Our parashah begins with these words: דַּבֵּר, אֶל-אַהֲרֹן, וְאָמַרְתָּ, אֵלָיו: בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ, אֶת-הַנֵּרֹת, אֶל-מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה, יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת. “Speak to Aaron, tell him: in your lifting up of the lamps, it is toward the front of the menorah [lamp stand] that the seven lights should illuminate.” (Num.8.2) This is difficult to understand without visualizingContinue reading “Shabbat BeHa’alot’kha: Light the Way Forward”
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Shabbat B’Haalot’kha: What the Light Reveals
The parashat hashavua (Torah parashah for the week) begins with G-d’s command to the High Priest, Moshe’s brother Aharon: “When you raise [b’haalot’kha] light in the lamps, they shall be lit so as to illuminate the face of the menorah” (Numbers 8:2). If you remember that this was a menorah not of candles but of oil lamps, shaped asContinue reading “Shabbat B’Haalot’kha: What the Light Reveals”
Shabbat Tetzaveh: It’ll Cost You
Our parashat hashavua (the parashah, “reading” or “portion” for this shavua, “week”; notice that the h changes to a t when parashah is modified by the specific week’s reading) is Tetzaveh, “[you shall] command”. The parashah begins with a grammatical anomaly noted by the famous Torah teacher Nehama Lebowitz. Usually a parashah begins with the familiar phrase SpeakContinue reading “Shabbat Tetzaveh: It’ll Cost You”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 