Weekly Torah Reading, Devarim, July 29. 2017
Mystery Man This week’s portion, Devarim, always precedes the reading of the book of Lamentations on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Ab, which commemorates of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. As the name indicates, Lamentations consists …
Weekly Torah Reading, Mattot-Mas‘ei, July 22, 2017
The Lex Talionis One of the most widespread legal principles in the ancient world was the lex [or “ius”] talionis, the law [or “right”] of retribution. A person who, for example, injured someone was to be punished by suffering …
Weekly Torah Reading, Pineḥas, July 15, 2017
Two Names for One Last week’s Torah reading ended with a certain Israelite hero slaying a flagrantly offending couple, thereby turning aside God’s wrath. The name of the hero is written Phinehas in English, although Phineas used to be …
Weekly Torah Reading, Balak, July 8, 2017
Leave Us 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 …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ḥukkat ha-Torah, July 1, 2017
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 …
Weekly Torah Reading: Koraḥ June 24, 2017
As Rich as…Who? This week’s reading centers on Koraḥ, the Levite leader who sought to foment a revolution against Moses and Aaron. Ultimately, Koraḥ went down in defeat—quite literally! The Torah reports that the earth “opened its mouth and …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shelaḥ Lekha, June 17, 2017
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 …
Weekly Torah Reading, Beha‘alotekha, June 10, 2017
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). …