Posts Tagged ‘weekly torah portion’

weekly torah portion

October 30, 2015
By bethmordecai
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LIVE TODAY! Online Parashah Class

LIVE Today at 12 pm -- This Week's Online Parashah Class! THIS WEEK... Parashat Vayera 2015/5776: Where Is Home? Beginning with Abraham, the Israelites are in constant search for home. Their existence is predicated upon the constant search for home and the reality of living in the diaspora or exile. Is it possible for the Israelites to truly ever reach home? Is it possible for us to ever find our true home? Or is life a constant search for it, with lots of stops along the way. We'll look at this question through Abraham's search for home and in particular his sojourn in the land of the Philistines for "many days" (Genesis 21:34). Join us for this fascinating class on finding home. Classes from other years: 2012/5773[...]

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weekly torah portion

October 2, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat V’zot Hab’rakhah 2015/5776 — The Power of Blessing: Can Blessings Tell Us the Future?

Parashat V'zot Hab'rakhah 2015/5776: The Power of Blessing -- Can Blessings Tell Us the Future? In the first chapter of the Torah's last portion (Deuteronomy 33), Moses grants blessings to the 12 tribes of Israel much in the same way that Jacob offers his final words to his 12 sons at the end of Genesis (Genesis 49). The parallels are striking including specific phrases and metaphors to describe the sons/tribes. What's also striking is that Moses is said to offer the tribes a "blessing" (Deuteronomy 33:1) whereas Jacob is said to offer his sons insight into what will happen in "the latter days" i.e. the future (Genesis 49:1). Since Moses seems to be doing the same thing as Jacob with using the[...]

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weekly torah portion

August 13, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Vaethanan (2015/5775) Triennial II — All of Us Who Live

Parashat Vaethanan: All of Us Who Live This week's Torah portion is full of goodies -- the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6-18) and the Sh'ma (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). By way of introduction, Moses reminds the Israelites that God made a covenant "with us" (עמנו) at Horeb/Sinai (Deuteronomy 5:2). Seems simple enough. But then he follows up by saying that "God did not make a covenant with our fathers" (לא את אבותינו כרת ה' ברית) rather did so "with us" (אתנו) "here today," (פה היום) "all of us who live" (כלנו חיים) (Deuteronomy 5:3). Why the extra language? Don't we know that God made a covenant with the people from verse 2? Isn't verse 3 redundant? Perhaps, but perhaps the extra language gives us[...]

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weekly torah portion

May 8, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Emor 2015/5775 (Triennial II) — Shabbat Appears Everywhere

Parashat Emor 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- Shabbat Appears Everywhere Shabbat (the day of rest) is mentioned countless times in the Torah, including in this week's Torah portion of Emor (Leviticus 23:3). Why does this command appear so many different times? Isn't once enough? Today we will explore a number of places in which the Torah commands the Israelites to observe Shabbat. We will try to glean meaning from each instance using the interpretive principle of "smikhut parshiyot" (סמיכות פרשיות), which teaches us that the meaning of a text can be gleaned by understanding the context in which it is written. Please join us for this interesting class on the meanings of Shabbat!

Category : Online Learning Online Parashah Class Shabbat
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weekly torah portion

March 20, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Vayikra (ויקרא) — All for One and One for All

Parashat Vayikra 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- All for One and One for All The first verse of this week's triennial Torah portion (Leviticus 3:1) speaks of the "zevah sh'lamim korbano," the offering of the sacrifice of well-being. This sacrifice is the third of six sacrifices described in the early chapters of Leviticus (burnt, grain, well-being, sin, guilt, and thanksgiving). The key Hebrew root embedded in the offering of the sacrifice of well-being is "sh-l-m" meaning peace or wholeness. The rabbis in the Sifra, a 3rd century CE midrash on Leviticus, teaches us that because it contains the root "sh-l-m," the well-being sacrifice contains within it all of the other sacrifices so that TOGETHER they bring peace/wholeness to the world AND that[...]

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weekly torah portion

February 27, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat T’rumah (תרומה) — The Gendered Language of Torah

Parashat T'rumah 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- The Gendered Language of Torah In the second third of this week's Torah portion (Exodus 26:1-30), the term "sister" (achot) is to refer to cloths of Tabernacle's coverings (Exodus 26:3). Interestingly, this same term is used in Ezekiel's vision of the cherubim to refer to their wings (Ezekiel 1:9) which brings to mind a passage in Exodus 25:20 (back in our Torah portion) which uses the term "brother" to refer to the faces of Cherubim. What can we learn from this gendered language? Is it nothing more than an idiosyncrasy of the Hebrew language? Or does it teach us something deeper about the Torah's (and rabbis') view of[...]

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weekly torah portion

February 20, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat T’tzaveh (תצוה) — Wearing Sacred Clothes

Parashat T'tzaveh 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- Wearing Sacred Clothes Judaism has many sacred clothes or garments including tallit (prayer), tefillin (boxes and straps for arm and head), and kippah (head covering). Likewise, in this week's second triennial reading of the Torah portion (Exodus 28:1-29:18), Aaron and his sons wear sacred clothes for their roles as priests. What is the purpose of these garments? What purpose do they serve when we wear them? And what's more, what happens when we take them off? Does its "power" wear off? How different are we supposed to feel when wearing these garments versus when we're not wearing them? Join us for this fascinating class on the power of[...]

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weekly torah portion

February 13, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat Mishpatim (משפטים) — The Difficulty In Telling the Truth

Parashat Mishpatim 2015/5775 (Triennial II) -- The Difficulty in Telling the Truth (Exodus 22:4-23:19) Telling the truth is not always easy, but it's an important part of our society. Deals would not be made and promises would not be kept if we are worried the other side is lying to us. In this week's Torah portion (Mishpatim) we have an allusion to the act of telling the truth "before God" (Exodus 22:7) which may be a forebear to the testimonial act of swearing by use of a Bible. Perhaps this is meant to teach us that fear or love of God will cause us to tell the truth. Yet, embedded in the[...]

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weekly torah portion

January 31, 2015
By bethmordecai
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Parashat B’shalah (בשלח) — Why Am I in the Middle?

Parashat B'shalah 2014/5774 (Triennial II): Why Am I in the Middle? At the end and the beginning of the triennial section of this week's Torah portion (Exodus 14:15 and Exodus 16:8), Moses finds himself standing between a complaining people and an impatient God. At first, Moses tries to intercede but later on he tries to get out of the way. Why the shift? What is different now about the relationships among God, Moses, and the Israelites that leads Moses to no longer want to be the middle man? And perhaps investigating this question will help us understand what to do when we are caught in the middle. Join us for this interesting conversation on being caught in the middle.  

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