The Sidra of Korach is named after the man who organized a very serious rebellion against Moses and Aaron in the desert, in the second year after the Exodus. The name Korach is striking because it means bald. In Hebrew we have a proverb: YATZA KERE’ACH MIKAN UMIKAN. It means: “You come out bald […]
The Sidra of Shlach-Lecha is devoted, mostly, to the grave sin which was committed first by 10 of the 12 spies that were sent by Moses to investigate the land. As a consequence, the entire nation sinned by rebelling against God. It turned out to be the second most catastrophic event in the desert, equal […]
Today’s Sidra begins on a note of joy and happiness. It focuses on the light of the Menorah and tells us that Aaron was commanded to light its lamps so that six flames, three on each side, should be directed towards the central flame. According to another interpretation, he was instructed to ensure that all […]
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 […]