One of the ways rabbis and secular scholars acquire a deeper understanding of the Bible is by comparing the events in the story with events in other biblical tales. They also compare two Bible sections that use the same word. David Curwin does both in his engaging, eye-opening 2023 book “Kohelet: A [...]
Chapters 22–24 in Numbers tell the tale of Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet whom the Moabites summon to curse the Israelites. The Moabite king, Balak, sees the advancing Israelites and feels he lacks sufficient forces to defeat them. Like many ancients, he thinks that a seer’s curse will weaken the Israelites and make it possible [...]
I am attaching my two latest books. I hope you enjoy them. Can you do me a favor, and if you can, write a review for each of the books and post the reviews on Amazon? Even a short review, such as, "I enjoyed this book," would be appreciated. The Amazon site for the What [...]
"The Koren Lev Ladaat Humash - Bemidbar" is a superb Bible commentary that is very enlightening. It is filled with information. It prompts readers to think and better understand the Bible. It has clear easy-to-see Hebrew text with the highly acclaimed Koren font and the readable English translation by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. It [...]
The Torah is usually obscure. It leaves the interpretation of the text to readers. It challenges them to think about their reading, discover its meaning, and improve themselves and society. Rashi does not take this approach. He fills his commentary with Midrashim, interesting parables not even hinted at in the Torah. The following [...]
All we know about Shlomo ben Yitzchak of Troyes, France, known as Rashi, are his writings. We know no facts about his life. Much has been written about him, but it is all legends. It is commonly thought, for example, that he was born in the year 1040, although this is uncertain, and his [...]
The case of the Sotah, the suspected adulterous wife, is followed immediately with the case of the man or woman who wants to be more pious than the [...]
One of the most obscure Torah laws concerns the wife whose husband suspects committed adultery. She is called a Sotah. It is in Numbers 5:11 to 31. Since the husband has no proof that she had relations with another man, the Torah requires her to undergo a strange procedure that raises many [...]
Dr. Michael Oren’s splendid book, “2048, The Rejuvenated State,” is 104 pages in English, with a complete translation in Arabic and Hebrew. Oren is a statesman, historian, and parliamentarian. He served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States, a member of Israel’s Knesset (Parliament), and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. He was [...]
Koren Press’ “The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel - Numbers” follows its predecessors in the Biblical books Exodus, Leviticus, and Samuel as a fourth outstanding biblical commentary on the Hebrew Bible. It contains information not in other books. It has a wealth of scholarly information written in an easy-to-read and interesting [...]
I understand that Jewish laws are valuable because they help us learn how to behave and improve ourselves and society. "Values in Halakha" is by Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein (1933-2015). He was an eminent rabbinic scholar and teacher who served as one of the heads of the famed prestigious Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel for [...]
Yitzhak Twersky (1930-1997) was one of the top scholars of the past generation. He was brilliant. He was a highly respected professor at Harvard University and founder and head of Harvard's Center of Jewish Studies. Some of his books are classics, especially his monumental work on Maimonides, “Introduction to the Code of Maimonides,” and [...]
Dr. Avigail Rock's book (1971-2019) "Great Biblical Commentators," is a very informative, eye-opening, thought-provoking introduction to twenty-four of the many rabbis and scholars who commented on the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. All of the many who did so could not be listed in the 426 easy-to-read pages, which contain the biographies, methodologies, and samples [...]
Dear Friends, A couple of weeks ago, I fell and hurt myself. As such, I have been unable to work. I expect a full recovery and a resumption of my normal posting within the next month. I know you would like to send me emails wishing me good health. Please do not do so because [...]
Rabbi Dr. Nachum L. Rabinovitch (1928-2020) authored “Pathways to Their Hearts,” an easy-to-read book by a renowned scholar about how we should think and live. His views are correct. They are based on the rational teachings of the “Great Eagle,” Judaism’s foremost philosopher Maimonides (1138-1204). Rabbi Lord Jonathan Saks (1948-2020), called the “towering intellect [...]
The second weekly biblical portion in the third Book of Moses is called Tzav. The Torah addresses the five types of sacrifices mentioned in the prior portion in the first two Leviticus chapters. In the former weekly portion, the focus was on the people bringing the offering. Here it contains instructions for the priests. [...]
The first weekly portion in the third Book of Moses is called Vayikra. The third book as a whole was initially called in Hebrew Torat Kohanim, “The law of the Priest,” since much of the book deals with the priestly functions of the family of Moses’ brother Aaron and the Israelite duty to be [...]
I stressed for decades that the Torah is filled with obscurities. They were purposely placed in the Bible to prompt people to think, develop themselves, be all they can be, and help improve society. Unfortunately, some people derive mistaken ideas from what is obscure. The sage Nachmanides is an example. Moshe ben Nachman, also [...]
Two biblical Torah portions are read this week. The portion of Vayyakhel, Exodus 35:1-38:20, contains the Sabbath law, which the rabbis translated as “You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day,” which the Sadducees translated as “You shall have no fire throughout your habitations,” and celebrated Shabbat in darkness, the [...]
The weekly portion of Ki Thissa begins with counting the adult male Israelites from age twenty, by each giving a half shekel so “that there not be a plague among them when you count them,” and raises the question if this is superstition. This is followed by instructions to build a laver where Aaron [...]
The current practice is that Purim is celebrated as a one-day holiday. Cities that were walled at the time of Joshua’s conquest of Israel – most notably Jerusalem – celebrate Purim on Adar 15 to recall the end of hostilities in the walled city of Shushan, where the battles occurred Adar 13 and 14. [...]
The weekly portion of Tetzaveh begins and ends in the middle of chapters, showing once again that the rabbinic division of the Torah defers from the division of chapters that originated by Christians. We read about the oil for the Tabernacle lamp maintained by Aaron and his sons, who were appointed as priests in [...]
The weekly portion of Terumah discusses some matters involving the portable Tabernacle the Israelites used for sacrifices while they were in the desert. We read the command that the Israelites must bring material to construct the Tabernacle and its contents, the building of an ark that will contain the Stone Tablets containing the Decalogue, [...]
“The Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel Esther” is an excellent volume that will be enjoyed by young and old. The biblical story of Esther and Mordecai’s struggle against anti-Semitism in ancient Persia has fascinated people of all religions for centuries. The events are celebrated joyously by the holiday of Purim instituted by ordinary people, not [...]
The weekly portion of Mishpatim begins with laws concerning an eved ivri, translated “Hebrew Slave.” But the term is not explained. It continues with laws when a man sells his daughter as a slave, a death sentence to a person who kills another, the law of an accidental killing, the rule that holding on the [...]
Urim Publications published “ArchitecTorah, Architectural Ideas in Judaism and the Weekly Torah Portion” by Joshua Skarf in 2023. It contains 178 short, informative, easy-to-read essays on the fifty-four weekly portions focusing on Torah topics that reveal hidden information about God and architecture design and theory in his 594-page book. He gives at least two [...]
As usual, the biblical portion Yitro is named after the first significant word in the portion, the name of Moses’ father-in-law Yitro. His name in English is Jethro with a J. German scholars began to transliterate some, but not all, names that start with the Hebrew letter yud with a J. Examples include Jerusalem [...]
Koren Press’ “The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel - Leviticus” follows its predecessors on the Biblical books Exodus and Samuel as a third outstanding biblical commentary. It contains a wealth of scholarly information written in an easy-to-read and interesting – even fascinating – fashion by more than a dozen and a half [...]
Over time, I wrote two movie reviews on the hilarious film “Groundhog Day,” part of my over 10,000 reviews on books, movies, and music. The first [...]
The weekly biblical portion Beshalach, meaning When Pharaoh “sent out” the Israelites from their centuries of enslavement, tells how the exodus began, Pharaoh pursued the Israelites, the Israelites’ panic, God’s assurance of safety, the splitting of the sea, the survival of the Israelites in the sea while Egyptians drowned, the Israelites sing a song [...]
