Weekly Torah Reading, Ekev, August 27, 2016
Not Only Bread 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 Vladimir …
Weekly Torah Reading, Va’etḥannan, August 20, 2016
The Men of Jericho According to one 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 “bind it” with what follows; …
Weekly Torah Reading, Devarim (August 13, 2016)
How? It is relatively rare that two words in two languages mean exactly the same thing all the time. For example, the equivalent of “house” in English is usually bayit in Hebrew—except when it isn’t. If, on a telephone call, …
Weekly Torah Reading, Mattot-Mas‘ei, August 6, 2016
(In Israel, the reading is Mas‘ei alone; outside Israel, Mattot and Mas‘ei are combined, as below:) Mattot Biblical narratives usually have some clear bit of information or some lesson to impart: “This is how such-and-such a thing came …
Weekly Torah Reading July 30, 2016
In Israel: Mattot 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 …
Weekly Torah Reading July 23, 2016
In Israel: Pineḥas One and the Same Last week’s Torah reading ended with Phinehas (the common English spelling of Hebrew Pinḥas) slaying a flagrantly offending couple in the sight of all Israel, thereby turning back God’s wrath. This week’s …
Weekly Torah Reading July 16, 2016
In Israel: Balak Leave Us Alone In this week’s Torah reading, the pagan seer Balaam is hired to curse the people of Israel, but every time he tries, he ends up blessing them instead. In the first …
Weekly Torah Reading, July 8, 2016
In Israel: Ḥukkat “Rise up, O Well” This week’s Torah reading begins with the detailed procedure for purification from corpse contamination—a rather technical matter. But this section is then followed by a number of historical recitations and even two …