַק אֶל ה׳ וַיִּשְׁמַע קֹלֵנוּ וַיִּשְׁלַח מַלְאָךְ וַיֹּצִאֵנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם…
In translation:
and we called out to God, and he heard our voice, and he sent ...
4
votes
2answers
53 views
Calling Hoshea 'Yehoshua' before his seeming renaming
Why does the verse (Bamidbar 13:16) mention that Moshe gave Hoshea bin Nun the name Yehoshua, making it seem like this was the first time Hoshea was actually called like that, but instead we see in ...
4
votes
1answer
42 views
Why was Eliyahu Hanavi taken to heaven alive?
Why was Eliyahu chosen to be one of the very few who merited to go to Gan Eden alive?
There were prophets greater than him (Moshe, for example).
There were people that kept the Torah better than him ...
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0answers
12 views
Were korbanos olah prohibited?
Abarbanel on Joshua 13:14 explains the verse:
official translation from chabad.org:
Only to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are ...
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0answers
33 views
KaHasot Halayla: really? [closed]
ורבותינו דרשוהו כמו בחצי הלילה (שמות יב כט) ואמרו, שאמר משה כחצות, דמשמע סמוך לו או לפניו או לאחריו, ולא אמר בחצות, שמא יטעו אצטגניני פרעה, ויאמרו משה בדאי הוא
(Rashi Shemot ch. 11)
Chabad.org ...
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votes
1answer
75 views
Under what circumstances is a false virgin put to death?
Deut 22:13–21 says that if a man marries a virgin, is intimate with her, and then claims that she is not a virgin, and there is no evidence that she is a virgin, that she is stoned. That seems to be ...
10
votes
1answer
163 views
Why is Jacob idolized and not villainised?
I've just read the story of Jacob and Esau (Bereishis ch. 25 and 27), and I fail to understand why Jacob is consistently portrayed and idolized as a protagonist and a hero - based on what I've read, I ...
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0answers
26 views
Why do we get “so did they do” for the commandment of expelling tamei people in Parashat Naso?
Parashat Naso, in Numbers 5:1-3, presents a commandment to "send from the camp" anyone who is tamei due to either tzara'at or a zav-type discharage. After that, we have Verse 4, affirming that the ...
2
votes
3answers
139 views
Is Psalm 110 considered messianic
How do Jews interpret Psalm 110? (Christians see it as a messianic reference.) I am specifically interested in verse 1 - "The Lord saith unto my lord." Jesus quotes this in Matthew 22:44, and ...
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1answer
53 views
What actually happened to Jacob's and Laban's sheeps and goats?
Genesis 30 (JPS):
34 And Laban said: 'Behold, would it might be according to thy word.' 35 And he removed that day the he-goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were ...
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1answer
75 views
What is special about Molech?
What is unique about the worship of Molech that distinguishes it from other avodah zara enough that it deserves discussion and specific prohibition in the Torah? We see it specifically discuessed ...
2
votes
1answer
109 views
Eating meat on a regular basis
It says in Vayikra Perek 17 Pasuk 13 (Parshas Achrei-Mos):
"וְאִישׁ אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִן הַגֵּר הַגָּר בְּתוֹכָם אֲשֶׁר יָצוּד צֵיד חַיָּה אוֹ עוֹף אֲשֶׁר יֵאָכֵל וְשָׁפַךְ אֶת דָּמוֹ ...
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1answer
73 views
Questions about the destruction of Sodom and the vicinity
I am having a hard time making heads or tails of the story of the destruction of Sodom and the vicinity. All questions below are questions about the narrative of the story based on the interpretation ...
4
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1answer
63 views
How old was Avraham when he sired children with Keturah, and was that unusual?
After reporting Sarah's death and burial, B'reishit 25:1 tells us that Avraham had several children by Keturah. Avraham was 137 when Sarah died. Earlier (17:17), Avraham had laughed at the idea of ...
2
votes
5answers
88 views
Seforim with Drashos on the Torah (Recommendation)
What are good Seforim for using to help in developing drashos to say on the weekly Parsha (i.e. to use as a starting point, to quote, to find Medreshim, "nice vertlach", various "p'shatim" in pasukim, ...
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1answer
48 views
What is the interpretation of Zechariah Chapter 3?
In Zechariah 3, there's a vision of Joshua the High Priest. Satan is accusing him, and then Satan is rebuked. Joshua is then found to be standing before the altar in filthy garments, which are then ...
2
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1answer
42 views
Singular and plural language in Vaikra 10:1
In parashat shemini, chapter 10, verse 1 it is written:
וַיִּקְחוּ בְנֵי אַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אִישׁ מַחְתָּתוֹ וַיִּתְּנוּ בָהֵן אֵשׁ וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלֶיהָ קְטֹרֶת וַיַּקְרִיבוּ לִפְנֵי ...
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2answers
134 views
Ezekiel 16:4: לֹא הֻמְלַחַתְּ — what practice does this describe?
Ezekiel 16:4 seems to be describing practices performed on an infant or young child. But, what practice does לֹא הֻמְלַחַתְּ refer to? Do any rabbis explain the meaning?
2
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0answers
41 views
What happened to Balak?
What ever happened to Balak after the Bil'am affair? Bil'am is referred to often as Bil'am HaRasha' (the wicked), and he is blamed for the entire encounter as well as the Ba'al Pe'or incident. But ...
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votes
4answers
96 views
Why are the commandments for Rosh Chodesh and Passover in the same paragraph?
The reading for Parashat Hachodesh consists of a single paragraph in the Torah, Exodus 12:1-20, whose main topic is God's commandments related to the Passover offering and holiday observance that ...
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votes
1answer
85 views
What are the oldest interpretations of Deuteronomy 33:2?
This verse in Torah sounds highly cryptic and it seems that a message is conveyed in it:
And he said: The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and ...
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votes
3answers
113 views
What are some of the old commentaries prior to 1 BCE of the Torah?
I believe that there would be commentaries of the Torah older than 1 BCE and that can shed significant light on what the message of God is in terms of its authoritativeness.
Israelites have a glorious ...
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3answers
148 views
Certificate of Divorce by God to Israel
I find the following verse to be very harsh as it gives a pink slip of Divorce to Israel and Judah Jeremiah 3:8:
וָאֵרֶא, כִּי עַל-כָּל-אֹדוֹת אֲשֶׁר נִאֲפָה מְשֻׁבָה יִשְׂרָאֵל, שִׁלַּחְתִּיהָ, ...
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1answer
87 views
Which nation in this prophecy of Haggai will shake nations and will be given peace(שָׁלוֹם) [closed]
The following verse in the Torah prophesizes about a nation which will be given "peace" and coming of a praised being:
and I will shake all nations, and the choicest(חֶמְדַּת ) things of all ...
5
votes
1answer
52 views
“Vashti the queen” vs. “Queen Vashti”
Is there a peshat difference between the usual wording,
“ושתי המלכה”
Vashti the queen
(or “אסתר המלכה” Esther the queen),
and the wording used twice in Chapter 1 (verses 12 and 15),
“המלכה ושתי”
the ...
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votes
2answers
55 views
What's bothering Rashi about the messengers delivering the king's decree in Esther 4:3?
Megillath Esther (4:3) states that
in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and ...
3
votes
1answer
122 views
Why was Esther afraid to go to the King the second time, but not the first time?
When Mordechai told Esther that two of the King's guards were plotting to kill him, she went right away to tell the king directly.
Yet when Mordechai later asked her to approach the king to save all ...
2
votes
0answers
67 views
Could the destroyer in Egypt discriminate?
In Rashi's comment to Shemos 12:22 we read
ואתם לא תצאו וגו': מגיד שמאחר שנתנה רשות למשחית לחבל אינו מבחין בין צדיק לרשע
…once permission has been given to the משחית (destroyer) to ...
5
votes
1answer
77 views
How did Achashverosh not think that Mordechai would be disturbed by the decree to kill all the Jews?
In the book of Ester (6:1), Achashverosh can't sleep and asks to bring the book of records to him. Rashi says that the reason why is in case he was done a favor by someone and didn't repay it and that ...
5
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0answers
45 views
Why is Shimshon buried “in the grave of his father” and not father and mother?
Nearly everywhere in the story of Samson, more than in most stories in Tanakh, both parents are mentioned quite frequently. Leading up to birth, both parents share about equal page-time. After ...
2
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1answer
84 views
What is the traditional old interpretation of this prophecy
The Torah contains a prophecy of a future Prophet who will be like Moses:
I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
why cure the snake bites with the nehushtan
In Bemidbar 21, How come Gd cured the Israelites snake bites with the nehushtan? Why cure them that way? Why not just send the snakes away (as the people had asked)?
6
votes
1answer
74 views
Why does Yisro tell Moshe that he came with Moshe's wife “and her sons” rather than “your sons”?
At Exodus 18:6, Moshe's father-in-law, Yisro, tells Moshe that he had come with Moshe's wife and "her sons." Why didn't he say to Moshe that she had come with "your sons"?
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3answers
182 views
What is the interpretation of Genesis 19, 5-8?
5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, ...
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2answers
55 views
Is the tree of the field a man?
Dvarim 20:19 reads:
כִּי תָצוּר אֶל עִיר יָמִים רַבִּים לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ לְתָפְשָׂהּ
לֹא תַשְׁחִית אֶת עֵצָהּ לִנְדֹּחַ עָלָיו גַּרְזֶן כִּי מִמֶּנּוּ
תֹאכֵל וְאֹתוֹ לֹא תִכְרֹת כִּי הָאָדָם ...
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1answer
66 views
Plague of darkness: if he was standing, he was unable to sit?
Rashi on Shemot 10:22 states:
ויהי חשך אפלה שלשת ימים וגו': חשך של אופל שלא ראו איש את אחיו אותן
שלשת ימים. ועוד שלשת ימים אחרים חשך מוכפל על זה, שלא קמו איש מתחתיו.
יושב אין יכול לעמוד, ועומד ...
3
votes
1answer
110 views
Who is speaking in Ex. 3:17?
Sh'mos 3:15–18 reads:
15 וַיֹּאמֶר עוֹד אֱלֹהִים אֶל מֹשֶׁה…. 16 לֵךְ וְאָסַפְתָּ אֶת זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם יהוה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם נִרְאָה אֵלַי… לֵאמֹר פָּקֹד ...
3
votes
1answer
80 views
How can inanimate objects function as “witnesses” in the Tanakh?
How can inanimate objects function as edim and/ or edot in the Tanakh?
For example,
הַגַּל (Gen. 31:48)
הַשִּׁירָה (Deut. 31:19)
הַתֹּורָה (Deut. 31:26)
הַשָּׁמַיִם והָאָֽרֶץ (Deut. 31:28)
הָאֶבֶן ...
3
votes
1answer
38 views
מֵאַבְנֵי (Gen. 28:11) and הָאֶבֶן (Gen. 28:18)
Do any commentaries mention a reason for the plural "stones" in Gen. 28:11 and the singular "stone" in Gen. 28:18?
In Gen. 28:11, it says that Ya'akov took "of the stones" (מֵאַבְנֵי) and put them ...
4
votes
6answers
81 views
Wording in Torah when Moshe is commanded to appear before pharoh
This shabbos, the parasha, Bo, starts with Moshe being told to "Bo El Paroh", "Come to Pharaoh". I don't understand this wording, should it have said "Lech El Paroh", "go to Pharaoh"? Is there a ...
3
votes
0answers
47 views
Understanding the servants' hard/soft hearts
In Parshas Bo (10:1) we read that God hardened the hearts of Pharaoh's servants - כִּי אֲנִי הִכְבַּדְתִּי אֶת לִבּוֹ וְאֶת לֵב עֲבָדָיו. The Ohr HaChaim explains that this is so that the servants ...
2
votes
2answers
98 views
Yosef “stretched his height” to conceal Rachel?
Rashi on Bereshit 33:7 relates that, when Yaakov's family presented themselves to Eisav, the mothers drew near before the sons, but in Rachel’s case, Yosef preceded her .
...He said, “My mother ...
3
votes
2answers
68 views
Did Hashem command Aharon to strike the water to bring the plague of Blood?
Shemot 7:19 states:
The Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch forth your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers,
over their canals, over their ponds, and over ...
5
votes
1answer
45 views
Why does Moshe tell Hashem that he is 'heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue' - twice?
Shemot 4:10-15 is a dialogue between Hashem and Moshe where Moshe tells Hashem that he is 'heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue'.
In pssukim 14-15 Hashem tells Moshe that he will tell Aharon what to ...
6
votes
3answers
101 views
Ya'akov's brief amnesia
In Parashas Vayechi, Ya'akov calls for his sons to gather so that he can tell them about what shall befall them at the end of days. Gen. 49:1. He never gets to that, however, because, according to ...
9
votes
1answer
97 views
Didn’t the Ishmaelites know they were buying their second cousin?
In studying bereishis I have come up with questions about Joseph and his brothers that have long bothered me. One question is in parsha vayeshev, where we read how Joseph was sold by his brothers to ...
4
votes
0answers
43 views
Why does the Torah repeat the story of Efron HaChiti many times?
The story of Avraham buying the cave of Machpelah is principly mentioned in Parshat Chayei Sarah Bereshit 23:3-20.
If so, why does the Torah stress again and again that Avraham bought the cave from ...
2
votes
2answers
111 views
Why did David HaMelech tell Shlomo to punish Shimei Ben Geira?
Melachim I 2:8-9 reads
And, behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went
to Mahanaim, and he came down ...
3
votes
1answer
57 views
How did the 2 spies which Yehoshua sent have authority to save Rachav and family
Devarim 20:16 reads:
טז. רַק מֵעָרֵי הָעַמִּים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ
נַחֲלָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה כָּל נְשָׁמָה׃
However, of these peoples' cities, which the Lord, your God, ...
