Posts in the A ‘Bissel’ of Torah category:

By Joy Scott, Congregant Shortly after a year of being rescued from Egypt, this week’s Torah Parsha (BEHAALOTECHA) provides a glimpse into Moses’ psyche, as well as the state of mind of the Israelites. The Children of Israel have just learned that via God’s instructions to Moses, they will soon be leaving Mount Sinai, to […]

This week’s Torah Parsha (NASO) begins with a continuation of last week’s Parsha (BAMIDBAR); completing the census of the Children of Israel, and assigning the intricate details of the tasks to be performed by each individual tribe, in the transporting of the Tabernacle. With 176 verses, NASO is both the longest portion of the Torah, […]

By Joy Scott,  Am Haskalah Congregant Last week’s double Parshiot (BEHAR) and (BECHUKOTAI) comprised the final portions of the Book of Leviticus. We begin the Book of NUMBERS, with plans to dismantle the Tabernacle, and to re-build it further into the wilderness. In the second year of the EXODUS, God spoke to Moses: “Take a […]

This week, we continue with the book of Leviticus, with the reading of Parsha (ACHAREI MOT). The primary focus of this Parsha pertains to the ancient rituals of Yom Kippur, the ‘Day of Atonement’. During the period of MISHNAH (i.e. the first major redaction of the Oral Torah) in the second century, the Jewish calendar […]

The essence of this week’s Torah Parsha (METZORA) pertains to ritual impurities. There are references to spiritual impurities within a home (detected by the appearance of dark colored patches on its walls); and, impurities engendered by nature of intimate relations between a husband and his wife. However, the predominant theme of Parsha (METZORA) concerns the […]