Hal Miller

Shabbat Parashat Acharei Mot/Kedoshim - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   God spoke to Moshe after the death of the two sons of Aharon when they approached before   God and they died. And God said to Moshe, speak to Aharon your brother, he may not come at   all times into the Sanctuary, within the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the Ark and he   will not die, for with a cloud I appear upon the Ark cover. [Vayikra 16:1-2] Nadav and Avihu died earlier in Vayikra [10:1-2]. Thu

Shabbat Tazria-Metzora 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   When you arrive in the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I will   place a tzara'at affliction upon a house in the land of your possession [Vayikra 14:34] Our parsha describes the tzara'at affliction in clothing, houses and people. Why only in regard to houses does it say "when you arrive in the land"? One might try to differentiate that clothing and people can be found outside the land, but I would respond that

Shabbat Parashat Shemini - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   Aharon spoke to Moshe, was it they who this day offered their sin offering and   their olah offering before God? Now that such things befell me, had I eaten the   sin offering this day would God approve? [Vayikra 10:19] Rashi and others tell us that "the term dibur (spoke) is always a term of force" that Aharon was being harsh with Moshe. Why was Aharon apparently angry here? What is he speaking about? To begin, the law is th

Pesach 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   Shir haShirim asher l'shlomoh [Shir HaShirim 1:1] We have a deep-seated tradition to read the Song of Songs on Shabbat morning during the week of Pesach. Some also have a tradition to read it after the seder. But the entire megillah is impossible to understand in its simple meaning, as would have been typical for any other book of the Canon, so this book is obviously all an allegory. Looking at just the first verse here, what does it mean? There

Shabbat Parashat Tzav - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   This is the offering of Aharon and his sons, which each shall offer to God on the day   he is inaugurated: a tenth ephah of fine flour as a meal offering, continually, half of it   in the morning and half of it in the afternoon. [Vayikra 6:13] When is this offering brought? The verse first gives us a time frame of "on the day he is inaugurated", but then follows that with "continually". To understand this we must first ask why t

Shabbat Parashat Vayikra - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   You shall salt your every meal offering with salt, you may not discontinue the salt of your   God's covenant from upon your meal offering, on all your offerings shall you offer salt. [Vayikra 2:13] Why salt? What exactly gets salted? What qualifies as salting? Sefer HaChinuch draws from our verse both a negative commandment (118) not to bring an offering without salt, and a positive commandment (119) to bring salt with ever

Shabbat Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   And Moshe assembled the entire assembly of the children of Israel and said to   them, these are the things that God commanded to do them [Shemot 35:1]   Moshe said to the entire assembly of the children of Israel saying, this is the   word that God commanded saying [Shemot 35:4] These two verses seem to be nearly duplicates. Why do we need both? Most commentators, based on Shabbat [70a, 97], derive from the first ver

Shabbat Parashat Ki Tisa - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   Aharon said to them, remove the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, your   sons and your daughters and bring them to me. [Shemot 32:2]   The entire people unburdened themselves of the golden rings that were in their ears   and brought them to Aharon. [Shemot 32:3] The root of the word translated here as "remove" and as "unburdened" is pey-reish-kuf. As with all Hebrew, its meaning is dependent on context. What do

Purim - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller (Reminder: It is traditional that on Purim we read "Purim Torah". These are fashioned in the same way as regular divrei Torah, but are humorous, nonsensical, and often just plain silly. Any "rulings" of law herein are expressly disclaimed as being jokes, not serious.... Oh, and bear in mind you're supposed to be a little schicker when you read it.  --HM) Those of you who have been following my writings over the past thirty-some years are aware of

Shabbat Parashat Tetzaveh - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   You shall place it (Tzitz) on a turquoise woolen string and it shall be on the Mitznefet,   opposite the face of the Mitznefet shall it be. Shemot [28:37] There is much room for confusion in the verses about the special garments for Aharon as the Kohen Gadol. Here in our parsha God gives Moshe the commandments, and in Vayikra [8:9] these commands are actually implemented. Our verse says to put the Tzitz on a string of techei