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 …
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 …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tavo, August 28, 2021
(Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8) The Seventy Languages In this week’s reading, the Israelites are about to enter the promised land. At this crucial point, they are given an odd instruction: On the very day that you cross the Jordan River, set …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tetze, August 21, 2021
Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 A Common Thread This week’s reading is full of commandments, more than any other reading in the annual cycle. They cover all sorts of things that can arise in daily life, governing relations between husbands and wives, …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shofetim, August 14, 2021
Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9 Kings, Think Twice! “The ancient Near East,” wrote the Egyptologist Henri Frankfort, “considered kingship the very basis of civilization. Only savages could live without a king. Security, peace, and justice could not prevail without a ruler …
Weekly Torah Reading, Re’eh, August 7, 2021
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 The Children of God This week’s reading contains an odd interdiction: “You are children of the Lord your God,” God says. “You shall not gash yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead” (Deut 14:1). …
Weekly Torah Reading, ‘Ekev, July 31, 2021
Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25 Eat What I Say The expression “Not by bread alone” (Deut 8:3) is well known nowadays, and its meaning is not particularly obscure. Look it up on the internet and you will find it succinctly paraphrased as …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va-etḥannan, July 24, 2021
Deuteronomy 3:12-7:11 Thinking about the Shema According to a rabbinic tradition, when the “men of Jericho” recited the Shema, they would say it in a slightly different way from that followed by Jews nowadays. They would recite the first …