JTS Torah Commentary

Behar-Behukkotai

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: ² Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:

When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord.

Hukkat-Balak

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ² This is the ritual law that the Lord has commanded:

Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.

Mattot-Masei

Jan 1, 1980

³ If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips.

Nitzavim-Vayeilekh

Jan 1, 1980

⁹ You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God — your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, ¹⁰ your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer — ¹¹ to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; ¹² to the end that He may establish you this day as His people and be your God, as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Balak

Jan 1, 1980

² Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

Balak

Jan 1, 1980

⁶ The remnant of Jacob shall be,
In the midst of the many peoples,
Like dew from the Lord,
Like droplets on grass–
Which do not look to any man
Nor place their hope in mortals.

Hukkat

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ² This is the ritual law that the Lord has commanded:

Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.

Hukkat

Jan 1, 1980

¹ Jephthah the Gileadite was an able warrior, who was the son of a prostitute. Jephthah’s father was Gilead; ² but Gilead also had sons by his wife, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out.

Korah

Jan 1, 1980

1 Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth — descendants of Reuben — 2 to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute.

Korah

Jan 1, 1980

¹⁴ Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there inaugurate the monarchy.”

Shelah Lekha

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.”

Shelah Lekha

Jan 1, 1980

¹ Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, reconnoiter the region of Jericho.” So they set out, and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.

Beha’alotekha

Jan 1, 1980

14 Shout for joy, Fair Zion! For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst–declares the Lord.

Aharei Mot

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ² Further, O mortal, arraign, arraign the city of bloodshed; declare to her all her abhorrent deeds!

Re’eh

Jan 1, 1980

²⁶ See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: ²⁷ blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; ²⁸ and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced.

Re’eh

Jan 1, 1980

¹¹ Unhappy, storm-tossed one, uncomforted!
I will lay carbuncles as your building stones
And make your foundations of sapphires.

Eikev

Jan 1, 1980

¹² And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that He made on oath with your fathers: ¹³ He will favor you and bless you and multiply you; He will bless the issue of your womb and the produce of your soil, your new grain and wine and oil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock, in the land that He swore to your fathers to assign to you.

Eikev

Jan 1, 1980

¹⁴ Zion says,
“The Lord has forsaken me,
My Lord has forgotten me.”

Va’et-hannan

Jan 1, 1980

²³ I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ²⁴ “O Lord God, You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness and Your mighty hand, You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal!

Va’et-hannan

Jan 1, 1980

¹ Comfort, oh comfort My people,
Says your God.