Hal Miller

Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller These shall stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim, when you have crossed the Jordan: Shimon and Levi and Yehudah and Yissachar and Yosef and Binyamin. [Devarim 27:12] And these shall stand for the curse on Mount Eival: Reuven, Gad and Asher and Zevulun, Dan and Naphtali. [Devarim 27:13] It might seem that tribes would prefer to be assigned to Mount Gerizim, location of blessings, rather than Mount Eival, location o

Shabbat Parashat Ki Teitzei - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller There shall not be a kli-gever on a woman nor shall a man wear a simlat-ishah for anyone who does so is an abomination to Hashem your God. [Devarim 22:5] What are kli-gever and simlat-ishah, and why should cross-dressing be an abomination? Gever means man, mighty, hero or overpower. Kli means vessel, tool or instrument. As a combined word, kli-milchamah means an instrument of war, or weapon, and kli-gever can mean somet

Shabbat Parashat Shoftim - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller According to all that you asked of Hashem your God in Choreiv on the day of the assembly saying, I can no longer listen to the voice of Hashem my God, and this great fire I can no longer see, so that I shall not die. [Devarim 18:16] What did the people ask of God for which Moshe is now presenting them the results? And what are those results? Onkelos begins by translating it "as you asked before Hashem", leaving out the wo

Shabbat Parashat Re'eh - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller However there shall be no destitute among you for blessing God will bless you in the land that Hashem your God will give you as an inheritance to take possession of it. [Devarim 15:4] For destitute people will not cease to exist within the land, because of this I command you saying, you shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor one, and to your destitute in your land. [Devarim 15:11] These two verses s

Shabbat Parashat Eikev - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller You will eat and you will be satisfied and you will bless Hashem your God for the good land that He gave you. [Devarim 8:10] This verse is the commandment we observe after a meal, known in Hebrew as "birchat hamazon", in Yiddish as "bentching" and in English as "grace". There is a separate commandment to say a blessing before we partake of anything of benefit, but the main blessing on a meal is our verse, and comes after be

Shabbat Parashat Vaetchanan - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart all the days of your life. [Devarim 4:9] Moshe tells us repeatedly in our portion that we are to beware for ourselves, such as in our verse and also 4:15 and 4:23. Why did he need to say this many times? The importance of Moshe's point seems to be reinforced by the "l

Shabbat Parashat Devarim - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel, across the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Plain, opposite the [Sea of] Reeds, between Paran and Tophel and Lavan, and Chatzerot and Di-Zahav. [Devarim 1:1] What are "the words", why does it tell us "that Moshe spoke to all Israel", and why does it list all these places? Rav Hirsch addresses our first question, "these are the words refers to the whole of the contents o

Shabbat Parashat Maatot-Maasei - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller So Moshe gave to them, to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuven and to part of the tribe of Menashe son of Yosef, the kingdom of Sichon king of the Amorite and the kingdom of Og king of the Bashan, the land with its cities in the boundaries and the cities of the surrounding land. [Bamidbar 32:33] The tribes of Reuven and Gad asked Moshe to allot to them the lands of Sichon and Og, whom the nation under

Shabbat Parashat Pinchas - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller The daughters of Tzelophechad son of Cheifer son of Gilad son of Machir son of Menashe, of the families of Menashe son of Yosef, drew near. And these are the name of his daughters: Machlah, Noah and Chaglah and Milcah and Tirtzah. [Bamidbar 27:1] The daughters of Tzelophechad are listed three times in the Torah and once in Yehoshua, in multiple different ways. What do these differences mean? In Bamidbar 26:33, during the

Shabbat Parashat Chukat/Balak - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller God's wrath flared because he was going, and an angel of God stood on the road as an impediment to him. [Bamidbar 22:22] The angel of Hashem said to Bilaam, "Go with the men but only the word that I shall speak to you, that shall you speak." [Bamidbar 22:35] At first glance it appears that the instructions Bilaam received from on High were contradictory. In verse 22:12, "God said to Bilaam, 'You shall not go with t