Naso 5783
06/02/2023 09:00:16 AM
This week’s Parsha is a strange one. The Parsha starts with a division of the different parts of the Mishkan to the Levitic families to take charge of its dismantling, transport and reconstruction. The end of the Parsha is a list of sacrifices and gifts that the princes of each of the twelve tribes brought to the Mishkan on the days following its dedication. Spoiler alert, they are all the same. In between these two parts we...Read more...
Shavuot 5783
05/25/2023 09:54:42 AM
Shavuot is a strange sort of holiday. On Shavuot we celebrate G!d giving the Torah to the Children of Israel, but the written Torah was given to us only just before Moshe died; the Oral Torah is still being revealed. Further the Torah never actually connects Shavuot to the giving of the Torah. Shavuot has three names in the Torah: holiday of the weeks, holiday of harvesting and holiday of first fruits....Read more...
Dvar Torah - Bamidbar 5783
05/19/2023 12:00:00 PM
This week we start the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar. Bamidbar means in the wilderness, it describes both the geographical and psychological state of the newly formed Nation of Israel. Bamidbar is the most difficult book of the Torah to read because we are in the same place at the close of the book as we were at the beginning, in the wilderness. Bamidbar is first and foremost about the risk inherent in freedom. The wilderness is the...Read more...
Halakha - Behar Behukotai
05/12/2023 12:10:05 PM
This week’s Parsha, Behar, starts off by detailing the laws of Shmita. Shmita, the obligation to let the land of Israel lay fallow and uncultivated every seventh year, expresses our traditions' deep love for the land of Israel and all things that draw their sustenance from it. The Torah mentions it in four places, the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud both have a Tractate dedicated to it. The Rambam deals extensively...Read more...
Dvar Torah - Behar Behukotai 5783
05/12/2023 12:00:00 PM
This week we finish Vayikra, the third book of the Torah, and not on the happiest note. This week’s double section is best known for its end, which is a list of forty-nine curses that are bound to befall Israel when we stray from the path of Torah, Mitzvot and an equitable society. The curses are horrible and though we do our best to read them as fast as possible, when it comes to thinking about the Parsha...Read more...