Sefer Bamidbar can be viewed as a book of missed opportunities. A small group of Jewish slaves—the midrash claims no more than one in five—showed…
Bechukotai: Toiling in Torah
“These are the things that one eats the fruit of in this world and the principal remains in the world to come” (Shabbat 127a). Every morning as we…
Behar: G-d and Man
We tend to categorize mitzvot as either mitzvot between man and G-d or mitzvot between man and man. Tzedakah is a mitzva between man and man whereas…
Emor: A Holiday Treat
“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you…
Kedoshim: Look at the Context
While facts do not lie, they often do not tell the whole truth. Facts are facts but facts still must be evaluated as to their moral propriety. And…
Metzora: Time for a Haircut
Judaism teaches that everything has the potential for holiness; after all everything in this world was created by G-d. But it is up to man to…
Tazria: A Sin Offering?
There is no greater joy than having a child. From a religious perspective, bringing new life into this world is the most tangible way of…
Shemini: Seeking the Middle
“Moshe then inquired, darosh darash, about the goat of the sin offering, and it had been burned” (Vayikra 10:16). Judaism has always stressed the…
Tzav: The Best Reason
One of the major debates in Jewish thought relates to the appropriateness of ascribing reasons for the mitzvoth of the Torah. One approach asserts…
Vayikra: Come on In
Jewish etiquette – and law – teach that one should not enter one’s own home, how much more so the home of someone else, without knocking first (…
Pekudei: Remember the Count
"These are the accounts, pekudei, of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of testimony, as they were pukad, rendered, according…
Vayakhel: Time to Meet
“Moshe gathered the entire congregation of Israel and said to them” (Shemot 35:1). It is extremely rare that the Torah records Moshe speaking to the…
Ki Tissa: Time to Speak
Forty days after the most awesome event in history – G-d’s revelation to man - the Jewish people were dancing around a golden calf. Though Moshe had…
Tezaveh - Biblical Editing
The central theme of Sefer Shemot is the formation of the Jewish people as a nation. The group of 70 individuals who descended to Egypt quickly…
Terumah - Soaring to the Heavens
Symbols play an important part in helping to define who we are. Our clothing, for example, is often symbolic of the social milieu with which we…
Mishpatim: The Thief and the Robber
"Rabban Yocḥanan ben Zakkai’s students asked him: ‘For what reason was the Torah stricter with a ganav, thief than with a gazlan, robber?’” (Bava…
Yitro: Who was at Sinai
What kind of book is the Torah and who is it meant for? Rashi begins his commentary to the Torah with the supposition that the Torah is primarily a…
Beshalach: Great Expectations
Throughout the Exodus story, the Jewish people are silent. We do not know what they were thinking or doing during the plagues. We hear them rejoicing…