“Anyone who has never read the entire Chumash with Rashi is simply not Jewishly literate,” said Rabbi David Hartman, with whom I was studying 14 years ago at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. “It doesn’t matter whether you read it in Hebrew or English, but you must go through the Five Books of Moses with Rashi’s commentary.”
This week’s portion begins a new book of the Bible, Leviticus. It is fascinating to look at the first and last words of each of the books of the Torah:
Genesis: When God began to create the heavens and the earth … in a coffin in Egypt.
Exodus: These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt … throughout their journeys.
Leviticus: The Lord called out to Moses … on Mount Sinai.
Numbers: In the wilderness of Sinai … on the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Deuteronomy: These are the words which Moses spoke … in the sight of all Israel.
Miketz is almost always read during the week of Chanukah. Is this a coincidence of the calendar or is there something to learn from this juxtaposition?
Hebrew letters, when decoded, are magical. So it was especially powerful when my adult b’nai mitzvah Hebrew class was working on the letter Bet and opened the Torah to this week’s portion to find that it’s the first letter of Torah.
Last week we began the story of Pinchas, grandson of Aaron and great-nephew of Moses. Pinchas saw Zimri, a Jewish leader, and Cozbi, a Midianite princess, engage in a public display of immorality connected to the idol worship of the Midianites.
One of the real pleasures of my work as a rabbi is that I get to spend time with the children in our schools.
Thirteen is a difficult age. I know this as a parent, and I also know it as a rabbi who interacts with lots of 13-year-olds. I know this as well as a student of Torah. And now I know it as a moviegoer.
This week\’s Torah portion is called \”Behar\” because it begins \”The Lord spoke to Moses behar (on Mount [Sinai]). Upon reflection, something seems out of order. We left Mount Sinai in the Book of Exodus.
Our Torah study was enriched by a day in Tel Aviv where we visited some of the projects supported by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles\’ Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership, including the Shevach Mofet School, a high school in which the majority of the students are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
For many of us, this season is marked by being with families and sharing our family stories. In the Torah cycle it is the time of the year that we read the powerful story of a family of brothers, a story about forgiveness and reconciliation. Buried in this story about brothers is a one-line mystery about a sister.
After Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, he sends wagons to bring his father, Jacob, to Egypt so Joseph can take care of him. The text tells us: \”Then Jacob and all his offspring came to Egypt. He brought with him his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters — all his offspring. And these are the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt\” (Genesis 46:6-7). What follows is a very long list of men mostly, except for Jacob\’s daughter, Dinah, and one granddaughter: \”And the sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and their sister Serah\” (Genesis 46:17).
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