[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Adonai, enthroned on cherubim, is king, peoples tremble, the earth quakes. (Ps 99:1.)[/perfectpullquote] We recite these words every week during Kabbalat Shabbat. They refer to the vision of the Eternal sitting on the cherubim in the Tabernacle, whose construction is being described in this week’s Torah portion Terumah. […]

Thoughts on Parashat Mishpatim

This week’s Torah portion starts in the 21st chapter of Exodus, that is from the chapter which follows right after the one which contains the Ten Commandments. The four chapters of our Parashat contain a series of moral and ritual laws, as well as rules relating to family, civil and criminal law.

In the opening words of this week’s Torah portion Yitro we find out that the news of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and their victory over Amalek has reached Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law. Upon hearing such good tidings Yitro decides that his daughter Tzipora, Moses’ wife, and her two sons will no longer face any danger […]

Thoughts on Parashat Beshalach. This week Torah portion contains stories that are famous and widespread in the entire western culture. It tells us about Pharaoh chasing after Israelites, to force their return to Egypt, splitting the Sea of Reeds; Israelites experiencing their first thirst and hunger in the desert, Moses bringing forth water from a […]

Beit Warszawa 18th. January 2019 Geography has always fascinated me and I have often found Geography as portrayed in the Torah quite fascinating – some place names remain the same, some have altered over the millennia. Unless some major cataclysmic catastrophe happens – where exactly WAS Atlantis? – most major land masses stay roughly the […]

Thoughts on Parashat Bo The story we find in this week’s Torah portion to a certain extent serves as a matrix for many processes which took place over the course of the world’s history. It describes the slow collapse of tyrannical power. Slow and dramatic, since despotism never ends suddenly and painlessly. When I speak […]