Kol Ramah

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Re’eh [Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17] is the fourth parashah in Deuteronomy. After a few introductory verses, the parashah begins the lengthy section Jeffrey Tigay entitles “The Laws Given in Moab”, which continues through the next few weeks to parashat Ki Tavo, read on September 21. Deuteronomy is perhaps best known for its commandment to centralize the cult in the Temple in Jerusalem, with the concomitant destruction of all the local sanctuaries. This centralization requires the reformulation of the holidays among other spheres of law. We spent some time discussing this, and the commandment to ושמחת, understood as to rejoice or to celebrate. This is the third of the third of the seven weeks of consolation following Tisha B’Av. Each of the haftarot for these seven shabbatot come from the book scholars call Second Isaiah. This week’s haftarah [Isaiah 54:11–55:5] includes the verse which is the basis for the midrash which con