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 […]
The meaning of the name of today’s Sidra is SEND. The Almighty instructed Moses to send men to the land of Canaan in order that they should travel through it and report to him regarding a number of important matters; how fertile the land was and how well defended. The visit ended up with tragedy. The […]
The meaning of the name of today’s Sidra is when you bring up. It comes from the well-known Hebrew root ALH, which means ‘going up’. Aaron was instructed by Moses to light the Menorah in a particular order. This is what Moses told him: When you raise the flame of the seven lights of the menorah, […]
The meaning of the Hebrew name of today’s Sidra is COUNT. This Sidra is the longest in the Torah and it contains 176 verses. It is remarkable that the longest Psalm, 119, also, consists of 176 verses and the longest tractate in the Talmud, Babba Batra, has 176 pages. The midrashic significance of this Sidra […]