Torah Commentary

You’re hosting this year’s big family seder and it’s Erev Pesach morning.  The phone rings … “Oy!”, you think, “Who’s not coming?”  It’s your mother, who promised to bring four dozen hard-boiled eggs, but has a migraine!!!  ... 

“V’shamru v’nai Yisrael et haShabbat, la’asot et haShabbat l’dorotam b’rit olam….” The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time:  Ex. 31:16  This familiar Saturday morning Kiddush verse comes from this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tissa.  But the Torah says relatively little about how the Sabbath is to be observed. ...

I haven’t watched an I Love Lucy rerun in years.  But an entry in Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book Love Your Neighbor concerning this week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, brought to mind a small detail about Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel.  As I remember it, most scenes began with Lucy in her living room or kitchen.  Shortly thereafter, one or more of the “gang” would open the front door and walk right in.  ...

This week, billions of people around the world – including many Jews – celebrated “Valentine’s Day” with greeting cards, candy, flowers, candlelight dinners, expensive gifts, etc.  They were perhaps inspired by the iconic symbol of the “romantic” holiday: a chubby, bow-and-arrow equipped cherub (Cupid) either hovering over a heart or shooting an arrow into it.  St. Valentine’s Day is obviously not a Jewish holiday.  Yet, perhaps surprisingly, cherubs do occupy a very special and even prominent place in Judaism!  ...

“Am Yisrael Chai” – the Jewish People Live!  Why?  Judaism is very clear about this.  G-d redeemed us from slavery and gave us the Torah (written and oral) to live by in order to bring about righteousness in the world.  Even the most liberal Jewish ...

This week we read the Torah portion B’shallah, in which, most famously, G-d splits the sea and the Israelites are saved from destruction.  We celebrate the “holiday of trees” -- Tu B’shevat (the 15^th day of the month of Shevat) and, here in Israel, we voted in national elections.  Coincidentally, this week I also learned, in Ulpan (Hebrew language school), that the word for “consult” is: להתייעץ  (“l’heet-ya-etz”).  Because the last two letters – etz -- are the word for “tree,” our teacher suggested that we remember the word for “consult” with the sentence:  “I consult with a tree.” ...

A couple of years ago I read about a group of American Jewish teens on a Birthright or similar trip to Israel.  After a meal, one of them apparently said: “It’s time to say the Birkat.”  One of the soldiers guarding them said: “You must not even know what that word means; you can’t say “the Birkat;” it’s not a word you can use by itself.  (The subtext to the remark was, “You think you are superior Jews because you say a prayer in Hebrew, but you don’t even understand what you are saying!”   The kids responded ...

The first seven plagues upon Egypt are recounted in this week’s Torah portion, Va-Era.   The seventh plague is a hail storm so destructive that it “struck down all that were in the open, both man and beast; the hail also struck down all the grasses of the field and shattered all the trees of the field.” (Exodus 9:25).   A few verses later, though, we learn that “the flax and barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and flax was in bud; but the wheat and the emmer were not hurt, for they ripen late.”  (Exodus 9:31-32).  But if ....  

In this week’s Torah portion of Sh’mot, the first in the Book of Exodus, a new Pharaoh arises after Joseph’s death who (in)famously “did not know Joseph.” (Ex. 1:8).  Of course, this new Pharaoh could not actually have been ignorant that Joseph both saved Egypt from famine and, in the process, obtained for Pharaoh title to all Egyptian land except the priestly holdings.  So, “did not know Joseph” must mean that Pharaoh chose to ignore Joseph’s contributions and legacy.

This week’s Torah portion, Va-yehi, contains a sequence that initially seems surprising.   Joseph, Viceroy of Egypt, brings his sons, Manesseh and Ephraim, to see their aged grandfather Jacob for the last time.  Jacob places his hands on their heads.  The text then says “And he blessed Joseph saying …. ‘May G-d … bless the lads.’”  (Gen. 48:15)  That is, Jacob blessed his son by blessing his grandchildren! ...