Torah Reading, Seventh Day of Passover, April 2016
Disproportionate Measure for Measure With the last of the Ten Plagues, Pharaoh was forced to relent, and the Israelites left Egypt “with hand held high,” that is, full of confidence. Nevertheless, God did not lead them by the shortest …
Weekly Torah Reading, Passover, April 23, 2016
Haggadah Tips, Part II In four different passages of the Torah, Jewish parents are commanded to tell their children about the exodus from Egypt ((Exod 12:26-27, 13:8, 13:14, and Deut 6:20-21). We fulfill this commandment next Friday night …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shabbat ha-Gadol, April 16, 2016
How to Recline The Shabbat before Pesaḥ is called the Great (or Big) Shabbat, Shabbat ha-Gadol. Various explanations of this name have been offered, but the most likely one is that it reflects the practice of rabbis to speak …
Weekly Torah Reading, Tazri‘a, April 9, 2016
The Handoff In addition to the regular weekly reading (Tazri‘a), this Shabbat includes a special reading, since it is Shabbat ha-Ḥodesh, the Shabbat that falls before or on the first day of the month of Nisan. The special reading …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shemini, April 2, 2016
Our Religious Leaders Why were Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, struck dead in the desert tabernacle (mishkan)? Everything was all set for the inauguration of regular sacrificial worship in the mishkan, and then this tragedy—why? The Torah …
Weekly Torah Reading, Tzav, March 26, 2016
About Midrash The Hebrew word midrash means, basically, a piece of biblical interpretation, but of a certain kind. Midrash never means explaining a biblical verse in its obvious sense, something any reader would come up with. Rather, midrash is …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shabbat Zakhor, March 19, 2016
Forget or Remember? The Shabbat just preceding Purim is called “Shabbat Zakhor” because the Torah reading on that day ends with the commandment of Deut 25:17-19: Remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt—how …
Weekly Torah Reading, Pekudei, March 12, 2016
The Opposite of Patience This week’s reading ends the Torah’s account of the building of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary created to allow the Israelites to worship during their travels from Egypt to the land of Canaan. In …