The Torah tells us about the mitzvah of dwelling in a Succah: “You shall dwell in thatched booths for a seven-day period; every native in Israel shall dwell in thatched booths. So that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in succos when I took them from the land of Egypt. I am Hashem your G-d.”(Vayikra 23:42–43) The Torah provides a reason for the mitzvah: we dwell in Succos because the Children of Israel dwelled in Succos when they left Eg

Moshe opens his final shira, or song, to the Jewish people with the following words: “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and may the earth hear the words of my mouth.”(Devarim 32:1) Rashi explains that Moshe called upon the heavens and the earth to serve as witnesses to the covenant between the Jewish people and Hashem. Moshe knew that although he would soon die, the heavens and the earth would remain as eternal witnesses to that covenant. Rashi adds something remarkable.

The Torah actually says remarkably little about Rosh Hashanah: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall do no laborious work; it shall be a day of shofar-sounding (יום תרועה) for you.” (Bamidbar 29:1) The Torah therefore tells us that Rosh Hashanah is a Yom Teruah, a day of shofar sounding. But in Vayikra, the Torah uses a somewhat different expression: “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to the Children of I

BE TRUE TO YOURSELF The Torah in this week’s parsha tells us: “Then all the nations shall say: ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? What is the meaning of the heat of this great anger?’ Then men shall say because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord G-d of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Miżrayim:” (Devarim 29:23-24). Moshe has just concluded a series of curses that would, chas v’Shalom, befall the Jewish people if th