Encounters with sacred text — weekly parashah reflections, midrashic exploration, and close readings drawn from the Torah and tradition. These writings return to the scroll not as artifacts of the past, but as living sources of moral clarity, questioning, and renewal.
דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם צִיצִת עַל־כַנְפֵי בִגְדֵיהֶם לְדֹרֹתָם וְנָתְנוּ עַל־צִיצִת הַכָּנָף פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת Daber el-b’nei Yisra’el v’amarta aleihem v’asu lahem tzitzit al-kanfei vigdeihem l’dorotam v’nat’nu al-tzitzit ha-kanaf p’til t’khelet Speak to the Israelites and say to them that they must make for themselves a tassel on the corners of their garments, throughout […]
Parashat Shelach Revisited Read More »
Speak to the Israelites and say to them that they must make for themselves a tassel on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they must affix a wool thread dyed turquoise onto the tassel of each corner. This tassel will be for you. You must look at it and recall all the
The Mishkan has no windows. The menorah is not there to help anyone see. Inside a windowless tent, in perpetual shadow, stands a lamp that faces away from every human being who might need its light. Its seven flames are directed inward—toward the central shaft, toward the Parochet, the curtain that screens the Holy of Holies,
Parashat Beha’alotcha Read More »
Even though each of them presented an identical offering, they offered it regarding significant matters, and each and every one presented according to his perspective. —Bamidbar Rabbah 13:14 Numbers 7 is the longest chapter in the Torah. It is also, by almost any measure, the most repetitive. Twelve tribal princes bring offerings to dedicate the
Parashat Naso Revisited Read More »
On the first day, Naḥshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah presented his offering: one silver bowl weighing 130 shekels and one silver basin of 70 shekels by the sanctuary weight, both filled with choice flour with oil mixed in, for a grain offering; one gold ladle of 10 shekels, filled with incense…
The forty-ninth day ends. For seven weeks the counting has moved through the lower sefirot—each day a rung, each week a deeper register of interiority, the soul examined in its capacity for love, for discipline, for endurance, for humility. The Omer is a descent with a purpose: to arrive somewhere ready. And then the fiftieth day
The Night We Stay Awake Read More »
Seu et rosh kol adat b’nei Yisrael—Lift the head of the entire congregation of Israel… — Numbers 1:2 Bamidbar has always been the portion the rabbis work hardest to redeem. Open it and you find numbers—a great many of them. Six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men of fighting age, distributed across twelve tribes, each
Im bechukotai telechu v’et mitzvotai tishm’ru va’asitem otam—If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them… — Leviticus 26:3 Before he could receive what was waiting for him, one instruction had to be followed. Not a commandment. Not a teaching. A removal. Remove your sandals, for the place where you are standing is
Parashat Bechukotai Read More »
You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you, and you shall return, each person to his holding and each person to his family. —Leviticus 25:10 The portion opens on a mountain and immediately makes a claim so radical that the
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are My appointed times, the appointed times of YHVH, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations.—Leviticus 23:2 The word “holiday” is “holy day” with the holiness worn smooth. At some point the compression happened—two words became one, the sacred qualifier dissolved into the secular noun, and
