God’s Calendar, Our Lives: Why the Torah Repeats the Holidays Again and Again
Many of us secretly wish the Torah were a little more concise. Why repeat the same lists over and over? Yet when it comes to the holidays, the Torah […]
From Isolation to Return: Tazria & Metzora and the Path Home
Tazria–Metzora is one of the hardest portions in the Torah to relate to our lives. It deals with strange skin afflictions, bodily processes, and a complex system of purity […]
Holy Eating: What ‘Kadosh’ Really Means
This week’s Parasha, Shmini, describes one of the most intimate ways God shapes a people: not only through revelation at the entrance to the Mishkan, but also through the […]
From Exodus to Altar: The Journey of Matza
On Pesach, matza is the bread of being taken out of Egypt; in Leviticus, matza is the bread of coming close to God. The same simple, unleavened bread quietly […]
Who Are the Four Sons at Your Seder Table?
On Pesach, matza is the bread of being taken out of Egypt; in Vayikra, matza is the bread of coming close to God. The same simple, unleavened bread quietly holds […]
The Fragrance of Avodah: Re-aḥ Niḥoaḥ La‑Adonai
I have always been fascinated by the phrase רֵיחַ נִיחוֹחַ לַיהוָה , “a pleasing odor to God” which appears for the first time in our parasha (Leviticus 1:9). The phrase […]
From Golden Calf to Golden Miskan
Just a few chapters before Vayakhel–Pekudei, the Israelites commit one of the most shocking sins in the Torah: the Golden Calf. Fresh from hearing “You shall have no other gods […]
Two Cows, Two Paths: From Golden Calf to Red Heifer
This week’s parasha, Ki Tissa, brings us face to face with one of the lowest points in our history: the sin of the Golden Calf. At the very same […]
Shabbat Zachor and the Shadow of Iran
On Shabbat Zachor, we read a short but powerful passage about Amalek: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—how he happened upon you on […]
Voluntary Hearts, Sacred Boundaries
Parashat Terumah opens with a fascinating paradox about giving. God tells Moshe: “Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them take for Me an offering; from every person […]