Parasha

Parashat Ki Tetze: Set adrift on the island of Elul

Parashat Ki Tetze abruptly shifts from collective responsibilities to personal ones. It is the densest legal section of the Torah, containing more commandments than any other parasha.

‘NO MAN is an island, entire of itself...’
UNDER THE HUPPA.

Parashat Ki Tetze: Creating a deep bond and the secret of marriage

‘MAN IS like the tree of the field.’

What is the connection between Zionism and planting trees in Israel?

SORCERERS, MAGICIANS, diviners: The Torah rejects them all.

Parashat Shoftim: Wholehearted – and well


Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim: ‘Holiness,’ ‘abstinence,’ and what lies between

Don’t aim for lofty, angelic separation “like Mine” but live a human holiness – the kind of life for which I created the world.

 FIND HOLINESS at your Shabbat table

A message from the weekly Torah portion: How can one truly draw close to G-d?


Parashat Tazria-Metzora: Skin afflictions as a warning sign

Just as a bad word can destroy, a good word can build – and that, after all, is the purpose of creation: “The world will be built with kindness.”

 An illustrative image of a megaphone.

Parashat Shemini: Food of truth

Our portion lists four animals that lack one of the two signs of purity. The midrash associates these four animals with the four exiles the Jewish people have experienced over the generations.

 Cattle cool off near Hispin.

Parashat Vayikra: Sacrifices, essence, and meaning

Someone who sins is meant to bring something of himself – his heart and emotions – and to experience a sense of closeness to God and love for Him through the offering.

Over-indulging in worldly desires can take one down a negative road.

The king of Spain was outraged: “Cut out his tongue”


Parashat Pekudei: Don’t walk away

We know who we are. They cannot fathom it. Our tireless efforts to explain may fall on deaf ears – but we hear, and we know.

 MOSES PROVIDED a meticulous accounting of every donation collected for the Mishkan.

Parashat Pekudei: The beauty of transparency

Nothing in the Torah is superfluous. From every word – and even from each letter – our sages derived halachic rulings or ethical teachings.

A LEADER should choose the alternative path.

'Cardozo on the Parashah': The magic of the Torah’s most ambiguous book - review

Snippets from Rabbi Nathan Cardozo’s commentary on the ‘Book of Leviticus’

After a year of trial-and-error, the Hebrews built a Tabernacle – so that God could dwell within them

Parashat Vayakhel: Giving from the heart

look at the beauty of the Temple, built in harmony and generosity, and let this be the foundation of your own home – built on love and overflowing kindness.

 THE MESSAGE: Give what you can, but from the heart.