Weekly Torah Reading, July, 2019

In Israel, Hukkat:   A Bit Too Confident This week’s reading relates that, toward the end of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites ran out of water. They complained bitterly to their leaders, Moses and Aaron: …

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Weekly Torah Reading, June 29, 2019

Weekly Torah Reading, June 29, 2019   In Israel: Koraḥ   Ganging Up on Moses   This week’s Torah reading recounts the attempted revolt of Koraḥ and his allies. According to Num 16:3, the rebels “assembled” (vayyiqqahalu) against Moses and …

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Weekly Torah Reading, June 22, 2019

Weekly Torah Reading, in Israel: Shelaḥ Lekha Memorable Threads   This week’s Torah reading ends with the law of “fringes” or “tassels” (tzitzit). In pre-modern times, weavers used different means to finish off a piece of cloth so that it would …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Beha‘alotekha, June 15, 2019

The Good Old Days   In the book of Ecclesiastes, the author advises, “Don’t say, ‘How has it come about that things were better in earlier times than now?’ for you are not asking about this out of wisdom” (7:10). …

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Weekly Torah Reading: Shavu‘ot, June 9, 2019

The Giving of the Rest of the Torah      As everyone knows, the festival of Shavu‘ot commemorates the giving of the Torah. Year in and year out, we mark the day with special celebrations and readings in synagogue; some …

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Weekly Torah Reading, June 1, 2019

In Israel: BeMidbar   Don’t Look!   This week’s Torah reading begins with a detailed census of Israel’s tribes. However, the Levites are not included in the census; they are listed separately afterwards.   The Torah says that there were …

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Weekly Torah Readings, Behukkotai and Be-Har, May 24, 2019

In Israel: Behukkotai: Fortuna   There’s a word that occurs seven times in this week’s reading and nowhere else in the whole Bible. Commentators and translators are thus understandably confused about the precise meaning of the word keri. On largely …

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Weekly Torah Reading, BeHar and Emor, May 18, 2019

In Israel: BeHar Ancient Israel was largely a farming economy. This week’s Torah portion stipulates that every seventh year is to be a “sabbatical” for the land: “You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard” (Lev 25:4). In …

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