Weekly Torah Reading, Balak, June 30, 2018

A People All Alone   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 he …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Ḥukkat ha-Torah, June 23, 2018

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: “Why did you …

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Weekly Torah Reading: Koraḥ June 16, 2018

The Whole Garment   Koraḥ is the villain of this week’s Torah reading, the leader of a foiled rebellion against Moses and Aaron. “Look, all of us are holy,” Koraḥ says to them. By this he meant that he and …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Shelaḥ Lekha, June 9, 2018

To Be an Ish   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 …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Beha‘alotekha—Bonus Observation

The Inverted Nuns   An added observation about this week’s reading—one that just occurred to me driving home last night. This may be a little too technical for most readers, so I thought I would send it separately as a …

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Weekly Torah Reading, Beha‘alotekha, June 2, 2018

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, Naso, May 26, 2018

The Priestly Blessing   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 in Israel, and …

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Weekly Torah Reading: Shavu‘ot, Sunday, May 20, 2018

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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