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 …
Weekly Torah Reading, September 29, 2018
The Shabbat of “Booths” Sukkot is a somewhat puzzling festival. To start with, it’s not clear what the role of the sukkah was in the biblical celebration. True, the Torah does say (Lev 23:43) that the Israelites dwelled in …
Weekly Torah Reading Ha’azinu September 22, 2018
Biblical Poetry This week’s reading consists of Moses’ farewell song, known in Hebrew by its first word Ha’azinu (“Give ear!”). In it, Moses recounts Israel’s recent history, starting back in “days of yore,” but he goes on to foretell …
Weekly Torah Reading Vayyelekh September 15, 2018
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 said …
A Rosh ha-Shanah Card, 5779
A Rosh ha-Shanah Card, 5779 “A day on which the horn is sounded” (Num 29:1)—is this really the best that the Torah could do to describe Rosh ha-Shanah? Perhaps it was all that needed to be said back …
Weekly Torah Reading Nitzavim, September 8, 2018
A Minor Change in Translation “Today, you are all standing before the Lord your God,” this week’s reading opens, “your chiefs, your tribes, your elders, your officials, every man of Israel.” But there’s something wrong with this list (which …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tavo, September 1, 2018
Reuben, Where Art Thou? “Today,” Moses tell the Israelites, “you have become the people of the Lord your God” (Deut 27:9) The Rabbis asked: What did he mean by “today”? Wasn’t Israel chosen to be God’s own people forty …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tetze, August 25, 2018
All About Amalek At the very end of this week’s reading comes a well-known commandment, “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way as you were leaving Egypt.” The reference is to the battle fought between the Amalekites …