Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyishlaḥ, November 24, 2018
Ten Percent On the eve of his return to the land of Canaan, Jacob learned that his brother Esau, who had previously sworn to kill him, was now on his way to meet him—accompanied by 400 men! Naturally, Jacob was …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyetze, November 17, 2018
Keep on Climbing Jacob left Beer-sheba bound for Haran. Stopping for the night at a certain place, he fell asleep and had a strange dream. “And behold, a ladder was set in the ground, and its top reached to …
Weekly Torah Reading, Toledot, November 10, 2018
What a Difference an Aleph Makes! In this week’s Torah reading, Isaac is now dwelling in Beer Sheba, and the Philistine king, Abimelech, comes with his aides to meet him. Isaac and Abimelech have had rather frosty relations, so …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ḥayyei Sarah, November 3, 2018
Like Uncle, Like Nephew (Sort of) In this week’s portion, Abraham sends his (unnamed) servant to the city of Nahor to find a bride for his son Isaac. When the servant arrives, we are introduced to two important figures: …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyera’, October 27, 2018
“Now I know…”—“Didn’t You Know Before?” Nowadays, this week’s Torah reading justly troubles a great many readers. It contains the famous account of God’s command to Abraham to kill his own son, sacrificing him like some animal on an …
Weekly Torah Reading, Lekh-Lekha, October 20, 2018
Abraham’s Request 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, …
Weekly Torah Reading, Noah, October 13, 2018
The Height of Mystery 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 the time) traveled “from …
Weekly Torah Reading Bereshit October 6, 2018
Childbirth and the Creation of Eve; also, Eve Was No “Helpmate” According to Leviticus chapter 12, if a woman gives birth to a male baby, she remains in a state of ritual impurity (tum’ah) for seven days. But if she …