Question: Why do we celebrate the Feast of Sukkot? The Festival of Sukkot commemorates the shelter that יהוה provided the Israelite people in the Wilderness, and an essential part of the Sukkot service is to recall that shelter. Sukkot responds to the joy of knowing that your sins were forgiven during Yom Kippur and recalling the miraculous provision and care …
V’Zot HaBerachah (and this is the blessing)
Deuteronomy 33:1 וְזֹאת And this is the blessing, in which blessed Moses, the man of Elohim את־ Children of Israel before his death. C-MATSQuestion: What were the final words of Moses? These final words of Moses are a combination of blessing and prophecy, in which he blesses each tribe according to its national responsibilities and individual greatness. Moses’ blessings were …
HA’AZINU (give ear)
Deuteronomy 32:1 Listen, O you heavens and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. C-MATS Question: Why did יהוה have the heavens and earth to hear His words and testify against them when they sinned? To testify that he was warning Israel, Moses wanted witnesses that would outlive his and later generations; otherwise, who could …
NITZAVIM (you are standing)/ VAYELECH (and he went)
Deuteronomy 29:10 אתם You stand this day before יהוה your Elohim; your captains of your tribes, your elders and your officers and all the men of Israel. C-MATS Question: What is important about the verse, “אתם You stand this day before יהוה your Elohim”? You have provoked the Omnipresent to anger many times, yet He has not made an end …
KI TAVO (when you enter in)
Deuteronomy 26:1 After you come into the land which יהוה your Elohim gives you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and you live there; 2 You are to take the first of all the crops the ground yields, which you will harvest from your land that יהוה your Elohim gives you and put them in a basket …