Shemot
- Commandments, Communication, Craftsmen, Exodus, Israelites, Komps Kaos, Listening, Moses, Parsha, Shemot, Sinai, Tabernacle, Tent of Meeting, Vayakhel
A Long Game of Telephone
We’ve been reading about the Tabernacle for a while now. You can probably list off many of the instructions for building the Tent of Meeting with your eyes closed. This week, we’ll hear…
- Attributes, Birthday, Characteristics, Creativity, Exodus, Golden Calf, Ki Tisa, Komps Kaos, Moses, Parsha, Radiance, Shemot, Sinai, Tabernacle, Tablets, Tent of Meeting
Charactering the Creator
Almost every week I say to someone, “This parsha is one of my favorites” – and this week, that’s definitely true! Full of stories and one of the most diverse parshiyot, Ki Tisa…
- Altar, Clothing, Consecration, Exodus, Holiness, Komps Kaos, Menorah, Moses, Offering, Parsha, Priests, Shemot, Sinai, Splendor, Tabernacle, Tent of Meeting, Tetzaveh
The Best Dressed Priests
Do you think about how your religious leaders or representatives dress? Is there anything special about what they wear to do their job? what they wear every day? Do you think their clothing…
- Cooperation, Craftsmen, Details, Exodus, Invitation, Israelites, JTS, Komps Kaos, Moses, Offering, Parsha, Partnership, Physical Presence, Shemot, Sinai, Tabernacle, Tent of Meeting, Terumah, Wandering
Containing the Divine
The presence of G!d is with the Israelites, traveling with the people and resting where they stop. How do they know, and how do we know as readers? Besides the Torah saying as…
- Commandments, Community, Exodus, Interpretation, Israelites, Judges, Komps Kaos, Law, Mishpatim, Mitzvah, Moses, Narrative, New York, Parsha, Rules, Shemot, Sinai, Torah
Judging Rules
Parashat Mishpatim begins with, “And these are the judgments which you will set before them.” Sometimes the word for judgments, the title of this parsha, mishpatim, gets translated as rules…which isn’t quite right.…
- Advice, Burden, Delegation, Exodus, Fiddler on the Roof, Judges, Komps Kaos, Parsha, Shemot, Sinai, Trust, Wandering, Yitro
We All Need Advising Sometimes…
In this parsha, Moses’ father-in-law claims a new status in history: Advisor. How does he come to hold this position? He recognizes that Moses has been acting alone in judging the Hebrew people.…
- Aaron, Burning Bush, Egypt, Exodus, Goshen, Israelites, Joseph, Komps Kaos, Miriam, Moses, Names, Nile River, Parsha, Pesach, Pharaoh, Redemption, Shabbat, Shemot, Shul, Stories
Naming a Nation
Just before the new civil year, we begin reading our second book in the Torah: Shemot (names), or Exodus. By this point in the cycle, we get it – the Torah’s big on…
- Ancestors, Bereshit, Blessing, Brothers, Culture, Egypt, Genealogy, Generations, Israel, Jacob, Joseph, Komps Kaos, Oath, Parsha, Shemot, Text Study, Textual Criticism, Torah, Vayechi
The End of the Beginning
The end of Bereshit – an accomplishment that feels markedly set within each year of Torah engagement. We have traipsed through our creation stories, begun to wrestle with our relationship to G!d (and…
- Burning Bush, Disobedience, Egypt, Exodus, Fear, Fire, Hebrew, Israelites, Kings, Moses, Names, Nation, Parsha, Pharaoh, Redemption, Refining, Shemot, Slavery, Trials
Haughty Kings and Trials of Fire
Done, done, and we’re on to the next one… Welcome to Exodus, the story of our people, or so they say. Named after the first word, and the title of the book, Shemot,…