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![]() Mordechai SilversteinThe Times of Israel (Blogs) |
The completion of the work on the mishkan – the Tabernacle is marked in Parshat Naso, using language reminiscent of the language used for God’s...
The theophany or revelation at Sinai is the foundational event in Jewish life. It shapes Jewish identity both through it stories and even more...
Sefer Bemidbar, the Book of Numbers, presents two very different pictures of the Children of Israel’s desert experience. It opens with an orderly,...
The Torah has a very realistic view of the socio-economic conditions facing society and attempts to impose certain rules of fairness to make societal...
And the Lord said to Moshe, ‘Say to the priests, the sons of Aharon, and say to them, ‘For no dead person among his kin shall he be defiled,...
Parshat Kedoshim is demanding. It obliges us to be holy by commanding a panoply of mitzvot. These commandments, known as the “Holiness Code”...
On the face of it, the entire section of Parshiyot Tazriah-Metzorah, which deals with “metzora” – a group of mysterious ailments and how to...
Throughout the ages, rabbinic sages have been particularly fond of puns and wordplays. They found inspiration in places which other people overlooked....
The significance of the sacrificial order is hard for moderns to comprehend, but the very fact that the sages preached of its importance hundreds of...
If the religious significance of the sacrificial order, in and of itself, is difficult for most moderns to fathom, the importance of the Korban Hatat...
The Mishkan (Tabernacle) was the most significant religious project of the desert trek. It involved not only creating a portable sacred center for the...
And Aharon said to them: Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me. And all the...
The placement of Parshiyot Terumah and Titzaveh, which contain both plans for the building of the Mishkan (the Sanctuary in the desert), its...
לזכר אפרים יצחק יעקבסון ז”ל – איש תורה ומעשה The role of Parshat Mishpatim in the rabbinic tradition points to...
There are a number of factors which led the rabbinic sages to interpret the words of Torah in a manner which veers from the plain meaning (pshat) of...
Parshat Beshallah is made up of two parts. The first part sings the glories of God’s triumphant victory over the children of Israel’s Egyptian...
Parshat Bo frames not only the events of the redemption of the children of Israel in real time (Pesah Mitzrayim); it also delineates its observance...
Parshat Shmot ends on a note of despair. Pharoah not only refused Moshe’s admonition to release the children of Israel, but also made their workload...
One could easily read the story of Yaakov and his family’s descent into Egypt and their subsequent enslavement as a typological allegory, namely, a...
Parshat Vayehi, almost in its entirety, deals with Yaakov’s death. When his time comes, after he has finished blessing his sons, the progenitors of...
Yaakov’s life was filled with tragedy and insecurity. His faith was tested and stretched to its limits. When his sons returned from Egypt with news...
No biblical character is more associated with dreams than Yosef. He was a dreamer and an interpreter of dreams and at almost every juncture in his...
Yosef seems to fall prey to all sorts of troubles. Yet, the sages have singled out one “trial”, in particular, which served to both transform...
Yaakov’s wrestling match with the angel defined him. He would forever after be known as Yisrael – the one “who wrestled with God”. His...
The interaction between Rachel and Leah, the two sisters who became Yaakov’s wives was not simple. Yaakov fell in love with the younger of the two,...
Rivka, like others of the matriarchs, was barren. Through prayer, she miraculously conceived, but hers was not to be an ordinary pregnancy, nor were...