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Tag Archives: Rashi
Father Favors (Vayigash)
Preview: Why were the kohanim granted special exemptions from Yosef’s redistribution regime? Might it be because his own father-in-law was a kohen? And might the parallels between Yosef’s role dispensing bread rations as viceroy, and his earlier experience serving in Potiphar’s house, also be relevant in this regard?
Where the Chips Fall (Nitzavim)
Preview: Rashi identifies the “wood choppers” in this week’s parshah as the Giveonites from sefer Yehoshua. What’s the deeper meaning behind this connection – and how does the law of the accidental murderer, which also features a “wood chopper,” illuminate this connection?
Why Envy? (Korach)
Preview: Rashi claims that Datan and Aviram where the men who collected excess mann earlier in the Torah. What is motivating this claim? A series of pointed textual parallels, it seems – and deep insight into the nature of envy.
Bread and Curses (Shelach)
Preview: On the relationship between three stories (mann-collecter, wood-gatherer, blasphemer) and three laws (Shabbat, challah, lechem ha-panim) – and how the theme of “redistributive justice” may be the key to understanding their literary connection.
The Matchmakers (Vayakhel)
Preview: There’s a strange midrash about the nesi’im underestimating how much b’nei Yisrael would donate to the mishkan. To understand it, we must look to the last episode where the nesi’im appeared: in the story of the mann, where they criticized the nation for gathering to excess.
Seeing Stars (Ki Tissa)
Preview: Rashi, citing the midrash, claims that Pharaoh foresaw the incident of the Golden Calf during the plague of locusts. Underlying that claim are a series of remarkable textual parallels between the two incidents: locusts and Golden Calf. What are they, and what do they mean?
Digging Deeper (Toldot)
Preview: Almost word-for-word, the blessing Yitzchak receives before moving to Gerar is the blessing his father received following akedat Yitzchak. Some thoughts on how that blessing materialized during Yitzchak’s stay with Avimelech – and how the literary legacy of the akedah illustrates that true sacrifice never really ends.
The Split-Screen Scene (Vaetchanan)
Preview: “And I prayed to God at that time”: when, exactly, did this prayer occur? If you trace the chronology carefully, you’ll come to a startling conclusion: Moshe’s prayer coincided with Bilaam’s! There are indeed some remarkable parallels between their prayers – and a profound message underlying their connection.
From Within a Cloud (Mishpatim)
Preview: At the burning bush, Hashem promised Moses that after the exodus, he and the people would “worship Me on this mountain.” When exactly was this prophesy fulfilled? There’s actually quite a few interpretive possibilities, and realizing this may help us explain the confusing and disjointed way in which the Torah presents what happened at Sinai.