Who was the Alshich HaKadosh?
The Alshich HaKadosh was Rabbi Moshe Alshich zt"l, one of the great Torah figures of sixteenth-century Tzfat, the mountain city that was then the beating heart of Jewish scholarship and Kabbalah. He was a leading talmid of Rabbi Yosef Karo, the Beis Yosef and author of the Shulchan Aruch, and served as a dayan and rosh yeshiva in that remarkable generation of chachamim. The title HaKadosh — the holy one — reflects the reverence in which later generations came to hold him.
This collection does not present the Alshich himself, who lived some five centuries ago, but his Torah — shiurim rooted in his teachings that carry them to a new audience. Understood that way, the page is a window onto a classic mind: a chance to learn the insights of one of the most beloved darshanim in Jewish history, brought within reach of a listener today.
The commentary on the Chumash
The Alshich is best known for his sweeping commentary on the Chumash, often called Toras Moshe, which grew out of the derashos he delivered to his community each Shabbos. His method was to raise a series of difficulties on the verses — questions of language, order, and apparent redundancy — and then to resolve them all with a single, unifying explanation that drew out the moral and spiritual heart of the passage. The result reads as both rigorous and deeply inspiring.
What has kept his commentary beloved for centuries is its blend of depth and mussar. The Alshich did not stop at explaining the pshat; he pressed on to what the verse asks of a person — how it should shape one's yiras Shamayim, one's character, one's service of Hashem. Learning the parsha through his eyes turns the weekly reading into a call to grow, which is why his sefer still sits on so many shelves.
The Alshich's Torah today
Five hundred years on, the Alshich's Torah has lost none of its power. His derashos were written for ordinary Jews trying to live better, and that aim keeps them fresh — the questions he asked about human nature and avodas Hashem are the questions people still wrestle with. Shiurim rooted in his commentary let a modern listener sit, in effect, at the feet of one of Tzfat's great teachers.
For a family, the Alshich offers a way into the parsha that is both classical and stirring. His unifying explanations give a clear line to follow, and his mussar gives everyone something to take to heart. Bringing his voice to the Shabbos table connects a household to an unbroken chain of Torah that runs straight back to the golden age of Tzfat.
Finding kosher Torah video for your family
FilteredTube is a kosher video service built for Jewish families — every single video is approved against one written standard before it can appear, with no open feed, no comments, and no surprises. It is a calm, safe place to look for the Torah and Jewish music you love.
If your family enjoys the Torah of the Alshich HaKadosh, search FilteredTube for the speakers and topics that matter most to you. With a daf yomi shelf, a weekly parsha shelf, topic shelves, audio-only listening for the car, and a kids mode with a PIN, kosher Jewish video is easy to reach — and the approved catalog keeps growing every day.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- The Alshich HaKadosh was Rabbi Moshe Alshich zt"l of sixteenth-century Tzfat, a leading talmid of the Beis Yosef.
- His famous Chumash commentary, Toras Moshe, grew out of the derashos he gave his community each Shabbos.
- His method raised many difficulties on a passage and resolved them with one unifying, mussar-rich explanation.
- Learning the parsha through the Alshich turns the weekly reading into a call to grow in avodas Hashem.
- Search FilteredTube for kosher, approved Torah video — the catalog grows every day.