Weekly Torah Reading, Shabbat ha-Gadol, April 16, 2016
How to Recline The Shabbat before Pesaḥ is called the Great (or Big) Shabbat, Shabbat ha-Gadol. Various explanations of this name have been offered, but the most likely one is that it reflects the practice of rabbis to speak …
Weekly Torah Reading, Tazri‘a, April 9, 2016
The Handoff In addition to the regular weekly reading (Tazri‘a), this Shabbat includes a special reading, since it is Shabbat ha-Ḥodesh, the Shabbat that falls before or on the first day of the month of Nisan. The special reading …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shemini, April 2, 2016
Our Religious Leaders Why were Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, struck dead in the desert tabernacle (mishkan)? Everything was all set for the inauguration of regular sacrificial worship in the mishkan, and then this tragedy—why? The Torah …
Weekly Torah Reading, Tzav, March 26, 2016
About Midrash The Hebrew word midrash means, basically, a piece of biblical interpretation, but of a certain kind. Midrash never means explaining a biblical verse in its obvious sense, something any reader would come up with. Rather, midrash is …
Weekly Torah Reading, Shabbat Zakhor, March 19, 2016
Forget or Remember? The Shabbat just preceding Purim is called “Shabbat Zakhor” because the Torah reading on that day ends with the commandment of Deut 25:17-19: Remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt—how …
Weekly Torah Reading, Pekudei, March 12, 2016
The Opposite of Patience This week’s reading ends the Torah’s account of the building of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary created to allow the Israelites to worship during their travels from Egypt to the land of Canaan. In …
Weekly Torah Reading Vayyakhel March 5, 201
The Real Sanctuary It is customary in different Jewish communities to recite regularly a certain rabbinic saying—a saying found in the Mishnah which, on reflection, seems a bit odd: “Rabbi Ḥananya ben ‘Akashya said: ‘The Holy One sought …
Weekly Torah Reading, Ki Tissa February 27, 2016
The Mystery of Hur Moses was on Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights, during which time God revealed to him the various laws and regulations to be included in the Torah. But as this period dragged on …