The Jewish Studies Blog

Parashat Beshalach: God Never Says Oops!

Parashat Beshalach: God Never Says Oops!

God Never Says Oops! Since I have never before written comments on Exodus Torah Portions on these pages, I am now overwhelmed with all the Hebrew insights that I can share with you, my dear readers. I have to choose some, hoping that in the years to come I will be able to share more. […]

Parashat Bo: And The Plague Shall Not Be Upon You

Parashat Bo: And The Plague Shall Not Be Upon You

Come Here! I have written several times here that any unusual textual detail in Scripture is an invitation to delve more deeply. What is unusual about the beginning of this portion – something that we don’t see in translations, but see very clearly in Hebrew? Those of my readers who know some Hebrew might be […]

Second Revelation: Va’era Again 

Second Revelation: Va’era Again 

Ever since the last post I’ve been contemplating this amazing “second revelation” that we see in the very beginning of Torah Portion Va’era, in Exodus 6. There are some crucially important details in this revelation, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I couldn’t and shouldn’t just skip them. So, […]

  Va’era: Morning Is Coming, But It’s Still Night

  Va’era: Morning Is Coming, But It’s Still Night

More than just a Name I suppose, most of my readers have watched “The Lord of the Rings”; maybe some even love the book, as I do. Today, however, I actually want to refer to the movie. You might remember how we all were waiting for the second part after seeing the first one? Then […]

Torah Portion Shemot: Types And Symbols

Torah Portion Shemot: Types And Symbols

In our Torah reading, we just finished the book of Genesis and are now entering the book of Exodus – entering, at the same time, a new year in our lives. I usually start a new series after the New Year – it always seemed a proper beginning for this time of new beginnings. However, […]

Entering 2021 From Jerusalem

Entering 2021 From Jerusalem

My dear readers, I’ve been writing this blog for almost five years now, so this is the fifth time I am entering a new year together with you.  It’s interesting that even though in the previous years, I have written the “New Year” posts: ENTERING 2017 FROM JERUSALEM, ENTERING 2018 FROM JERUSALEM, ENTERING 2019 FROM […]

Christmas Reflections On Genesis

Christmas Reflections On Genesis

Those following this blog for a while would already know that I love finding connections between the events of our lives and the Torah Portions read at these times. In particular, I love analyzing the Torah portions read during the Christmas and New Year.  I know some of my readers would not approve of this. […]

The Opening Of The Eyes

The Opening Of The Eyes

Our new Torah Portion – Vayeshev – opens Joseph’s saga, the last part of the book of Genesis. It starts with the word Vayeshev (hence the name of the Portion), usually translated as “settled”, or “dwelt”:  “Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.  In Hebrew, the contrast […]

Struggle, Transformation And Light

Struggle, Transformation And Light

Penuel Today, we are going to discuss the most important encounter of Jacob’s life – the one that defined his name and destiny, and the name and destiny of the whole people: Penuel.  This encounter happened right before his meeting with Esau, and undoubtedly changed this meeting from how it could have been to the […]

Things Of Heaven And Of Earth

Things Of Heaven And Of Earth

Torah portion Vayetze covers twenty years of Jacob’s life – and as you undoubtedly know, so many things happened to him during these years that as always, I have to restrain myself and choose carefully the few topics I am going to comment on today. As always, I will try to focus on the parallels […]

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