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Torah From the Internet
Reviewed by Yocheved Golani
Since 1993, Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld’s weekly comments on the Torah portion have been wending their way around the world from Israel. Subscribers to Kornfeld’s Parasha-Page at http://www.shemayisrael.co.il have been studying his pithy observations spiced with pilpul, grammatical breakdowns of words and phrases, gematria, midrash and philosophical contexts and gaining a fresh look at ancient information. For Jews familiar with the Toraitic bounty on the Internet, Rabbi Kornfeld’s comments on the portions of the week are an inspiration. For newcomers to the world of computer-accessible daat Torah, this is a world to be plumbed for its spiritual depth.
Kornfeld’s first commentary on Bereishis thoroughly introduces his readers to a variety of conflicting points of view on the nature of a “day,” and adroitly points out that not only can the differences be neatly reconciled, the very controversy is what HaShem desires. It drives Jews into exploring valuable facets of Torah knowledge.
By the time Kornfeld addresses Parashat Ki Setzei, his readers are attuned to the fact that he will pull up some fascinating insight about the text. Sure enough, he points out that the issue before King Solomon was not simply one of two women fighting for the custody of a baby; it was two women desperate to avoid the status of yevamah. Kornfeld informs his online and print students that according to 13th century commentators, Rav Yehoshua Ibn Shu’ib and Rav Menachem haMeiri, each woman needed to be considered the child’s parent so that she wouldn’t be forced into marrying a man not of her choosing. One of these women stood to benefit greatly from the baby’s death and King Solomon had to trick her into revealing her agenda.
Readers can pore over similar gems of Toraitic wisdom by reading Torah From the Internet. A great addendum to the book is the archive of his online shiur at
http://shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/kornfeld/archives/archives.htm. Rabbi Kornfeld can be reached at kornfeld@dafyomi.co.il.
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