The Sidra of Vayetze begins with Jacob’s famous dream, which he dreamt on the night when he left his home, in Be’er Sheva, on his way to Haran. There is a story about a Jew who once boasted to his friends by telling them: ‘I was at a very large museum in an important city […]
The first section of the Sidra of Tol’dot is devoted to the birth of Isaac’s and Rebecca’s two boys, Jacob and Esau. Sadly, at first, Rebecca did not have any children and there was sadness in the home. Eventually, Rebecca became pregnant. Her pregnancy was unusual in the sense that the children clashed inside her […]
This Sidra focuses on Abraham’s private life. It mentions three funerals and two marriages. The funerals are those of Abraham, Sarah and Ishmael. The marriages are those of Isaac who married Rebecca and Abraham who married his second wife, Keturah, who, some rabbis thought, was Hagar. The Sidra begins with Sarah’s death at the age […]
The title of today’s Sidra is Lech Lecha which means go for yourself. This interesting expression occurs only once more in the entire Bible, in the story of the Binding of Isaac. This means that it symbolises Abram’s unique mission to go and spread the knowledge of God everywhere. There are two explanations for the word […]
This week we are reading the Sidra of No’ach. It is interesting to note that if we change the order of the two letters that make up this name, we form the Hebrew word CHEN, which means favour or beauty. The last verse of the Sidra BERESHIT reads: “No’ach found favour in the eyes of […]
This morning we begin yet again a new cycle of Torah reading. The name of the first book of the Torah, as well as the first Sidra is Bereshit, which means at the beginning. The word comes from Hebrew word ROSH, which means head. The Shabbat has a special title: Shabbat Bereshit. The book should […]
During Sukkot, we read the Scroll of Kohelet, which is one of the five scrolls, to be found in the third Biblical section which is called Writings. In Hebrew the section is called Ketuvim. The Hebrew word for the Bible is Tanach, which is an abbreviation for Torah, Neviim, the prophets, and Ketuvim. The section […]
The Hebrew name of today’s Sidra means he went. In its number of verses, it is the shortest Sidra of the year, but it is read on its own only rarely, when Yom Kippur falls on either Wednesday or Thursday. The Sidra sets out Moses speech on the last day of his life. It is interesting […]
This week’s Sidra begins with Moses’ declaration that the Israelites were standing ready in front of the Lord in order to make another covenant with him. This covenant was made in the Land of Moab and it was a renewal of the covenant that had originally been made in Mount Chorev, another name for Mount […]
The meaning of the name of today’s Sidra is “when you come”. Moses continues his final speech by referring to the mitzvah of BIKKURIM, the First Fruit, which the Israelites were commanded to observe as soon as they entered the land. This passage is, therefore, linked to the previous commandment, mentioned in the last paragraph of the […]