Questions tagged [parshanut-torah-comment]
interpretation of parts of Tanach by close reading, not derivation
1,548
questions
3
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2answers
80 views
If צחק refers to the 3 worst misdeeds why Itzchak was called so?
On the Posuk: "וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת־בֶּן־הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית אֲשֶׁר־יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם מְצַחֵק׃" Rashi (Gen 21.9) explains the meaning of the root צחק:
מצחק: לְשׁוֹן עֲ"זָ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ...
4
votes
1answer
34 views
Why does the Artscroll commentary to Vayeira mention Ishmael?
The Artscroll commentary to the first pasuk of Vayeira says that Abraham pressed Ishmael into service to teach him about hospitality. From whence this comment about Ishmael?
3
votes
2answers
84 views
Why didn't our forefathers build a Temple?
Following my previous question "why-did-our-forefathers-live-in-tents-in-israel-and-not-in-houses":
The concept of a Temple is not new, Yaakov already called the place "בית אלהים". However, as we can ...
5
votes
0answers
29 views
Why did our forefathers live in tents in Israel and not in houses?
It appears that there's a clear trend of our forefathers, Avraham, Tzhak, and Jacob, to dwell in tents in the Holy Land, wandering from one place to another, instead of settling down, taking hold of ...
5
votes
0answers
57 views
How should Rashi's comment about Noah's belief be parsed?
Rashi in his commentary to Genesis 7:7 writes:
אף נח מקטני אמנה היה מאמין ואינו מאמין שיבא המבול ולא נכנס לתיבה עד שדחקוהו המים
I see (at least) two ways to read this:
Noah believed in general (...
3
votes
0answers
39 views
Why does Rashi say Avraham thought the angels were wayfarers?
Rashi on Breishis 18:16
And the men arose from there, and they looked upon Sodom, and Abraham went with them to escort them,
says
to escort them: Heb. לְשַׁלְּחָם, to escort them. He thought ...
0
votes
1answer
112 views
Lot's Reason for Marriage
Based on the fact that Lot was such a giving person (Bereishis 19:2) that he was willing to risk his life for kindliness
וַיִּפְצַר־בָּם מְאֹד וַיָּסֻרוּ אֵלָיו וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ
וַיַּעַשׂ ...
4
votes
1answer
90 views
What is the significance and/or purpose to the different ways the Commandment on covetousness is given?
The last of the Ten Commandments spoken from Mount Sinai is about covetousness:
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his ...
1
vote
0answers
25 views
What is the source for the omnisignificance of Torah [duplicate]
In his book, The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History professor James Kugel discusses the idea that each and every word (letter?) in the Torah posses significant meaning (pp. 104-105), ...
4
votes
2answers
76 views
Why is Sarah faulting Avraham for impregnating Hagar?
Breishit 16:5:
וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל־אַבְרָם: חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ, אָנֹכִי נָתַתִּי שִׁפְחָתִי בְּחֵיקֶךָ וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וָאֵקַל בְּעֵינֶיהָ. יִשְׁפֹּט ה' בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶיךָ׃
And Sarai said ...
2
votes
2answers
114 views
What was G-d's problem with building the Babel Tower? [duplicate]
In the story of the Babel Tower (Gen 11) people are trying to build a tower to the skies. I assume they followed the assumption that the firmament is real (firm) and it divides between the Heavens and ...
0
votes
1answer
50 views
What did G-d mean by “nothing will be out of their reach”?
וַיֹּאמֶר ה' הֵן עַם אֶחָד וְשָׂפָה אַחַת לְכֻלָּם וְזֶה הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת
וְעַתָּה לֹא־יִבָּצֵר מֵהֶם כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יָזְמוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת׃
and the LORD said, “If, as one people with one language ...
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votes
2answers
81 views
Doesn't the idea of the Tower of Babel prove the Flat Earth approach?
IIRC, the idea was to reach the skies, pass (somehow) the firmament and fight G-d above. That is only possible if G-d is right above the Earth, which suggests the Flat Earth worldview.
If they knew ...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
Why did animals need to eat/be fed for a year in the Ark?
Why did animals need to eat/be fed for a year in the Ark?
"Oh, because they need to eat", you'd say, but really the Mabul was one big miracle, overriding all laws of nature - physics, geology, ...
0
votes
1answer
106 views
What percentage of the humanity must sin to cause G-d to wipe them all?
In the story of the Mabul, the Torah's description of the overall disorder is very vague - "The Earth was corrupted and filled with Hamas".
THe outcome is clear - the whole of humanity was judged. ...
-3
votes
0answers
37 views
Why Gemmorah's conclusion on the real cause of the Mabul, contradicts the open Torah?
I am confused by the contradiction between the open text of the Torah describing the happenings and its interpretations.
The text says:
they (some) sinned with adultery and then G-d decides to wipe ...
1
vote
0answers
19 views
Doubling the reason for the flood in the Torah
At the end of Parashat Bereishit (6,7) the Torah repeats two very similar statements twice - in a form of "ABAB" instead of "AABB":
Aוַיִּרְא֤וּ בְנֵי־הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ ...וַיִּקְח֤וּ לָהֶם֙ נָשִׁ֔ים ...
1
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0answers
66 views
What does “the tree of life” mean when G-d decides on life solely?
My question is maybe an elaboration on this question "How does the tree of life work?:
The Gemmorah says that G-d decides exclusively on a person’s lifespan. But the Torah says that G-d Himself is ...
1
vote
1answer
78 views
Were asexual animals gathered into the ark?
Breishit 6:19 says (quoting Sefaria):
וּמִכָּל־הָ֠חַי מִֽכָּל־בָּשָׂ֞ר שְׁנַ֧יִם מִכֹּ֛ל תָּבִ֥יא
אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֖ה לְהַחֲיֹ֣ת אִתָּ֑ךְ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה יִֽהְיֽוּ׃
And of all that lives, of all ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Why was the commandment on eating the fruit said in single?
The Torah says that G-d created "them":
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם ... זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם׃
And God created man ... male and female He created them.
Later He blesses them:
...
0
votes
2answers
43 views
Why does the Man need a Brachah to multiply?
According to Rashi (Ber 1.20), animals needed a blessing to multiply because humans hunt and exterminate them.
Why do humans need a Bracha to multiply?
1
vote
1answer
27 views
Redundancy in the commandment to multiply
וְאַתֶּם פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ שִׁרְצוּ בָאָרֶץ וּרְבוּ־בָהּ׃
Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.” (Ber 9)
Why the repetition of רבו - increase?
0
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0answers
37 views
How did animals get their soul?
We know that in the process of the creation of Man, his body was shaped from the earth but his soul (נשמה) was blown by G-d.
Animals, IIRC, appeared from the earth and from the water already with ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
Torah confusion between “daylight” and “a day”
The Torah uses the same word יום in the same verse to denote both "daylight" and "24 hours":
וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה
וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד׃
...
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votes
1answer
44 views
Importance of “Days” in the process of Creation
Why is it important that the Creation process is divided into 6 "days", as opposed to "parts" or "stages" or even presented in simple succession without mentioning "units"?
-5
votes
1answer
43 views
Theological importance of the Noah's flood
The story of the flood spans roughly three chapters of the Torah, yet it has no practical Halachic value. It describes numerous miraculous events that have no relation to the Jewish people and ...
3
votes
0answers
66 views
Are there different types of fasts from a Torah/halacha perspective?
Generally speaking, when people think about fasting in terms of Torah, they are thinking about the type of fasting associated to the 9th of Av or Yom Kippur, meaning neither eating nor drinking. This ...
0
votes
1answer
32 views
What does it mean that G-d calls names to things?
In the process of Creation G-d eventually calls names of different things:
וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה ...׃
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called ...
-3
votes
1answer
47 views
What does it mean “a man leaves his father and mother”?
Please help me understand the meaning of this phrase (Gen 2.24:
עַל־כֵּן יַעֲזָב־אִישׁ אֶת־אָבִיו וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד׃
Hence a man leaves his father and ...
0
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0answers
47 views
Why should G-d correct His Creation as He goes?
THe Torah and the commentaries clearly suggest in several places that G-d corrected His Creation while still in the process:
וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר ...
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0answers
32 views
How could Adam seek for a spouse in animals?
The other question "did-adam-have-intercourse-with-animals" asks about the fact of the physical intercourse, but I don't care what kind of connection there was.
The Torah clearly states that all ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
Was Adam aware of his other part before separation?
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹקים אֶת־הָאָדָם ... זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם׃
And God created man in His image, ... male and female He created them. (Gen 1.27)
Rashi brings Midrashim:
But according to a ...
7
votes
2answers
81 views
Why so much genealogical detail in Bereshit?
I'm looking for reasons (Pshat, but not only) in giving so much detail in Bereshit regarding the sons of Adam, Kain, and so on. Some of the characters born and die, and have no clear role, at least in ...
6
votes
1answer
50 views
Why did Da'as Zekeinim leave out the mitzvah to procreate?
Da'as Zekeinim (compilations of teachings from the Ba'alei Tosafos) to Genesis 1:1 ask a question on one of the first comments of Rashi:
ועוד פרש"י א"ר יצחק לא היה צריך להתחיל התורה וכו', וקשה שהרי ...
-3
votes
2answers
93 views
Why does a contradiction need to be resolved?
Human psychological nature allows for intrinsic contradictions between one's beliefs. For example, "I love Daddy the most" vs "I love Mammy the most", or "Shabbos is G-d's greatest gift to the Jews", "...
3
votes
1answer
51 views
Reference to future Kings of Edomites in Breishit 36:31
I have been looking for an authentic Jewish approach to the question of the unique instance of the highly specific future reference in Breishit 36:31:
ואלה המלכים אשר מלכו בארץ אדום לפני מלך־מלך ...
-1
votes
0answers
22 views
How Moses' Brachot correlate to those of Yaakov's?
I don't really understand the essence of a Brocho and the ways it works, and that's why I'm asking those questions.
How did the Brochos of Moses to the tribes (Deut. 33:6-25) correlate to those that ...
0
votes
0answers
21 views
Ramifications of lack of Brachah for the tribe of Shimon
I have a hard time understanding Moses' Brochos to the tribes and how it correlates to the actual course of history. As I can see, the interpreters felt the same problem and tried to pick single ...
-3
votes
0answers
37 views
Why Moses' Brachot to the tribes were so different?
Yaakov was severely criticized for not treating his sons equally.
We say the same Brachah on Shabbos for all of our kids
Moses (in Deut 33), however, has a different approach to the final blessing ...
5
votes
1answer
107 views
Why is only the iniquity (עון) of the parents passed on to the children?
In Exodus 34:6-7 it is written
וַיַּעֲבֹר יְהוָה עַל־פָּנָיו וַיִּקְרָא יְהוָה יְהוָה אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת: נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים נֹשֵׂא עָוֺן וָפֶשַׁע ...
0
votes
1answer
54 views
Meaning of “Don't deviate from the verdict to the right or to the left”
Wile completely understood metaphorically, the sentence makes no sense Halachically, for example:
"You should pay this man $20, but don't deviate to the right or to the left."
"This tool is Tamei, ...
0
votes
2answers
85 views
Why didn't the Egyptian people react violently to the Plagues?
The Egyptian people surely knew that the Jewish people were immune to the plagues and many must have suspected that all these catastrophes were happening to them on our account (either through Moshe's ...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
Slavery, an apparent contradiction?
In the Exodus, G-d hears the suffering of Israel as follows:
“The Israelites were groaning under the bonding and cried out, and their cry for help from the bondage rose to G-d” (Exod 2:23); “I will ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
Why does G-d carry out all the curses by Himself?
In Parashat Ki Tavo (28:15-on) Moses threatens the Nation with very descriptive curses. It starts from a distance:
'וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל־הַקְּלָלוֹת הָאֵלֶּה וְהִשִּׂיגוּךָ׃ אָרוּר אַתָּה וכו
One ...
4
votes
0answers
70 views
Does Devarim 30:4 hint at space travel possibility?
Devarim 30:4 says "Even if your exiles are at the end of the heavens, the Lord, your God, will gather you from there, and He will take you from there."
Why does it use the expression "בִּקְצֵ֣ה ...
2
votes
1answer
41 views
Why is Moshe's version of the tochacha longer than God's?
The version of the tochacha (warnings / "curses") in parshat Ki Tavo are much longer (i.e. occupy almost double as many verses) as the ones in parshat Bechukotai.
I am assuming that nearly all the ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
Why count the stars in the daytime? [closed]
It says in Lech Lecha that Hashem took Abraham outside and asked him to count the stars. And from the word "habet" we learn it was during the daytime.
Why would it be during the daytime when stars ...
0
votes
2answers
157 views
Shadal Gen.2,24.1
Please can anyone give me an English translation (does not exist) of Shadal Gen.2,24.1?
על כן יעזב איש: על כן אינו משמש אלא על מה שעבר ועל מה שהוא עתה, ולכן על העתיד, לפיכך אין אלה דברי אדם, אלא ...
5
votes
1answer
61 views
Why does the Torah have to explain why judges shouldn't take bribes?
The Torah says:
לֹא־תַטֶּ֣ה מִשְׁפָּ֔ט לֹ֥א תַכִּ֖יר פָּנִ֑ים וְלֹא־תִקַּ֣ח שֹׁ֔חַד כִּ֣י הַשֹּׁ֗חַד יְעַוֵּר֙ עֵינֵ֣י חֲכָמִ֔ים וִֽיסַלֵּ֖ף דִּבְרֵ֥י צַדִּיקִֽם׃
You shall not judge unfairly: ...
6
votes
1answer
93 views
What is the difference in meaning between a Pesucha and a Setuma?
Paragraphs in a Torah scroll are separated in two ways: "open" breaks (a “Pesucha," generally a gap to the end of the line) and "closed" breaks (a “Setumah,” generally a gap in the middle of the line)....
