Vayikra

Vayikra: Don’t be a Behemah or a Chayah! ~ Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

Have you ever heard an old Jewish Bubby (Yiddish for “grandmother”) refer to wild kids as chayot or behemot? Do you know what she’s...

Vayikra: The Greatest “Cover-up” ~ Tzvi Abrahams

Vayikra כַּפָּרָה: atonement כּוֹפֶר: redemption payment כַּפֹּרֶת: the cover of the Ark כּוֹפֶר: pitch כְּפִיר: young lion כְּפוֹר:...

Tzav: Focus Is Fire ~ Yehoshua Steinberg

Tzav This week's Torah Portion describes the procedure for the sacrifice of birds to as implemented by the Kohen, namely to nip off its...

Tzav: Running after Our Desires ~ Tzvi Abrahams

Tzav מְרֻצֶה: pleasing, desirable רָצוֹן: desire/will רוּץ: run שֶׁרֶץ: rodent אֶרֶץ: earth רְצֵה: accept מְרֻצֶה: Pleasing, Desirable...

Shemini: The Simple Son: Dense or Perfect? ~ Yehoshua Steinberg

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Shemini: Of Corpses and Carcasses ~ Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

In the aftermath of the Ten Spies fiasco, the Jewish people were doomed to remain in the wilderness for forty years until the rise of the...

Shemini: Seven Reasons Why the Pig Returns ~ Tzvi Abrahams

חוֹזֶר: return, renege, seek out חַזֶרֶת: lettuce מַחְזוֹר:machzor חַזִיר: pig חוֹזֶר: Return, Renege, Seek Out Besides for its plain...

Tazria: Of Lepers and Grasshoppers ~ Yehoshua Steinberg

Article Abstract: The root גבח appears in all of Scripture only in this week’s Torah portion, Tazria, in connection with the “leprosy”...

Tazria-HaChodesh: Old Month versus New Month ~ Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

This Shabbat we read Parshat HaChodesh, the last of four special Torah readings before Pesach. Parshat HaChodesh establishes Nissan as...

Tazria-Metzora: Approaching Reproaching ~ Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), the father of contemporary conservatism, purportedly said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is...

Tazria: The True Measure of a Man ~ Tzvi Abrahams

שְׂעִיר: goat שְׂעוֹרָה: barley שֵׂעָר: hair שְׂעָרָה: tempest חוּט הַשַׂעַר: hairsbreadth וְשֵׂעָר בַּנֶּגַע הָפַךְ לָבָן/And the hair...

Metzora: The Place Where I Belong, My Ken ~ Yehoshua Steinberg

Article abstract for Metzora: As part of the leper’s purification process following his affliction with tazraat, this week’s portion...

Metzora: We Love to Bug ~ Tzvi Abrahams

זְבוּב: fly דַּבְּרוּ אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַאֲמַרְתֶּם אֲלֵהֶם אִישׁ אִישׁ כִּי יִהְיֶה זָב מִבְּשָׂרוֹ זוֹבוֹ טָמֵא הוּא Speak to the...

Acharei Mot: Mixed Up and Worn out ~ Yehoshua Steinberg

The word “tevel”(תבל) appears once in Parashat Acharei Mot and once in Parshat Kedoshim, and nowhere else in the Pentateuch. In both...

Acharei Mot: Confronting Death ~ Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

The Torah introduces the laws of the sacrificial services of Yom Kippur by noting that G-d relayed them to Moses after the...

Kedoshim: Born to Produce ~ Tzvi Abrahams

חוֹרֶף: winter חֶרְפָּה: disgrace, shameful, detested חַרִיף: sharp, strong, biting נֶחֶרֶפֶת: designated, singled out וְאִישׁ כִּי...