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.
The book of Leviticus opens with blood and fire and the smell of burning flesh. Most modern readers recoil—or skip it entirely. This is a mistake. What looks like primitive ritual is, on closer reading, a sophisticated theology of approach. It asks a question that has never stopped being relevant: how does a finite creature […]
The final parashah of Exodus opens not with drama but with a ledger. Eileh pekudei ha-Mishkan—these are the accountings of the Mishkan. What follows is precise: 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold. 100 talents and 1,775 shekels of silver. 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze. Every ounce of material gathered from the willing
Parashat Vayakhel opens with an assembly. Moses gathers—va-yakhel—the entire community of Israel. Before a single board is cut or a thread spun, Moses does two things. He reaffirms the command to observe Shabbat—even the holy work of building G‑d’s dwelling must stop for it—and then he invites the people to bring the materials from which
Forty days have passed. Moses returns from the peak of Sinai to find his people in celebration of a new god, a calf of gold. Idolatry. In his hands are G-d’s perfect words, pressed into stone by the Divine itself—the most sacred objects in human history. Zohar tells us the letters on the tablets of
Last week, in Parashat Terumah, we examined the construction of the interior Mishkan—the dwelling place built within the human heart through precision, proper materials, and correct order. The Ark secured at center, containing the covenant. The Table and Menorah in the Holy Place. The veil marking the boundary between Holy and Holy of Holies. The
Parashat Terumah presents what appears, at first glance, to be an ancient construction manual. Ten cubits by one and a half cubits. Acacia wood overlaid with pure gold. Loops of blue, clasps of gold, curtains of fine twisted linen. The level of specificity is extraordinary—measurements precise to the half-cubit, materials specified down to the type
Mishpatim and the Stranger (Ger) Revelation does not end in ecstasy. It descends into law. Parashat Mishpatim follows Sinai’s thunder not with poetry but with procedure. The Torah moves immediately from fire and voice to damages, courts, restitution, and restraint. Holiness, it insists, is not proven by spiritual intensity but by the ordering of power. Among these
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The Torah portion Yitro spans a dramatic arc. It begins with recognition—an acknowledgement of G-d’s reality—moves through preparation and ordering, and culminates in revelation at Sinai. The Israelites arrive at Sinai having been freed, sustained, and guided. Yet, when the moment of revelation is upon them, the dominant themes are not intimacy or union, but
Hatred. This is, perhaps, one of the ugliest words in the English language—its counterparts in other tongues no less so. Hatred is, first and foremost, an inner posture. It can exist without speech or action, and it is not dependent upon violence to qualify as such. It is an entrenched enmity—often quiet, hidden, and enduring—often
B’Shalach…Revisited Read More »
This is the 16th weekly Torah portion. B’Shalach is taken from Exodus 13:17-17:16. It marks the true beginning of Israel’s journey as a free nation, into the wilderness, leaving Egypt under divine protection. Pharaoh changes his mind yet again and pursues them to the Sea of Reeds where G-d parts the sea for the Israelites then closes
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