Deuteronomy 29:28 HAN’NIS’TA’ROT LA’YHVH ELOHEINU VE’HAN’NIG’LOT LANU UL’VA’NEI’NU AD-OLAM LA’A’SOT ET-KOL-DIVREI HAT’TORA HAZ’ZOT “The hidden things belong to ADONAI OUR GOD but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever in order to perform all the words of this Torah.” The footnote on this text in the...
FI Y5 WK 50 P. KI TAVO (When you have come in) THE WORD AND THE VOICE: THE BOND
Deuteronomy 26:17 (in context) ET-YHVH HE’EH’MAR’TA HA’YOM LI’HI’OT LE’CHA LEI’LO’HIM VE’LA’LE’CHET BID’RA’CHAIV VE’LISH’MOR CHUK’KAIV U’MITZ’VO’TAV U’MISH’PATAV U’LISH’MA BE’KOL’O You have avouched the LORD this day to be your God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken to...
FI Y5 WK 49 P. KI TEITZEI FIVE ETHICAL CASES IN CHAPTER 22: 1-12
Rabbi Chaim Eisen graced our fellowship in February of 2023 with teachings and interactions that were lovely. Among the many things he enumerated was that the high spirituality of our faith must be concretized—made practical in the tangible world; otherwise, we tend to fall into a fluidity of belief that...
FI Y5 WK 48 P. SHOFTIM (Judges) THE CURSED TREE, THE BLESSED TREE
Deuteronomy 16:21 LO-TIT’TA L’CHA A’SHER’AH KOL-EYTZ EYTZEL MIZ’BACH YHVH ELOHEICHA ASHER TA’ASEH-L’CHA You shall not plant for yourself an idolatrous Asherah tree—any grove of (ritual) trees—near the altar of ADONAI your God, which you shall make for yourself. The Bible begins with a cursed tree and a blessed tree,...
FI Y5 WK 47 P. RE’EH (SEE!) THE WHOLE WORD AND REVELATION OF GOD IN MESSIAH
Deuteronomy 13:1 (Christian citation: Deuteronomy 12:32) EYT KOL-HA’DA’VAR ASHER ANOCHI ME’TZA’VEH ET’CHEM OT’TO TISH’ME’RU LA’ASOT LO-TO’SEIF A’LAIV VE’LO TIG’RA MIM’MENU [STONE translation]: “The entire word that I command you, that shall you observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it.” [OWENS translation]:...
FI Y5 WK 46 P. EIKEV – THE WARNING TO REMEMBER THE LORD DURING TIMES OF PROSPERITY
Moses has just reminded the people that God delivered their fathers and some of them personally and the rest who were born in the wilderness after the crossing of the Red Sea from bondage to Pharoah in Egypt. He has exhorted them to be obedient to the commands of the...
FI Y5 WK 45 P. VA’ETCHANAN (I implored) THE VALLEY WHERE MOSES’ JOURNEY ENDED
Deuteronomy 3:29 VA’NEI’SHEV BA’GEI’EE MOOL BEIT PEOR So we abode in the valley opposite Beth-Peor GEI’EE is a valley with high walls. Peor is a mountain on the east of Jordan, the place where Balaam sought to curse Israel but God would not permit it. There was a pagan...
FI Y5 WK 44 P. DEVARIM (WORDS) “THE WORDS THAT MOSES SPOKE”—THE BEGINNING OF THE BIBLICAL FUNCTION OF PROPHECY (AS SUCH) IN THE BIBLE
Deuteronomy 1:1a EI’LEH HAD’DE’VARIM ASHER DI’BER MO’SHE EL-KOL-YISRAEL BE’EY’VER HA’YAR’DEIN These are the words which Moses spoke to All Israel on this side Jordan BAM’MID’BAR in the wilderness The commentary in the STONE Tanakh that introduces the Book of Deuteronomy emphasizes the unique character of this book versus the...
FI Y5 WK 42 P.MATTOS (TRIBES) THE VENGEANCE OF GOD ON MIDIAN AND THE PURIFYING OF THE MEN OF WAR AFTERWARD
You would think that a total victory was a matter of rejoicing; but Moses was angry with the victorious warriors of the attack on Midian because they did not go far enough—they let the women who could have sexual relations with men live—part of the booty of war. The...
FI Y5 WK 41 P. PINCHAS (Phinehas) THE MINISTRY OF VENGEANCE
Numbers 25:10-13 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy....