For the past ten weeks we have been reading the stories of the Patriarchs and their faltering steps in the 18th century BCE, at the time of the birth of our nation. The story of Abraham tells of his spectacular rise to fame in the midst of a pagan civilization. For the first time in […]
We know that the Book of Bamidbar consists of two distinct parts. The first part of the book describes events that took place in the first two years of the journey in the Sinai desert. The second part, beginning with chapter 20 describes the events which took place in the 40th year of the journey. […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]