Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle)

 

 

Candle Lighting and Habdalah Times: https://www.chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.htm

 

Roll of Honor:

 

This Commentary comes out weekly and on the festivals thanks to the great generosity of:

His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David and beloved wife HH Giberet Batsheva bat Sarah

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His Honor Paqid Adon David ben Abraham

His Honor Paqid Adon Ezra ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Karmela bat Sarah,

His Honor Paqid Adon Tzuriel ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Gibora bat Sarah

Her Excellency Giberet Sarai bat Sarah & beloved family

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Her Excellency Giberet Prof. Dr. Emunah bat Sarah & beloved family

His Excellency Adon Robert Dick & beloved wife HE Giberet Cobena Dick

His Excellency Adon Ovadya ben Abraham and beloved wife HE Giberet Mirit bat Sarah

His Excellency Adon Shlomoh ben Abraham

His Excellency Adon Ya’aqob ben David

His Excellency Adon Bill Haynes and beloved wife HE Giberet Diane Haynes

Her Excellency Giberet Krysta Wallrauch & beloved family

 

For their regular and sacrificial giving, providing the best oil for the lamps, we pray that GOD’s richest blessings be upon their lives and those of their loved ones, together with all Yisrael and her Torah Scholars, amen ve amen!

 

Also, a great thank you and great blessings be upon all who send comments to the list about the contents and commentary of the weekly Torah Seder and allied topics.

 

 

Blessings Before Torah Study

 

Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us through Your commandments, and commanded us to actively study Torah. Amen!

 

Please Ha-Shem, our GOD, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and our offspring's offspring, and all the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your delight. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Amen!

 

Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations, and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!

 

Ha-Shem spoke to Moses, explaining a Commandment. "Speak to Aaron and his sons and teach them the following Commandment: This is how you should bless the Children of Israel. Say to the Children of Israel:

 

May Ha-Shem bless you and keep watch over you; - Amen!

May Ha-Shem make His Presence enlighten you, and may He be kind to you; - Amen!

May Ha-Shem bestow favor on you and grant you peace. – Amen!

 

This way, the priests will link My Name with the Israelites, and I will bless them."

 

These are the Laws for which the Torah did not mandate specific amounts: How much growing produce must be left in the corner of the field for the poor; how much of the first fruits must be offered at the Holy Temple; how much one must bring as an offering when one visits the Holy Temple three times a year; how much one must do when performing acts of kindness; and there is no maximum amount of Torah that a person must study.

 

These are the Laws whose benefits a person can often enjoy even in this world, even though the primary reward is in the Next World: They are: Honoring one's father and mother; doing acts of kindness; early attendance at the place of Torah study -- morning and night; showing hospitality to guests; visiting the sick; providing for the financial needs of a bride; escorting the dead; being very engrossed in prayer; bringing peace between two people, and between husband and wife; but the study of Torah is as great as all of them together. Amen!

 

A Prayer for Israel

 

Our Father in Heaven, Rock, and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness.

 

Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.” Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.

 

We pray for his Eminence Hillel ben David. Mi Sheberach…He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, may He bless and heal his Eminence Hillel ben David, May the Holy One, Blessed is He, be filled with compassion for him to restore his health, to heal him, to strengthen him, and to revivify him. And may He send him speedily a complete recovery from heaven, among the other sick people of Yisrael, a recovery of the body and a recovery of the spirit, swiftly and soon, and we will say amen ve amen!

 

We pray for his Honor Adon Tzuriel ben Avraham. Mi Sheberach…He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, may He bless and heal His Honor Paqid Tzuriel ben Avraham, May the Holy One, Blessed is He, be filled with compassion for him to restore his health, to heal him, to strengthen him, and to revivify him. And may He send him speedily a complete recovery from heaven, among the other sick people of Yisrael, a recovery of the body and a recovery of the spirit, swiftly and soon, and we will say amen ve amen!

 

Shabbat: “VayaVou Sh’nei HaMal’akhim” “And came the two angels”

1st Sabbath of Penitence

 

 

Contents of the Torah Seder

 

·        The Angels, Sodom, and Lot – Genesis 19:1-38

 

Reading Assignment:

 

 

 

JPS & Targum Pseudo Jonathan for: Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-38

 

 

Rashi’s Commentary for Bereshit (Genesis) 19:‎1-38

 

1 the...angels But elsewhere (18:2) Scripture calls them men! When the Shechinah was with them, it calls them men. Another explanation: In connection with Abraham, whose power was great, and the angels were as frequently with him as men, it calls them men, but in connection with Lot, it calls them angels. - [from Gen. Rabbah 52; Tan. Buber, Vayera 20]

 

in the evening Now did the angels tarry so long from Hebron to Sodom? But they were angels of mercy, and they were waiting, perhaps Abraham would succeed in his defense for them [the cities]. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50: 1]

 

and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom [The word יֽשֵׁב is written without a “vav” so that it can be read יָשַׁב “he sat,” in the past tense]. On that very day, they had appointed him judge over them. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:3]

 

and Lot saw From Abraham’s house he learned to look for wayfarers. - [from Tan. Buber, Vayera 15]

 

2 Behold now, my lords -” Behold you are now lords to me since you have passed beside me.” Another explanation: “Behold now you must pay heed to these wicked men, that they should not recognize you,” and this is sound advice.

 

please turn Take a circuitous path to my house, in a roundabout way, that they should not recognize that you are entering there. That is why it says: “turn.” (Gen. Rabbah 50:4).

 

and stay overnight and wash your feet Now is it customary for people to first stay overnight and afterwards to wash? Moreover, Abraham said to them first, “and wash your feet!” But so did Lot say (i.e., he reasoned), “If, when the people of Sodom come, they will see that they have already washed their feet, they will invent false accusations against me and say, ‘Two or three days have already passed since they came to your house, and you did not let us know!’” Therefore, he said, “It is better that they remain here with the dust on their feet, so that they should appear as though they had just arrived now.” Therefore, he said, “Stay overnight” first and afterwards, “wash.”-[from Gen. Rabbah 50:4]

 

And they said, “No...” But to Abraham they said, “So shall you do...” From here [we learn] that one may refuse an offer by a person of lesser importance, but should not refuse an offer by a great man (Gen. Rabbah 50:4).

 

but we will stay overnight in the street Heb. כִּי . This כִּי is used to mean “but,” for they said, “We will not turn in to your house, but we will stay overnight in the street of the city.”

 

3 and they turned in to him They took a circuitous path toward his house. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:4]

 

and he baked unleavened cakes It was Passover.

 

4 When they had not yet retired, the people of the city, the people of Sodom It is interpreted in Gen. Rabbah (50:5) as follows: When they had not yet retired, the people of the city were the topic of conversation of the angels, for they were asking Lot about their character and their deeds, and he told them that most of them were wicked. While they were still speaking about them, “And the people of the city,” etc. The simple meaning of the verse, however, is: “and the people of the city, people of wickedness, surrounded the house.” Because they were wicked, they are called people of Sodom, as Scripture states (above 13:13): “And the people of Sodom were very evil and sinful...”

 

the entire populace from every end From one end of the city to the other, for not one of them protested, because there was not even one righteous man among them. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:5]

 

5 and let us be intimate with them homosexually, as in (verse 8): “who were not intimate with a man.”- [from Gen. Rabbah 55:5]

 

8 these Heb. הָאֵל , like הָאֵלָה [from Targumim]

 

because they have come Heb. כִּי עַל כֵּן . Do this favor in my honor because they have come into the shade of my roof [lit. my beam]. The Targum renders: בִּטְלֵל שָׁרִיתִי in the shade of my beam. The Targum of קוֹרָה , beam, is שָׁרוּתָה.

 

9 But they said, “Back away.” Heb. הָלְאָה גֶשׁ , “Get yourself away over there”; i.e., “Draw near to the sides and distance yourself from us.” And similarly, every [instance of] הָלְאָה in Scripture is an expression of distancing, as in (Num. 17:2): “Scatter away (הָלְאָה) ”; (I Sam. 20:22, 37): “Behold the arrows are beyond you (וָהָלְאָה) .” Thus, גָשׁ הָלְאָה , means: “Back away,” in Old French: trete de nos, go away from us. This is a word of rebuke, as if to say. “We don’t care about you,” and similar to it is (Isa. 65:5): “Keep (קְרַב) to yourself; do not come near me”; and so (ibid. 49:20): “Move aside (גְָּשָׁה) so that I may dwell,” meaning, “Draw aside for my sake so that I will dwell beside you.” [The Sodomites were saying as follows]: “You intercede for the wayfarers? How dare you?!” In response to what he said to them about his daughters, they said to him, “Go away,” a mild expression, but in response to what he said in defense of the wayfarers, they said, “This one has come to sojourn.” You are the only stranger among us, for you have come to sojourn here, “and he is judging,” [meaning] and you have become our chastiser!?

 

the door Heb. הַדֶלֶת . The door, which swings to lock and to open.

 

11 the entrance That is the space through which they enter and exit.

 

with blindness Heb. בַָּסַנְוֵרִים , a plague of blindness. - [from Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, ch. 25]

 

both small and great -(Gen. Rabbah 50:8) The young ones started to sin first, as it is said (above verse 4): “both young and old”; therefore, the punishment began with them.

 

12 Whom else do you have here? The simple meaning of the verse is: Whom else do you have in this city besides your wife and your daughters who are at home? -

 

A son-in-law, your sons, and your daughters If you have a son-in-law or sons and daughters, take them out of this place.

 

your sons The sons of your married daughters. According to the Midrash Aggadah (Gen. Rabbah 50:5) the interpretation of עֽד is: “Still, after they have committed such a disgraceful deed, do you still have an excuse to defend them?” For the whole night he [Lot] was speaking in their favor. This may be read: עֽד מִי לְךָ פֶּה : Do you still have a mouth? (i.e., Do you still have anything to say to justify them?)

 

14 his sons-in-law He had two married daughters in the city.

 

the suitors of his daughters to whom those in the house were betrothed. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:9]

 

15 pressed Heb. וַיָאִיצוּ , as the Targum renders: “and they pressed” [meaning] “they rushed him.”

 

who are here who are ready at hand in the house for you to save them. There is also a midrashic explanation, but this is the proper way to explain the verse.

 

perish You will be destroyed. [The verse] “until all the generation expires” (Deut. 2:14) is rendered by Targum as, “until the entire generation perished.”

 

16 But he tarried in order to save his possessions. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:11]

 

took hold Heb. וַיַחֲזִיקוּ [in the plural form] (Gen. Rabbah 50:11). One of them was an emissary to save him and his companion was to overturn Sodom; therefore, it is stated: “and he said: Flee...,” and it is not stated, “and they said.”

 

17 Flee for your life Let it suffice for you to save lives. Do not worry about possessions. - [from Tosefta Sanh. 14:1]

 

do not look behind you You dealt wickedly together with them, but in Abraham’s merit you are saved. You do not deserve to see their punishment while you are being saved. - [from obscure midrashic source]

 

in the entire plain the plain of the Jordan.

 

Flee to the mountain Flee to Abraham, who dwells on the mountain, as it is said (above 12:8): “And he moved from there to the mountain.” And even now, he was dwelling there, as it is said (above 13:3): “until the place where his tent had previously been.” And although it says (ibid. verse 18): “And Abram pitched his tents, etc.,” he had many tents, and they extended until Hebron.

 

Flee Heb. הִמָלֵט . An expression of slipping away, and so is every [instance of] הַמְלָטָה in Scripture, asmuzer in Old French, to escape, slip away. And so (Isa. 66:7): “She delivered (וְהִמְלִיטָה) a male child,” meaning that the fetus was released from the womb; (Ps. 124:7): “escaped (נִמְלְטָה) like a bird”; (Isa. 46:2): “they could not deliver (מַלֵט) the burden” i.e., to release the burden of the excrement in their orifices.

 

18 “Please do not, O Lord.” Our Sages said (Shev. 35b) that this name is holy (referring to God), because it is stated in its context (verse 19): “to sustain my soul,” referring to He Who has the power to cause to die and to cause to live. And the Targum [similarly] renders: Please now, my Lord.

 

Please, do not Do not tell me to flee to the mountain.

 

Please Heb. נָא , an expression of request.

 

19 lest the evil overtake me When I was among the people of Sodom, the Holy One, blessed be He, saw my deeds and the deeds of the people of the city, and I appeared righteous and worthy of being saved. But when I shall come alongside a righteous/generous man, I will be considered a wicked man. And so did the woman of Zarephath say to Elijah (I Kings 17:18): “Have you come to me to cause my sins to be remembered?” Before you came to me, the Holy One, blessed be He, would see my deeds and the deeds of my people, and I was a righteous/generous woman among them, but since you have come to me, compared to your deeds, I am wicked. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:11]

 

20 this city is near - (Shab. ch. 1, 10b) Its settlement is near [in time], meaning that it was recently settled. Therefore, its measure is not yet full. And how recently was it settled? From the Generation of the Dispersion, when the people commenced to disperse, and they started to settle, each one in his place, and that took place in the year of Peleg’s death. And from then until now, there were 52 years, for Peleg died when Abraham was 48 years old. How so? Peleg lived after he had begotten Reu, 209 years (above 11:19). Subtract from them 32 [years] when Serug was born, and 30 years from [the birth of] Serug until Nahor was born, totaling 62 years. And from [the birth of] Nahor until Terah was born were 29 years, totaling 91 years. And from then until Abraham was born were 70 years, totaling 161 years. Add 48 years to them, and the total is 209 years, and that was the year of the Dispersion. (See above 10:25). When Sodom was destroyed, Abraham was 99 years old. Hence, from the Generation of the Dispersion until now were 52 years. The settlement of Zoar took place after the settlement of Sodom and its companions by one year. That is the meaning of “Let me please (נָא) flee there.” נא has the numerical value of 51.

 

Is it not small? Are not its iniquities few? Therefore, you can leave it alone.

 

And my soul will survive therein. This is its midrashic interpretation. But the simple meaning is [as follows]: It is a small city with a small population. You do not have to care if you spare it and my soul survives therein. - [from Targum Onkelos]

 

21 also as regards this matter Not only will you be saved, but I will save the entire city for your sake.

 

that I will...overturn Heb. הָפְכִּי , I overturn, as (below 48:5): “until I come (בֽאִי) ”; (above 16:13): “after I have seen (רֽאִי) ”; (Jer. 31: 19): “whenever I speak (דַבְָּרִי) of him.”

 

22 Hasten, flee there, for I will not be able to do This is the angels’ punishment because they said (verse 13): “For we are destroying,” and they attributed the matter to themselves; therefore, they did not move from there until they were compelled to say that the matter was not in their power. - [based on Gen. Rabbah 50:9]

 

for I will not be able [This expression is] in the singular. From here you learn that one was to overturn [the cities] and one was to save [Lot and his family], because two angels are not sent for one mission. - [from Gen. Rabbah 50:2]

 

Therefore, he named the city Zoar Because of [the words] “and it is small” (מִצְעָר) .

 

24 And the Lord caused to rain down Wherever it is written: “And the Lord” it refers to God and His tribunal. - [from Gen. Rabbah 51:2]

 

caused to rain down upon Sodom At the rise of dawn, as it is stated (verse 15): “And as the dawn rose,” a time when the moon is in the sky with the sun. Since some of them worshipped the sun and some of them the moon, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “If I punish them by day, the moon worshippers will say, ‘Had it been at night, when the moon rules, we would not have been destroyed.’ And if I punish them at night, the sun worshippers will say, ‘Had it been by day, when the sun rules, we would not have been destroyed.’” Therefore, it is written: “And as the dawn rose”: He punished them at a time when the sun and the moon [both] rule. - [from Gen. Rabbah 60:12]

 

caused to rain down, etc., brimstone and fire- At first, it was rain, and it became brimstone and fire. - [from Mechilta Beshallach, Massechta d’Shiratha, ch. 5]

 

from the Lord It is customary for the Scriptural verses to speak in this manner, as in (above 4:23): “wives of Lemech,” and he did not say, “my wives.” And so did David say, (I Kings 1:33): “Take with you the servants of your lord,” and he did not say, “my servants”; and so, did Ahasuerus say (Esther 8:8): “in the name of the king,” and he did not say, “in my name.” Here too it states, “from the Lord,” and it does not state “from Him.”- [from Sanh. 38b]

 

from heaven This is what Scripture says (Job 36:31): “For He judges the nations therewith” [i.e., with the heavens]. When He comes to chastise mankind, He brings upon them fire from heaven, as He did to Sodom, and when He comes to let down the manna, [it is also] from heaven [as Scripture states] (Exod. 16:4): “Behold I am raining down to you bread from heaven.”- [from Tan. Buber, Beshalach 20]

 

25 And He turned over these cities, etc. The four of them were situated on one rock, and He turned them upside down, as it is said (Job 28:9): “He stretched forth His hand upon the flinty rock, etc.” [He turned it over from the root of the mountains.] - [from Gen. Rabbah 51:4]

 

26 And his wife looked from behind him from behind Lot. - [from Zohar, vol. 1, 108b]

 

and she became a pillar of salt She sinned with salt, and she was punished with salt. He said to her, “Give a little salt to these guests.” She replied, “Also this evil custom you wish to introduce into this place?”- [from Gen. Rabbah 50:4]

 

28 smoke Heb. קִיטוֹר a pillar of smoke, torche in Old French, column of fire (or smoke).

 

furnace An excavation in which stones are burned into lime. This is the meaning of כִּבְשָׁן wherever it appears in Scripture.

 

29 that God remembered Abraham What does the remembrance of Abraham have to do with Lot? He remembered that Lot knew that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, and that he had heard in Egypt that Abraham said about Sarah, “She is my sister,” yet he did not reveal the matter because he [Lot] had pity on him [Abraham]. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, had pity on him. - [from Gen. Rabbah 51:6]

 

30 for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar Because it was near Sodom. - [from Zohar, vol. 1, 109a]

 

31 Our father is old And if not now, when? Perhaps he will die or will no longer be able to beget children.

 

and there is no man on earth They thought that the entire world had been destroyed, as in the Generation of the Flood (Gen. Rabbah 51:8).

 

33 And they gave, etc., to drink Wine was made available to them in the cave to make it possible for two nations to emerge from them. - [from Sifrei Ekev 43]

 

and lay with her father But in the case of the younger, it says:” and she lay with him.” Since the younger one was not the initiator of the illicit relations, but rather her sister taught it to her, Scripture covers up for her and does not explicitly tell of her disgrace. But [concerning] the elder, who initiated the illicit relations, Scripture publicizes her explicitly (Tan. Buber, Balak 26). The word וּבְקוּמָה , mentioned in conjunction with the elder, is dotted (i.e., there is a dot over the second “vav”), to denote that when she arose, he did know, but nevertheless, he was not careful not to drink on the second night (Nazir 23a). (Said Rabbi Levi: Whoever is inflamed by the lust for illicit relations, will ultimately be made to eat his own flesh (i.e., to commit incest). - [from Gen. Rabbah 51:9] [This does not appear in all editions of Rashi.]

 

36 And... conceived Although a woman does not conceive from the first intercourse, these controlled themselves and took out their maidenhoods and conceived from the first intercourse. - [from Gen. Rabbah 51:9]

 

37 Moab This one, who was immodest, publicized that he was from her father מֵאָב) (מוֹאָב- , but the younger one named him euphemistically ( בֶן עַמִי the son of my people) and was rewarded in the time of Moses, for it is stated concerning the children of Ammon (Deut. 2:19): “You shall not involve yourself in strife with them” at all, but concerning Moab, He warned them only not to wage war with them, but He permitted them [the Israelites] to cause them pain. - [from Nazir 23b]

 

 

Psalms chapter 15 corresponds to Genesis 18 and 19 dealing with the life of Abraham according to the Midrash.

 

Ketubim: JPS & Targum Tehillim (Psalms) 15:1-5

 

 

Rashi’s Commentary on Tehillim (Psalms) 15:1-5

 

3 He did not slander with his tongue Ankuza in Old French, to accuse, as (in II Sam. 19:28) “And he slandered (וַיְרַגֵּל) your servant.” This Psalms is to inform us of the [proper] measure of piety.

 

and speaks truth in his heart The good that he says in his heart is true. He is not a hypocrite [lit. one in mouth and one in heart].

 

neither did he take up reproach Rapporta in Old French, to report.

 

upon his kinsman If his kinsman committed a transgression for which he was punishable, he would punish him with justice, and he did not bear upon himself his reproach, that the reproacher should have an excuse to say, “So-and-so, your relative, committed such-and-such a sin, and you covered up for him.”

 

4 A base person is despised in his eyes One who is base with his wickedness/Lawlessness is despised in the eyes of the righteous man, e.g., Hezekiah, who dragged his father’s remains in disgrace.

 

he swears to hurt himself.

 

and does not retract his oath. How much more does he not retract it if it concerns something that is not to his hurt!

 

5 nor did he accept a bribe, etc. against a poor man, to condemn him in judgment by judging perversely. Our Sages explained it further to mean that he would not accept a bribe to exonerate him in judgment, and he certainly will not take a bribe to pervert the judgment.

 

will not falter and he deserves to sojourn in Your tent.

 

will not falter forever If he falters, his faltering will not be permanent faltering, but he will falter and ascend.

Meditation on the Psalms

Tehillim (Psalms) 15:1-5

Hakham Dr. Hillel ben David

 

The superscription on this Psalms ascribes it to King David. This Psalms gives us eleven cardinal principles of observance which David stressed and taught.^[1] They are examples of ‘beyond the letter of the law’, i.e. service of G-d beyond the Torah’s minimum requirements. In order to instill in people a love for the law itself, they must be taught to go even beyond it with extra devotion and sacrifice. These principles are particularly appropriate for those who are near the ark. It is likely that David was thinking of Uzzah^[2] as he wrote this psalm.^[3] The Talmud comes and lists these eleven cardinal principles of observance for us.

 

Makkoth 24a David came and reduced them^[4] to eleven [principles],^[5] as it is written, A Psalms of David.^[6] Lord, who shall sojourn in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy mountain? —

1.      He that walketh uprightly, and

2.       worketh righteousness, and

3.       speaketh truth in his heart; that

4.      hath no slander upon his tongue,

5.      nor doeth evil to his fellow,

6.      nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor,

7.      in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but

8.      he honoureth them that fear the Lord,^[7]

9.      He sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not,

10.   He putteth not out his money on interest,

11.   nor taketh a bribe against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

 

All of these eleven items deal with man’s relationship with his fellow man and they also concern the earning and spending of money. From this we understand that David’s subjects were weak in the mitzvot which govern the relationships between men.

 

David’s subjects were weak in these eleven areas. As the Sages said, ‘The people of David’s generation were all righteous and observant. Yet, they would fall in battle because they harbored slanderers and tale-bearers. The people of King Achav’s generation were wicked idolaters, yet, because they had no slanderers and tale-bearers in their ranks, they entered battle and emerged victorious, with no casualties’.^[8]

 

Einei Yitzchak^[9] notes that the masses were corrupted by the example of depraved leaders. Doeg and Achitophel, two prominent personalities of that period, were vicious men who engaged in vile slander and wanton bloodshed.

 

Hirsch makes a final observation. This chapter of psalms opens with: ‘HaShem, who will reside in Your tent?’, implying that the topic of G-dly service will be discussed. But the Psalmist launches into a discussion of man’s obligations towards his fellow man. This proves that the person who aspires to come close to G-d cannot hope to do so until he has first made himself acceptable to his brethren.^[10]

 

The Talmud^[11] states that Rav Safra^[12] fulfilled King David’s words^[13] that one must speak truth even in one’s heart. Rashi relates the event through which Rav Safra earned this accolade. He had an item for sale and was approached by a potential buyer while he was reciting the Shema. Involved in his prayer and being unable to respond, Rav Safra seemed to be ignoring him. Thinking that the offer was too low, the buyer repeatedly raised his bid, only to be stonewalled again and again. After making his final exorbitant offer, which happened to coincide with the prayer’s end, Rav Safra nodded in agreement. The buyer began to count out the money only to be told that the price would be original amount offered. Rav Safra explained to this astounded buyer that in his heart he had agreed to the original offer. Accepting any more money than that would be dishonest. He spoke truth in his heart.

 

Avraham stressed the eleven principles that were enumerated by David, and he elucidated the taryag^[14] mitzvot through each of the four levels. This is all alluded in the Targum to v.33:

 

Targum Pseudo Jonathan for Bereshit 21:33 And he planted a garden, (lit., “a paradise” - PaRDeS) at the Well of the Seven Lambs, and prepared in the midst of it food and drink for them who passed by and who returned; and he preached to them there, Confess, and faithfully obey in the Name of the Word of the Lord, the everlasting G-d. [JERUSALEM. And Abraham planted a paradise in Beer Sheba, and prepared in the midst of it food and drink for those who arrived at the border; and they ate and drank, and sought to give him the price of what they had eaten and drunk, but he willed not to receive it from them; but our father Abraham discoursed to them of that which he had said, that the world was by His Word. Pray before your Father who is in heaven, from whose bounty you have eaten and drunk. And they stirred not from their place until the time when he had made them proselytes, and had taught them the way everlasting. And Abraham praised and prayed there in the name of the word of the Lord, the G-d of Eternity.]

 

Since all of these eleven items deal with the earning and spending of money, let’s look at Torah economics in greater detail.^[15]

 

Is money, like dollar bills or gold coins, spiritual or physical?

 

A good way to determine the answer to this question is to give it to a monkey and watch what he does with it. If he hides it and takes care of it, then we know it must be physical. If, on the other hand, the monkey wipes his nose with it and drops it, then it must be spiritual because monkeys have no knowledge of spiritual things.

 

So, what does the monkey do with the gold coin? He sniffs it and drops it. A monkey finds no value in the gold coin. This teaches us that money is inherently SPIRITUAL. Money represents stored value that we can use to acquire physical items that we can eat or use. Paper money especially has no inherent value. It is simply a piece of worthless paper.

 

Money itself isn't good or bad. It's paper, or metal. It is not consciously making decisions on it's own. Therefore, it's neutral. It's the purpose that we choose to use money with that determines whether it is used for "good" or for "bad” purposes.

 

Making money is a Torah virtue, it is inherently moral. Prospering is a virtue. Why is it that Jews are disproportionately successful with money? Mark Twain made this same observation in his essay, Concerning Jews:

 

“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk…”

 

We know that Jews have won a disproportionate number of Nobel Prizes: over twenty per cent of them from a group that represents 0.2 per cent of the world population, an over-representation of 100 to one. But the most striking disproportion is in the field of economics. The first Nobel Prize in economics was awarded in 1969. The most recent winner, in 2025, was Joel Mokyr and Philippe Aghion. In total there have been 79 laureates, of whom 37 were Jews; that is, over 46 per cent!

 

The reason Jews have excelled in the area of economics is because they have believed that making money is a good thing in and of itself. When you are making money you are doing something good. Philanthropy and tzedaka (charity – righteousness) do not have to be the goal. Making money is, in the end, good. Not doing tzedaka is reprehensible, but that does not detract from the fact that making money is good. For Jews especially, making money is a perfectly natural thing to do. How can this be?

 

Consider a man who knocks on people’s doors and offers to take away their unwanted items, their junk. If he pays a pittance for the goods, so much the better. In fact, businesses have sprouted up for the sole purpose of taking unwanted items from people. These businesses charge people good money to take unwanted items. Whether the business is the city trash collector, or a junk hauler, they both charge money to remove a man’s junk. Now if one could purchase one man’s junk and fix it up and sell it to another man for a good price, then all are extremely satisfied with this arrangement. The one has his junk removed without cost or for a small profit, and the other has obtained a needed item for a good price. The end result is two happy customers and a junk dealer who has made a profit.^[16] The whole world is better off because of this transaction. By engaging in this sort of commerce we are doing something good for people. People welcome such junk dealers. When we do these types of transactions everyone is happy with the outcome. The ability to make multiple people happy is at the root of the Torah. Thus making money is a good thing in, and of, itself!

 

In Hebrew, and in English, we use the same word to characterize good business dealings and our worship of HaShem. We call it avodah, or service. Those who get good service are glad. Whether they are HaShem or men. Providing good service is what the Torah is all about. When we please the men whom HaShem made, then we are also pleasing HaShem! When children treat their siblings well, then the parents are extremely happy. In the same way, when HaShem sees his children treating each other well, then He is extremely happy. To make HaShem happy, all we have to do is make people happy when we make money.

 

Does it matter whether we are serving HaShem’s children with a profit motive? Absolutely not! In fact, in both the Torah and in common wisdom we find that actions are more important than intentions. Obeying HaShem for the wrong reason is certainly better than not obeying Him at all. In the same way, if we serve people with a profit motive we still serve people. Now clearly kavanah, or intent, is important. Never the less, obedience is more important. Consider a child who obeys his parents with a bad attitude. While the parents would prefer a good attitude, they are never the less glad that the child obeyed. Since only HaShem understands the motives of our hearts, it is impossible for us to judge this aspect. In fact, a Jewish court looks for the actions and words, to discern intent. Actions speak louder than words and actions trump intention. The fact that a waiter provides good service to his customers is appreciated, despite the fact that he is looking for a good tip.

 

The process of building good economic relationships is integral to building good relationships between human beings. The world was created for the purpose of building bonds and relationships. Consider the elements on the periodic chart. As important as those elements are, the compounds that are produced from those elements are infinitely more important. The air we breathe is a mixture. Water is a mixture. As nice as iron is, steel is ever so much more useful.

 

Salt, for example, is composed of sodium (toxic) and chlorine (toxic). Yet the result graces nearly every dinner table in the world. With the alchemy of relationships, even toxic substances become tov, beneficial. In the same way, we take a toxic male and marry him to a toxic female and the relationship is called love, and the whole world is better off because of this relationship. In fact, Bereshit (Genesis) describes the creation as good except for one exception. The Torah tells us that it is not good for man to be alone. Man needs a relationship with a woman. Bonding and connectivity are what make the world go around.

 

Does HaShem want us to be rich? While His desire in inscrutable, it is quite clear that He wants us to be obsessively preoccupied with the need and desires of other people. Whether they are your clients or your customers; whether they are your boss or your employees. No matter what the relationship, HaShem warns us to be concerned with the needs of others. When we do this, prosperity and wealth are the natural outcome. To put it another way, if we want to become wealthy, all we have to do is become obsessively preoccupied with the needs of others. If we build buggy whips whilst the world is driving automobiles, then we will never meet the desires of others and we will never make a profit. We make profit when we sell what others want. The more we understand the needs and desires of the world and obsess with how to meet those needs and desires, the more we will become wealthy. It is interesting that the more we do what we want to do, the more poverty stricken we become. It is only when we turn outward to the desires of others that we can become wealthy.

 

Many have said that the most important occupation is the occupation that you enjoy. This is not the Torah perspective. The Torah perspective is to choose an occupation that meets the needs of others. This is the only way to have success in life because we will be serving HaShem in the process. Prosperity is the result of building relationships by meeting the needs of others.

 

The Torah is full of contracts (covenants) because contracts allow relationships to flower. The contract that Yaaqov made with Esav regarding the birthright was a contract that allowed the Jewish people to become a nation of priests.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 25:30-33 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

 

Shemot (Exodus) 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

 

A profit motive is what allowed Joseph to survive his encounter with his brothers at Shechem.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 37:26-27 And Judah said unto his brethren: ‘What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh’. And his brethren hearkened unto him.

 

Yehuda asked, “what profit do we get by killing the boy? Come let us sell him instead”. Thus Joseph will succinctly state that their intention to do evil was used by HaShem to do good.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 50:19-20 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of G-d? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but G-d meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

 

This good came about only because of a motive for profit. Consider the alternative: Joseph is dead and the Jewish people all starve to death. Where is the good in that? Even Joseph greatly benefited from this transaction. Thus, the whole world benefited from the profit motive of Joseph’s ten brothers.

 

When Joseph’s ten brothers encountered Joseph in Egypt he accused them of spying.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

 

Additionally, he had their money returned to them in the top of their sacks of grain.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 42:35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

 

When they saw the money they were terrified because they imagined that they would be accused of theft. Yet Joseph’s intention was to teach them that relationships were more important than money. The brothers thought that squandering their relationship with Joseph to produce a profit was a good thing. Joseph’s message was just the opposite. His message was that profit comes from good relationships, not the other way around. It is not about money, it is about relationships.

 

Relationships and profit go hand in hand with the uniqueness of each individual. If we were all clones we would find it very hard to meet the needs of others. What we have is what they have. There is no profit in having each individual being a clone. Having different desires allows commerce. If no one wants to get rid of his junk, then there can be no sale of that junk. If everyone desires the same junk, then there is no opportunity for commerce. Being created in the image of G-d makes us unique.

 

While most economists would tend to call us consumers, in reality we are actually producers. If everything were consumed there would be no museums, buildings, roads, or parks. We produce! When we create wealth we acknowledge the uniqueness of the individual. When a government attempts to equalize its citizens, then they will necessarily produce poverty. The more we are alike the more commerce fails. It is our uniqueness that allows commerce to thrive. Thus the more freedom (uniqueness) that exists in the world, the greater the prosperity of the world. The more we are free to pursue our own desires, the more we allow the world to prosper.

 

Socialism destroys uniqueness. Consider government housing, public transportation, and confiscatory taxation. These socialist tools are all designed to destroy our uniqueness and in the process doom us to poverty. We must produce wealth, not merely move it around.

 

At the tower of Babel the goal was to make bricks, not to make a tower. Notice that bricks come first followed by what was to be done with the bricks:

 

Bereshit Genesis) 11:1-4 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

 

Bricks were the goal! That is why the people were FIRST encouraged to make bricks, then to build a city and a tower. Bricks are made by man and are all identical. Stones are made by HaShem and each is unique. The goal of Babel was to make all individuals the same, to destroy their uniqueness, to make bricks. One of the reasons that HaShem confused the languages at Babel was to make it very difficult to all be alike.

 

The Torah records that bricks were used only in two regards: The tower of Babel and the building of Egypt by the Israelites.^[17] As the Israelites were enslaved, so too were the people of Babel. As the people at Babel received no pay for their service, so too were the Israelites deprived of their pay.

 

We had two economic models: The Abrahamic model^[18] and the Nimrod model.^[19] The Abrahamic model is the basis for the economy of the western world. This model is based on giving, not on taking. Abraham wanted to give to and to serve other human beings. This is the source of the strength of the Abrahamic model. Nimrod’s model was based on taking from people and making them all the same. The Abrahamic model is the modified free market system whereas the Nimrod model is the socialistic / communist type system.

 

The free market system is propped up by a spiritual system. The Torah establishes that once every fifty years, there is a redistribution of the primary, and almost exclusive means of production during the biblical period – land:^[20]

 

Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:8-13 And you shall number seven sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty nine years. Then shall you cause the shofar to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement shall you sound the shofar throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants: it shall be a jubilee for you; and you shall return every man to his possession, and you shall return every man to his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it the grapes of your undressed vine. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat its increase out of the field. In the year of this jubilee you shall return every man to his possession.

 

Expression is given here to a revolutionary idea whose aim is to prevent entire generations from drowning in abject poverty: every fifty years land returns to the family to which it had originally belonged, and the family members are given another opportunity at economic success.^[21] This is not communism, where the means of production belong to the collective; this is not even insistence on a constant equal allocation of the means of production. Halacha recognizes that free competition is critical in order to guarantee a state of general welfare. But Halacha sets limits on this free competition. This has an economic price: real estate transactions will clearly be influenced by the fact that land is sold for only fifty years at the most. Surely the rich will also have less motivation to achieve economic success, when the most productive assets that they can buy, real estate, will not remain in their possession for the long term. Halacha is prepared to pay this economic price.

 

The same objective is found in another important law, the release of debts in the seventh year:

 

Debarim (Deuteronomy) 15:1-2 At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release; every creditor that lends anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact if of his neighbor or of his brother; because he has proclaimed a release to the Lord.

 

Here too we find the same principle: a second chance. Every seven years all debts are released, and every person receives a second chance to extricate himself from his troubles. This law as well has a considerable economic price – it limits the credit market. Historical testimony teaches that the people of Israel had difficulty practicing the law governing the release of debts in the seventh year, and in the end Hillel made it irrelevant by instituting the prozbul,^[22] after he understood that limiting credit created an untenable situation, especially for the poor. Without a doubt, however, from here we can learn the moral inclinations of the Torah, which as a rule accepts free competition as a driving force from an economic perspective, but makes sure to repair at fixed intervals the damage that this causes.

 

Emphasis should be placed on a difference that was already noted above: The mitzvot of the jubilee year and the release of debts in the seventh year are not the same as the mitzva of giving charity. We are not dealing here with a private contribution on the part of one person on behalf of another, but rather with an all-embracing and uniform public system. Such a system is more efficient and also spares the poor person the humiliation of begging at his neighbor's doors.

 

Long term business relationships can not endure if we ‘rip people off’. Bad business dealings do not make for long term business relationships.

 

We are predominately spiritual creatures with a subordinate physical aspect. We are souls with a body. This is an important mental perspective. We must focus on the spiritual and use the physical to accomplish the spiritual goals. We must use our minds to impact our bodies. If we believe that something can be done, then it can be done. Nothing stands in the way of desire, nothing! The only thing that makes us different from robots is our desire. Robots do not have any desires. HaShem does NOT desire robots, neither does He desire one just avoids doing the negative mitzvot. HaShem desires our love, a love demonstrated by going above and beyond what the Torah demands.

 

The Hebrew language speaks truth and speaks about things as they really are. No other language is like this. To understand the relationship between wealth and charity, all we have to do is to look at the words:

 

The Hebrew word for wealth is: עשר.

The Hebrew word for charity is: עשר.

 

Now, because the same Hebrew word is used for both concepts, we know that these two concepts are intimately related. Thus, we understand that the act of giving charity results in wealth. Note that charity comes first and the wealth follows.

 

Who knew that earning and spending of money, correctly, could allow us to dwell in HaShem’s tent? Who knew that speaking^[23] the truth in one’s heart could have benefits both in this world and in the next?

 

Ashlamatah: Shoftim (Judges) 19:16-24 + 20:27

 

 

Hakham’s comments on the Ashlamata

 

The relationship between Genesis 19:1–38 (Sodom) and Judges 19:16–24 (Gibeah) is one of the most deliberate, terrifying textual and structural parallels in the entire Hebrew Bible. The author of Judges utilizes the exact language, syntax, and plot architecture of Genesis 19 to demonstrate that a city in Israel (Gibeah of Benjamin) had become a moral mirror-image of Sodom.

 

Judges 20:27 acts as the pivot point, showing the catastrophic national consequences when Israel sinks to this level. The precise connections, mapped out by classic Jewish commentators (Rashi, Radak, Malbim), include:

 

The narrative of the Levite arriving in Gibeah explicitly mimics Lot receiving the angels in Sodom. The Hebrew text matches almost word-for-word in its progression:

 

 

In Genesis 19, Lot is an outsider living in Sodom who has to protect travelers from the native population.

 

In Judges 19, the old man who takes the Levite in is also an outsider (from Mount Ephraim) living temporarily in Gibeah.

 

The Malbim notes that the native Benjamites left a fellow Israelite, his wife, and his servant to freeze in the town square, completely abandoning the Torah's commandment of hospitality. The internal breakdown is worse than Sodom: in Genesis, the citizens attacked foreign angels; in Judges, Israelites are cannibalizing their own flesh and blood.

 

After the concubine is abused to death, the nation goes to total civil war against the tribe of Benjamin. In Judges 20:27, the text pauses to note: "And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days."

 

When Sodom sinned, God Himself descended to judge it, telling Abraham, "I will go down now, and see..." (Gen 18:21). The destruction came directly from heaven via fire and brimstone.

 

In Judges, God does not rain down physical fire from heaven. Instead, He uses the Ark of the Covenant and the unified army of Israel as His instrument of judgment. The Radak explains that by inquiring at the Ark, Israel becomes the literal hand of Divine justice, executing the same complete, scorched-earth obliteration upon Gibeah that the angels executed upon Sodom.

 

Judges 19–20 is the structural "Sodom" of the period of the Prophets. The texts are linked to show that without a centralized, righteous leadership (the Davidic Monarchy), the holy nation of Israel is capable of replicating the exact societal decay that caused the mouth of the earth to swallow Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

Rashi’s Commentary for: Shoftim (Judges) 19:16-24 + 20:27

 

2 And his concubine turned away from him She turned from his house to the outside. Every expression of זְנוּת implies going out (rendered (נפקת ברא , e.g., departing from her husband to love others.

 

6 Accept now and lodge Overnight.

 

9 has weakened I.e., the sun (has weakened) from its might and has declined to set.

 

it is the resting (part) of the day It is the time that all wayfarers turn to rest indoors.

 

12 but we will journey up to Gibeah Of Benjamin.

 

13 and we will lodge Heb. וְלַנּוּ . To be understood as וְלַנְנוּ , since the “dagesh” of the “nun” replaces the appropriate second "nun".

 

18 and (I am going) to the House of the Lord I am going to Shiloh (which was in Ephraim).

 

21 and gave fodder to the donkeys And he gave food (יְבוּל) to the donkeys. וַיָּבָל is aprovender in O.F.

 

22 so that we may be intimate with him (lit., know him) Homosexually.

 

28 but no one answered Because she was dead.

 

Chapter 20

 

2 פִּנוֹת כָּל הָעַם The chiefs of the people.

 

5 דִמּוּ לַהֲרוֹג They intended to kill. Adesmernt in O.F.

 

10 that they may do when they come I.e., when they come at this time to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the disgrace, etc.

 

11 in unison Agreeing to the same plan.

 

12 throughout all the tribes of Benjamin His ten families were reckoned as ten tribes, so that from Rachel would (also) issue twelve tribes (two coming from Joseph).

 

16 (with a) shrivelled right hand Their right hands were shrivelled. They had no use of it, as though it was closed, as in, (Psalms 69:16) “Do not close (תֶּאְטַר) upon me, O well, your mouth.”

 

All these I.e., these seven hundred men.

 

at a hair breadth At a thread of a hair breadth. וְלֹא יַחֲטִיא And not miss.

 

16 Judah first But they did not attempt to ask whether they would be the victor or the vanquished. However, eventually when they did ask, God said, (v. 28) “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.” Then they (i.e., the Urim and Tummim) agreed (הִסְכִּימוּ) and fulfilled their words.

 

21 and they destroyed They were punished because they were not equally zealous about the incident of the image of Micah which had already occurred.

 

Commentary on the Ashlamatah of Shoftim (Judges) 19:16-24 + 20:27

By: H.Ex. Adon Shlomoh Ben Abraham

 

Judges 19:16–25 describes a collapse of hospitality, morality, and communal responsibility in Gibeah. Jewish commentators emphasize that the story is intentionally written to echo the sin of Sodom, showing how far Israel had fallen “in the days when there was no king.” The Levite, the townspeople, and even the host all fail ethically, and the concubine becomes the tragic victim of a society that abandoned Torah values and pursued the lust and evil desires of their own hearts. It would seem that when mankind falls below the standard set by the laws given to Noah, then sin explodes and judgment soon follows.^[24]

 

I am convinced there is more to this story than what is understood at first sight. What is represented by each character in the story, and how does it relate to our day and time? The man from the field was an Ephraimite living and working as a resident alien. The Levite has a strained relationship with his wife, who runs home to her father; the concubine is estranged from her husband. Her father lived in Bethlehem in Judah. The virgin daughter of the Ephraimite was not taken, but the concubine(wife) from Judah was taken and abused unto death. The wicked men who are controlled by their passion and not the torah values they surely knew but stubbornly refused to live by. In (19:25), the concubine was released at dawn, following the kere[25] (Kaalot). The kethiv[26] (baaloth) may imply that they only let the woman go because dawn had arrived.^[27] They say it always is the darkest just before dawn.

 

Our chapter opens with the information that a Levite residing at the other end of the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. The concubine deserted him and returned to her father's house. After four months, her husband traveled to her father's house to woo her back. The father-in-law received his son-in-law warmly, and they visited for 4 days, and then the son-in-law left late on the fifth day to begin his travel back toward his home and got only as far as Gibeah before the sun began to set. (v.1-10)

 

They could have spent the night in Jebus [that is Jerusalem], but the Levite said he would not stay in a town of aliens who were not of Israel. (v.12) According to (2 Sam. 5), Jerusalem was only conquered in the time of David, and at this time, during the period of the judges, it was still a city of aliens and pagans. It is worth noting that the city of Jerusalem, which is associated with David, and the city of Ramah, associated with the prophet Samuel, are mentioned but are not chosen to stay in; they chose to stay in the evil city of Gibeah, associated with Saul.

 

Let us look at the different actors in our story. We first encounter the old man (a sojourner from Ephraim), headed home from the field after a long day of work, and he seems to be the only person to offer hospitality. (v16-21) Rashi notes that the old man is not a Benjamite, but a resident alien in Gibeah from Mount Ephraim.^[28] Jewish commentators explain this as a moral indictment: Are we to understand that a resident alien is more righteous than the people of Israel, and specifically those of Benjamin? Radak says the locals refused hospitality, violating hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests), a core mitzvah. Abarbanel stresses that only a foreigner behaved properly, showing the extreme corruption of the city. This parallels Lot (a foreigner) in the story of Sodom, who welcomes guests.

 

Next are the men of Gibeah surrounding the house. (v.22) Jewish tradition explicitly connects this to Sodom. The Midrash Shocher Tov tells us that Gibeah’s sin was “as the sin of Sodom,” but worse because Israel had Torah.^[29] Gibeah is cited as an example of moral decay that leads to national catastrophe. The phrase “בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל” (“worthless men”) is used elsewhere for idolaters and violent criminals.^[30] Rashi said these are violent and lawless men. These worthless men wanted to sexually assault the Levite. Why did they want the Levite specifically?

 

The Rabbis offer two explanations: (a) Sexual violence is humiliation, not normal and natural sexual desire. Radak and Ralbag^[31] Give the insight that the goal was to degrade the Levite, not for desire but for cruelty, and this was a deliberate attack on a traveler, which shows a breakdown of the social order.^[32] Why all the Anti‑Levite hostility? Abarbanel suggested that since the Levite represented religious authority, and the mob had rejected moral restraint, it was against them at the beginning of the attack. I would suggest we are seeing the same thing today in the rise of Anti-semitism. The mob has rejected moral restraint, and they are attacking the symbol and spokesperson for God, religion, and moral and ethical behavior. Since they cannot attack God himself, they attack the next closest person, God's son. ^[33] The antisemitism and intentions of evil against the Levite, in the beginning, were then turned toward the first available victim. I am inclined to believe we will witness this in our present day, when hating the Jew / Levite is not enough, and the mob will turn its attention to any religious moral person who is near and available.

 

When the depraved, worthless men of the city approached the door where the Levite was staying, they requested that the homeowner bring out the guest, the Levite, and they were specific in their intentions. The host came out and pleaded with the men not to do such a vile and wicked thing. Some translations used the words wicked, vile, or outrageous, but the Hebrew is נְבָלָה n^eḇālāh. It refers to especially serious deeds, grave sexual sins, arrogant sins such as rape, harlotry, or whoredom. ^[34] The host then offered his young daughter and the concubine (v.23–24), and the depraved, worthless men took the concubine and did to her what they had intended for the Levite. Here we point out that the worthless men, according to the text, requested that they wanted the Levite; their intentions were toward him first and foremost, but when given the choice between the daughter of the host. ^[35] and the concubine, the wife of the Levite from the hill country of Ephraim, they chose the concubine whose father lived in Bethlehem of Judah.^[36] This is one of the most disturbing parts of the narrative, and the Jewish sources do not justify the host’s actions. It is reasoned that the host acted out of fear and cowardice, and not out of righteousness.^[37]

 

Radak said He sinned greatly; he should have risked his life rather than hand over innocents. The Torah forbids handing over an innocent person to be harmed.^[38] Malbim notes that he tried to imitate Lot’s strategy in Sodom, but without Lot’s intentions or merit. And so, the Levite sends out his concubine. (v.25) Jewish commentators are sharply critical: He acted out of cowardice; he should have protected her. His behavior is part of the moral collapse the chapter exposes. The Levite is not portrayed as righteous; the text condemns everyone except the concubine.

 

The depraved, worthless men took the Levite's concubine wife from Judah and abused her throughout the night (v.25), and toward dawn, they released her, and as she returned to her husband, she collapsed and died at the doorstep. The concubine becomes the symbol of Israel’s moral decay, and as this symbol, she bears in her flesh, upon herself, the result of the sins of these worthless men, even to the point of death. The Rabbis emphasize that Hosea 9:9 explicitly references “the days of Gibeah” as a symbol of corruption. Hosea 10:9 repeats the condemnation of Gibeah’s sin, and together they recall this event as the symbol of Israel’s corruption. From the Midrash, we learn that the concubine is the innocent victim whose suffering triggers divine judgment on Benjamin. It would stand to reason that if divine judgment comes by Benjamin, then by Benjamin would come the Tikkun.^[39]

 

The brutality of this story is described without euphemism to show the depth to which Israel has fallen since the days of Moses and Joshua. It is the outward result of sin and corruption, moral decay that had taken hold of Israel's society. ^[40] Today, as we write, we are seeing a similar decay of morals in society, and just this week, a report of a man screaming obscenities at a preacher and his church members and telling them he would rape the women and children and then kill them all.

 

From Jewish Tradition, we learn that the Passage Teaches, 1) There will be Moral collapse without leadership. The repeated phrase “בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל” (“In those days there was no king in Israel”) means: No central authority to enforce justice. People followed their impulses, not Torah. This is why I personally believe there must be an anointed King David who stands and speaks for HaShem to enforce justice, teach Torah, and hold citizens (all humankind) responsible for their actions. 2) Hospitality is a core Jewish value and, by extension, is a core human value. Gibeah’s refusal to host travelers is a direct violation of Abrahamic ethics. The Midrash Tanchuma, Veera 4, contrasts Abraham’s hospitality with Sodom’s cruelty; Gibeah is compared to Sodom. 3) Communal responsibility: the city’s collective guilt is emphasized: A city that tolerates such evil is judged as a whole, collectively.^[41] 4) There is no mistake; this is an echo of Sodom. The narrative intentionally mirrors Genesis 19 to show that Israel can fall to the level of Sodom, but with greater culpability, because Israel had the Torah. Midrash Tehillim 7 — explicitly parallels Gibeah and Sodom, and even Rashi on Judges 19:22 — uses identical language to his Genesis 19 commentary. One point to be made here: both Sodom and Israel/Benjamin are guilty of the same sin and should receive the same judgment. There are many reasons why the judgment is different, but the most obvious to me is that Sodom was Gentile and Benjamin was the seed of Abraham and therefore had a covenant agreement with Hashem, which demanded a different response for their sin.

 

In the story, the people of Israel (the righteous) stood to punish Benjamin (the evildoers), but due to their own sin and idolatry, they experienced heavy losses.^[42] The small group of Israel represented by Benjamin sided with the evildoers. Although it looks like those who stand with the evil deeds and protect those evil doers are winning, we see that in the end, they do not. Today, we do not know where the tribes of Israel are; they are scattered throughout every nation on earth. We have no idea where Benjamin is, but the tribe of Judah is back living in the land. The righteous must stand in unity against the evil perpetrators and those who would defend their actions, as we see happening more and more every day. In the end, regardless of the amount of pain and suffering the righteous have to endure, they will win the larger war against evil and all those who practice it.

 

Judges 19:16–25 is understood in Jewish tradition as a deliberate echo of Sodom, showing how far Israel had fallen “in the days when there was no king.” When mankind's actions descend below the standard set in Noah's day, inevitably, God's judgment soon follows. Every major commentator condemns the actions of the townspeople, the host, and the traveling Levite himself. The concubine is the only innocent figure, and the concubine becomes the tragic victim of a society that has abandoned Torah values. Her suffering becomes the catalyst for the civil war against the tribe of Benjamin in Judges 20. When a community of people refuses to punish evil, yet they stand up to protect the lawless, evil deeds of the sinner. Known for certain that when the righteous stand for moral and ethical values as a collective body, this story prophetically tells us that judgment must soon follow to punish the lawless deeds of wicked men and to punish those who stand with evil against all that is called good and right.

 

In the aftermath, the men of Israel band together as “one man” (Jud. 20:11) to exact justice on the “wicked men of Gibeah.” The entire story serves to underscore its opening sentence with brutal precision: “In those days Israel had no king” (Judges 19:1).^[43] Does this story teach a process or pattern to be followed by the people of Israel (the righteous)? I believe it does. We must examine our own hearts and lives and remove all traces of sin and idolatry. We must join together in unity and defeat the evil in our midst and steer the people back to moral and ethical values, guided by and living a Torah-centered life.

 

Special Ashlamatah: Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 1:1 – 2:3

1st Sabbath of Penitence

 

 

Rashi’s Commentary for: Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 1:1 – 2:3

 

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah: Let the son of the corrupt woman, whose deeds are proper Jeremiah was descended from Rahab the harlot and let him reprove the son of the righteous woman whose deeds are corrupt these are Israel who corrupted their deeds who are descended from legitimate seed.

 

2 To whom the word of the Lord came: Upon whom the Shechinah commenced to rest at that time.

 

3 And he was in the days of Jehoiakim: And he was a prophet all the remaining days of Josiah, the days of his son Jehoiakim, and the days of his son Zedekiah, until the end of the eleventh year that is the year until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

 

5 When I had not yet formed you in the womb, etc.: Since the days of the first man. The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Adam each generation and its prophets.

 

I… formed you: Heb. אצרך, an expression of צורה, a form.

 

I knew you: connois toi in O.F. Comp. (Exodus 6:3), “I was not known (נודעתּי) to them.”

 

I appointed you: I appointed you for this.

 

a prophet to the nations: To Israel, who behave like the nations. In this manner it is expounded in Sifrei on the verse: “A prophet from your midst, etc.” (Deut. 18:15), will set up for you and not for those who deny the Torah. How then do I fulfill “A prophet to the nations I made you”? To the children of Israel who deport themselves with the customs of the nations. It can further be interpreted: “A prophet for the nations,” like “About the nations,” to give them to drink the cup of poison, to prophesy retribution upon them, as it is said: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand, you shall give all the nations to drink of it” (infra 25:15). Another explanation of “When you had not yet emerged from the womb I appointed you” is: Concerning you I said to Moses: “I will set up a prophet… like you” (Deut. 18:18). This one reproved them, and this one reproved them. This one prophesied for forty years and this one prophesied for forty years.

 

6 Alas: This is an expression of wailing (konpljjnt in 0.F.).

 

for I am a youth: I am not worthy to reprove them. Moses reproved them shortly before his death, when he was already esteemed in their eyes through the many miracles that he had performed for them. He had taken them out of Egypt, split the Reed Sea for them, brought down the manna, caused the quails to fly, given them the Torah, brought up the well. I come to reprove them at the beginning of my mission.

 

7 wherever I send you: to the heathens.

 

and whatever I command you: to Israel, you shall speak.

 

9 And the Lord stretched forth His hand: Every sending mentioned concerning a hand is an expression of stretching forth. Another explanation is like the Targum: And the Lord sent the words of His prophecy.

 

10 I have appointed you: I have appointed you over the heathens.

 

to uproot and to crush: (depayser in French, to uproot) and over Israel to build and to plant if they heed. So did Jonathan paraphrase it.

 

11 a rod of an almond tree: (amendleer in O.F.) Jonathan, however, renders: A King who hastens to do evil.

 

12 You have seen well: This almond tree hastens to blossom before all other trees. I, too, hasten to perform My word. And the Midrash Aggadah (Ecc. Rabbah 12:8) explains: An almond tree takes twenty-one days from its blossoming until it is completely ripe, as the number of days between the seventeenth of Tammuz, when the city was broken into, until the ninth of Av, when the Temple was burnt.

 

13 a bubbling pot: [lit. blown up,] seething (boillant in French).

 

whose foam: [lit. and its face,] its seething (et ses ondes in O.F.) [and its waves].

 

14 From the north the misfortune will break forth: Babylon is on the north of Eretz Israel.

 

16 And I will utter My judgments against them: I will debate with them, with Judah and Jerusalem.

 

17 And you shall gird your loins: This is an expression of quickening like a man of valor.

 

18 against the Kings of Judah: lit. to the Kings of Judah.

 

19 And they shall fight against you: They shall quarrel and fight against you to refute the words of your prophecy.

 

2:2 I remember to you: Were you to return to Me, I would desire to have mercy on you for I remember the loving kindness of your youth and the love of the nuptials of your wedding canopy, when I brought you into the wedding canopy, and this (כלולתיך) is an expression of bringing in. Your nuptials (Noces in O.F.). Now what was the loving kindness of your youth? Your following My messengers, Moses and Aaron, from an inhabited land to the desert without provisions for the way since you believed in Me.

 

3 Israel is holy: like terumah.

 

the first of His grain: Like the first of the harvest before the Omer, which it is forbidden to eat, and whoever eats it is liable, so will all those who eat him be guilty. So did Jonathan render it.

 

Commentary on (Yirmiyahu) Jeremiah 1:1-2:3

By: H.Ex. Adon Shlomoh Ben Abraham

 

Jeremiah lived during the time of destruction of the Temple of Solomon. Jeremiah was one of the major figures of his time. He wrestled with the theological problems of the destruction of the nation of Israel. But Jeremiah's work laid the foundation that would bring the restoration in years to come at the end of the exile. Jeremiah was a priest, descended from the high priest Eli of the Temple at Shiloh (1 Sam.1–4). Rabbinic tradition maintains that Jeremiah is also the descendant of the proselyte Rahab from Jericho (Joshua.2; 6).^[44] [45]

 

Jeremiah told the people of Judah they would have to submit to Babylon or suffer the consequences. He clearly struggles with God over the nature of his prophetic role and message, he attempts to defend God’s righteousness by arguing the people themselves bring punishment upon themselves by failing to observe God’s torah and God would act to restore Israel to Jerusalem once the punishment was over. Talmudic tradition claims that the book of Jeremiah is primarily a book of destruction (B. Bat. 14b), but it clearly points beyond the seventy years of punishment (ch. 25) to a time when Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt and the streets of Jerusalem filled with “the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, the voice of those who cry, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for His kindness is everlasting!” (33:11)^[46] Aware of the theological problems posed by the destruction of the Temple and exile of the Jewish people, Jeremiah affirms God’s existence and righteousness in the future of the restored nation of Israel to its land.

 

In Verses 6–8: Like Moses, Jeremiah contends that he is inadequate to the task of prophecy, God overcomes his objections with the assurance, I am with you (Exod. 3:11–12; 4:10–17; cf. Isaiah’s statement in Isa. 6:5–6). In 9–10: As with Isaiah, a divine touch of the mouth prepares Jeremiah for prophecy (cf. Isa. 6:6–7; Ezek. 3:1–3).^[47] The prophet’s commission to speak includes four verbs of destruction(to uproot, to demolish, to destroy and to raze) and two of restoration ( to build and to plant) signifying that in terms of the themes of his message, destruction would predominate (Jer.12:14–17; 18:5–10; 24:6; 31:28).^[48] Could we see four (4) +(2) in the destruction and (2) + (4) in the restoration?

 

When God asks Jeremiah, what do you see? He answered, an almond tree. God responded; you have seen well. The almond tree is one of the first trees to blossom in the spring, signifying God’s resolve to bring about the divine word concerning Jerusalem and Judah. The Sages point out there are 21 days elapsed between an almond tree blossoming and when its fruit first appears, taken as an indication of the speed of which calamities would soon come upon the Jewish nation. They go on to say there's a parallel to the 21 days between the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem on the 17th of Tammuz and the temples destruction on the 9th of AV. (^[49] and Rashi v.12) Should we look for another 21-day elapse between the almond tree blossoming and the reverse of the destruction of the temple?

 

There is a word pun upon the word “almond v.11 and “watching”. v.12. It is used by Jeremiah, šāqēḏ, שָׁקֵד almond; and šōqēḏ, שָׁקַד to watch over (a verb meaning to guard or watch over).^[50] The vision of the almond staff/ branch was a hint at God's zealousness and intention to implement judgment and keeping watch over Israel into the future and he would hasten to carry out his word in both judgement and in the restoration. Jer.31:28.

 

We have another pun in v.13-14: a steaming pot (setting simmering) that is tipped and emptied from the north to portray the enemy that will bring judgment to Jerusalem from the north. It is interesting that this pot is coming from the north, but also tilted toward the north and one would think a pot that is pouring out is tilted toward the direction it is pouring? Because biblical Jerusalem was protected by valleys to the east, south, and west, it was most vulnerable to attack from the north where the Temple stood.^[51] Here we should pause a moment. Babylon is not in or on the north of Jerusalem. But we know trouble comes from the north. We also know God will call his exiles back from the north, so in a sense salvation also comes from the north, when we understand there is no complete redemption until Israel is returned from (the north) exile back to their land. The north would also be the expected direction of attack from the enemy that is not yet identified, and takes on near-mythological proportions, historically the enemy did attack Israel from the north. However, the word “Land” v.14 is אֶרֶץ ʾereṣ: A noun meaning the earth, land. It is used almost 2,500 times in the Tanakh; it refers to the whole earth under God’s dominion.

 

I see several different things here. Verse 14 says, evil breaks forth on the land/earth. Then all families of the north shall come and sit in judgement on Jerusalem and Judah. V.16 speaks judgement against them for having forsaken him. Historically, was the text speaking of the Israelites or those coming to destroy Jerusalem? Could the text be speaking of Israel in exile scattered among all the nations of the earth? Who is it that has forsaken HaShem, Israel or the nations? Who is HaShem bringing to Israel for divine punishment and death, Israel for their rejection or the nations for their sinat chinam, “baseless hatred”, against Israel?

 

In Jeremiah’s day the prophecies were fulfilled, if we read Jeremiah as a history book, we miss the import of the prophecies as they pertain to the future. Today we see all the families of the earth turning to sit in judgement against Israel. The prophet attempts to persuade his audience to repent from their wrongdoing and worship of foreign gods so that they might return to God. Although these chapters are clearly directed to Jerusalem and Judah in their present form (2:1–2; 4:3–6:30), many believe that the oracles in 2:2–4:2 were originally addressed by the prophet to the people of the former Northern Kingdom of Israel^[52]

 

Israel was scattered some 100 or more years before Jeremiah’s prophecy and today the children of north Israel are so completely mixed among the families of the earth only God himself knows who and where they are. In this calling of all families from the north, I suggest there are two groups or families in this gathering, one being brought home from their exile, and one being brought to judgement. Those from the north that return and repent. Those who have not repented nor will repent and they will come to persecute Israel and then to receive divine punishment for the way they treated Israel, “God’s separated holy people”, “his bride from their youth,” and “the first fruits of his produce”, Jer.2:1-4. “The apple of his eye”. Deut.32:10, Prov.7:2, Psa.17:8, Zech. 2:8.

 

As we have seen before, what is required of us; to do justice, to love mercy, practice kindness and to walk humbly with our God. Micah 6:8 and what should be our attitude? To Look unto HaShem: I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Micah 7:7 and this week’s reading we are encouraged to repent and turn from all transgression so your iniquity shall not be our ruin and make you a new heart and new spirit, for why will you die. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, turn and live. Ezek. 18:30-32. Next the basket will be gathered and sent to Babylon, justice will be forthcoming. It has been some 2700 years or so since Israel and Judah were separated and we could be much closer to the end of the 3 days then we imagined and Mashiach should be here very soon. Hosea.6:2.

 

Verbal Tallies

Hakham Dr. Hillel ben David

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-38

Tehillim (Psalms) 15:1-5

Ashlamatah: Shoftim (Judges) 19:16-24 + 20:27

Special Ashlamatah: Jeremiah (Yirmiyahu) 1:1-2:3

 

Looking at the Hebrew of Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1 and Jeremiah (Yirmiyahu) 1:1, what is the verbal / lexical tally that connects these two passages?

 

The lexical tally found in the text of both Genesis 19:1 and Jeremiah 1:1 is the word אֶרֶץ (Eretz / "earth, land"), Strong's #H776.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he fell down on his face to the [אָרְצָה / Strong's H776] earth;

 

Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the [בְּאֶרֶץ / Strong's H776] land of Benjamin;

 

* * *

 

What is/are the thematic connection(s) between Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-38, and Tehillim (Psalms) 15?

 

The primary thematic connection between Genesis 19:1–38 (the narrative of Sodom's destruction, Lot's rescue, and its aftermath) and Psalms 15 (the blueprint of the righteous person who can dwell in God's presence) centers on hospitality, moral integrity, and the contrast between righteous and wicked behavior.

 

The explicit thematic links include:

 

1. The Righteous Host vs. The Corrupt City

 

Tehillim (Psalms) 15:1–2 asks who can abide in God’s tent and dwells on those who "walk uprightly, and work righteousness, and speak truth."

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1–3 showcases Lot embodying this ideal amid a corrupt society. He sits in the gate, eagerly pulls strangers into his "tent" (home), washes their feet, and bakes them bread, actively working righteousness in an environment defined by the exact opposite.

 

2. Guarding the Neighbor from Harm

 

Tehillim (Psalms) 15:3 dictates that the righteous person "doeth no evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his kindred."

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:4–9 highlights the utter moral failure of the men of Sodom, who demand to abuse Lot's guests. Conversely, Lot risks his own life to shield his guests, declaring, "only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof."

 

3. Rejecting the Reprobate

Tehillim (Psalms) 15:4 states that in the eyes of the righteous, "a vile person is contemned" (despised), while they honor those who fear the Lord.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 19 demonstrates the ultimate divine contempt for the "vile persons" of Sodom through their total physical obliteration by fire and brimstone, physically removing them from the earth because they could not coexist with holiness.

 

4. Unshakable Stability

 

Tehillim (Psalms) 15:5 concludes with the ultimate promise: "He that doeth these things shall never be moved."

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 19:25 explicitly notes that God "overthrew those cities"—they were violently and permanently moved out of existence. While the wicked are entirely swept away, Lot, despite his flaws, is actively pulled out of the destruction and sustained because of his alignment with Abraham's righteousness.

 

* * *

 

What story do the Meforshem tell to relate Psalms chapter 15 and Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-38?

 

The classic Jewish source that binds Psalms 15 directly to the events of Genesis 19 is the Midrash Tehillim (also known as Shocher Tov), which is explicitly brought down and expanded upon by commentators like the Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi) and Rashi.

 

The narrative they trace focuses on the two paths of hospitality and lineage: Abraham versus Lot.

 

The Midrash of the Two Tents

The Midrash Tehillim (on Psalms 15) notes that the Psalms opens with a piercing question regarding who is worthy of entering the Divine sanctuary: "O LORD, who shall sojourn in Thy tent? Who shall dwell upon Thy holy hill?" (Ps. 15:1)

 

The Sages answer this by immediately juxtaposing the hospitality of Abraham in Genesis 18 with Lot in Genesis 19.

The Midrash teaches that Abraham's tent was open on all four sides. He literally "ran" to welcome wayfarers, washing their feet and feeding them selflessly. Because Abraham practiced the exact attributes listed in Psalms 15 (walking uprightly, working righteousness, doing no evil to his neighbor), his "tent" became the prototype for the physical Mishkan (Tabernacle) and the future Temple on the Holy Hill.

 

The Contrast with Lot and Sodom

The Meforshim point out that while Lot learned the practice of hospitality from his time with Abraham, his transition into Sodom compromised his integrity.

 

When the angels arrive in Genesis 19:1, Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom. He brings them into his house and protects them from the wicked mob. However, to save his guests, Lot compromises his own flesh and blood by offering his daughters to the attackers (Gen. 19:8).

 

The Radak notes that this directly violates the standard set in Psalms 15:3: "He does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his kindred." Lot's righteousness was mixed; he used a deeply flawed method to execute a holy mitzvah because he had allowed the corrupt landscape of Sodom to warp his boundaries.

 

The Rectification: "Speaking Truth in His Heart"

The ultimate resolution of this comparison comes through the text of Psalms 15:2: "...and speaketh truth in his heart".

 

The Midrash connects this phrase specifically to the raw, difficult events in the cave after Sodom's destruction (Genesis 19:31–38). When Lot’s daughters conceived children with their father, they did so out of a terrifying, mistaken belief that the entire world had been wiped out and that they were the sole survivors tasked with keeping humanity alive.

 

Because the older daughter acted with a pure internal intention to rebuild the world, rather than out of base desire, the Sages state she possessed a hidden spark of "truth in her heart".

 

The Meforshim explicitly track the outcome of this narrative to show its historical payoff:

 

·        Out of that intense darkness in Genesis 19, Moab was born.

·        Generations later, Ruth the Moabitess emerged from that line, bringing that exact spark of pure, dedicated intention into the nation of Israel. Ruth became the progenitor of the messianic line.

·        Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David, the very author who sat on the Holy Hill and penned Psalms 15.

 

The Sages teach that King David wrote Psalms 15 to map out the Torah’s (Genesis 18 & 19) exact moral purity required to dwell with HaShem, effectively using his own lineage to prove how HaShem salvages the hidden sparks of truth from the wreckage of Sodom to ultimately build the royal foundation of the Mashiach.

 

* * *

 

The connection between the Torah seder and the Ashlamata, though seemingly strictly verbal, is in addition eschatological. The messianic kingdom, rather than the related contents of the Torah lesson, is the dominant theme of the Ashlamata.

 

What is the eschatological[53] message of Shoftim (Judges) 19:16-24 + 20:27?

 

The eschatological message of the harrowing episode of the Concubine of Gibeah (Judges 19:16–24) and the inquiry at the Ark (Judges 20:27) centers on the absolute bottoming-out of the nation prior to the birth of the Messianic Kingdom, and the necessary purification of the tribal vessels.

 

Using classic Jewish commentators (Meforshim) and Chassidic frameworks, the eschatological trajectory breaks down into three core concepts:

 

1. The "Sodomization" of Israel: The Nadir Before Redemption

 

The Malbim and Rashi note the explicit, deliberate textual parallels between the hospitality inversion in Gibeah (Judges 19) and the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19).

 

In Jewish eschatology, the final era before the arrival of Mashiach[54] is characterized by total societal, moral, and spiritual breakdown, where "truth is missing".[55] Gibeah represents the historical proof that Israel is capable of sinking to the lowest level of the "Fifty Gates of Impurity." This severe darkness is the ultimate labor pain[56] that proves human-engineered governance is bankrupt, necessitating unmediated Divine intervention.

 

2. Judges 20:27: The Internalization of the Ark

 

In Judges 20:27, the text abruptly pauses to note that "the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days." The Radak and the Talmud[57] highlight that during this period of civil war, the Ark was highly mobile, moving to Bethel because the permanent sanctuary in Shiloh was spiritually compromised by the nation's actions.

 

In the End of Days, formal religious structures and external institutional walls will fracture. The eschatological movement requires seeking the "Ark", the pristine, unadulterated truth of the Torah, directly from its source, bypassing corrupt societal norms to achieve a pure horizontal connection with HaShem.

 

3. The Refiner's Fire of Civil War (The Tikkun of Benjamin)

 

The near-extinction of the tribe of Benjamin in the ensuing chapters seems catastrophic, yet Benjamin is the very tribe from whose territory the Holy of Holies in the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) is built.

 

The Bnei Yissachar and Rav Tzadok HaKohen explain that before the ultimate, permanent Union (Nisuin) can occur, the tribal vessels must undergo a violent, internal refining process. The civil war was not a rejection of Benjamin, but a radical, painful cauterization of systemic evil.

 

The Book of Judges concludes with the recurring theme: "In those days there was no king in Israel." The ultimate eschatological lesson of the Gibeah crisis is that true rectification (Tikkun) cannot happen through partial structural fixes. The horror of Judges 19–20 acts as the ultimate catalyst that forces the nation to scream out for the true, unified Davidic Monarchy, culminating in the ultimate revelation of the Melech HaMashiach.

 

* * *

 

What is the eschatological message of Jeremiah (Yirmiyahu) 1:1-2:3?

 

The eschatological message of the opening verses of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1–2:3) centers on the continuity of the Divine covenant through the destruction of physical vessels, the purification of the remnant, and the restoration of the "honeymoon" intimacy of the final redemption.

 

Using classic commentaries (Radak, Malbim, Rashi) and Chassidic masterworks, the eschatological message breaks down into three core dimensions:

 

1. The Pre-Ordained Prophecy of the Nations (Jeremiah 1:5)

 

HaShem tells Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee... I appointed thee a prophet unto the nations."

 

The Radak and the Malbim explain that Jeremiah’s mission was not merely a local, historical warning to Judea, but a macro-blueprint for global history. In Jewish eschatology, the ultimate shaking of the "nations" (the collapse of global superpowers) is meticulously pre-programmed from the very beginning of creation. The chaos of history is not random; it is a calculated process leading toward the final recognition of Divine sovereignty.

 

2. The Overturning and Rebuilding (Jeremiah 1:10)

 

Jeremiah is given authority "to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to overthrow; to build, and to plant."

 

The Lubavitcher Rebbe (Lekutei Sichot) emphasizes the precise order of this verse: the destructive verbs outnumber the constructive ones (four to two). This contains the ultimate eschatological secret: the destruction of the old world is the prerequisite for the birth of the new. The pulling down of the physical Temples and the long, grueling exile are not punitive dead-ends, but the clearing of the ground. The final "building and planting" represents the third, eternal Beit HaMikdash and the Messianic era, which can never be overthrown.

 

3. Jeremiah 2:2-3: The Return to the Bridal Chamber (Nisuin[58])

 

The section climaxes with the iconic cosmic memory: "I remember for thee the affection of thy youth, the love of thine espousals (thy bridal state], how thou wentest after Me in the wilderness... Israel is the Lord's hallowed portion..."

 

The Sfat Emet and the Arizal explain that this verse is the ultimate guarantee of the final redemption. The "wilderness" represents the pitch-black darkness of exile, where Israel followed HaShem with blind faith, devoid of visible miracles.

 

Eschatologically, because Israel maintained its loyalty to the Groom while sitting in the ruins of history, the original, unconsummated Kiddushin (betrothal) of Mount Sinai is upgraded. Jeremiah reveals that the memory of our early love is permanently etched into the Divine Mind, ensuring that the timeline will inevitably loop back to its true destination: the unshielded, fully revealed, and permanent wedding celebration (Nisuin) of the End of Days.

 

 

Nazarean Talmud

Sidra Of B’resheet (Genesis) 19:1-35

“VayaVou Sh’nei HaMal’akhim” “And came the two angels”

Hakham Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham

 

Hakham Tsefet’s School of Peshat

(Mark 2:1-2)

 

And when he entered, (came) K’far Nachum (Capernaum) a second time after a few days^[59], and it was reported^[60] (heard) that he (Yeshua) is in the house^[61] (at home),^[62] And immediately many were assembled (gathered together), so that there was not any room even in front of the door,^[63] and he was speaking (teaching) the Word (i.e., the Oral Torah to them).

 

Divine Visitation and the Covenant Pattern of Redemptive History:

The Theological Unity of

 

The five readings before us span almost the whole arc of the biblical record — the Patriarchal age, the monarchy, the era of the Judges, the prophetic age, and the opening of Yeshua’s public ministry. Centuries separate them, and on the surface, they share little. Yet read consecutively, they disclose a single covenant pattern, repeated with deliberate intent. In each, G-d draws near; in each, His nearness becomes a test that exposes the true condition of those who encounter Him; and in each, His Word is the instrument by which He reveals Himself and divides the faithful from the rebellious. B’resheet — Genesis supplies the historical paradigm of judgment. Tehillim — Psalms 15 gives the inward voice speaks truth to the heart. Judges show Yisrael — Israel’s descent into the very corruption it was called to replace. Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah interprets that collapse and calls the nation back. Mark introduces the Mashiach through whom restoration begins. Together they form not an anthology of similar texts but one continuous covenant narrative.

I. Divine Initiative: G-d Visits First

 

The strongest thread binding these passages is the principle of Divine initiative. In every reading, G-d acts first. Humanity does not ascend to G-d by its own wisdom; G-d descends, makes Himself known, and that revelation lays the heart bare.

 

B’resheet — Genesis 19 opens with two heavenly messengers arriving at Sodom — not by accident, but as the appointed investigation announced in the preceding chapter. Tehillim — Psalms 15 carries the same principle inward: David takes refuge in G-d because life, counsel, security, and joy originate in the Divine Presence alone. Judges 19 echoes B’resheet — Genesis with unmistakable precision — strangers arriving near sunset, hospitality as the defining issue, wicked men surrounding a house — but now the city is Jewish. Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah begins with yet another visitation, this time through the prophetic word: before Jeremiah speaks to the nation, G-d speaks to Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah, appointing him before his birth. Mark 2 brings the sequence to its summit. The visitation is no longer mediated through angels or prophets; the Mashiach Himself enters the house at Capernaum, and the people gather because He is speaking the Word. From angelic messenger to covenant fellowship to prophetic commission to the Mashiach in person, the same movement governs every text: G-d comes first, and humanity must answer.

II. The Visitation as Covenant Test

 

Because G-d’s presence is never passive, every visitation becomes a test of covenant faithfulness. The arrival itself is never the whole matter; the question is always how those visited respond.

 

B’resheet — Genesis 19 illustrates this with stark clarity. Lot rises to meet the messengers, bows, insists they shelter under his roof, and assumes responsibility for their safety. His conduct reveals a remnant of righteousness preserved within a corrupt city. The men of Sodom answer in precisely the opposite spirit, and by their violence, the city judges itself before fire ever falls. Shoftim — Judges 19 repeats the scene almost point for point, but the comparison is more devastating than it first appears. Sodom was a pagan city that knew nothing of the covenant. Gibeah belonged to Benjamin — to a people who had received the Torah and possessed the knowledge of the living G-d, yet had become morally indistinguishable from those whom He had destroyed. The covenant had not changed; the hearts of the people had. Tehillim — Psalms 15 supplies the contrast that explains both outcomes: David does not resist the Divine Presence but delights in it, and his confidence that G-d will not abandon the righteous is the very principle by which Lot was delivered while Sodom perished. Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah extends the test from the individual to the whole nation, recalling the devotion of Yisrael — Israel’s youth — her love as a bride following G‑d through the wilderness — to expose how far she has fallen. And in Mark 2, the same question that confronted Lot, Gibeah, David, and Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah’s generation now stands before those gathered in Capernaum: will Yisrael — Israel receive the One whom G-d has sent?

 

III. The House and the Reception of the Stranger

 

A further continuity is the recurring image of the house, and with it the sacred obligation of hospitality. In the world of the Hebrew Scriptures, receiving the stranger was no mere courtesy; it was an outward sign of inward righteousness, rooted in Yisrael — Israel’s own memory of having been strangers in Egypt.

 

In B’resheet — Genesis, Lot’s house becomes the dividing line between salvation and judgment. Outside stand the violent men of Sodom; inside are the messengers of G-d and the man who receives them. The doorway separates two spiritual worlds. Shoftim — Judges recreates the same architecture: only an elderly man returning from the fields opens his home to the travelers, and his solitary act of hospitality marks him, like Lot, as the lone righteous figure in a city given over to violence. In both accounts, the house stands as the final sanctuary of covenant order, surrounded by covenant chaos. Mark 2 then reverses the image entirely. Yeshua also enters a house, but no violent crowd surrounds it, demanding the destruction of the one within. Instead, the multitudes press in because they long to hear the Word. The dwelling that once stood as an isolated refuge amid corruption becomes the gathering place of the Kingdom — the place where the living Word of G-d is welcomed rather than resisted.

 

IV. The Word as the Instrument of Visitation

 

Beneath each passage runs another thread easily overlooked: G-d never appears merely to display power. His presence is always revelatory. Every visitation is accompanied by the communication of His will, and the Word is the instrument by which the visitation accomplishes its purpose.

 

The angels’ first task at Sodom is to warn Lot, and his deliverance is inseparable from his willingness to hear and obey. David’s stability in Tehillim — Psalms 15 rests not on human strength or human wisdom but on the counsel by which G-d continually instructs his heart, even in the night. Shoftim — Judges is marked by the conspicuous absence of any desire to hear: its refrain, that everyone did what was right in his own eyes, is no mere political observation about the lack of a king but a theological diagnosis. Where human judgment displaces Divine revelation as the governing authority, covenant society disintegrates, and violence fills the void. Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah is summoned precisely because that refusal has become national; his authority rests not on age or standing but on the fact that G-d has placed His own words in the prophet’s mouth, and he confronts a people whose physical hearing remains intact while their spiritual hearing has been lost. Mark completes the pattern with a single deliberate phrase: Yeshua was speaking the Word to them. The evangelist could have written simply that He was teaching, yet he names the proclamation of the Word, placing Yeshua’s ministry in unbroken continuity with every prior visitation. The difference lies not in the message, but in the Messenger, for here the One who speaks the Word is also its perfect embodiment.

 

Throughout, hearing determines destiny. Lot heard and left the city, however imperfect his obedience. The men of Sodom heard the same visitation only as an occasion for their corruption. The one Divine arrival produced salvation for a household and destruction for a city because the responses diverged. Revelation always creates responsibility; the question is never whether G-d has spoken but whether those who hear will obey.

 

V. Judgment and Preservation: Mercy Before Judgment

 

Wherever G-d visits, His presence produces separation — not by imposing a division upon the heart, but by uncovering what is already there. Preservation and judgment therefore appear together as the twofold outcome of a single visitation.

 

B’resheet — Genesis establishes the order plainly: before Sodom is destroyed, Lot is led out. This answers Abraham’s question in the previous chapter — whether the Judge of all the earth will distinguish the righteous from the guilty — with a decisive yes. Yet proximity to righteousness does not itself deliver: Lot’s wife leaves the city in body while her heart remains behind, and her backward glance reveals that escape without inward separation is no deliverance at all. Shoftim — Judges shows the reverse, where Benjamin chooses solidarity with evil over covenant justice, defending the guilty until an isolated crime becomes national rebellion — though even there a remnant survives, and mercy is not wholly withdrawn. Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah carries the same balance to the level of the nation: exile is discipline, never the termination of the covenant, for G-d recalls the love of Yisrael — Israel’s youth even while exposing her apostasy. And in every case, mercy precedes judgment. The angels take Lot by the hand because G-d was merciful to him. Benjamin is given repeated opportunities to surrender to guilt. Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah spends decades pleading before exile falls. Yeshua comes first as Teacher, proclaiming the Kingdom, before He appears as Judge. The rhythm never varies: warning before wrath, invitation before accountability, revelation before decision.

VI. Covenant Memory and the Call to Return

 

Binding these texts still further is the theme of covenant memory. Throughout Scripture, remembrance is the foundation of present obedience, and forgetfulness the first step of decline. B’resheet — Genesis 19 stands as a perpetual memorial that G-d judges persistent wickedness while preserving the faithful. David, in Tehillim — Psalms 15, has set the Lord always before him, and because G-d remains before his eyes, his heart is not moved. Shoftim — Judges reveal what follows when memory fails: a people who no longer recall the lesson of Sodom or the ideals that once set them apart inevitably come to mirror the nations from which they were called. Yermi’yahu  — Jeremiah makes remembrance the centerpiece of his opening prophecy, recalling the devotion of the wilderness not as nostalgia but as a summons confronting Yisrael — Israel with how far she has wandered and calling her to teshuvah, the return to the covenant she had abandoned. Mark 2 inaugurates that very return, as the people gather around Yeshua to be restored to the Word that had always defined them. From Genesis to Mark, remembrance remains the doorway through which covenant restoration begins.

 

VII. The Messiah as the Climactic Visitation

 

The progression reaches its theological climax in Mark 2:1–2, and Mark’s account is intentionally simple: Yeshua enters the house, the crowds gather until there is no longer room at the door, and He is speaking the Word to them. Before the paralytic is lowered, before sins are forgiven, before any controversy with the leadership, the evangelist establishes the governing purpose of the ministry — proclamation. Every prior visitation prepared this moment. In B’resheet — Genesis, G-d came through angelic representatives; in Tehillim — Psalms 15, through faithful communion; in Shoftim — Judges, through covenant standards that exposed rebellion; in Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah, through the prophet’s appointed voice; and now, in person, through the Mashiach who is Himself the fullest expression of G-d’s self-revelation. The arrival of Yeshua is therefore not a break with Yisrael — Israel’s history but its culmination. The same G-d who visited Abraham, instructed David, confronted Gibeah, and called Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah now draws near in a manner never before known, and the house that once witnessed judgment becomes the place where restoration begins.

Conclusion

 

Read together, these five passages display an intentional theological architecture: the judgment of a pagan city, the inward voice of the faithful, the moral collapse of a covenant city, the prophetic indictment of the nation, and the appearance of the Mashiach proclaiming the Word. The movement is neither accidental nor merely chronological. It testifies to the unchanging character of G-d — holy in judging Sodom and Yisrael — Israel by one standard, just in distinguishing the righteous from the wicked, merciful in warning before wrath, and faithful to His covenant even when His people prove faithless. Every generation stands before the same decision that confronted Lot and Sodom, David and Gibeah, Yermi’yahu — Jeremiah’s generation, and the crowds at Capernaum: to receive the revelation G-d has graciously given, or to refuse His authority for its own desires. The continuity that binds these texts is therefore the continuity of the covenant itself — revelation, responsibility, judgment, mercy, and the enduring hope of restoration through the One who comes proclaiming the Word of G-d.

 

Some Questions to Ponder:

 

1.      From all the readings for this week, which particular verse or passage caught your attention and fired your heart and imagination?

 

Blessing After Torah Study

 

Barúch Atáh Adonai, Elohénu Meléch HaOlám,

Ashér Natán Lánu Torát Emét, V'Chayéi Olám Natá B'Tochénu.

Barúch Atáh Adonái, Notén HaToráh. Amen!

Blessed is Ha-Shem our GOD, King of the universe,

Who has given us a teaching of truth, implanting within us eternal life.

Blessed is Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!

“Now unto Him who is able to preserve you faultless, and spotless, and

to establish you without a blemish,

 

Next Sabbath: “VaYisa’ MiSham” “And journeyed from there”

2nd Sabbath of Penitence

Announcing Shabbat Mevarchim HaChodesh Av - the New Moon for the Month of Av

Evening of Tuesday July 14^th - 15th^th, 2026

 

 

Contents of the Torah Seder

 

·        Abimelech – Genesis 20:1-18

·        Isaac – Laughter – Genesis 21:1-5

 

Reading Assignment:

 

The Torah Anthology: Yalkut Me’Am Lo’Ez – Vol 2 By: Rabbi Ya’aqob Culi Translated by Aryeh Kaplan Published by: Moznaim Publishing Corp. (New York, 1989) Vol. 2 – “Genesis”, pp. 261 - 282

Ramban: Commentary on the Torah Translated and Annotated by Rabbi Dr. Charles Chavel Published by Shilo Publishing House, Inc. (New York, 1971) “Genesis” pp. 263 - 268

 

 

Hakham Dr. Hillel ben David

Hakham Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham

 

Edited by His Honor Paqid Adon Ezra ben Abraham

A special thank you to HH Giberet Giborah bat Sarah and Giberet Sarai bat Sarah for their diligence in proof-reading