Hello and welcome to the latest installment of my Torah thoughts. This week’s parsha (Torah portion) is called Balak who is the current king of Moab. Our parsha begins with Balak seeing all that Yisrael had done to the Emorite (which comes from the root, “To say”) and Moab becomes afraid. So, Balak sends messengers to Bil’am asking him to bore into Yisrael so Balak can drive them from the land. He calls for Bil’am because what Bil’am blesses is … Continue reading
The time has come for another dose of Torah. This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) finds our intrepid heroes nearing the end of their journey to that land flowing with milk and honey. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however. The parsha is called Chukat which means, “Law of,” as in: This is the law of the Torah (teachings) that haShem (god) commanded Moshe (Moses) and Aharon to say to the children of Yisrael. The law is everything relating to … Continue reading
Hello everybody and welcome back to the wilderness, Today we feature chills and thrills from this week’s parsha (Torah portion) named after our featured “villain,” Korach. Let’s check in with our reporters and get a summary of what took place. The parsha begins with Korach, from the tribe of Levi, and Datan and Aviram, from the tribe of Reuvan getting together 250 leaders of the community for a chat with Moshe (Moses) and Aharon where they challenge them by saying, … Continue reading
This week’s parsha (Torah portion) is a strange one. Moshe (Moses) sends 12 men into the land to spy on it and its inhabitants. They come out and their report causes a national hysteria which leads to a 40 year sojourn in the desert until all the men die off. The Torah then goes into a discussion about sacrifices, and we finish with a man getting stoned to death for breaking shabbat and a law regarding the wearing of tzitzit … Continue reading
This week we get to re-visit a very strange parsha (weekly Torah portion). It is called B’ha’alotcha which means, “When you raise up,” and is referring to the candles of the menorah. This will make more sense if we begin at the beginning of the parsha, which starts with… you guessed it… haShem (god) speaking to Moshe (Moses). This time he is to tell Aharon that when he raises up the candles, towards the face of the menorah (candelabra) the … Continue reading
I hope everybody had a good Shavuot; that you are well rested and energized from hearing Divinity speaking to us. And this is a bit of what he had to say… This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called Naso which comes from the verb to lift up or to carry. The parsha begins with haShem (god) telling Moshe (Moses) to lift up the head of the children of Garshon who are one of the Levite families. It is really … Continue reading
Hello all you wilderness seekers, That’s right, we have finally made it into the book of the wilderness. This shabbat we will read parsha (weekly Torah portion) B’meedbar (which means wilderness in Hebrew), and this pasha also happens to be the first parsha of the fourth book of the Torah. This book has the same name as the parsha, but is called Numbers in English because it begins and ends with a census of all the tribes. Let’s wander into … Continue reading
This week is a special parsha. We finish up the third book written by the hand of Moshe (Moses): Vayikra (Leviticus), and it is also another double parsha. The first parsha is called B’har which means, “At the mountain,” as in, “And haShem (god) spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai saying.” The name of the second of our parshas is called B’chukoti which means, “In my laws,” as it says in the first verse of the second parsha: If you … Continue reading
Tonight is a peaceful night after a beautiful day here in Eugene. This shabbat (Saturday) we read a parsha (weekly Torah portion) called Emor which means, “Tell.” Why? Because the parsha begins with haShem (god) telling Moshe (Moses) to TELL to the priests, the sons of Aharon a whole lot of things such as not to become tamae (mixed) by the soul of a member of the nation. The implication here is that the soul means when a person dies … Continue reading
We are on a roll. This week is our second double parsha (weekly Torah portion) in a row. It is called Acharai-Kedushim, though some call it Acharai mot-Kedushim. The reason for the extra word is because the first word, acharai, means after, and some people feel that is not a distinctive enough word. The second word means death. The name of the second of our two parshas is called Kedushim which is the plural form of the verb, “To separate … Continue reading