Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyeshev, December 21, 2024
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyeshev, December 21, 2024 His Father’s Face Joseph, whose early life is the focus of this week’s reading, got off to a rocky start. The favorite son of his father Jacob, he seems to have been …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyishlaḥ, December 14, 2024
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyishlaḥ, December 14, 2024 (Comprising Genesis 32: 4 – 36: 43) A Tenth of One Prayer On the eve of his return to the land of Canaan, Jacob learned that his brother Esau, who had previously …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyetze, December 10, 2024
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyetze, December 10, 2024 Covering Genesis 28:10 to 32:3 Thoughts on a Ladder In this week’s reading, Jacob leaves his family’s home in Beer-sheba bound for Haran. Stopping for the night at a certain place, he …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyera’, November 16, 2024
(Genesis chapters 18-22) “Abraham and Job” The Torah’s account of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac has raised questions among readers since ancient times. Among other things, commentators wondered why God needed to test Abraham in the first place. …
Weekly Torah Reading, Lekh-Lekha, November 9, 2024
This week’s reading contains one particularly puzzling episode. After Abraham has arrived in Canaan, a famine strikes the land, and he and his wife Sarah are forced to travel down to Egypt in search of food. (Egypt, with the …
Weekly Torah Reading, Noaḥ, November 2, 2024
Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 The Broken Tower This week’s Torah reading ends with a brief incident, the building of the Tower of Babel. According to the biblical text, the ragtag band of humanity (apparently all of it) arrived at some …
Weekly Torah Reading, Rosh ha-Shanah, October 3-4, 2024
It’s an interesting fact that the Hebrew name for the Jewish New Year, Rosh ha-Shanah, never occurs in the Torah, In fact, this name for the New Year’s festival never occurs anywhere in the whole Bible. Rather, the Torah refers …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shofetim, September 7, 2024
Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9 Holding Out for Fairness This week’s reading opens with the subject of courts and the proper administration of justice. Judges and other officials are to be appointed in all your [city] gates, that is, in …