Weekly Torah Reading, Mishpatim, February 22, 2025
Weekly Torah Reading, Mishpatim, February 22, 2025 Is Abortion Justifiable? This week’s reading contains numerous laws governing various aspects of daily life. At first, some of these might seem far removed from our own daily lives. You’re probably …
Weekly Torah Reading, Yitro, February 15, 2025
Weekly Torah Reading, Yitro, February 15, 2025 Exodus 18:1-20:23 Two Tablets? Ancient readers asked a question about the Ten Commandments, one that occurs to few people nowadays: Why did the Ten Commandments need to be written on two stone tablets? …
Weekly Torah Reading, Beshallaḥ, February 8, 2025
Weekly Torah Reading, Beshallaḥ, February 8, 2025 One Great Song—Again! This week’s reading prominently features the Song of the Sea—the song of victory that the Israelites sang after their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15). For …
Weekly Torah Reading, Bo’, February 1, 2025
Heavy Hearted In this week’s reading, the Egyptian king (Pharaoh) is frequently said to have “hardened his heart” in various permutations. An old tradition holds that this phrase means “to make stubborn.” Thus, God tells Moses to go …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va’era, January 25, 2025
Weekly Torah Reading, Va’era, January 25, 2025 Exodus 6:2-9:35 Guaranteed! This week’s reading begins with God telling Moses, “I am the Lord” (spelled YHWH). But surely Moses knew that already. In fact, just a few paragraphs earlier, God had …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayḥi, January 11, 2025
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayḥi, January 11, 2025 Jacob’s Staff At the end of his life, Jacob gathered his sons together in order to give each of them his fatherly blessing. But in fact, his three oldest sons didn’t end up …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va-yiggash, January 4, 2025
Weekly Torah Reading, Va-yiggash, January 4, 2025 Post-Paris Syndrome After Joseph revealed his true identity to him brothers, he sent them back to Canaan to tell their father Jacob the good news: his long-lost son Joseph was still …
Weekly Torah Reading, Mikketz, December 28, 2024
Weekly Torah Reading, Mikketz, December 28, 2024 Genesis 41:1-44:17 Fearing God Joseph’s abilities as a dream interpreter eventually landed him a job as a high Egyptian official in charge of grain supplies. Meanwhile his family in Canaan had begun to …