torah commentary
Rabbi Nosson Sachs
May 23, 2013 | 0 
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Beha-Alotekha, Numbers 8:1-12:16 When Miriam the prophetess sinned and was afflicted with tza’raas [a spiritual ‘leprosy-like’ disease], she was required to remain outside the camp. During her re...
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Dec 30, 2011 | 0 | 8 |
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No, not the “mitzva of giving” (although I know it is the season). I once met a man who explained to others that the reason we tear our garments at a time of mourning is to let others know to leave...
Dec 22, 2011 | 0 | 3 |
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I would like to get the bumper sticker that says, “Keep Christ in Christmas,” but I am afraid that people would take it the wrong way.
My reasoning: The more that Christmas becomes secularized, the...
Dec 15, 2011 | 0 | 8 |
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In this week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, our patriarch Jacob learns of the supposed death of his beloved son Joseph. In point of fact, Joseph is not actually dead, but rather has been sold into sla...
Dec 08, 2011 | 0 | 9 |
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“What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose
by any other name
would smell as sweet.”
— Shakespeare
Each one of us received a name when we were born. Our parents thought long and hard to give us...
Dec 01, 2011 | 0 | 8 |
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The Torah is always very economical with its words. We have very little biographical detail about any of the patriarchs, of Moses growing up in the household of Pharoah.
We are introduced to Abraha...
Nov 23, 2011 | 0 | 9 |
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“The boys grew up. Esau became a skilled trapper, a man of the field. Jacob was a scholarly man who remained with the tents.”
— Genesis 25:27
Jacob and Esau were fraternal twins, but they couldn’...
Nov 17, 2011 | 0 | 15 |
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We are all familiar with the phrase “circle of life.” I couldn’t help but think of this idea in relation to this week’s Torah portion, for life and death are intertwined. As Jews, we have a wide ra...
Nov 10, 2011 | 0 | 22 |
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On Rosh Hashana, we read the story of the Akeida, the near-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, taken out of the context of the Genesis narrative. We weave Abraham as hero into the High Holy Day themes ...
Nov 02, 2011 | 0 | 9 |
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The Biblical commentator, Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michael better known as Malbim (1809-1897), asks about the order of the command given to Abram in this week’s Torah portion. He notes that Ab...
Oct 27, 2011 | 0 | 12 |
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The story of Noah and the flood is often presented as a children’s tale, something so fabulous and unbelievable we expect kids to be awed and adults to strain to suspend their disbelief.
The story ...