The meaning of the name of this morning’s Sidra is when you go out. It continues with the subject of war, with the previous Sidra concluded. This is the reason why the Sidra begins in the middle of a chapter. The Christians, who divided the Bible into chapters, did not regard this law as the beginning […]
The meaning of the name of today’s Sidra is JUDGES. The Torah commands us to appoint judges and officers to keep social order. The first verse reads: “You shall appoint judges and officers throughout your gates, i.e. cities, which the Lord your God is giving you, in the territory of every one of your tribes, […]
The meaning of the Hebrew name of today’s Sidra is: See. In the first sentence Moses tells the Israelites that he is giving to them the possibility to choose between the blessing and the curse. The syntax of this verse is striking. It begins by addressing one single person and continues by addressing the entire […]
The literal meaning of the Hebrew name of today’s Sidra is FOOTSTEPS. Here it is used in a borrowed sense to mean result, consequence or reward. Therefore, the first sentence means: “It will be, as a reward, for listening to all these commandments… that, the Lord will fulfil the terms of the covenant to love […]
The meaning of the name of today’s Sidra is I prayed. The first passage contains Moses reports that, after the conquest of the territories on the Eastern side of the Jordan, he made the final very personal plea to the Almighty to allow him to enter the land. He thought that, since he had been given […]
This Shabbat has a special name: Shabbat Chazon. It always precedes the Fast of the Ninth of Av and the name is based on the first word of the Haftarah which means THE VISION. It contains Isaiah’s prophecy in which he warned Israel about the forthcoming catastrophe that was waiting to happen to the Kingdom […]
The meaning of the name of today’s first Sidra is TRIBES. Its first sentence tells us that Moses addressed this chapter to the heads of the tribes. It may seem surprising that this Sidra starts at verse two in chapter 30 of the book of Numbers. Surely, we might have expected the Sidra to start […]
Pinchas, after whom this Sidra is called, was the son of Ele’azar and the grandson of Aaron. He became famous because he took a heroic action when he assassinated the Prince of the tribe of Shimon, who became involved in a despicable act of idolatrous immorality. He also killed the Midianite woman. His action was […]
The Sidra of Balak, the king of Moab, contains the unique Biblical story about Bilam, (this is how the name is pronounced in Hebrew), who was hired by Balak to curse the Israelites when they came near to his country’s borders. Our ancient Rabbis regarded Bilam as a gentile Prophet and asserted, quite surprisingly, that […]
The meaning of the name of today’s Sidra is LAW. Our Rabbis interpreted the Hebrew concept of Chok to refer to a law whose reason has not been revealed to us. The Sidra begins with the law of the Red Heifer, which has always been regarded as mysterious. It simply is very difficult to understand […]