And He called out to Moses and the LORD spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them...bring forward to the LORD an offering...Why begin the verse with a pronoun - He - and only use God's name later? The Ohr HaHayim explains that God does not only call
To accommodate the calendar, some years we join two parshiot together and this week's reading of Vayakhel-Pekudei is just such an example. When doing so, we still have the seven basic aliyot - call ups to the Torah. However, the fourth aliyah must encompass the end of the first parasha and the beginning of the
"When you count heads for the Israelites according to their numbers, every man shall give ransom for his life to the LORD when they are counted...When a person counts their possessions, they are tempted to trust their own power and strength. Therefore, explains ShaDaL, God instructed the people to combine the census with a donation
Mordecai learned [of the plot to kill King Ahaseuerus] and told it to Queen Esther, and Esther reported it to the king in Mordecai's name. Based on this, the Talmud teaches: One who says something in the name of someone else, brings redemption to the world. God is the true source of all redemption, great and small. When
God shall meet with you there...from above the covering between the two cherubim that are on top of the Ark...There is a debate whether the ark's cover was part of the ark or not. This reflects two views of God's presence among the Jewish people, explains the Lubavitcher Rebbe. One view argues that God's presence
