Weekly Torah Reading

Don’t Forget My Bones   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 …

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Some Pointers for the Seder   In case you missed last week’s tips for the first night of Passover, here they are again:   Reclining   The whole reason for having a Passover seder is to carry out the Torah’s …

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Some Pointers for the Seder   Here are some of my annual tips for the first night of Passover:   Reclining   The whole reason for having a Passover seder is to carry out the Torah’s commandment, “And you shall …

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The Handoff   In addition to the regular weekly reading (Vayyikra), this Shabbat includes a special reading, since it is Shabbat ha-Ḥodesh, the Shabbat that falls before or (as this year) precisely on the first day of the month of …

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Mirrors of Modesty   This week’s reading recounts in detail how the Israelites carried out God’s commandment to build a tabernacle (mishkan)—the moveable sanctuary that would serve as a kind of temple during their wanderings in the wilderness. The reading …

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Not Speaking with God     The episode of the Golden Calf in this week’s reading is hard to justify. God had just finished telling the Israelites in the Ten Commandments not to make any statues or idols for worship, …

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Clothes Made the Kohen   This week’s Torah reading describes the special garments to be worn by the kohanim (priests) in the Temple. Those garments were no minor detail. In ancient Israel, clothes made the kohen; he couldn’t serve in …

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A Garden Built by Humans   This week’s reading contains God’s instructions for the building of the mishkan, the traveling tabernacle (i.e., a big tent) in which the Israelites will offer sacrifices to God. Hardly a detail is left unmentioned. …

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