Weekly Torah Reading, Lekh-Lekha, October 16, 2021

Genesis 12:1-17:27 Now I Know…   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 …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Noah, October 9, 2021

Genesis 6:9-11:32   The Bad Side of Tower-Building   This week’s Torah reading ends with a somewhat mysterious incident, the building of the Tower of Babel. The Torah recounts that a ragtag band of people (apparently all of humanity at …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Bereshit, October 2, 2021

Genesis 1:1-6:9 Blind Luck This week’s reading opens with an account of the creation of the world, including the creation of the first two human beings, Adam and Eve. These chapters are so significant that we tend to overlook the …

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Weekly Torah Reading for Sukkot, Exodus 33:12-34:26

September 25, 2021   Leaving You Here   This week’s Shabbat reading follows the disastrous episode of the Golden Calf. As such, it may seem to have no direct connection to Sukkot, but it does recount an important (and sometimes …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Ha’azinu, September 18, 2021

Deuteronomy 32:1-52 This Shabbat’s Torah reading consists of Moses’ farewell song, known in Hebrew by its first word Ha’azinu (“Give ear!”). In it, Moses recounts Israel’s prior history, starting back in “days of yore,” when things were fine, but then …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyelekh, September 11, 2021

Deuteronomy 31:1-30 Moses Didn’t Want to Die In this week’s Torah reading, God instructs Moses that the time has come for him to die—in fact, He says this more than once. The reading opens with Moses relating that “the Lord …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Rosh ha-Shanah, September 7-8, 2021

Rosh ha-Shanah means, literally, “the beginning of the year.” But it’s an interesting fact that this name never occurs in the Torah, in fact, this name for the New Year’s festival never occurs anywhere in the whole Bible. Rather, the …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Nitzavim, Sept. 4, 2021

Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20 Rulers and Tribes   “Today, you are all standing before the Lord your God,” this week’s reading opens, and continues:  “your chiefs, your tribes, your elders, your officials, every man of Israel.” But there’s something disturbing in this …

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