Parashat R'ei
PARSHA PIX There's Har Grizim in the upper left blessed with full green foliage. Next to it is Har Eival with a dead tree representing its curse-role. At the upper right is an eraser with the negation circle. It is forbidden to erase the seven special names of G-d. Top-center is the negation circle on a plus or minus, standing for the two prohibitions of adding or diminishing from the Torah. The Tzedaka box is for the mitzva of giving Tzedaka, which is counted from this sedra. Lending to a fellow Jew is an important mitzva, especially as the Shmita year approaches and then draws to a close. After Shmita year, personal loans are canceled; it would be very tempting simply not to lend, in order to protect oneself. Comes the Torah and gives us a special mitzva not to be afraid to lend close to the Shmita year. The stalk of wheat is a reminder of the mitzvot of Maaser Sheni and Maaser Ani as well as the prohibition of eating Maaser Sheni (and several other sacred foods) outside Yerushalayim (or their specific venue). The wheat standing straight up looks like the number 1. The dot to its left is the decimal point that turns the wheat into 1/10 - Maaser. The burning trees in the lower right stands for the destruction of AVODA ZARA from Eretz Yisrael. The sword is the method of dealing with a bona fide IR HANIDACHAT. The third negation circle is on the camel, a non-kosher animal. The mountain goat, on the other hand, gets two thumbs up - one for cud-chewing and one for split hooves. The steak on the plate ready to eat points out that even though sacred meat was a topic of several mitzvot in the sedra, so is BASAR TA'AVA, meat that we may eat. And in the lower left is a representation of the Three Pilgimage Festivals, the topic of the last portion of the sedra. Busy sedra
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