Weekly Torah Reading, Ḥayyei Sarah, November 11, 2017
Like Uncle, Like Nephew (Sort of) In this week’s portion, Abraham sends his (unnamed) servant to the city of Nahor to find a bride for his son Isaac. When the servant arrives, we are introduced to two important figures: …
Weekly Torah Reading, Vayyera’, November 4, 2017
“Now I know”—“What? Didn’t You Know Before?” Nowadays, this week’s Torah reading justly troubles a great many readers. It contains the famous account of God’s command to Abraham to kill his own son, sacrificing him like some animal …
Weekly Torah Reading, Lekh-Lekha, October 28, 2017
Abraham’s Request This week’s reading contains one particularly puzzling episode. After Abraham has arrived in Canaan, a famine strikes the land, and he and his wife Sarah are forced to travel down to Egypt in search of food. (Egypt, …
Weekly Torah Reading, Noaḥ, October 21, 2017
The Drunken Tzaddik Humanity, according to the Torah, got off to a bad start. First, Adam and Eve violated the one commandment that God gave them and were subsequently kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Then their …
Weekly Torah Reading Bereshit October 14, 2017
Childbirth and the Creation of Eve; also, Eve Was No “Helpmate” According to Leviticus chapter 12, if a woman gives birth to a male baby, she remains in a state of ritual impurity (tum’ah) for seven days. But if …
Weekly Torah Reading, October 7, 2017
The Shabbat of “Booths” Sukkot is a somewhat puzzling festival. To start with, it’s not clear what the role of the sukkah was in the biblical celebration. True, the Torah does say (Lev 23:43) that the Israelites dwelled in …
Weekly Torah Reading Ha’azinu September 23, 2017
A note to subscribers: Last week, a new book of mine was published, The Great Shift: Encountering God in Biblical Times. I feel a little sheepish about including an announcement of it with my regular comment on the weekly Torah …
Weekly Torah Reading Nitzavim-Vayyelekh September 16, 2017
Moses Didn’t Want to Die In this week’s Torah reading, God instructs Moses that the time has come for him to die—in fact, He says this more than once. The reading opens with Moses relating that “the Lord said …