Hal Miller

Shabbat Parashat Terumah - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller Speak to the children of Israel and they shall take to Me a portion, from every man whose heart will motivate him you shall take My portion. [Shemot 25:2] Nearly all givings for holy purposes are commandments. Some are sacrifices, whether for atonement such as a guilt offering, or whether for a holiday such as the Pesach. Some are non-sacrifical offerings, such as the taking of challah, giving tzedakah or bringing of first

Shabbat Parashat Mishpatim - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller They saw the God of Israel and under His feet was the likeness of a sapphire brick and it was like the essence of the heavens in purity. [Shemot 24:10] At first glance, this verse seems very odd. Who was seeing, what were they looking at, and what is this verse doing here? The first question is easily answered from the previous verse, "Moshe, Aharon, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of Israel ascended." That migh

Shabbat Parashat Yitro - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller Moshe said to God, the people will not be able to ascend Mount Sinai for You have warned us saying bound the mountain and sanctify it. [Shemot 19:23] In verse 21, God tells Moshe to descend the mountain and warn the people not to approach Mount Sinai. But in verse 12 God had told Moshe to warn the people that if they approach the mountain they will die. Our verse now is Moshe asking God why he needs to descend and warn them a

Shabbat Parashat Beshallach - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller He removed the wheel of their chariots and He led them with heaviness. Egypt said, "I shall flee before Israel for God is waging war on their behalf against Egypt." [Shemot 14:25] The word for wheel here, ofen, is in the singular. Onkelos pluralizes it and virtually all commentators follow him. The verse leads from that right into "He led them with heaviness", which is rather unclear. What does this mean? How does it t

Shabbat Parashat Bo - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller Then all these slaves of yours will come down to me and bow to me saying, leave, you and the entire people who are at your feet. And after that, I will go forth." And he went forth from Pharaoh's presence in burning anger. [Shemot 11:8] What is Moshe telling Pharaoh here? Why would Pharaoh's slaves come bow to Moshe and tell the Jews to leave Egypt? And if they did, why would that make a difference to anything, such that after

Shabbat Parashat Va'eira - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon and commanded them to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. [Shemot 6:13] Breaking this verse down leaves us with some questions. "God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon" is pretty straightforward but the next word, va'yitzaveim, is not. There is also a question of what God wanted the two brothers to do "to the children of Isra

Shabbat Parashat Shemot - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller And He said, "for I shall be with you, and this is the sign for you that I have sent you: when you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." [Shemot 3:12] There is an obvious question here, "what sign?" It is not clear and obvious from the verses what this refers to. A simple reading would indicate that the sign that God sent Moshe to save the people is that they will worship on Mount Sinai, but how

Shabbat Parashat Vayechi - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller Yosef then removed them from his knees and he prostrated himself with his face toward the ground. [Bereishit 48:12] Did Yaakov actually have his grandsons sitting on his lap? What does the Torah mean that "Yosef then removed them from his knees"? We know from Bereishit [41:45] that Pharaoh gave Yosef a wife at the time Yosef interpreted the king's dreams. Yosef had interpreted that God was ready to implement the famine plan

Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller And you are commanded (to say) do this. Take for yourselves from the land of Egypt wagons for your small children and for your wives, transport your father and come. [Bereishit 45:19] The sons of Israel did so, and Yosef gave them wagons by Pharaoh's word, and he gave them provisions for the journey. [Bereishit 45:21] There are many questions involved with the wagons described here. Why did Pharaoh command Yosef to t

Shabbat Parashat Mikeitz - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller And the seven years of famine began to approach, just as Yosef had said, and there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. [Bereishit 41:54] All the land of Egypt hungered, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. So Pharaoh said to all of Egypt, "Go to Yosef. Whatever he says to you, you should do." [Bereishit 41:55] The first of these two verses ends by telling us that in