By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah parsha, Lech Lecha, begins with God’s words to Abram: “Go forth from your birthplace to the land which I will show you; and I will make you into a great nation, bless you and aggrandize your name”(1). The writers of the Midrash had many obvious […]
Posts with the Bissel of Torah tag
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: BEREISHIT (GENESIS 1:1-6:8)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant “In the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and earth, God said: “Let there be light; and there was light”(1). The first Torah parsha of the Book of Genesis, Bereishit, is probably the most familiar of any other portions of the Torah. The wondrous origination of the […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: V’ZOTHABRACHA (DEUTERONOMY 33:1-34:12)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah parsha is the final reading in the last of the five Books of the Torah. The Parsha begins with Moses blessing each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Echoing Jacobs’s blessings to his twelve sons, five generations earlier, Moses assigns and empowers each tribe with […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: HA’AZINU (DEUTERONOMY 32:1- 32:5)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant Every year, either in proximity, or during the ‘Ten Days of Repentance,’ we read the penultimate Torah parsha, Ha’azinu. It is no coincidence that when we are experiencing a heightened sense of spirituality, we are enjoined to hear Moses’ final words to The Children of Israel. For a […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYELECH (DEUTERONOMY 31:1-31:30)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah parsha, Vayelech, is both heartrending as well and inspirational. It begins with Moses speaking the following words to the Children of Israel: “Today, I am one hundred and twenty years old; and the Lord has told me that I will not cross the Jordan with […]