Blessing for the Torah:
Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
ata YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu
eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless
YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity.
Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have selected us
from among all the peoples,and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH,
giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
Isa 46:9 “Remember the former events
of old, for I am Ěl, and there is no one else – Elohim, and there is no one
like Me,
Isa 46:10 declaring the end from the
beginning, and from of old that which has not yet been done, saying, ‘My
counsel does stand, and all My delight I do,’
Isa 46:11 calling a bird of prey from
the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a distant land. Indeed I have
spoken it, I also bring it to pass. I have planned it, I also do it.
Isa 46:12 “Listen to Me, you
stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness:
Isa 46:13 “I shall bring My
righteousness near, it is not far off, and My deliverance, it is not delayed.
And I shall give deliverance in Tsiyon, My esteem to Yisra’ěl.
Our Torah Portion begins (the
last portion of Parashat Shoftim):
Deu 20:10 “When you draw near to a city to fight
against it, then you shall make a call for peace to it.
Deu 20:11 “And it shall be that if it accepts your call
for peace, and shall open to you, then all the people found in it are to be
your compulsory labour, and serve you.
Deu 20:12 “But if it does not make peace with you, and
shall fight against you, then you shall besiege it,
Deu 20:13 and יהוה your Elohim shall give it into your hands,
and you shall smite every male in it with the edge of the sword.
Deu 20:14 “Only
the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all that is in the city,
all its spoil, you take as plunder for yourself. And you shall eat the enemies’
plunder which יהוה your Elohim gives you.
Deu 20:15 “Do so
to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of
these nations.