I hope everybody had a good Shavuot on Sunday. Our tradition says that Shavuot is the day haShem (god) spoke to us from Mount Sinai. In other words, it is a day of revelation. Did any of you have any revelations this past Sunday? If so, please share them in the comments section below. 🙂 Part of what haShem gave us on Sunday is this week’s parsha (Torah portion). It is called Naso which means to lift up or to … Continue reading
This week we start reading the 4th book of the Torah. Both it and the parsha (the weekly Torah portion) are called B’meedbar which means, “In the wilderness,” in Hebrew. (The book is called Numbers in English). The beginning of this book coincides with our moving away from Mt. Sinai and into a 39 year sojourn in the wilderness. What? Yes, you are correct. It took us 40 years from the time we left Egypt until we entered the Promised … Continue reading
This is the week I call catch-up week. I call it that because six weeks ago, at the end of Pesach/Passover, the Jews in Israel went back to reading the weekly parsha (Torah portion), while the rest of us took an extra day of Pesach and read a special parsha. Since then, Israel has been a week ahead of us in parshas. This shabbat the Jews of the diaspora and the Jews in the land get back in sync. How? … Continue reading
YOU WILL SAY! This is the name of our parsha (weekly Torah portion). In Hebrew, it is called Emor.  Who will say, who is commanding, and what is needed to be said is not hidden from us. HaShem (god) is telling Moshe (Moses) to tell the children of his brother Aharon, the cohen (priest) several laws around who they can marry, who they can bury, what condition they need to be in to make the offerings to haShem, and who … Continue reading
This week the Torah tells us that after death is holiness. How can this be? Easy. It is the translation of Acharai Mot-Kedushim, which is the Hebrew name for our parsha (weekly Torah portion). I added the word Mot, which means death, because some people feel it is part of the title due to the fact that Acharai (after) is not a unique enough word. The hard part is understanding what the Torah could possibly be trying to tell us … Continue reading