Once again, the scouts of Sh’lakh-L’kha are left holding the bag. Every year around this time we Jews who engage in weekly Torah study again reach this story, of the moment when our ancestors stood at the verge of the land they had traveled to find, the land of their ancestral home. Scouts sent ahead … Continue reading
Shabbat BeHa’alot’kha: Lift It Up
Last week the parashah began with the command to lift up every face; this week, the word beha’alot’kha, “in your lifting up” refers to raising up the lights of the menorah, the seven-branched lamp designed by G*d, according to Jewish tradition, to illuminate the holy place. To lift up the face is to see the … Continue reading
Shabbat Naso: Look Me In The Eye
The word that identifies this week’s Torah text is naso, part of the idiom naso et rosh, is correctly translated “take a census,” or, more simply, “count heads.” The actual Hebrew wording is more beautiful; it literally says “lift up the head.” In other words, for our ancestors, to count someone was to look that person in the eye, and to … Continue reading
Shabbat BaMidbar and Shavuot 5778: Into The Wilderness
Our parashat hashavua is called after the name of the book it opens, BaMidbar, “in the wilderness.” The first verse is both simple and completely mysterious: וַיְדַבֵּר ה’ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי G‑d spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai (1:1) This is the Shabbat before Shavuot, the Festival on which we commemorate the day when the … Continue reading
Shabbat BeHar-BeHukotai: Love Your Mother
This week we finish reading the Book VaYikra, Leviticus, with another double parashat hashavua. The name of the first of the two, BeHar, offers already a nice little learning. The word behar, actually three words in English, means “at the mountain” and refers to Mount Sinai. The first verse goes on to specify: וַיְדַבֵּר ה’ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, … Continue reading
Shabbat Emor: Against the Cruelty
In this second year of the Triennial Cycle of Torah reading, our congregation, like many others throughout the Jewish world, begins to read not at the beginning of parashat Emor but with chapter 22, verse 17. This is about one-third of the way in, since the Triennial Cycle makes its way through one third of each … Continue reading
