Post The Tabernacle: Giving From the Heart The Torah describes how the Children of Israel brought so many voluntary offerings for the construction of the Tabernacle that Moses called a stop to donations. The people gave so… Read More
Post The Yom Kippur Temple Service The Torah portion of Acharei Mot (Leviticus 16–18) describes the Temple service on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Bible mandates 15 specific sacrifices and many other rituals for… Read More
Post The Fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz There are many days that are auspicious, commemorated for a powerful event that happened on that date, earning them personal or even national significance. Birthdays and national holidays are like… Read More
Post Tu B’Shvat: The Basics Despite not being specifically mentioned in the Bible, Tu B’Shvat has Biblical implications and, as the holiday that connects Jews to the land, has become massively popular in modern Israel…. Read More
Post Tzaraat: Leprosy or the Messiah’s Affliction? The Torah portion of Tazria (Leviticus 12–13) deals with tzaraat, a disease usually mistranslated as leprosy. Tzaraat is a malady that afflicts the body, clothing, and the walls of houses…. Read More
Post Tzav – The Lesson of the Sin Offering When we sacrifice we do not give anything up. On the contrary. We only gain. We draw closer and more intimate with God…. Read More
Post Understanding the Healing Process for a “Leper” The healing process for tzaraat (a spiritual malady frequently mistranslated as leprosy) requires a series of sacrifices in the Temple. Two live birds are brought to the priest. Springwater is… Read More
Post Everyone Makes Mistakes The Book of Leviticus is dedicated primarily to instructing us in the various sacrifices that are brought in the Tabernacle and, later on, in the Temple, as well as other… Read More
Post Vessels in the Service of God Chapter 8 in Leviticus discusses the anointing of Aaron and his sons as priests in the Tabernacle and the anointing of the Tabernacle itself. The process is very detailed. The… Read More
Post What Is the Most Important Verse in the Torah? My children are growing up. Long gone are the hectic mornings of breakfast cereal and desperately packing school lunches. My older son, now grown and living on his own, has… Read More