2012
1. Bechukosai sources2. YUTorah on parashas Behar / Bechukosai; and for 2013 as well.
2011
- B'chukosay sources -- further expanded. For example, many more meforshei Rashi.
. - The fear of war -- What is so terrible about a right of passage?
. - Does the Zohar have mishpatai instead of mitzvotai in the first pasuk of Bechukotai? Maybe it is a careless error. That would be my guess. But there are other resolutions.
. - YU Torah on parashat Bechukotai.
2010
- Bechukosai sources -- revamped, with over 100 meforshim on the parasha and haftorah.
a - No sword shall pass -- a derasha from Torsa Kohanim, cited by Rashi, and made / applied by King Yoshiyahu, to ill effect.
a - The promise of erect posture -- Considering a Rashi, and midrash, about one of the rewards in parashat Bechukotai. Why Rashi would be "inconsistent" in interpreting an extraneous phrase here vs. in sefer Bereishit, and my guess as to some of the driving force of the local midrash.
2009
- Altering, changing, good for bad, bad for good, and how they bind -- this has to do with some unusual trup on the pasuk, the parsing of the pasuk, they meaning of לֹא יַחֲלִיפֶנּוּ vs. , וְלֹא-יָמִיר אֹתוֹ, how Shadal resolves it, and my grappling to understand Shadal.
- Do the physical rewards in Bechukosai imply a lack of Olam Haba? And how a Karaite, who maintains a literal reading of pesukim, still maintains a belief in the world to come.
- In the days of mashiach, will we all be 200-foot tall hermaphrodites? And whether Rabbi Yonasan Eibeshitz intended this literally or figuratively.
- And a followup, with two-faced humans, as found in the Zohar.
2008
- What is the meaning of "Keri"? Rashi brings down some opinions, of Chazal, Menachem ben Saruk, and Onkelos. Shadal also brings down various contemporary positions and explains why he rejects them, eventually deciding in favor of Onkelos, that it denotes hardness.
. - When the pasuk says vihirtzat, Rashi explains "to the King her Sabbaticals." This is difficult, and Mizrachi explains a bit. But why "to the King?" Shadal explains that this is a taut sofer, and has a manuscript with a girsa which makes more sense. Later, he explains how the word conveys the meaning it does.
to be continued...
