"And Moses assembled all the community of Israelites and said to them..." Countless times Moses assembled the people, so why stress it this time? The Ohr HaHayim explains that at the end of last parasha Moses' face became "terrifyingly luminous" and the people became afraid to draw near him. To counter their fear, Moses gathered
The Talmud teaches that one who is appeased by his own wine has the mind-set of his creator. R. Eliezer Papo connects this teaching to our Parasha where after the golden calf, Hashem "allows Himself" to be talked out of destroying the people: And the LORD relented from the evil that He had spoken to do to His people. R. Papo
The High Priest wore the names of the twelve tribes in two locations: on his priestly breastplate and on his shoulders. The Ishbitzer draws a connection between these two locations: if you want to "carry" people on your shoulders, you need to find room for them in your heart. Furthermore, on one shoulder-stone six of
In the desert, God manifested in a column of cloud and pillar of light and constantly traveled ahead of the people: The column of cloud would not budge by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. At some point in the journey, God tells Israel: Open for me, my sister
