This week’s parasha – Ki Tetze – has the unique distinction of containing more commandments than any other parasha in the torah. The groups of laws found here include family laws, laws concerning executed criminals, domestic laws, laws about marital and sexual misconduct, forbidden relationships, as well as a lot of other social, cultic, poverty, […]
Shoftim
Shoftim continues with Moses’ teaching about rules of governance once the children of Israel enter into the promised land. The insistence that any society created be based on justice and shun corruption by leaders and the avoidance of contamination by Canaanite culture is a central theme of Deuteronomy. F>or jurists to be fair and true […]
Reeh Limerick
Reeh has many themes including prohibitions against pagan worship; deliniating the holiday cycle and the importance of taking care of the stranger and those less fortunate in our midst. It also continues the Deuteronomic theme of blessings and curses. God gives a commandment this day A Blessing for those who obey But if you choose […]
Eikev Limerick
This week’s parasha continues with Moses’ admonition to the Israelites not to forget the lessons learned during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. In particular, it addresses the concept of hubris: understanding that any successes and/or failures in the land are directly the results of God’s reward or punishment. When you’ve tasted the […]
Vaetchanan
This week’s parasha is the Motherlode. It contains, arguably, the most important Jewish texts in the Torah -the Shema and Aseret Ha-Dibrot– the Ten Commandments. Moses continues with his review of the journeys of the Israelites – reminding us that even though he will not enter into the of Canaan himself, we still need to […]
Devarim Limerick
Devarim- the final frontier. The Moses who first told God: “I am not a man of words,” concludes his life-mission with four dramatic and passionate sermons- his last words to the people before he leaves them to enter the Promised Land without him Moses knew his life soon would be ended His record he thus […]
Mas’ey Limerick
This weeks Parasha, Mas’ey, begins with a travelogue, of sorts. Moses lists all of the places where the Israelites have encamped up to this point. It then switches gears and Moses relays God’s command to destroy all of the remnants of the Caananites in the land of Israel – both people and religious shrines. It […]
Mattot Limerick
This week’s parsha, Mattot, has some difficult passages. It contains the laws of vows and the consequences for failing to carry them out. It also speaks about how women are not responsible for fulfilling vows if their husbands or fathers do not want them to. We then plunge head first into battle with the Midianites- […]
Pinchas Limerick
This week’s parasha is named after Pinchas who, at then end of last week’s parasha, saves the Israelites from ruin in a graphic and violent action. The Midianites tried to Seduce the Israelites by sending their women to commit lewd and lascivious acts with the Israelite men. By all accounts, they were successful. Cozbi, the […]
Balak Limerick
This week’s parasha tells the story of Balak, the Moabite king who hired the pagan prophet, Bilam to curse the Israelites. Bilam, as the story goes, could only say the words that God put in his mouth. As a result, instead of cursing, he gave us the beautiful blessing: Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisrael! […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- Next Page »