דבר אל בני ישראל, “speak to the Children of Israel!” When G-d saw that finally they had acknowledged their wrongdoing and had repented, and had mourned appropriately, He informed them that their sons would settle in the Land and He spoke to them on the subject of sacrificial offerings to be offered.

אל ארץ מושבותיכם, “to the land wherein you will settle;” but while in the desert, these sacrifices are not welcome. These sacrifices are effective only for sins committed inadvertently; you however, have committed the sins fully aware of what you had done.

והקריב המקריב, “the one presenting the offering shall present it;” Rabbi Natan understands this verse as an introductory formula applicable to all such situations, something known in Talmudic parlance as binyan av. It teaches that no one offering a gift offering may use less than the quantities and ingredients listed in this verse. (Sifri)

על העולה או לזבח, “on either a burnt offering or an offering part of the meat of which could be consumed;” why did this have to be spelled out here? We had read in verse 3: ועשיתם אשה עולה או זבח, “you are to make a fire offering or a burnt offering for the Lord;” from that line we heard that if someone declares: ”I undertake to present a burnt offering, I am going to present a meat offering,” he declares: “I am going to present a gift offering, and “I am going to present a peace offering,” [in other words, all these types of offerings. Ed] that he did not have to add more that a single libation offering with all of these offerings; this is why the Torah here had to spell out that these libation offerings must accompany each of the above mentions animal or meal offerings. (Sifri)

והקריב על בן הבקר, “he will present it with the bullock;” the word על means “with,” in this instance.

ככה יעשה לשור האחד, “so it shall be done for each bullock;” we learn from here that the Torah did not distinguish between the amounts used for libation offerings of young animals such as a calf, and the amounts used to accompany animals that had fully matured. (Sifri)

או לאיל האחד, “or for each ram.” Why did this detail have to be spelled out? I might have thought that seeing that the Torah had distinguished between the size of libations for one year old animals and two year old animals, and the size of the libations for three year old animals, it would similarly distinguish between the sizes of the libations for three year old animals of one type and another type, and between the males of the species or the females, therefore it equates sheep and goats i.e. the biggest of the categories known as בהמה דקה, the smaller categories of domestic beasts acceptable as sacrifices and the larger ones, known as בהמה גסה. The amounts of fine flour used in the libation offerings accompanying either animal, are identical in volume, i.e. three logs of fine flour.

לאחד כמספרם, “for everyone according to their number.” The letter ל in the word לאחד, has the vowel kametz under it.

כל האזרח יעשה ככה, “Every citizen shall shall do so.“ why is this said? Because it says “and battered, and crushed, etc.“ These, you do not accept, but you accept from them unblemished ones. Would it be possible that just as Israel brings libations, so too would the Canaanite bring libations? The verse teaches us, “Every citizen shall do so, etc.“ Israel brings libations, and the Canaanite does not bring libations. From here it was said that if a non-Jew sent his burnt offerings from overseas, and did not send libations with them, they would be offered from the public funds.

וכי יגור אתכם גר או אשר בתוככם, “and if amongst you there sojourns a stranger, or whoever there may be amongst you throughout your generations, etc,” this verse appears in a truncated form; it should be understood as if the Torah had written it as follows: “if a stranger who lives amongst you at the present, or at some time in the future, etc.;” from this verse we learn that this paragraph has been written in the Torah twice, and been repeated in order to add to it two details that had not previously been revealed to the people. (B’chor shor)

והיה באכלכם, “it shall be when you eat of, etc.” the letter ב at the beginning of the word באכלכם, has the vowel chatof patach under it.

כתרומת גרן, “as that which is set aside from the threshing ground;” this is equivalent to what is known elsewhere as ראשית עריסותיכם, “the first product of your kneading bowls.”

מראשית עריסותיכם, this includes the parts of the harvest to be left for the poor, such as the field’s corner, gleanings, and areas the reaper forgot to cut, all of which are subject to the laws of challah, i.e. before the proceeds are baked, a small portion had to be set aside for the priest.

לדורותיכם, “throughout your generations.” According to the Sifri on this verse this includes any dough baked during the sh’mittah year as well as any dough that qualifies for the laws of challah.

.ואם נפש אחת תחטא בשגגה, “and if one person sin through error, etc.;” idolatry is one of the sins which can be atoned for by an offering of the appropriate animal sacrifice by the guilty party, either through presenting a female sheep female or goat, as specified. It depends on the social status of the sinner. If a national leader had become guilty of that sin through error, he has to bring a male goat, if it was the High Priest, a bullock; also if the president of the Supreme Court had become guilty of that sin, he has to present a mature bullock. [One of the reasons that a female goat is referred to as שעירה, and not as עז, is that the practice of offering goats called satyrs to their deities was so widespread amongst the idolaters. (Compare Leviticus 17,7) Ed.] This is the reason why this paragraph had to be written especially.

עז בת שנתה, “a female goat during the first year of its life.” Every time the term עז appears in the Torah, it refers to a female goat of less than one year. (Sifri)

ונכרתה הנפש ההיא, “that soul will be cut off;” whenever the root כרת is used it refers to a separation, ending of a previous relationship.” (Sifri)

עונה, “her guilt;” the letter ה in the word עונה does not have a dot. [although we would have expected it as it is a pronoun ending. Ed.]

ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר, “While the Children of Israel were in the desert, etc.;” they remained there as G-d had decreed that they could not enter the Land of Israel. The commandments that have been listed immediately preceding this paragraph were all commandments that could not be fulfilled outside that land. This is why they had been introduced with the words: וכי תבאו אל הארץ, “when you will come to the land.” The only one discussed here that was not only applicable in the Holy Land were the laws of the Sabbath which apply universally, wherever Jews happen to be, even when they are in the desert. This is why the fact that the man who collected kindling on the Sabbath was in the desert was written, as we would have known that he was in the desert, where else could he have been? (B’chor shor on verse 34.)

וימצאו איש מקושש עצים, “they found a man collecting kindling.” According to Rashi, this line is written as a critique of the Israelites, seeing that at least one of them did not even observe the second Sabbath already. [Actually, some Israelites who went out of the camp with containers to collect manna on the first Sabbath also violated the Sabbath legislation, although this was before the Torah had been given. Ed.] From Rashi’s comment we must assume that this incident occurred already during the first year of the Israelites’ wanderings. On the other hand, the incident of the blasphemer recorded in Leviticus chapter 24, took place in the second year, as in the first year the Israelites had not yet arranged their tribal positions around the Tabernacle according to their tribal flags. And some commentators suggest that even though the incident of the blasphemer also occurred in the first year, nevertheless he was guilty as explained in Lev.24.12-16.

מקושש עצים ביום השבת, “collecting kindling on the Sabbath day.” According to one opinion, the violation consisted of his carrying the kindling a distance greater than four cubits in the public domain. According to another opinion the sin consisted of his having cut the kindling from the tree’s trunk on the Sabbath. A third opinion holds that he was guilty of the sin of bundling these kindling together as in making sheaves. (Talmud tractate Shabbat folio 96.)

וימצאו, “they found;” this teaches that Moses must have appointed men especially appointed to look for lawbreakers on the Sabbath. One or more of these guards found the culprit, and then cautioned him. (Sifrei)

ויקריבו אותו וגו, “and the men who had found him brought him to Moses;” why did this have to be repeated once more? We had already heard what this man had been found doing on the Sabbath? It was repeated to let us know that the men who found him had warned him of the consequences in store for him if he did not desist.

כי לא פורש מה יעשה לו, “for it had not been specified what should be done to him.” Rashi explains that whereas it was known that the man had to be executed, which of the four methods to be used in this case had not yet been spelled out. If you were to ask why this man should not be executed by strangulation seeing that it had not been stated that he has to be stoned, and strangulation is the standard method of execution for most capital sins, the answer is that Moses was in doubt what precisely was the sin that called for execution here, if desecration was equivalent to desecrating the name of the Lord by worshipping an idol, in which case execution was to be by means of the sword. This is why he was kept locked up until Moses received an answer from G-d. If you were to say, that in accordance with the view of Rabbi Yehudah that if the sinner had not been warned of what kind of death penalty he could expect, no conviction could be obtained from a court, you would have to answer that the witnesses advised him that he would be liable to one of the four kinds of executions provided for by the Torah.

ועשו להם ציצית, “that they make for themselves fringes;” When G-d created the universe (our globe) He did not create anything that could not lend itself to perform a commandment with. If a farmer goes out to plough his field, he must take care not to use an ox and a donkey to pull the plough. If he goes out to sow seeds, he must be sure not to violate the commandment of mixing two species of seeds to grow in the same row. If he goes out to harvest, he must take care not to harvest every last bit of the field. If his wife bakes bread, or better, makes a dough for bread, she must take care to set aside something for the priest. The list could be continued ad infinitum. [This editor has contented himself with part of the list spelled out by our author. What is a rule for agricultural activities and domestic activities in the kitchen, also applies to the clothing we wear. G-d has provided us with an opportunity to perform a commandment even in that area of our lives, though we are not obligated to wear four cornered garments nor to mix wool and linen, otherwise forbidden, when doing so. Ed.]

על ציצית הכנף, “on the fringes of each corner,” i.e. “together with the fringes on each corner of that garment.” An example of a similar construction is found in Leviticus 25,31: על שדה הארץ, which does not mean: “on the field of the country,” but “with the field of the country.” Three of the fringes are white in colour, whereas the fourth is blue. This is what our sages said in the Sifri.

וזכרתם את כל מצות ה, “so that you will remember all the commandments of the Lord;” Rashi explains this line by pointing out that the numerical value of the word ציצית is 600; when you add the eight fringes and the five knots required to attach them in the traditional manner you have 613, the number of the commandments of the Torah. Seeing that the three times the word ציצ(י)ת appears in this paragraph the letter י is missing, one must take the ל of לציצת (which has a value of 30) and add 10 to each time that word appears remind us of the number 613.

ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם, “and you must not go about after your hearts and after your eyes;” whenever you look at one of My commandments you are to remember that you are My servants and are not free to follow your inclinations when they deviate from My commandments.

, למען תזכרו ועשיתם את כל מצותי, “so that you will remember and carry out all My commandments, and not violate them.” This paragraph has been inserted next to the paragraph that dealt with the person collecting kindling on the Sabbath, so that you will remember what happened to that person for violating My commandment. After having witnessed this, the people might have thought: “how can we ever observe the laws of the Sabbath after having witnessed that this man was executed for a minor infraction?” At least when it comes to the observance of the festivals there are symbols on that day that remind us of the nature of it, but what distinguishes the Sabbath from the weekdays so that it could serve as a reminder? Therefore the Torah gave us the commandment of fringes as a symbol of clothing that would be worn on the Sabbath, although it would be inconvenient to wear such garment on weekdays when we have to go about our work. Our sages have formulated it thus: “anyone who does not wear a Tallit with fringes on the Sabbath is comparable to the person who collected kindling on the Sabbath. [This is a quote from Tossaphot, sages who were contemporaries of our author. Ed.]

והייתם קדושים לאלוקיכם, “and then you will be holy for your G-d.” And who is this G-d of yours?

אני ה' אלוקיכם אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצריפ , “I amthe Lord you G-d. Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.” Quoting from the writings of Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon, one of his favourite sources, Rashi comments the eight (folded over 4) strings making up the fringes at each corner of a fourcornered garment symbolize the eight days it took the Jewish people after leaving Egypt to finally being free from pursuit. That was when they broke out in the song of thanksgiving. If you were to say that they descended into the sea on the evening of the seventh day according to Exodus 14,5, and the recited the song of thanksgiving on the following morning, (which as till the seventh day), we have to assume that the day on which they had moved from Goshen to Ramses, was included in the count of eight. The report in Exodus commences only after they had all miraculously assembled in Ramses, from where they proceeded to Sukkot.