Intro to Ivri: Kosher

(6) With what shall I approach Yah, Do homage to power on high? Shall I approach with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? (7) Would Yah be pleased with thousands of rams, With myriads of streams of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for my sins? (8) “You have been told, O mortal, what is good, And what Yah requires of you: Only to do justice And to love goodness, And to walk modestly with your God;

(11) “What need have I of all your sacrifices?” Says GOD. “I am filled up with burnt offerings of rams, and fat of fat cattle, and blood of bulls; and I have no delight in lambs and he-goats. (12) That you come to appear before Me— Who asked that of you? Trample My courts (13) no more; Bringing sacred gifts is futile, Incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath, proclaiming of solemnities, assemblies with iniquity I cannot abide. (14) Your new moons and fixed seasons fill Me with loathing; They are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them. (15) And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime— (16) Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings away from My sight. Cease to do evil; (17) Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.

(5) That is why I have hewn down the prophets, Have slain them with the words of My mouth: And the day that dawned [brought on] your punishment. (6) For I desire goodness, not sacrifice; Devotion to God, rather than burnt offerings. (7) But they, as human beings [are wont to do], have transgressed the Covenant. This is where they have been false to Me:

(4) Don’t put your trust in falsehoods and say, “The Temple of GOD, the Temple of GOD, the Temple of GOD are these [buildings].” (5) No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one party and another; (6) if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt— (7) then only will I let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors for all time.

(22) If you offer Me burnt offerings—or your grain offerings— I will not accept them; I will pay no heed To your gifts of fatlings. (23) Spare Me the sound of your hymns, And let Me not hear the music of your lutes. (24) But let justice well up like water, Righteousness like an unfailing stream.

(1)Ya said to High Mother/High Father/High Parent, “Walk/Go for yourself from your native land and from your parent's house to the land that I will show you. (2) I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing.

(5) The Rambam noted a difficulty in our parsha - that the One says "Go forth..." without first mentioning why Avraham in particular was so precious as to receive such a command. It appears to me that the holy Zohar sees this very fact as what makes Avraham praiseworthy. He heard the call of 'go forth' which comes out from God to all people at all time, as it says 'oy to those who sleep in their holes (and do not hear)!' Our father Avraham heard the call and received its message. Perforce the Divine word was calling to him alone, because there was no one but he listening. Certainly this itself is his greatest praise - that he was ready to receive the call.

(3)...There was an incident involving Rabbi Yanai who was walking along the way, and he saw a certain person who was exceedingly distinguished in dress. He said to him: ‘Would the Rabbi [agree to] be received as a guest with us?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He took him into his house and gave him food and drink. He tested him in Bible, but did not find him knowledgeable; in Mishna, but did not find him knowledgeable; in agadda, but did not find him knowledgeable; in Talmud, but did not find him knowledgeable. [Yanai] said to him: ‘Take and recite the blessing.’ He said to him: ‘Let Yanai recite the blessing in his house.’ [Yanai] said to him: ‘Are you able to repeat what I say to you?’ He said to [Yanai]: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘Say, the dog ate Yanai’s piece of bread.’ [The guest] stood and grabbed [Rabbi Yanai] and said to him: ‘My inheritance is with you and you are preventing me from it.’ He said: ‘In what sense is your inheritance with me?’ He said to him: ‘One time, I was passing before a school and I heard the voices of the children saying: “Moses commanded us Torah, the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 33:4). “The inheritance of the congregation of Yanai” is not written here, but rather “the congregation of Jacob.”’

[Yanai] said to him: ‘Why did you merit to eat at my table?’ He said to [Yanai]: ‘In all my days, I never heard a bad word and related it to its subject, and I never saw two [people] quarreling with one another and did not make peace between them.’ [Yanai] said: ‘You have so much civility to your credit, and I called you a dog?’ He applied in his regard: “And for one who sets his path”[...I will show them the salvation of the Divine" Ps. 50:23] – one who assesses their own path, their value is great. As Rabbi Yishmael bar Rav Naḥman said: Civility preceded the Torah by twenty-six generations. That is what is written: “To guard the path to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). “Path,” this is civility, and then “the tree of life,” this is the Torah.

…for this is the case with most of the distinguished people in our generation: they do not examine a statement based on its substance, but rather they agree with a statement simply because someone earlier agreed with it—without examining the earlier statement either. All the more so is this true of the general public.