Weekly Torah Reading, October 22, 2016
God “Passed in Front of” Moses This week’s Torah reading (for the Sabbath that falls during the festival of Sukkot) returns us to a familiar passage in the book of Exodus, chapter 34. There, God is said to have …
Weekly Torah Reading Ha’azinu October 15, 2016
A Nation of Fools Before his death, Moses gives the people his prophetic farewell song, known in Hebrew by its first word Ha’azinu (“Give ear!”). In this song, Moses recounts Israel’s recent history, starting with the exodus, but then foretells …
Weekly Torah Reading Vayyelekh October 8, 2016
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 …
Weekly Torah Reading Nitzavim, October 1, 2016
A Minor Change in Translation “Today, you are all standing before the Lord your God,” this week’s reading opens, “your chiefs, your tribes, your elders, your officials, every man of Israel.” But there’s something wrong with this list (which …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tavo, September 24, 2016
Reuben, Where Art Thou? “Today,” Moses tell the Israelites, “you have become the people of the Lord your God” (Deut 27:9) Our Rabbis asked: What did he mean by “today”? Wasn’t Israel chosen to be God’s own people forty …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tetze, September 17, 2016
All About Amalek At the very end of this week’s reading comes a well-known commandment, “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way as you were leaving Egypt.” The reference is to the battle fought between the Amalekites …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shofetim, September 10, 2016
A Hollow Ring 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.” But there were …
Weekly Torah Reading, Re’eh, September 2, 2016
Forming Different Groups “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 have children of any sort, …