Parsha Key Tisa: Anger Management

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called, “Key tisa,” which literally means, “That you will raise.”  The verse continues with, “The heads of the children of Yisrael to redeem them and give a man atonement of his soul to haShem (god) in redeeming them and there will not be in them a plague in their redemption.”  Basically we are talking here of the first census of the people, but I do find it interesting that the raising of the … Continue reading

Parsha Trumah: The Infinite within the Finite

The name of the parsha (weekly Torah portion) we read this week is called Trumah.  I received a request (Hi mom) 🙂 to include the name of the weekly parsha, so there it is.  The parshas take their name from the first significant word found in them.  The word, “Trumah,” has as its root the word, “Rom,” which means to raise up, and is the word used to designate certain tithes that only the priests (cohanim in Hebrew) and their … Continue reading

Parsha (double): Vayakhail-P’kudi – Finishing

Hi y’all, Today is the first day of the first month of the year.  Yeah, I know Rosh haShanah (the Jewish new year – literally:  head of the year) is the new year, but I am just telling you what it said in one of the two parshas (weekly Torah portions) that we read this week.  For those who don’t know, the Jewish calender is lunar based and needs to add an extra month every other year or so to … Continue reading

Parsha Trumah: Project Management (Part 2)

What strikes me as I read this week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) was how I have been seen the first two books of the Torah:  Genesis (Breshiet in Hebrew) and Exodus (Shmot in Hebrew).  In Breshiet I found myself seeing some little aspect within a parsha, while in Shmot I am finding much larger themes; themes that exist over many parshas.  I don’t know why that is.  At the moment, I just find it an interesting observation.  If anybody out … Continue reading