Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tavo, September 9, 2017
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 Torah” on …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tetze, September 2, 2017
Every Day Is Labor Day This weekend (running over into Monday), Americans will be celebrating Labor Day, the annual occasion established in the late 1800s to celebrate the labor movement in the United States. (Elsewhere in the world, May …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shofetim, August 26, 2017
Kings, Think Twice! “The ancient Near East,” wrote the Egyptologist Henri Frankfort, “considered kingship the very basis of civilization. Only savages could live without a king. Security, peace, and justice could not prevail without a ruler to champion them. …
Weekly Torah Reading, Re’eh, August 19, 2017
Children of God This week’s reading contains an odd injunction: “You are children of the Lord your God,” it says, “You shall not gash yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead.” (Deut 14:1). Ancient scholars …
Weekly Torah Reading, ‘Ekev, August 12, 2017
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; the title of a Russian novel by …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va-etḥannan, August 5, 2017
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 Jews nowadays. They would recite the first verse, “Hear O …
Weekly Torah Reading, Devarim, July 29. 2017
Mystery Man This week’s portion, Devarim, always precedes the reading of the book of Lamentations on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Ab, which commemorates of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. As the name indicates, Lamentations consists …
Weekly Torah Reading, Mattot-Mas‘ei, July 22, 2017
The Lex Talionis One of the most widespread legal principles in the ancient world was the lex [or “ius”] talionis, the law [or “right”] of retribution. A person who, for example, injured someone was to be punished by suffering …