Weekly Torah Reading, Mattot-Mas’ei, August 3, 2024
Numbers 30:1-36:13 The Right to Revenge One of the most widespread legal principles in the ancient world was the lex (or “ius”) talionis, the law of retaliation. A person who, for example, injured someone was to be punished by suffering …
Weekly Torah Reading, Pineḥas, July 27, 2024
Numbers 25:10-30:1 One and the Same Last week’s Torah reading ended with a certain Israelite hero slaying a flagrantly offending couple, thereby turning aside God’s wrath. The hero’s name—Pineḥas or Phineḥas—seems connected to the dark-skinned Nubians who dwelt in …
Weekly Torah Reading, Balak, July 20, 2024
Numbers 22:2-25:9 Dwelling Apart In this week’s Torah reading, the pagan seer Balaam is hired to curse the people of Israel, but every time he tries, he ends up blessing them instead. In the first of these blessings Balaam …
Weekly Torah Reading, Korah, August 6, 2024
Numbers, chapter 16:1-18:32 Assembling Against Moses This week’s Torah reading recounts the attempted revolt of Koraḥ and his allies. According to Num 16:3, the rebels “assembled” (vay-yiqqahalu) against Moses and Aaron. The same verb appears again in Num 16:19, …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shelaḥ Lekha, June 29, 2024
Numbers 13:1-15:41 One Man Job Commentators have long noticed a contradiction in the Torah’s account of the tribal leaders who were sent to spy out the land of Canaan. In this week’s reading, the idea of sending them clearly came …
Weekly Torah Reading, Beha‘alotekha, June 22, 2024
Numbers 8:1-12:16 The Inverted Nuns This week’s reading includes a minor oddity, one that has puzzled scholars from ancient times to the present. Numbers 10:33-34 reports that when the Israelites left Mount Sinai, they traveled for three days …
Weekly Torah Reading, Naso, June 15, 2024
Numbers 4:21-7:89 The Priestly Blessing (bis) Among all the different items covered in this week’s reading is a brief commandment to Aaron and his sons. As is well known, Aaron’s sons will henceforth be the kohanim, the hereditary priests …
Weekly Torah Reading: Shavu‘ot, June 12, 2024
Weekly Torah Reading: Shavu‘ot, June 12, 2024 Half the Story The festival of Shavu‘ot, which starts tonight, commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It is marked nowadays with special celebrations and readings in synagogue, and many …