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Shabbat: Parsha Chukat-Balak

Submitted by msarko on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 03:18
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Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Judeo Talk. The Torah portion for this week is Parsha Chukat-Balak, Numbers 19:1-25:9.


A lot happens in this parsha, but I want to talk about two things specifically. First, the punishment of Moses that kept him from ever entering the Promised Land and second, the use of war in the Torah. Read more

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Shabbat: Parsha Korach

Submitted by msarko on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 16:10
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Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Judeo Talk. The Torah portion for this week is Parsha Korach, Numbers 16:1-18-32.

The story in the Five Books of Moses reminds us that the Israelites' journey through the desert was a time of great turmoil. In this parsha alone they face plague, natural disasters and political upheaval. To read these documents is to get a glimpse into the state of mind of a people lost in the desert, ignorant of the greater forces that drive them.

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Shabbat: Parsha Behaalotecha

Submitted by msarko on Fri, 06/12/2009 - 01:48
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Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Judeo Talk. The Torah portion for this week is Parsha Behaalotecha, Numbers 8:1-12:16.

Behaalotecha is one of the darkest parshiot in the entire Torah, full of wrath, suffering and mistrust. At the core of the parsha is a overarching commentary about family, and more specifically how we can all get on the nerves of those we love. Some of the scenes in this portion seem disproportionately harsh or graphic, but even the intense punishments visited on the Israelites have a narrative purpose. In the middle of the parsha, Moses numbers the men of Israel at over 600,000, meaning that an estimated two million people travel with the camp. If the punishments are to have a significant impact on an entire nation, they must be on such a grand scale. Read more

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Shabbat: Parsha Acharei-Kedoshim

Submitted by msarko on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 12:40
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Leviticus 18:22 Misunderstood

Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Judeo Talk. The Torah portion for this week is Parsha Acharei-Kedoshim, Leviticus 16:1-20:27.

This parsha is famous, or rather infamous, for containing the first proscription against homosexuality. Perhaps no passage in the entire Torah has been more politicized than the single line prohibiting men from laying with other men as they would lay with women. Read more

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