The Gift Hidden in the Exile
This week's double portion, Tazria–Metzora, is among the most challenging in the Torah to teach, and precisely because of that, among the most important. It describes a mysterious skin condition called tzaraat, which generations of translators have rendered as…
Imagine a group of travelers making their way through a vast wilderness. Their guide, wise, experienced, chosen by the community itself, leads them confidently. One evening, he misreads the stars and they camp a mile off course. Some whisper, “Perhaps he was never fit to lead at all.” Bu…
Numbers in Jewish tradition tell stories. We ask four questions at the Seder because four highlights the range of possibility, it embraces every type of child, every corner of human experience, every base covered. We recite 10 plagues because 10 signals that something entirely new is about …
This week's parasha, Tzav, opens with Gd instructing Moses to command Aaron and his sons, not simply to teach them, but to tzav, to press upon them with urgency and intention the laws of the sacrificial service. And then, in Chapter 8, something remarkable happens. Moses gathers Aaron and hi…
The third book of the Torah opens with a grammatical curiosity that the rabbis could not ignore. "Vayikra el Moshe vayedaber Hashem eilav" ("And Gd called to Moses, and Gd spoke to him.") Vayikra 1:1. Two verbs. One right after the other. Called. Then spoke. Why the redundancy? If Gd was goi…
