On the Weekly Torah Portion of Shemini
Maimonides
The Torah portion for last week was shemini (Leviticus 9 – 11). For various constraints, I was not able to submit the commentary on the portion before Shabbat, which is what I attempt to do normally; but the commentary on this week’s portion, tazria (Leviticus 12 – 13), will in fact pertain to both portions, as it will concern itself with the symbolism of the number eight (shemini means “eighth”).
However, in the spirit of the Talmudic statement:
לפוטרו בלא כלום אי אפשרOne cannot get away with nothing (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin, 27b)
I hereby offer a short comment regarding last week’s reading. not, however, with regards to the weekly reading of the Torah, but rather the reading of the haftarah*.