The story of the Tower of Babel is one of the most famous and in my opinion misinterpreted stories in the bible. Genesis 11:1-9 וַֽיְהִ֥י כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת וּדְבָרִ֖ים אֲחָדִֽים׃ Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and
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Parashat V’zot Habracha 5779-2018 V’zot Habracha…FOOTNOTE: Footnote This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced for the Israelites before his death.3 Surely it is you who love the people; all the holy ones are in your hand. At your feet they all bow down,and from you they receive your instruction,4 the Torah Moshe commanded us as an
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It is the 6th day of B’nai Israel’s journey toward freedom. Just three days ago Pharaoh finally understood that they weren’t coming back, and now he is chasing them. And this chase is not a benevolent one; 600 chariots and many many men of the infantry are coming after them. The noises of the approaching Egyptian army become closer and
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In the world of Torah we often talk about the distinction between blessing and curse, between good and evil, between Yetzer Hatov – good inclinations, and Yetzer Hara – bad inclinations. Sometimes we tend to think that that’s the nature of our choices: there are good choices and bad choices. But that dichotomy knows nothing about Starbucks’ Tall, Grande and
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Parashat Ki Tezeh is one of the richest Torah portions in the entire Torah, counting 74 out of 613 commandments. A huge variety of laws is described in this portion, from rules of war to “Shiluach Haken” which is the Mitzvah that commands us to send away the bird before taking any of the eggs or young birds from the
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This week’s Torah portion is Tazria Metzora. It is the combination of two Torah portions that address two different topics: Tazria, that has to do with the time required for a woman to become ritually pure after delivery, and Metzora, which has to do with the illness of Tzara’at – commonly known today as Leprosity. And even when these topics
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We are starting again a cycle of Torah reading. Jewish tradition teaches us That Elohim- God created “iesh mi’ayin, which means that the beginning of existence came out of nothing. Again, we are reading the Book of Genesis, but can we really do that like we came out of nothing? When we start to read Torah we are not a
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