Weekly Torah Reading, Yitro, February 7, 2026
Answers in the Numbers? Ancient readers asked a question about the Ten Commandments, one that occurs to few people nowadays: Why did the Ten Commandments need to be written on two stone tablets? Surely all ten could have been …
Weekly Torah Reading, Beshallaḥ, January 31, 2026
One Song or Two? This week’s reading prominently features the Song of the Sea—the song of victory that the Israelites sang after their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15). For this reason, this Shabbat is also …
Weekly Torah Reading, Bo’, January 24, 2026
Laws Endowed with Life The great medieval scholar Rashi began his commentary on the Torah by quoting a certain question: If the whole purpose of the Torah is to teach us what to do, then why didn’t the …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va’era, January 17, 2026
“Alas for Those Who Have Passed Away” The first two verses of this week’s reading have long posed a problem for interpreters. God says to Moses, “I am the Lord.” (Here the Torah uses God’s holiest name, the one …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shemot, January 10, 2026
Moses It must have seemed the oddest sort of question. Thinking back to all he’d left behind— Nurses, scurrying handmaids, daily rounds of private lessons, even his fumbling wish to “meet my people” had been spoken in …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayḥi, January 3, 2026
The Future Scepter At the end of his life, Jacob gathered his sons together in order to give each of them his fatherly blessing. But in fact, his three oldest sons didn’t end up being blessed at all; what …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyiggash, December 27, 2025
Convincing Proof When Jacob’s sons returned to Canaan to tell their father the good news—that his long-lost son Joseph was still alive—at first he didn’t believe them. Why should he? If what they were saying now was true, then …
Weekly Torah Reading, Mikketz, December 20, 2025
To Fear God—or the Lord? Joseph’s abilities as a dream interpreter eventually landed him a job as a high Egyptian official in charge of grain supplies. Meanwhile his family in Canaan had begun to feel the effects of the …