In this week’s Torah portion Shlach Lecha (Hebrew for: “Send for Yourself”) Moses sends twelve spies whose task is to gather information about the Land of Canaan. After they complete their spying mission they are supposed to go back to Moses and tell him that it is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. […]

Desert – Midbar. Parched earth. Scorching sun. Bitterly cold nights. Hardly conditions anyone would call inviting. Every time I start reading parashat Bamidbar I feel similarly not invited by the text to continue reading. Bamidbar is the first parasha of the Book of Numbers for a good reason. Truly, it has enough numbers to make […]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Do not let the group of Kohathite clans be cut off from the Levites. Do this with them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most sacred objects: let Aaron and his sons go in and assign each of them to his duties and […]

Thoughts on parashat Bechukotai [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit. (Lev 26:3-4)   [/perfectpullquote] Until the discoveries of Copernicus, […]

In this week’s Torah portion Emor Moses announces to Aaron’s descendants the Eternal’s commandments with regard to carrying out priestly duties. These instructions include among others the following words: [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The [Eternal] spoke further to Moses: Speak to Aaron and say: ‘No man of your offspring throughout the ages […]

This week we are reading two Torah portions, Acharei-Mot and Kedoshim. The opening verses of the former one, Acharei-Mot, discuss the appropriate way in which Aaron should comport himself as he enters the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. After the Temple in Jerusalem was built, these verses served as an instruction describing how the […]