Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan-buth <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

shalom Hevre,

Yesterday the parasha was "re'e", one of my favorites. 

There is a nice ironic ethical section where disobeying the laws brings
'misfourtune' and distress, yet everyone is commanded to help their
neighbor when they are down. None of that righteous posturing about just
desserts for a sinful life, but rolling up one's sleeves and lending a
hand. 

A second point: there is a command to bring money to Jerusalem to be able
to buy wine and beer when they get here. 
Would it be too far of a midrashic stretch to invite list members to bring
a Freemark Abbey 'cabernet sauvignon' or 'petite syrah' (Napa Valley) when
they visit next time? I'll provide the cheese. 

=====
The coming week is "mishpatim" 16.18-21.9, and has quite a bit of 'good
stuff', too.
On the language side, have you been noticing the repetitious vocabulary
items? As one student reading with me last week said, "It sounds like the
shma` (i.e. 6.4-9) all over again."

So over to you,  
. . .

shavua` tov
Randall Buth
Jerusalem