Army. This is the first word in my reading of Parashat Bamidbar, and it’s the most remarkable word. It is of course not a new word in the Torah, but it is a new concept. The Israelites are turning into a nation, and as such we need an army! Following God’s announcement to Moses about enrolling the people of Israel in
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Think about it! The Torah was delivered on Mount Sinai at the time in the midst of our walking in the desert. This means that if you compare it with milk or with the “food for our souls” as our Sages z”l did, this delivery would be closer to the idea of “Take away” than to sitting in your place
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Parashat Kedoshim: Res non verba! (Deeds not words) Often the role of the interpreter of the words of the Torah is to bridge the gap between the text and the reader. In other cases our role is much closer to delivering the message “as is”. Parashat Kedoshim (Lev. 19-20) is one of the latter, conveying a clear message and
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Experiences of an Immigrant who Learned to be a Mourner I was born and raised in Argentina. From the first years of my adolescence I participated in the ceremonies of Yom Ha’azmaut (Israel’s Independence Day). I remember these activities at the headquarters of Hacoaj, as well as the national ones organized by the juvenile Zionist movement in different areas in
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Yeshayahu Leibowitz explains that the reason to couple the Torah portions of Tazri’a and Metzora (Leviticus 12:1-15:33) in the Jewish communal reading of the Torah is that they both deal with biology of Man, with the biological filth of human existence. A central element in both portions is impurity. A woman who gave birth is considered impure for a period of
Read morePor un Judaismo con diversidad cultural! Que mensajes tenes grabados en la cabeza? A que cosas renunciaste, quizás te faltan, y no sabes donde las dejaste? Puede ser que te estés por perder el Seder? Si, puede ser, porque te sentís culpable!!! Que!!!??? Es muy común en la educación y en la educación judía en lo particular el uso y
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Which messages do you have graven in your mind? What things have you renounced, perhaps you miss, perhaps you’re not sure where you left? Could your Jewish identity be one of those things? Are you possibly about to lose the Passover Seder? If we could stop time for a second, I’d love to think with you about identity! It is
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There is no doubt that the Exodus has a folklorical meaning. The Exodus is an ethos of our identity and we remember it routinely in our prayers and blessings as a seminal event in our consolidation as the People of Israel. However in Passover we have the opportunity to deepen in the Exodus and this is also probably the
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Vehi Sheamda, Yonatan Razel Quien Supiense y Entendiense – Echad Mi Yodeah IN LADINO A Country Dayenu! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaoEHUjJX3M
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Parashat Tzav relates a detailed description of the different kinds of offers and some of the specific ceremonial aspects related to the beginning of the “work” of the priests (Kohanim). Now that we are already in the second Torah portion of Leviticus we understand that it wasn’t a misunderstanding – the book continues to deal with the subject of “offers
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Po Ve Sham 