The Sidra begins with God’s command to Moses to send twelve important leaders to tour the land. Moses chose the Nesi’im, the leaders of each tribe for this task. This account, which tells us that God commanded the mission, contradicts the version that Moses gave to the next generation, in his farewell speech, 39 years […]
The Book of Bamidbar is divided into two distinct parts and covers two separate periods in Israel’s journey in the wilderness. The first part, which consists of the first five Sidrot, describes the events which happened immediately after the Exodus. It begins on the first day of the second month of the second year after […]
The first portion of the Sidra of Behar continues with the theme relating to sacred times. It speaks of the Jewish calendar being divided into seven cycles each consisting of seven years, with the fiftieth year being observed as a Jubilee year. The seventh and the 50th years of the cycle are holy. The Torah […]
The Book of Vayikra consists of 10 Sidrot which deal with the concept of holiness in all its manifestations. The first five deal with purification from various sins and diseases. They describe in detail the sacrifices which accompanied the process of purification. It also includes the list of pure animals, the meat of which was […]
The first few sections of the Sidra contain the various laws which apply specifically to the Kohanim. The Kohanim have to observe a higher degree of sanctity than ordinary Israelites but they also enjoy certain privileges. Kohanim are only allowed to defile themselves, and are indeed duty-bound to come into contact with the dead body […]
The name of this week’s Sidra means ‘After the Death’. It is an unusual name and it refers to the Sidra of Shemini where the dramatic and sudden deaths of two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu are described in detail. That event took place on the first of Nissan in the second year […]
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 […]