This entire Sidra deals with a person who has, unfortunately, been afflicted with the serious disease of Tzara’at. In the second opening verse, the Torah says that the patient must be brought to the priest for examination. In the following verse, it says that the priest went outside the camp to examine the symptoms of […]
The Sidrot of Tazria and Metzora, which we read this and next Shabbat, form the basis of the final, sixth order of the Mishnah, called Taharot, which means ’Purities’. They concentrate on all of them the intricate laws regarding purity and defilement. The Sidra of Tazria begins with the laws appertaining to the defilement and […]
The Sidra of Shemini begins where the previous Sidra ends. The previous Sidra describes the ceremony of the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. That ceremony lasted for seven days. During those seven days the new priests had to remain next to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. They were forbidden to […]
All the Jewish commentators regard the first passage of this Sidra as a direct continuation of the previous Sidra of SH’MOT. It contains Hashem’s reply to Moshe’s angry complaint that He had not saved the Israelites and had, in fact, made their suffering even harder to bear. Moshe’s exact words were: “Why have you been […]
In his introduction, Nachmanides describes the Book of Exodus as the Book of Exile and Redemption. The Exile began when Jacob’s family went to Egypt and the moment of the Redemption was reached when the erection of the Tabernacle was completed and the glory of the Lord rested within its precincts. The first paragraph in […]
The brief opening section of the Sidra narrates how Moses assembled the entire nation, men and women, in order to organise the raising of funds for the construction of the Tabernacle. He also told them that the construction of the Tabernacle would not override observing the Shabbat. The assembly took place on the day after […]
The Sidra this week has an unusual beginning, which cannot be found anywhere else. The first word in it is VE’ATAH, which means ‘AND YOU’. This is the first of four occasions when God addressed Moses in this way in relation to the construction of the Tabernacle. The first three instances are all in close […]
The Sidra of Mishpatim contains 53 consecutive laws. The mystics point out that the number 53 is equal to the numerical value of the Hebrew word GAN, which means ‘garden’. This imparts a message which teaches that when we observe the fundamental laws of our Torah, we can enjoy the world, in the same way […]
The Sidra of Vayechi begins with the information that Jacob lived in the Land of Egypt for 17 years, and that he was now 147 years old. It would seem that these 17 years were the happiest years of his life. The mediaeval commentator Rabbi David Kimchi makes the observation that Joseph was 17 when […]
Some commentators regard this Sidra as the most important one in the Torah. It contains the story of the Exodus which is the greatest event in the history of the Jewish people and has become a central tenet of our faith. The Sidra begins with an account of the last three plagues. Its middle section […]