Parashat Sh’mini is the third Torah portion in the book of Vayikra/Leviticus. We learn ideas, concepts, and practices that remain meaningful and relevant to Jews today throughout the world. The portion opens with the completion of the eight-day ceremony for the consecration of the Priests/Kohanim charged with conducting the sacrificial...
This coming Shabbat, we begin reading the third book of the Torah, VAYIKRA: “The Eternal One called to Moses…” VAYIKRA is the name of both the complete third book, and its first portion we read on this Shabbat. The third book of the Torah is also known by its Greek...
The Parashah of T’tzaveh is directed at both a settled and evolving community of Jews. The sidrah contains very detailed instructions presented by G-d to be transmitted by Moses to the Jewish people. There are several passages in this portion that are meaningful to our religious lives and patterns of...
“And These Are the Laws…,” The Revelation at Sinai Continues, The Ten Commandments at KI, and Live Long and Prosper! This week, we continue to experience G-d’s ongoing revelation to the Jewish people, through His servant, Moses our Teacher. After the awesome drama of the giving of the Ten Commandments to...
When I began to write the eKI column for this week, I looked back on my hard drive. I discovered that I had composed the eKI article for this portion exactly one year ago. As I read over my words from last year, I decided to utilize sections from my...
This week’s Torah Portion, Hayei Sarah, the fifth sidrah in the first Torah Book, Bereshit/Genesis, begins with the death of the first matriarch of the Jewish people, Sarah our Mother. Even though the portion is entitled “Sarah’s Life,” chapter 23 begins with the mournful announcement of her death after 127...
We learn from Jewish tradition that we must never be far away from the study of Torah! This past week, Jews all over the world celebrated the holiday of Simchat Torah. We rejoiced together with singing and dancing because we completed the reading of the entire Torah! But as soon...
This Shabbat, we read Parashat Ki Tetzei, the sixth portion in the book of Deuteronomy. This section is packed full of important laws delivered by Moses to the Israelites in his final discourse and review of the Torah before they cross over the Jordan River on their way into Eretz...
This Shabbat, we begin the reading of the fifth book of the Torah, the book of D’varim. Sefer D’varim is very different from the other four Torah books we have read up to now. The time span of this volume is small; Moses begins to speak his three discourses exactly...
The Torah portion of Balak teaches us a strange story. All the miraculous events that we have learned about in the Torah thus far can be comprehended in their historical context, but the story of the talking she-donkey and her master Balaam who, upon command to curse the Israelites, can...
