דבר אל בני ישראל, “speak to the Children of Israel;” this is a call for them to assemble in order to hear what he has to say to them. Once they had assembled, the Torah tells Moses what he is to say to them, ואמרת אליהם, and say to them: אלה הם מועדי, “these are My appointed seasons.” The verse speaks of the Sabbath. The plural mode in the word מועדי, is used, as there are so many Sabbaths every year. (Ibn Ezra)

בכל מושבותיכם, “in all your dwellings.” The Sabbath laws apply regardless of whether you are in the Holy Land or in exile. Up to now the Torah had dealt with different kinds of vows made by people, resulting in those being offered as animal sacrifices on the altar in the Temple. On those days everybody is required to offer sacrifices in the Temple regardless of having vowed to do so or not. It also describes the type of work that must not be performed on these festivals.

בין הערבים, פסח, “at dusk, a Passover;” on the eve of the first day of Passover. The afternoon of the fourteenth and the night of the fifteenth of that month are called “Passover.” The reason is that during that time the people were busy slaughtering and consuming the meat of the Passover offering. The remaining days of that festival are called: חג המצות, “the festival of the unleavened bread.”

שבעת ימים מצות תאכלו, “you will eat unleavened bread for seven days.” The unleavened bread a person eats during those seven days are accounted as his fulfilling this commandment on Passover, the exception are the thanksgiving offerings, part of which are chametz, leavened bread, and mostly unleavened wafers which may not be offered on these days.

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ראשית קצירכם, “the first fruit of your harvest;” it would not be good manners to eat of this harvest before your bringing a gift to the Lord acknowledging His share in your successful harvest.

ממחרת השבת, “on the day following the first day of Passover.” We have one verse in which we are commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days (here), and another in which we are commanded to eat leavened bread during six days. (Deuteronomy 16,8) How do we reconcile these two verses? During years when you are unable to eat from last year’s harvest (because there is none left) after the sh’mittah year, you are allowed to eat from the new harvest during the last 6 days of this festival. How do we fulfill the commandment of “on the day following the Sabbath?” We understand the word Sabbath here as the first day of the festival. (If we were to wait until after the whole of the festival has elapsed, we would have ignored the commandment contained in this verse. Annotation by Rabbi Chavell)

ומנחתו שני עשרונים סלת, and its gift offering, “two tenths of fine flour, etc.;” this was double the usual amount as it was the first offering presented from the new harvest. The additional amount of flour presented symbolizes that the harvest has been bountiful. Seeing that we do not find a parallel when it comes to the number of sheep offered on this occasion in addition to the breads, we mention in our mussaph prayers on the festival the respective components of each of these offerings. Some opinions hold that the one “tenth” of fine flour mentioned here was the “omer,” and they bring as proof that the libation accompanying that offering was not commensurate with the two “tenths” of fine flour mentioned here. This argument is without merit, as the two “tenths” mentioned here were wheat flour, whereas the “omer” consisted of barley. The expression סלת for finely ground flour is used exclusively with flour made from wheat.

ונסכה יין רביעית ההין, “and its accompanying libation, one tenth of a measure known as hin, of wine." Rabbi Eliezer, in the Talmud, tractate Menachot folio 89, points out that the Torah uses the feminine mode for the word ונסכה, i.e. it is read as if it had been spelled with the masculine pronoun ending ו, although spelled with feminine ending ה. What is the reason for this strange phenomenon? The libation appropriate for a gift offering, known as מנחה in Hebrew is appropriately referred to in the feminine mode, seeing that the noun מנחה, gift offering, is a feminine noun. On the other hand, normally the libation accompanying the gift offering consists of oil, whereas here it consists of wine, יין. It is therefore not correct to speak of a doubling of the libation, as only the amount of flour has been doubled. Moreover, libations consisting of oil were a later addition in the history of the Jewish people in the desert, having been introduced only in Numbers chapter 28.

ומנחתו ושני עשרונים, ונסכו יין, “and its gift offering, two tenths of fine flour and its libation, wine. Seeing that this libation was not introduced until Numbers 28, the reference to it here is grammatically ambiguous; we find another example of such an ambiguity in verse 18 of our chapter: שבעת כבשים ופר אחד ואילים שנים, “seven male sheep and one bullock and two rams,” which are offered on account of the two loaves representing the firstling fruit of the new wheat harvest on the festival of Shavuot; The Torah adds here: “and their respective gift offerings and libations,” (without spelling out what the latter consisted of.) All the other sacrifices offered on the festivals, mentioned here without specifics, are all described in the feminine mode, as only in Numbers chapter 28 they are considered as complete, as there the libations accompanying them are spelled out.

ולחם, “and the bread etc;” five species of grain when baked, qualify for the description “bread,” they are the ones that are liable to become chametz, leavened, if their dough are allowed to rise. “Baked dough” made from kitniyot, legumes, such as rice, maize, lentils, etc., the dough of which does not become leavened, does not qualify for the definition “bread” in the Torah. (Sifra)

וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת, “you will begin to count for yourselves, commencing with the day after the first day of Passover;” seeing that there are seven weeks between the beginning of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest, periods when the commandment of sh’mittah is observed in earnest, the prophet (Jeremiah, 5,24) has already categorized them as: שבועות חוקת קציר ישמר לנו, “Who keeps for our benefit the weeks appointed for the harvest.”Rashi comments: “seven weeks during which G-d decreed for us two laws, that of the harvesting of the “omer and the presentation of the first two loaves of the new wheat harvest.” He sees to it that we can harvest these two species at the appropriate time of the year. Seeing that such an important part of our livelihood depends on these two harvests, it is easy to understand that the Torah expects us to keep the counting of these days meticulously. Just as we have to count days we also have to count weeks, at the end of which period we sanctify the fiftieth day after completing the seventh week. We have to do the same concerning counting for the sh’mittah year and the arrival of the yovel year. The emphasis of this whole paragraph is on the respective concepts of sh’mittah and yovel. There are a total of 49 potential disasters that the Torah warns us of if we fail to observe these two basic positive commandments. [Thenumber 49 symbolizes the number of days we fail to assimilate the social significance of those laws to ensure that no extremes of rich and poor will become permanent features in our land. [My choice of words. Ed.]

ממחרת השבת, if you were to say that these words refer to the day following the original Sabbath, i.e. the first day of the week, you would on occasion have to count fifty two days instead of forty nine days or even fifty four days or fifty six days, neither less nor more. This is why the first day of Passover cannot occur on either: Monday, Wednesday or Friday. How then could I fulfill the commandment implied in the words “on the day following the Sabbath?” This can only be done by understanding the word שבת, as referring to the first day of the festival.

תספרו חמשים יום, “you shall count fifty days.” We need to recite a blessing when we count, as opposed to when a woman after her period counts seven days of her purification days. Her count is not necessarily consecutive, as if she sees a drop of blood that emanated from her vagina, this invalidates the count. She has no control over this, whereas we, who are counting consecutive days, know beforehand that the sun rises every day consecutively. (Compare commentary of our author on Leviticus 15,28)

על הלחם, “with the bread.”

ועשיתם שעיר עזים, “you shall offer one he-goat;” Rashi comments here: I might have thought that the seven male sheep and the male goat mentioned here are the same as those mentioned in Numbers 28,27. However, when you look at the bullocks and rams, you will note that they are not identical, as there we read about two bullocks and one ram. Furthermore, if you were to assume that what is described here is part of the mussaph offerings presented on the festivals, what is the difference between the offering presented on Shavuot from the ones recorded in Parshat Pinchas?

ושני כבשים בני שנה, and two male sheep less than a year old. Rabbi Shimon, quoted by Sifra, asks for what sin these two sheep are supposed to atone? He answers that they are to atone for inadvertent ritual impurity incurred in the Temple or in connection with the service in the Temple. He adds that if the first animal achieved atonement, what was the second one in aid of? He answers that it would atone for additional impurity incurred in the interval. He adds that according to strict rules such offerings should therefore be offered around the clock, as inadvertent impurity is liable to occur at any moment; however, G-d decided to save His people the additional expense. [There appears to be a misprint somewhere because while the male goats served for atonement, the male sheep were peace offerings, not sin offerings. The interested reader who finds this “misprint” incredible, is referred to Malbim’s commentary on this Sifra. Ed.]

והניף הכהן אותם, “the priest will wave them;” the two sheep for the Shavuot festival.

על לחם הבכורים, “with the bread of the first fruit of the wheat harvest;”

על שני כבשים, “with the two lambs.” Not literally with, but “next to,” as explained by the Talmud in tractate Menachot folio 62.

קדש יהיה לה' לכהן, it will be holy to the Lord;” for the priest.” No non priest may eat any parts of them, as opposed to other types of peace offerings.

וקראתם בעצם היום הזה מקרא קדש, “and you will proclaim a holy convocation on this very day.” The reason why the Torah does not spell out in which month this occurs, and on what date of this month, as it does with all the other festivals, is if it had done so, the people would not have been counting weeks and days, but would simply have contented themselves with observing the festival on its appropriate date. The counting was an important feature of these weeks as we have pointed out on verse 15. Nowadays, in the absence of the Temple, our being in exile, and having adopted (therefore?) a permanent calendar, the fiftieth day after the first day of Passover automatically occurs on the same date in the month of Sivan, the date on which the Ten Commandments (orally) were given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. In light of the fact that the counting is no longer associated with the date of Shavuot as that date was known, the benediction commencing with שהחיינו וקימנו לזמן הזה, “Who has kept us alive and well until this point in time,” is not recited.

ובקוצרכם את קציר ארצכם, “when you reap the harvests of your land, etc.;” seeing that the principal period of harvesting commences around the time of Shavuot, the Torah chose to speak of this season first, when discussing special laws of benefit to the poor connected with the act of collecting the harvest. Examples are: leaving a corner of the field uncut for the poor to help themselves, and not gleaning anything the reapers had dropped by mistake. (B’chor shor)

וידבר ה' אל משה, “the Lord spoke to Moses;” The reason why this sequence has been interrupted by telling us that G-d addressed Moses separately about the days of New Year and the Day of Atonement, something He had not done when speaking about Shavuot, is because each one of those festivals is something in its own right, as distinct from Shavuot which is inextricably linked to Passover as the reaping of the beginning of the barley harvest begins on the second day of Passover and the counting of the seven weeks links Passover to Shavuot.

באחד לחדש השביעי, “on the first day of the seventh month, etc.” you observe a festival, שבתון on the first day of that month and it occurs on a Sabbath, you are to observe a symbolic act as the substitute for blowing the shofar, called here זכרון תרועה, in accordance with the rules established by our sages. On account of this absence of blowing the shofar on the Sabbath, the sages added the extra words יום זכרון תרועה, in the relevant portions of the principal prayer known as עמידה, the prayer to be recited while standing. In the portion known as Pinchas, where all the sacrifices offered especially on the festivals are listed in detail, the word: זכרון, “in memory of,” is missing, the Torah describing that day only as יום תרועה, “the day on which the t’ruah sound of the shofar is to be blown. (Numbers 29,1) In other words, in regular years when that date does not occur on a Sabbath, the shofar is to be blown. The day is referred to in our relevant prayers as yom hazikaron, a day of remembrance, the means of that remembrance, the shofar not being stated. The purpose of the blowing of the shofar in all parts of the world, regardless of whether we are in exile, is to bring ourselves to favourable consideration by the Creator, Who, on that day decides which of us are going to survive the year about to commence. Moses was instructed about such a concept already when told to make two trumpets for himself in Numbers 10,9.

אך בעשור לחודש, “however on the tenth of that month, etc.” whenever the Torah uses the word: אך, it is meant to exclude something. All of the other festivals have been called: מקראי קודש, “holy convocations;” this implies that on these days we would celebrate also by eating more and better food, drink some wine, etc.; and generally enjoy pleasurable experiences. This day has been called מקרא קודש, the last letter being missing. The Day of Atonement is an exception to all this. Instead of a day of enjoyment, we are to deliberately cause ourselves discomfort, i.e. ועניתם את נפשותיכם. Prior to the giving of the first set of Tablets which Moses had smashed, the Torah had written that the elite of the people when accompanying Moses before he ascended the Mountain to receive them, had “seen” G-d, had eaten and drunk,” (Exodus 24,11). It was stated there that G-d had not punished them for this on that occasion, a clear indication that they had deserved to be punished. As a consequence, when they made a golden calf and treated it as a deity and danced around it and ate and drank, the result was that at least some ended up treating that calf as a deity by prostrating themselves in front of it. (Exodus 32,6) As part of the atonement, a process completed on the 10th of Tishrey when Moses brought them the second set of Tablets, eating and drinking was absolutely prohibited on that day.

וכל מלאכה לא תעשו, “and you must not perform any manner of constructive work on that day.” This day is equal to an ordinary Sabbath, when all manner of constructive work is also prohibited. Careful examination of the text will show that on all other festivals the work prohibition is termed מלאכת עבודה, i.e. the kind of work reflecting our dependence on physical, demeaning labour, in order to earn our livelihood. On those days we are allowed to perform most of the kind of work necessary to prepare our food. (verse 7 here and Exodus 12,16). The penalty for violating the work prohibition on the Day of Atonement is spelled out in verse 30, והאבדתי את הנפש ההיא מקרב עמה, “I will destroy that soul from membership among its people.”

כי כל הנפש אשר לא תעונה, “for every person (soul) that does not afflict itself;” we have heard the warning previously; now we hear the penalty for disobedience, what is it? ונכרתה, “it will be cut off from the future of its people.” (Sifra)

כל מלאכה לא תעשו, “you must not perform any activity defined as m’lachah; the Torah has repeated this on account of what follows, i.e. חוקת עולם לדורותיכם, “a permanent statute throughout your generations.”

שבת שבתון הוא, “it is written (spelled) as is and read as is, as I explained on Leviticus 16,31. [The word שבת is generally in the feminine mode and we would have expected the pronoun referring to it as being spelled in accordance with that, i.e. היא. Compare how it is treated in the commentaries and in the Talmud. Ed.]

ועניתם את נפשותיכם התשעה לחדש בערב, “you are to afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month in the evening;” our sages query how it is that we have to afflict ourselves on the day before the Day of Atonement, when the date set by the Torah for that day it the tenth? They conclude that what is meant here is that by eating and drinking on the day prior to the Day of Atonement we can fulfill the “festive” aspect of that day, which is after all part of the list of festivals. (Talmud Rosh Hashana, folio 9) they go as far as to state that treating the ninth day of that month as a festival, is equivalent having afflicted oneself with total abstention from food and drink on the tent of that month. On the other hand, when the Torah demands of us to eat matzot in the evening of the 14th15th of Nissan, Exodus 12,18) we cannot interpret that line in a similar manner, as in our verse the eating of food on the ninth day is linked to afflicting oneself, something that is not so in connection with Passover.

בתשעה לחדש בערב, it is clear from the cantillation marks, i.e. the strongly dividing mark etnachta on the previous word: לנפשותיכם, makes it clear that the word בתשעה introduces a new subject, nothing to do with the words ועניתם את נפשותיכם. It clearly refers to the evening following part of the shabbat which lasts until the evening following.

מערב עד ערב, “from this verse we have proof that the day follows the night.

תשבתו, “you will observe spiritual rest; the entire period is part of the Day of Atonement, which is a festival so that you have to add a little time extra at its beginning and at its official ending.

שבתכם, “your Sabbaths.” This day has been given to the people of Israel as a Sabbath and as a holy convocation. It says: 'שבת לה, “as a Sabbath for the Lord,” and it also said: “a special Sabbath for you.” The former is the Sabbath on which G-d had rested from the creation. The יום השביעי part of the Sabbath is never referred to as being Israel’s, it is always the Lord’s

עצרת היא, “it is a day of special assembly;” this is a parable describing a king whose children came to visit him for the first time; at that time the king said to them: “when are you going to visit me again?” they said to him: “in about a couple of months. ”Thereupon the king took his leave of them. When the children came again to see their father the king, he asked again when they would come to see him again. When they said that they would come again in about four months, the king again thanked them for their visit and bid them farewell. When this story repeated itself a third time and on that occasion the children told him that they would not visit him again until after about seven months, the king begged them to delay their departure for at least one additional day. They agreed and did so. He gave them a special blessing for having spent the extra time with him. This parable is supposed to explain why there is no day called עצרת after Passover and after Shavuot, but only after Sukkot, seeing that it is over six months until the next Passover. The reason there is no pilgrimage festival during the winter is to save the people having to travel to Jerusalem during the inclement winter months.

אלה מועדי, “these are the appointed seasons, etc,” the reason why the Torah had to repeat this once more is because we do not find the verse והקרבתם אשה, “you are to present a fire offering” in connection with the offerings on the festival of Shavuot, (called Atzeret by the Torah). This verse is a reminder that it applies to all the festivals. The Torah had also not used that expression in connection with the Sabbath, at the beginning of the chapter dealing with the festivals. This is why in verse 38 it specifically exempts the Sabbath from this commandment.

להקריב אשה לה' עולה ומנחה זבח ונסכים, “to bring an offering made by fire unto the Lord; a burnt offering and a mealoffering a sacrifice and libations ;” on all the מועדים, these four categories of offerings are to be presented; the expression זבח applies to meat offerings parts of which are to be consumed by the priests, who are allowed to eat parts of the communal sin offerings offered on these festivals.

אך בחמשה עשר יום, “but on the fifteenth day, etc.” the word אך, as usual, is meant to exclude something;” in this instance it refers to the fact that the Passover which must be eaten on the night of the 14th to the fifteenth of Nissan does not require the owners of these animals to spend an additional night in Jerusalem, seeing that the whole offering had already been consumed. The reason for this relaxation of the Torah’s standards is that the farmers are preoccupied with harvesting the barley in their fields at that time. The same is true on the festival of Shavuot. which occurs during the period of the wheat harvest. However on the fifteenth day of Tishrey, when all the harvests of the fields had already been brought into the barns, the pilgrims are required to rejoice for eight days in Jerusalem. (B’chor shor)

ביום הראשון, “on the first day, etc.; ”how can this day be described as the ‘first’ day seeing it is the fifteenth of the month? According to a well known Midrash, this is a hint that the count of our sins committed after the Day of Atonement on the tenth of the month, had been suspended until that day. Seeing that most people had been preoccupied with preparing for the festival of Sukkot during these four days, if inadvertent sins had been committed, they are “overlooked” on those days but from now on they will be counted.

פרי עץ הדר, “both from the type of trees that produce fruit and from those which are pleasant to look at and which provide pleasant fragrance.” They are all to be tied together into one bunch. The moral lesson of this instruction is that both the pious people and those less pious but generally observant, are to join in carrying out G-d’s will.

ושמחתם שבעת ימים, “you are to rejoice for seven consecutive days.” The reason for this is that each day is to be considered as a festival in its own right. The fact that the number of sacrifices offered during these days vary, is proof of this, compared with the offerings on the seven days of Passover.

In the commandment to dwell in huts (sukkot) for seven days, it is not explicitly mentioned whether this includes both days and nights. How, then, do we know that the obligation encompasses both daytime and nighttime dwelling? We can draw an analogy from the usage of the word "tishvu" (you shall dwell) which appears both here and in a separate context, referring to dwelling in the Tent of Meeting. Just as in the case of the Tent of Meeting, the requirement to dwell therein includes both days and nights, so too, with the commandment to dwell in sukkot, the obligation extends to day and night. However, the Sages offer another explanation, comparing the 15th day mentioned in relation to the Festival of Matzot (Unleavened Bread) and the same date mentioned about the Festival of Sukkot. They infer that just as in the Festival of Matzot, the first night has a mandatory obligation and the following nights are optional, similarly, during the Festival of Sukkot, the first night is compulsory while the subsequent nights are optional. This brings clarity to the obligation of dwelling in sukkot during the seven days, incorporating both daytime and nighttime aspects, with the first night being a strict requirement and following nights being more lenient concerning the need to stay in the sukkah. בסוכות תשבו שבעות ימים, “you are to dwell in huts for seven days.” This is to remind us that in the desert our forefathers relied on the clouds of G-d’s glory to protect them against nature and its inclemency, instead of relying on a man made roof. (Talmud Sukkah folio 11)

All regular residents in Israel are to dwell in a sukkah during the festival. One might think that this obligation does not apply to foreigners, as they might not have a permanent residence. However, the commandment is applicable to both citizens and foreigners living in Israel, even if they have large and luxurious dwellings. This festival was established at the time of the grain harvest and the pressing of the wine, which might lead people to become proud and boastful about their homes that are filled with abundance. They might even believe that their wealth and success are solely due to their own efforts. By dwelling in a sukkah during this time, people are reminded to give praise and thanks to the One who has provided them with their inheritance and homes filled with all that is good. This acts as a reminder of the true source of their blessings and keeps them humble and grateful.