posts so far for parashat Terumah

2010

1. Terumah sources -- revamped, with more than 100 meforshim on the parsha and haftarah.
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2. Are the Samaritans right about the spelling of תיעשה? Of course, it would not just be the Samaritans, but various masoretes masoretic texts as well. And it is possible that the malei spelling stems from misunderstanding a midrash.

2009

1. Take for me -- part of the running commentary. What is the ultimate purpose of the mishkan? Why bother with gold and silver? Isn't this focus on externalities, and the golden statues of keruvim, at odds with the message at the end of parshat Yitro, where the altar could even be of earth, and where idols (perhaps imbued with a manifestation of a deity above) were disallowed?
   
   
2. Terumah sources -- links by perek and aliyah to an online Mikraos Gedolos, plus a whole slew of meforshim on the parsha and haftara.
   

2008

• The identity of the tachach -- is it even an animal? if it is, what is it?
  

2006

• The Mishkan Reflecting A Changed Relationship With Hashem
• A midrash which resonates, with no additions from me. Morasha/Meorasa. Before marriage, the chasan must visit his father-in-law's house to visit his bride, but afterwards, she lives with him. See inside.
• The Identification of Izzim
• as goats' hair. Or perhaps as other sundry bright and intense dyes and cloths.
• The Identification of Techelet
• As blue or black. And how the Karaite approach of ignoring tradition for the meaning of color, trying instead to deduce it from analysis of the root, is extremely misguided. And the meaning of the Rambam's identification. And more.
• Tekhelet as Black as Kohl?
• Further analysis of Rambam. Kohl is kochal, a Biblical cosmetic. But what color is it?
  

2005

• You have to see it to understand it
• How words are not enough.
  
• The Extra Vav That Wasn't
• I left this open at the end, with a to-do list. But a discussion of how Rashi comments that a vav is extra and superfluous, and why this is troubling, since we do not have this vav in our Chumashim

2004

• Difference between construction of Mishkan and Bet HaMikdash
• now with a comment by meanderings!
• Why was the Mishkan entirely voluntary while the Temple was obligatory? Some thoughts.

2003

• Inside Like the Outside
• From the somewhat dry material of the description of the mishkan, Chazal find homiletic gold. Just as the ark must be covered with gold inside and out, so must man. Learning Torah is not enough. One also has to be a moral and righteous person, with fear of Heaven, and in fact, Torah is just a means to that end - belief in, fear of, and service of Hashem.

to be continued...