Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the LORD alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the LORD. Vayikra 10:1, 2
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of the LORD. Vayikra 16:1
But Nadab and Abihu died by the will of the LORD, when they offered alien fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they left no sons. So it was Eleazar and Ithamar who served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron. Bamidbar 3:4. Read more here…
I was asleep, But my heart was wakeful. Hark, my beloved knocks! “Let me in, my sister, my love, my perfect (TAMATI) dove! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of night.” (Song 5:2)
From Pesikta de-Rab Kahana, Piska 6
TAMATI-MY PERFECT DOVE. R. Jannai said: It means, as it were, ‘My twin (Te’omati): I (God) am not greater than she nor is she greater than I am. R. Joshua of Siknin said in the name of R. Levi: It means, My twin. Just as, if one twin has a pain in his head, the other feels it also, so, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, I will be with him in trouble (Ps. XCI, 15). Read more here…
Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. Malachai 3:22, 23
But a shoot shall grow out of the trunk of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him: A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the LORD. He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the LORD: He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive. Thus he shall judge the poor with equity And decide with justice for the lowly of the land. He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. Isaiah 11:1-4. Read more here…
The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them: When any of you presents an offering to the LORD. (Leviticus 1:1)
I will be to Israel like dew; He shall blossom like the lily, He shall strike root like a Lebanon tree. His boughs shall spread out far, His beauty shall be like the olive tree’s, His fragrance like that of Lebanon. 8 They who sit in his shade shall be revived: They shall bring to life new grain, They shall blossom like the vine; His scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. (Hoshea 14). Read more here…
There are in the Torah only two instances of a calendrical terminus a quo and a terminus ad quem, a beginning and end point. The second one is in Bamidbar:
On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying…Bamidbar 1:1
This tells us that on the first day of the second month, in the second year from the Exodus in Egypt, Israel began their preparations to leave Sinai and move to Eretz Yisrael. Then in Bamidbar 10:11 we read:
In the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle of the Pact…Bamidbar 10:11. Read more here…
Each of the five books of the Torah can be organized into three distinct sections. In Sefer Shemot there is, however, a stunning seven part symmetry of an outline in the third section of the book.
Outline of Shemot
I. God and Israel Meet and Fall in Love (Chapters 1-18)
II. God and Israel Get Married at Mt. Sinai (Chapters 19-24)
III. God and Israel Move into a Home of Their Own
1. Revelation in the Cloud (Shemot 24:12-18)
2. Mishkan-blueprint (Shemot 25-31:11)
3. Shabbat (Shemot 31:12-17)
4. Golden Calf (Shemot 31:18 – 34)
5. Shabbat (Shemot 35:1-3)
6. Mishkan-construction (Shemot 35:4 – 40:33)
7. Revelation in the Cloud (Shemot 40:34-38) Read more here…
In what way can Megillat Esther be identified as part of the literature of TaNaKh? Are there features of the literature of TaNaKh found in Megillat Esther? Eric Auerbach, a refugee from the German apostasy to evil and later professor of comparative literature at Princeton, wrote a book, Mimesis. There are two chapters in this book on Biblical literature that no student of the Torah should go much longer without reading. He was a scholar of literature and not of Torah. Read more here…
Sometimes it seems that what we all have in common is the fear of P’shat, the plain meaning of the Torah. This Shabbat we begin Parasha after Parasha on the Mishkan. Some approach the narrative of the Mishkan, squeezing out with ever excruciating pain, a symbolism that can’t be sustained by P’shat, and some of us just run from it by ignoring it. Yet there are ideas in simple words, and great principles in prosaic details. Read more here…
Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended; and they saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a brick-work of sapphire, like the very sky in its purity. Shemot 24:9-10
What does this Shabbat have to do with Sukkot? The obvious answer of course is that in this week’s Parasha we have the first sacred calendar. However, there is a Sukkot practice with a refrain that dates to Bayit Sheini that is grounded in this week’s Parasha. Read more here…
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. Shemot 20:9-11
Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you. Shemot 20:12. Read more here…
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea. Exodus 15:20, 21
The Haftara for Shabbat Shira, the Shabbat of the Song of the Sea, is the narrative and the song of Deborah in Judges 4 and 5. When this passage is read on the seventh day of Pesach, the Haftara is the victory song of David. Read more here…
This coming week’s parasha, specifically Shemot, chapter 12, is one of those sections of the Torah that are read twice, sometimes three times, throughout the year. Shemot 12 is the Torah reading for the fourth of the four special Shabbatot, namely Shabbat Parashat Ha-Hodesh. Sections of it are also read on the first day of Pesach. Thus we have two kinds of Torah readings. Those that are part of the yearly cycle are read in order to follow and learn the drama of the Jewish people’s initial sacred history in each year. And then those very passages, when they are read on special Shabbatot, or more importantly on the Hagim to which they have given birth. Read more here…
בראשית פרק יז
(ז) וַהֲקִמֹתִי אֶת בְּרִיתִי בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ וּבֵין זַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ לְדֹרֹתָם לִבְרִית עוֹלָם לִהְיוֹת לְךָ לֵאלֹהִים וּלְזַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ: (ח) וְנָתַתִּי לְךָ וּלְזַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ אֵת אֶרֶץ מְגֻרֶיךָ אֵת כָּל אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן לַאֲחֻזַּת עוֹלָם וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים:
I will maintain My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to you and to your offspring to come. I assign the land you sojourn in to you and your offspring to come, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.” B’reisheet 17:7, 8. Read more here…
B’reisheet begins and ends with the same theme represented by the Eitz Hada’at, the Tree of Knowledge; the sin of hubris and the virtue of humility. The sin of hubris is the assertion by a human being that ‘I now what God knows’. The virtue of humility is the recognition that ‘I do not know what God knows’. Adam and Eve eat from the Eitz Hada’at, the Tree of Knowledge, thus asserting they know what God knows and are like God. B’reisheet ends with Yosef affirming that he is not in God’s stead. He is humble. Pharaoh continues the sin of hubris. Read more here…
And Joseph said to them, “Am I like God?” (Ber.50:19)
And you will be like God, knowing everything from good to evil. (Ber.3:5)
The Book of B’reisheet begins and ends with the same theme and sin, hubris and its opposite. The Book of B’reisheet begins with the sin of Adam and Chava who assert that they know what God knows. For this, they are punished with F2, famine and fratricide. ‘In pain will you gain your daily bread’, and in each subsequent generation there is famine; and ‘with pain will you raise children’ and there is murderous sibling rivalry, nearly resulting in fratricide, in subsequent generations. Read more here…
This Shabbat and its Haftara help us find a home for last week’s orphaned Haftara. Last week’s Haftara was orphaned by the substitution of the Haftara for Shabbat Hanuka. Had it not been Shabbat Hanuka, the Haftara for last Shabbat would have been 1 M’lakhim 3:15-4:1. This is the Haftara that begins with Solomon suddenly waking up in the middle of the night, like Pharaoh in last week’s Parasha, in the midst of a dream. Read more here…
It is possible to understand Yosef by studying Mishlei chapters 7 and 8, which for your convenience are found at the end of this note. The problem with Yosef is that he is the only major figure in the Torah to whom the Kadosh Barukh Hu never speaks. Nevertheless, Yosef interprets dreams, and knows that he can do so because of divine inspiration. When he is imprisoned for the first time in Mitzrayim he knows that God is with him. Read more here…
As early as the mid-fourth century, Hazal wrote Midrashim, more precisely, Drashot based on the Torah and Haftara readings, for special Shabbatot. Thus, for example, we have Midrashim for the Arba Parshiyot in the approach to Purim and then leading up to Pesach. Shabbat Shuva is another example. Thus, the Pesikta De Rab Kahana, according to some, actually begins with the Piska for Shabbat Hanuka. It is based on the Torah reading for Hanuka, which is Bamidbar 7, and its description of the dedication of the Mishkan. The first Piska for Shabbat Hanuka opens with a quote from Shir Hashirim, “bati l’gani akhoti kallah-I am come in to My Garden, My sister, My bride”. Read more here…
Jacob asked, “Pray tell me your name.” But he said, “You must not ask my name!” And he took leave of him there. So Jacob named the place (makom) Peniel, meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” B’reisheet 32:30-31. This week’s Parasha is brought to you by the word ‘makom’. ‘Makom’ plays a critical role in the life of Ya’akov. It is a deciphering code and an organizing principle in the journey of Ya’akov to and from Galut, and in his journey with the Kadosh Barukh Hu. The word itself is found no less than ten times in last week’s Parasha, beginning with B’reisheet 28:10 – 29:26, and 32:2. As Ya’akov leaves the land of Canaan and moves towards Haran he encounters a makom. Read more here…
The first T’fillah in the Torah is the T’fillah of the warden of Avraham to God seeking a proper wife for Yitshak. The second T’fillah is Yitshak’s on behalf of his barren wife. The fact of the T’fillah is mentioned, the text is not. The third case of T’fillah in the Torah are the T’fillot of Leah. Indeed, Leah presents four T’fillot. They may seem like maternal naming pronouncements, but they are not. She thanks the Kadosh Barukh Hu for seeing her torment; and therefore, with the birth of Reuven, her husband should love her. That doesn’t happen. She births a second child, Shimon, and thanks God for hearing that she is despised. That doesn’t change. Read more here…
22 But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went ‘L’drosh’- to inquire of the LORD. B’reisheet-Genesis 25:22. 10 For Ezra had dedicated himself ‘L’drosh’- to study the Teaching of the LORD so as to observe it, and to teach laws and rules to Israel. Ezra 7:10. The narrative of TaNaKh begins with B’reisheet; runs through the Khomesh of the Torah; and then to the four books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The narrative begins with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Gan Eden; moves to the preparation and entry of the Jewish people into the successor to Gan Eden, namely, Yerushalayim. The narrative concludes with the exile of the Jewish people from Gan Eden. Read more here…
With this Parasha, and the episode of Rivka’s courtship by Avraham’s agent, we have the full expression of an important organizing principle in the Torah, as well as in some later episodes in NaKh. In order for Rivka to enter the sacred family, the family of Avraham and Sarah, she has to demonstrate by her behavior that she believes that the Kadosh Barukh Hu is the creator. This is true for all who seek to enter the sacred people and the sacred nation. Following their entry into the brit, Avraham and Sarah in last week’s parasha engage in an act of Hakhnassat Orkhim, hosting guests. Avraham’s servant makes it clear that that is how he will know that the young girl is fit to enter this family. Rachel and Leah must pass the same test. Read more here…
Nothing happened to Yitschak. He was bound on the altar. That was it. The knife did not touch his throat. The fire was not kindled. He was not consumed by the unkindled fire, nor was he reduced to ashes, nor were those ashes heaped before the glory throne, nor was he resurrected by the life giving dew. Ein hamikra yotsei m’y’dei p’shuto-scripture never exists its plain meaning. Nothing happened to Yitschak. He came to Moriah alive and well, and left much the same way. The narrative of the Akedah is the fitting conclusion to the narrative of Avraham and Sarah. Their lives began with a straightforward notice that set the agenda for their development, “and Sarai was barren, she had no child.” Read more here…
This week’s Parasha began last week. At the end of Parashat Noakh, at the end of chapter 11, following a numbing genealogy, and a numbing onomasticon, we find, almost buried, under the wave of detail an important notice.
When Terah had lived 70 years, he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now this is the line of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot. Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah, in his land, Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, the name of Abram’s wife being Sarai and that of Nahor’s wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren, she had no child. Read more here…
The name Noakh is of course a simple anagram for khein. Noakh is the first one of whom it is said, “Matsa khein b’einei…” He is the first one who finds khein in the eyes of God. In addition, he is not just the first one to walk with God, he is the first one, in the reflexive, hithalekh-to walk his very self, with God. However, there is one thing that he is missing. Moshe, in Shemot 33:12, reminds God that he (Moshe) has found favor in God’s eyes. Moshe, in verse 13, then goes on to use that as the basis for several requests. Read more here…
There are three great attempts in the Torah ‘to know’, to know what God knows, to know God, to know everything. The third is of course Iyov, who asserts that he knows with certitude whether or not he has sinned. He also asserts that he knows the ways of God in the matter of reward and punishment. At the end, God does not address the assertions, he simply says, “Were you there when the foundations of the Earth were laid? Do you know the storehouses of snowflakes? Do you know the time that the Ibex births?” The response to Job’s hubris is the reminder that creation is the greatest mystery of all, known only to God the Creator. Read more here…
This week’s Parasha, if one can call it that, is a Parasha Y’Toma, an orphan. It is of course V’zot Habrakha, which receives short shrift in all our synagogues. When was the last time anyone scheduled a class on Parashat Hashavua for V’zot Habrakha? Its very words are drowned out by Simkhat Torah. There was a time when this was not so. There is only one event recorded in the Book of Devarim. It is the death of Moshe in Parashat V’zot Habrakha. Read more here…
The Mishna in Sukka 45a reads:
How is the Mitzvah of the arava, the willow branche, practiced? There was a place, down the hill from Jerusalem called Motsa. They would go down there and collect boughs of willow branches. They would then return to the Temple and position them on the sides of the altar with their tops bowed over the altar. They would then sound the Shofar and the horn. Each day they would circle the altar once and recite, “ana hashem hoshi’ah na…”. Rabbi Yehuda said, they would recite, “ani va’Ho hoshi’ah na…”. Read more here…
4. IN THE BEGlNNlNG GOD CREATED. Six things preceded the creation of the world… The Torah and the Throne of Glory… The creation of the Patriarchs was contemplated… Israel… The creation of the Temple… The name of Messiah… R. Ahavah b. R. Ze’ira said: T’shuva-Repentance too was created… as it is written: A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, before you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You turn man back to dust; and You say, Shuvu (turn back), O children of men! (Ps.90:1-3), and from that very moment [You declare]: Shuvu- Repent, children of men (ib. 3). Midrash Rabbah – Genesis I:4. Read more here…
Kriyat Hatorah for the first day of Rosh HaShanna in Eretz Yisrael, at least through the 5th century, was not from B’reisheet and the narratives of Avraham, Sarah, and Yitzhak. It was from the sacred calendar in Vayikra 23, the verses that describe the holiday of Rosh HaShanna. Thus the Midrashim for Rosh HaShanna, especially in the Pesikta, are not based on the narratives of B’reisheet. In Piska 23:1 we read: Read more here…
This coming Shabbat is the seventh Shabbat since Tisha B’av, the eighth is Rosh HaShannah. It is the seventh Haftara of the Shiva D’Nekhemta. Thus, the Jewish people have emerged from the searing desolation and blackness of Tisha B’av in order to stand on the threshold of the Hag Ha’Hakhtara-the Festival of the Coronation of the Kadosh Barukh Hu as sovereign. Hazal affect this transition from mourning to coronation, from anger to celebration, through the seven Haftarot of Comfort-the Shiva D’Nekhemta. Read more here…
Arise, shine, for your light has dawned; the Presence of the Lord has shone upon you! Isaiah 60:1
Last week was the fifth Haftara of the Shiva D’Nekhemta, or the first of the final three. Last week the aveyl-the Jewish national mourner, reacquired voice. The opening verse of this week’s Haftara is, “kumi ori ki va oreikh-arise my light for your light has come.” This is the Haftara chosen by Hazal to restore face, or better yet, light of face to the mourner. As Iyov notes, no one wants to look in the face of the mourner. Classically in rabbinic times the mourners face was covered. The Midrash writes:
The Holy One said to Israel: My children, since my light is your light and your light is My light, let us-you and I-go and give light to Tsion: [as it says] arise shine, for your light has dawned. Read more here… Read more Divrei Torah from Rabbi Poupko here…
Chicago Board of Rabbis
30 South Wells Street
Suite 5007
Chicago, IL 60606
Tel: 312-444-2896
Email: cbr@juf.org
The Chicago Board of Rabbis is a partner in serving our community, supported by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
