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Shabbat Shalom!
Welcome to Shemini Atzeret / Eighth Day of Assembly - this week’s Torah reading

Prophecy 18, 69, 120;
Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17; Numbers 29:35-30:1;
1 Kings 8:54-8:66;
Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 12:28-33;



Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17;
22 “Every year you must take one tenth of everything your seed produces in the field,
23 and eat it in the presence of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM. In the place where he chooses to have his name live you will eat the tenth of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, so that you will learn to fear YAHUVEH your ELOHIM always.
24 But if the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport it, because the place where YAHUVEH chooses to put his name is too far away from you; then, when YAHUVEH your ELOHIM prospers you,
25 you are to convert it into money, take the money with you, go to the place which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will choose,
26 and exchange the money for anything you want — cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please — and you are to eat there in the presence of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM, and enjoy yourselves, you and your household.
27 “But don’t neglect the Levi staying with you, because he has no share or inheritance like yours.
28 At the end of every three years you are to take all the tenths of your produce from that year and store it in your towns.
29 Then the Levi, because he has no share or inheritance like yours, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow living in your towns, will come, eat and be satisfied — so that YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will bless you in everything your hands produce.

Deuteronomy 15

1 “At the end of every seven years you are to have a sh’mittah.
2 Here is how the sh’mittah is to be done: every creditor is to give up what he has loaned to his fellow member of the community — he is not to force his neighbor or relative to repay it, because YAHUVEH’s time of remission has been proclaimed.
3 You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you.
4 In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because YAHUVEH will certainly bless you in the land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving you as an inheritance to possess —
5 if only you will listen carefully to what YAHUVEH your ELOHIM says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today.
6 Yes, YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will bless you, as he promised you — you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you.
7 “If someone among you is needy, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from giving to your needy brother.
8 No, you must open your hand to him and lend him enough to meet his need and enable him to obtain what he wants.
9 Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year of sh’mittah is at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out to YAHUVEH against you, and it will be your sin.
10 Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this, YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake —
11 for there will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am giving you this order, ‘You must open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.’
12 “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you for six years; but in the seventh year, you are to set him free.
13 Moreover, when you set him free, don’t let him leave empty-handed;
14 but supply him generously from your flock, threshing-floor and winepress; from what YAHUVEH your ELOHIM has blessed you with, you are to give to him.
15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YAHUVEH your ELOHIM redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this order today.
16 But if he says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one;
17 then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever. Do the same with your female slave.
18 Don’t resent it when you set him free, since during his six years of service he has been worth twice as much as a hired employee. Then YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will bless you in everything you do.
19 “All the firstborn males in your herd of cattle and in your flock you are to set aside for YAHUVEH your ELOHIM; you are not to do any work with a firstborn from your herd or shear a firstborn sheep.
20 Each year you and your household are to eat it in the presence of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM in the place which YAHUVEH will choose.
21 But if it has a defect, is lame or blind, or has some other kind of fault, you are not to sacrifice it to YAHUVEH your ELOHIM;
22 rather, eat it on your own property; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, like the gazelle or the deer. 23 Just don’t eat its blood, but pour it out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 16

1 “Observe the month of Aviv, and keep Pesach to YAHUVEH your ELOHIM; for in the month of Aviv, YAHUVEH your ELOHIM brought you out of Egypt at night.
2 You are to sacrifice the Pesach offering from flock and herd to YAHUVEH your ELOHIM in the place where YAHUVEH will choose to have his name live.
3 You are not to eat any hametz with it; for seven days you are to eat with it matzah, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus you will remember the day you left the land of Egypt as long as you live.
4 No leaven is to be seen with you anywhere in your territory for seven days. None of the meat from your sacrifice on the first day in the evening is to remain all night until morning.
5 You may not sacrifice the Pesach offering in just any of the towns that YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving you;
6 but at the place where YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will choose to have his name live — there is where you are to sacrifice the Pesach offering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt.
7 You are to roast it and eat it in the place YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will choose; in the morning you will return and go to your tents.
8 For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for YAHUVEH your ELOHIM; do not do any kind of work.
9 “You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain. 10 You are to observe the festival of Shavu‘ot [weeks] for YAHUVEH your ELOHIM with a voluntary offering, which you are to give in accordance with the degree to which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM has prospered you.
11 You are to rejoice in the presence of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L’vi’im living in your towns, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you — in the place where YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will choose to have his name live.
12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; then you will keep and obey these laws.
13 “You are to keep the festival of Sukkot for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and winepress.
14 Rejoice at your festival — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L’vi’im, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you.
15 Seven days you are to keep the festival for YAHUVEH your ELOHIM in the place YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will choose, because YAHUVEH your ELOHIM will bless you in all your crops and in all your work, so you are to be full of joy!
16 “Three times a year all your men are to appear in the presence of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM in the place which he will choose — at the festival of matzah, at the festival of Shavu‘ot and at the festival of Sukkot. They are not to show up before YAHUVEH empty-handed,
17 but every man is to give what he can, in accordance with the blessing YAHUVEH your ELOHIM has given you.

Numbers 29:35-30:1

35 And you shall have a solemn assembly on the eighth day; you shall do no work of service.
36 And you shall offer a burnt offering, a fire offering, a soothing fragrance to YAHUVEH: one bull, one ram, seven lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
37 their food offerings, and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
38 and one goat, a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
39 You shall prepare these for YAHUVEH in your appointed seasons, apart from your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your food offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.
40 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that YAHUVEH had commanded Moses. Chapter

Numbers 30

1 And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which YAHUVEH has commanded: