Parsha Reeh

(11,26) Look, I place before you today, a blessing and a curse.

(11,27) The blessing—that you heed the commandments of Adonoy, your God, that I am commanding you today.

(11,28) And the curse—if you do not heed the commandments of Adonoy, your God, and you veer from the course which I command you this day, to follow other gods which you did not know.

(11,29) When Adonoy, your God, has brought you to the land that you are coming to inherit, you shall place the blessers on Mount Gerizim and the cursers on Mount Eival.

(11,30) Are they not across the Yardein and far beyond, along the route of the sunset? In the land of the Canaanites who dwell on the Arava Plain, opposite Gilgol, next to the Moreh Plain.

(11,31) For you shall pass across the Yardein to come to inherit the land that Adonoy, your God, is giving you; you will inherit it and will dwell in it.

(11,32) You will guard to fulfill all the statutes and the laws that I am setting before you today.

(12,1) These are the statutes and the laws that you will guard to fulfill in the land that Adonoy, God of your forefathers, has given to inherit, all the years that you are alive on the land.

(12,2) You must obliterate all the places where the nations worshipped, whom you are inheriting, their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every evergreen tree.

(12,3) You are to break apart their altars, and you are to smash their pillars, and their asherahs are you to burn in fire, and the statues of their gods are you to cut down; and you are to obliterate their name from that place.

(12,4) Do not act this way to Adonoy, your God.

(12,5) Rather at the place that Adonoy, your God, chooses from all your tribes to set His Presence there, will you seek His Presence and come there.

(12,6) You are to bring there your burnt-offerings and your sacred-offerings, and your tithes and the elevation of your hands, and your pledges, and your donations, and the firstborn of your cattle and your flocks.

(12,7) You are to eat there before Adonoy, your God, and you will be happy with the sum of your handiwork, you and your households, as Adonoy, your God, has blessed you.

(12,8) You may not do everything we do here today, each what is upright in his eyes.

(12,9) For you will not have come as yet to the peace and to the territory that Adonoy, your God, is giving you.

(12,10) When you cross the Yardein and settle in the land that Adonoy, your God, is apportioning to you, and He has granted you peace from all your enemies around, and you will live secure.

(12,11) Let it be that the place where Adonoy, your God, chooses to place His Presence therein—it is there you shall bring all that I am commanding you: your burnt-offerings and your sacred-offerings, your tithes and your hand-offerings, and your choice promissory offerings that you pledge to Adonoy.

(12,12) You are to rejoice in the presence of Adonoy, your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male slaves and your female slaves, and the Levite who is in your cities, for he has no portion or territory with you.

(12,13) Take heed, lest you offer up your burnt-offerings anywhere you envision as proper.

(12,14) Solely in the place that Adonoy chooses within one of your tribes, there are you to offer up your burnt-offerings, and there are you to do everything that I am commanding you.

(12,15) Except with the fullness of your appetite you may slaughter and eat meat in accord with the blessing of Adonoy, your God, that He has given you in all your cities; the ritually unclean and the clean will eat it like the deer and the gazelle.

(12,16) However, you may not eat the blood; on the earth are you to spill it like water.

(12,17) You are not permitted to eat in your cities the tithe of your grain and your wine and your olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and your flocks, and all your pledges that you pledge, and your donations and the terumah-separation of your hand-offerings.

(12,18) Rather, before Adonoy, your God, are you to eat it, in the place that Adonoy, your God, chooses—you and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite in your cities; and you will be happy in the presence of Adonoy, your God, with the sum of your handiwork.

(12,19) Watch yourself, lest you forsake the Levite, all your years on your land.

(12,20) When Adonoy, your God, expands your border as He promised you, and you say, ‘‘I would like to eat meat’’ because you have an appetite to eat meat; to the full extent of your appetite eat meat.

(12,21) When the place is distant from you that Adonoy, your God, chooses to set His Presence there, you may slaughter some of your cattle or your flocks that Adonoy gave you, as I have commanded you; and you will eat in your cities with all your appetite.

(12,22) Only, as the dear and the gazelle may be eaten, so may you eat it; the ritually unclean and the clean together may eat it.

(12,23) Only, exercise strength in not eating the blood, for the blood is the life; and do not eat the spirit with the meat.

(12,24) Do not eat it; onto the earth are you to spill it like water.

(12,25) Do not eat it, so that you may enjoy beneficience, and your children after you, when you do the upright in Adonoy’s eyes.

(12,26) However, your sacred offerings that you will have, and your pledges, you are to bring when you come to the place that Adonoy chooses.

(12,27) You are to execute your burnt-offerings—the meat and the blood—on the altar of Adonoy, your God; and the blood of your peace -offerings will be poured on the altar of Adonoy, your God, then you will eat the meat.

(12,28) Preserve and heed all these words that I am commanding you, in order that you have it good and your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and that which is upright in the eyes of Adonoy, your God.

(12,29) When Adonoy, your God, will have eliminated the nations whom you are coming there to inherit, from before you; and you inherit them and dwell in their land;

(12,30) Look out for yourself, lest you are torn apart along with them, after they have been annihilated before you, and lest you inquire about their gods, saying, ‘‘How did these nations worship their gods, let me do so, too.’’

(12,31) Do not do so to Adonoy, your God, because whatever is abominated by God, what He hates, they have done for their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in fire to their gods.

(13,1) Everything that I am commanding you—be careful to fulfill it; do not add to it and do not subtract from it.

(13,2) If a prophet arises among you or a dreamer of a dream, and he gives you an omen or a miracle,

(13,3) And the omen or the miracle happens—the one he told you about—saying, ‘‘Let us go after other gods, that you do not know, and let us serve them.’’

(13,4) Do not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, because Adonoy, your God, is testing you to know whether you love Adonoy, your God, wholeheartedly and with your entire beings.

(13,5) After Adonoy, your God, are you to go, fear Him, keep His commandments, heed His voice, serve Him, and cleave to Him.

(13,6) And that prophet or that dreamer of a dream is to be executed, for he has uttered a fabrication about Adonoy, your God—Who took you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeemed you from the house of bondage—to mislead you from the way that Adonoy, your God, commanded you to go upon, and you will eliminate the evil from within you.

(13,7) If one shall incite you, your brother—son of your mother—or your son or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your neighbor who is your soul mate, clandestinely, saying, ‘‘Let us go and serve other gods ’’ whom you never knew—neither you nor your forefathers.

(13,8) From the gods of the nations that surround you, who are near you or at a distance from you, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth,

(13,9) Do not be favorbly inclined towards him, and do not listen to him; and do not view him compassionately, and do not take pity and do not cover for him.

(13,10) For you must surely execute him. Let your hand strike him first to execute him, and the hand of the entire people afterward.

(13,11) And you are to stone him with stones so that he dies, for he sought to mislead you from Adonoy, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

(13,12) And all of Yisroel will hear and will fear, and they will not proceed to do so evil a thing as this, within you.

(13,13) If you hear in one of your cities that Adonoy, your God, is giving you in which to settle, the following:

(13,14) ‘‘Men have gone out—unscrupulous —from among you, and they have misled the inhabitants of their city by saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods ’ that you do not know.’’

(13,15) You must investigate, inquire, and interrogate thoroughly; and if in fact the report is true and accurate—this abomination was committed among you.

(13,16) You must surely strike down the inhabitants of that city by the sword; annihilate it and everything that is in it, and its livestock by the sword.

(13,17) And all its booty are you to collect within its plaza, and you are to burn in fire the city and all its booty—totally—for Adonoy, your God; and it will be a ruin forever, it is never to be rebuilt.

(13,18) Let nothing of the cherem cling to your hand; so that Adonoy withdraws His raising fury and grant you mercy, and He will be merciful toward you and multiply you as He swore to your forefathers

(13,19) When you heed the voice of Adonoy, your God, to guard all His commandments that I am commanding you today, to do the upright in the eyes of Adonoy, your God.

(14,1) You are sons to Adonoy, your God; do not lacerate yourselves and do not make yourselves bald between your eyes for a dead person.

(14,2) For you are a sacred people to Adonoy, your God, and Adonoy has chosen you to be for Him a treasured people from all the peoples who are on the surface of the earth.

(14,3) Do not eat any abomination.

(14,4) These are the animals that you are to eat: the bovine, the sheep and the goat;

(14,5) The gazelle, the deer and the fallow deer; and the ibex and the adax; and the wild ox and the wild sheep.

(14,6) And every animal whose sole is cloven, whose hoof is truly split in two, regurgitating [its] cud within the animals, it may you eat.

(14,7) These, however, do not eat from the regurgitators of cud and from the cloven-soled : the dromedary, the camel, and the hare and the hyrax; for regurgitators of cud are they, but have no cloven sole; they are ritually unclean for you.

(14,8) Also the pig, because it is cloven-soled but does not [regurgitate its] cud; it is ritually unclean for you. From their flesh do not eat, and do not come in contact with their carcasses.

(14,9) These are you to eat from whatever is in the water: whatever has fins and scales may you eat.

(14,10) And whatever does not have fins and scales do not eat; they are ritually unclean for you.

(14,11) You may eat any pure bird.

(14,12) And this is what you may not eat: the griffon vulture and the bearded vulture, and the black vulture;

(14,13) The ra’ah and the ayah, and the kite according to its kind;

(14,14) And every raven according to its kind;

(14,15) And the dark desert eagle owl and the kestrel, and the gull, and the sparrow hawk according to its kind;

(14,16) The dark little owl and the long-eared owl, and the tinshames;

(14,17) And the light little owl and the Egyptian vulture, and the shalach;

(14,18) And the stork, and the heron according to its kind, and the duchifas, and the bat.

(14,19) And all flying creeping creatures are ritually unclean for you; they may not be eaten.

(14,20) Every ritually clean bird you may eat.

(14,21) Do not eat any carcass; to the alien in your cities give it and he will eat it or sell it to a non-Jew, for you are a people sanctified to Adonoy, your God; do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.

(14,22) You must surely tithe all the produce of your planting, that your field yields on a yearly basis.

(14,23) You shall eat in the presence of Adonoy, your God, in the place He chooses to house His Presence there—the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and flocks; in order that you learn to fear Adonoy, your God, all the years.

(14,24) If the journey will be beyond you; if you will be unable to carry it because the place is distant for you where Adonoy, your God, chooses to set His Presence there, for Adonoy, your God, has blessed you—

(14,25) you will substitute coins. You will bundle the coins in your hand, and will go to the place that Adonoy, your God, chooses.

(14,26) You will spend the money for anything you desire—for cattle, sheep, wine, intoxicating liquor—and for anything that you wish; and you will eat there in the presence of Adonoy, your God, and will rejoice, you and your household.

(14,27) And the Levite who is in your city, you must not abandon; since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

(14,28) At the end of three years, separate all the tithes of your produce of that year and set them aside in your city.

(14,29) The Levite shall come, for he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the proselyte and the orphan and the widow who are in your city, let them eat their fill; in order that Adonoy, your God, bless you in all the endeavors that you make.

(15,1) At the end of seven years, you are to make shemitah.

(15,2) And this is the statement of shemitah: suspend every creditor’s hand from his loan to his neighbor; he will not claim [it] from his neighbor or his brother because it was proclaimed shemitah to Adonoy.

(15,3) You should demand payment from the stranger, but what you have with your brother your hand will relinquish.

(15,4) End it [poverty], so that there will be no one, destitute among you when Adonoy will surely bless you in the land that Adonoy, your God, is giving you as territory to inherit.

(15,5) Only if you will listen to the voice of Adonoy, your God, to guard to fulfill this entire mitzvah that I am commanding you today.

(15,6) When Adonoy, your God, blesses you just as He told you, you will grant loans to nations but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but over you they will not rule.

(15,7) If there should be someone destitute in your midst among one of your brothers in one of your cities, in your land that Adonoy, your God, is giving you; do not harden your heart and do not close your hand against your destitute brother.

(15,8) Rather, you must surely open your hand generously to him, and you must surely extend a loan to him to cover the wants which he lacks.

(15,9) Look out for yourself lest there be an evil thought in your mind, saying, ‘‘The seventh year is approaching, the shemitah year,’’ and you will look askance at your destitute brother and will not give him; and if he cries out concerning you to Adonoy, you will be regarded as sinful.

(15,10) You must surely give him, and let your heart not hurt when you give him; for, as a consequence of this thing, Adonoy, your God, will bless you in all your work and in all your commerce.

(15,11) For the destitute will not cease to exist within the land; therefore I am commanding you saying, ‘‘Open your hand generously to your brother, to your indigent, and to your destitute in your land.’’

(15,12) If your brother—Jew or Jewess—is sold to you and he serves you six years; then in the seventh year you are to send him free from you.

(15,13) When you send him free from you, do not send him away empty-handed.

(15,14) You must surely present him with a severance bonus from your flocks, and from your threshing area, and your wine cellar, whatever Adonoy, your God, has blessed you with are you to give him.

(15,15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Adonoy, your God, redeemed you; that is why I am commanding you this matter today.

(15,16) Should he say to you, ‘‘I am not leaving you;’’ because he loves you and your household, for he has it good with you.

(15,17) Take the awl and put it through his ear and the door, and he will become your perpetual slave. And do the same to your maid-servant as well.

(15,18) Let it not seem difficult to you when you send him free from you, for double the profit produced by the wage earner has he worked for you six years; and Adonoy, your God, will bless you in everything you do.

(15,19) Every firstborn that is born in your cattle, and in your flocks—a male—you must consecrate to Adonoy, your God; you may not work with your first-born ox, or shear the first-born of your flocks.

(15,20) Before Adonoy, your God, you must eat it, each year, in the place that Adonoy chooses, you and your household.

(15,21) And if it has a blemish—if it is crippled or blind—or has any severe blemish, do not slaughter it to Adonoy, your God.

(15,22) In your cities may you eat it; the ritually unclean and the clean together, like the deer and the gazelle.

(15,23) Only, do not eat its blood; spill it like water on the ground.

(16,1) Take heed of the month of spring, when you will celebrate Pesach for Adonoy your God; for in the month of spring Adonoy, your God, took you out from Egypt at night.

(16,2) You shall slaughter the pesach-offering to Adonoy, your God, flocks of ruminants and cattle in the place that Adonoy chooses to house His Presence there.

(16,3) Do not eat chometz on it; seven days are you to eat on it matzos, bread of anguish; since in haste you left the land of Egypt, so that you remember the day of your exodus from the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

(16,4) And no sourdough of yours may be seen in all of your boundary seven days; and none of the flesh may remain overnight which you slaughtered towards the evening of the first day—until morning.

(16,5) You are forbidden to slaughter the pesach in any of your cities that Adonoy, your God, is giving you.

(16,6) Solely in the place that Adonoy, your God, chooses to house His Presence, there will you slaughter the pesach towards the afternoon, at sunset, at the time you left Egypt.

(16,7) You shall cook [it] and eat [it] in the place that Adonoy, your God, chooses; and you may depart in the morning and go to your residence.

(16,8) For six days you shall eat matzos, and on the seventh day, is one of withdrawal for the sake of Adonoy, your God, do not do work.

(16,9) Seven weeks count for yourself; from the time the sickle begins felling the standing grain, begin to count seven weeks.

(16,10) You are to celebrate the festival of Shovuos for Adonoy, your God, to the fullness of your open-handed gift that you can give, as Adonoy, your God, has blessed you.

(16,11) You are to rejoice in the presence of Adonoy, your God—you, and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite who is in your city, and the proselyte, and the orphan and the widow who are among you—in the place that Adonoy, your God, chooses to house His Presence there.

(16,12) Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; you are to guard and celebrate these statutes.

(16,13) The festival of Sukkos celebrate for yourself seven days, when you harvest your threshing-floor and your wine-press.

(16,14) You are to rejoice during your festival—you and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite and the proselyte, and the orphan and the widow who are in your city.

(16,15) Seven days are you to be festive for Adonoy, your God, in the place Adonoy chooses, for Adonoy, your God, will bless you in all your produce and in all your endeavors; and you shall experience pure joy.

(16,16) Three times a year are all your males to be seen in the presence of Adonoy, your God, in the place that He chooses—in the festival of Matzos, and on the festival of Shovuos, and on the festival of Sukkos—and he shall not appear in the presence of Adonoy empty-handed.

(16,17) Everyone according to the gift appropriate to his means, according to the blessing of Adonoy, your God, that He gave you.