Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tavo, September 5, 2020
Deuteronomy 26:1-28:69 By the Book This week’s reading contains a curious provision. Moses instructs the Israelites that as soon as they cross the Jordan River to enter their future homeland, they are to write down the words of “this …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tetze, August 29, 2020
Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 The Slave’s Lot Most people know that slavery was an accepted institution in many parts of the ancient world. In Israel, there was no debtors’ prison: among other ways, a person could become a slave if …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shofetim, August 22, 2020
Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9 Chasing the Hard-to-Catch I suspect many speakers of modern Hebrew are fooled by the second word in this week’s Torah reading. In today’s Israel, shoterim are policemen—and this same root also underlies the collective mishtarah, “police.” …
Weekly Torah Reading, Re’eh, August 15, 2020
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 Waiting for the “Day of Revenge” “You are children of the Lord your God,” it says in this week’s Torah reading (Deut 14:1). But what could this possibly mean? In what sense can God be said to …
Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25 Eat What I Say The expression “Not by bread alone” has certainly gotten around: it is, among other things, the name of a website promoting a farmer’s market in Green Bay, Wisconsin; an anthropologist’s book about the …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va-etḥannan, August 1, 2020
Weekly Torah Reading, Va-etḥannan, August 1, 2020 Deut 3:23-7:11 The Real Shema According to a rabbinic tradition, when the “men of Jericho” recited the Shema, they would say it in a slightly different way from that followed by …
Weekly Torah Reading, Devarim, July 25, 2020
Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 What an Ox and a Donkey Know This week’s Torah reading, from the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, is always read on the Shabbat preceding the Ninth of Av (Tish‘ah be-Av), a day of mourning that …
Weekly Torah Reading, Mattot-Mas‘ei, July 18, 2020
Numbers 30:2-36:13 The story of the tribes of Reuben and Gad in this week’s Torah reading contains a rather subtle message. Following Israel’s defeat of Midian, the Reubenites and Gadites realize that the territories conquered on the far side …