Long live the King! is more than an expression of loyalty, it’s a blessing that each king desperately needs. Prophets outlived kings, explains the Talmud, because power and authority “buries its bearers.” When one is above the people, one’s time on earth is cut short, so says Rashi. Hizkuni find this idea in this week’s

Tithes must be given yearly – they cannot be paid in advance and one is not allowed to fall in arrears, and pay them back next year. This is learned from the repetition of the word “tithe” in the verse Tithe, you shall tithe, all the yield of your seed that comes out in the

And God afflicted you and made you hunger and fed you the manna…The manna was food from the heavens, spiritual food. The body hungers for physical food and the soul hungers for spiritual food.  Sometimes, when we forget this truth, affliction comes our way and it jolts us into remembering our soul and how hungry

Moshe prayed to God to enter the land of Israel, yet God responded harshly to him: And the LORD said to me, ‘You have enough! Do not speak more to Me of this matter (Devarim 3:26). Why the severe tone? The Midrash points out that God mirrored the words Moshe used when he rebuffed Korah