Weekly Torah Reading, BeMidbar, May 15, 2023
Numbers 1:1-4:20 The Nature of Holiness This week’s Torah reading begins with a detailed census of Israel’s tribes. However, the Levites are not included in the census; they are listed separately afterwards. The reason for this reveals something basic …
Weekly Torah Reading, BeHar-Be-Ḥukkotai, May 13, 2023
Leviticus 25:1-27:34 The Slave’s Life Twice, in this week’s reading, God tells Israel that they themselves will occupy the lowest rank in the society that they are to establish in Canaan. “For they are My slaves,” God says of …
Weekly Torah Reading, Emor, May 6, 2023
Leviticus 21:1-24:23 Redivide the Verse The possibility has always struck me that our ancient sages (heresy spoiler!) may have made a mistake in the way they divided up the verses in one crucial passage of the Torah. As is …
Weekly Torah Reading, Aharei Mot-Kedoshim, April 29, 2023
Leviticus 16:1 to 20:27 Like Yourself No doubt the most famous verse in this week’s double reading, Aḥarei Mot-Kedoshim, is Lev 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor like yourself.” Rabbi Akiva declared that this verse is nothing less than …
Weekly Torah Reading, Tazri‘a-Metzora‘, April 22, 2023
April 22, 2023 The Anesthetized Rib This week’s double reading (Tazria’-Metzora‘) opens with an unusual law: “When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male child, she will be ritually impure for seven days; just as with the …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shemini, April 15, 2023
Leviticus 9:1-11:47 After the Crisis After the crisis, people weren’t sure what had caused it, and they didn’t know what to do next. After the crisis, some people weren’t even sure there had been a crisis. It’s always …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shabbat ha-Gadol, April 5, 2023
Haggadah Tips In four different passages of the Torah, Jewish parents are commanded to tell their children about the exodus from Egypt ((Exodus chap. 12:26-27, 13:8, 13:14, and Deuteronomy 6:20-21). We fulfill this commandment next Wednesday night by reading the …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyakhel-Pekudei, March 18, 2023
Exodus 35:1-40:38 The Message in Repetition In general, rabbinic interpreters (and some of their predecessors) shied away from acknowledging repetition in the biblical text. “Every word counts” meant that no verse, or even some part of a verse, could …