Emor: Words for the Next Generation
When the Rabbis divided the Torah into its 54 parashiyot (portions), they generally arranged for each portion to begin with a unique or otherwise significant word that would in some way summarize major themes of the entire section.
Honor Is Not Enough
Focal Point
You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I the Eternal am your God. (Leviticus 19:3)
D'var Torah
Finding Holiness at the Zoo
If you've ever looked directly at the light emanating from a prism, you know that it is nearly blinding.
Hospitality: Can We Do Better?
Biblical stories often form prototypical frameworks that define and shape later Jewish behaviors.
Being Holy - and Staying Alive
Acharei Mot, the first of this week's two parashiyot, begins on an unsettling note—a reminder of the death of Aaron's sons and the suggestion that such tragedies might occur again unless the priests take specified steps to prevent them
Noah: A Case Study in Transformation
At the beginning of Parashat Noach , it is apparent that the earth and everything living on it are in need of serious transformation. We read: "The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with violence" and ". . .
On the Permanence of Graves
Burying one's dead-what could be a more rudimentary cultural ritual? The scene in which Abraham buys a gravesite from a Hittite for Sarah is often commented upon for the highly stylized negotiation that results in the acquisition.
Mourning and Meaning
We read in this week's Torah portion about the death of Aaron's two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu.
Abraham, the Rabbis, and Us
Why was Abram told to leave his home and family and go out into the wilderness? (Genesis 12:1) The Midrash, the vast collection of rabbinic reflections on the Torah, offers a number of answers.