1) The pasuk tells us (15;8) to ‘open our hands’ to give tzedakah. I heard quoted on a Rabbi Krohn tape the following cute understanding. When your hand is closed and fingers pointed to wards you, all the fingers look the same size. But when you open your hand, you can see that the fingers are different sizes. So too in tzedakah are we supposed to give the poor person what they need, and realise that different people have different needs.
2) The end of the sedra discusses the 3 regalim. Why do we have a big gap with no Torah yamim tovim from the months from Tamuz to Elul? The midrash (yalkut shimoni parshas pinchas 29;50) answers with a revelation. It tells us that HaShem planned to give us a yom tov in each month. But after we sinned at the chet ha’egel HaShem took away yamim tovim in tamuz-elul, and paid them back to us in tishrei. ie Tamuz was supposed to have rosh hashanah, Av yom kippur, and elul Succos – with shmini atzeres the only one in Tishrei. But we sinned and caused a yom-tov pile up in Tishrei!
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