Torah Thoughts

In Devarim parsha Eikev we read (Deuteronomy 8:9) אֶ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹ֤א בְמִסְכֵּנֻת֙ תֹּֽאכַל־בָּ֣הּ לֶ֔חֶם לֹֽא־תֶחְסַ֥ר כֹּ֖ל בָּ֑הּ אֶ֚רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲבָנֶ֣יהָ בַרְזֶ֔ל וּמֵהֲרָרֶ֖יהָ תַּחְצֹ֥ב נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃   - A land where not in scarcity shall you eat bread. You shall lack nothing in it; a land whose stones are iron and from whose mountains you shall hew copper.    We may surmise that eating of the bread is related to iron, because plows which till the land are made of iron, and therefore with the help of those plows the land will be well-prepared for sowing and growing wheat from which bread is made. But that leaves us with the second pairing in that pasuk , namely that lacking nothing must be somehow related to the mountains of copper. It is as if the Torah is saying that the "lacking nothing" will be assured thanks to the "mountains of copper". So this begs the question: what does copper have to do with satisfying one's desires, so much so that one feels like...

Chapter Ki Teitzei begins with four themes, in the following order: 1. During a war, a soldier may see a beautiful woman among the prisoners and wish to marry her (after 30 days of preparation) 2. If (after cohabitation with her) he no longer desires her, then he must let her go free 3. If a man has a second wife, one beloved, and the other hated, and the hated one gives birth to his firstborn son, then he must treat him like a firstborn and give him a double portion as an inheritance. 4. If a man has a son who is deviates (from the path of the Torah) and is disobedient, etc. RASHI asks: why does the Torah describe these events side by side and in that exact order? Then he explains that: Torah does not want the warrior to marry this foreign woman, but if he does marry her (point 1), then as a result he will receive points 2,3,4, i.e. in the end he 2) will stop loving her, 3) will hate her, and 4) she will birth to him a rebellious, disobedient son, etc. It is interesting to note here t...