Parshah • May 2023
Behar/Bechukotai – Mt. Sinai Was No Everest
Mt. Sinai was not the tallest mountain in the Middle East – it was modest, almost a mere hill-top. This teaches us the virtue of humility and ego-abnegation. If we…
Mt. Sinai was not the tallest mountain in the Middle East – it was modest, almost a mere hill-top. This teaches us the virtue of humility and ego-abnegation. If we…
A seed needs soil for it to grow. It also needs the gardener to till the soil. The human seed needs the mother’s womb for nurture. The future child’s growth…
It’s just a form of bread, isn’t it? Perhaps a little more basic, and rustic, but bread nevertheless? Yet Matza has a spiritual connotation far beyond the symbol of Passover…
When making the offerings in the temple, the fats had to be burnt first. Interestingly, when we fast, we use up our storage fats – focusing that day on the…
Why expect material rewards for spiritual activity as our Parsha seems to suggest? That appears inconsistent but only so if one dichotomises life into religious and secular. We don’t. It…
This week’s Parsha tells us that we need to give the ground a Sabbatical once every seven years, and then it goes on to say that we can work the…
The Shalosh regalim, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot are referred to as the ‘foot’ festivals, because we made the pilgrimage on foot. We shed the comforts of home but returned with…
Moses instructs the Jewish nation to be ‘holy’. But how can we accomplish this in this lowly material realm where the innate spirituality seems missing? Through Mitzvot we elevate it…
Moses warns his brother about entering the Mishkan at will. Because the Anan, the surrounding ‘cloud’ created a ‘fifth dimension’ – Sovev, to occupy the Mishkan preventing entry, except when…
On the 7th day of Pesach we read about the splitting of the sea. That event is considered a miracle. But was that a real miracle or is the seemingly…
The exodus from Egypt was a blueprint for our future exodus from the current enslavement – albeit that ours is a psychological enslavement that creates confusion in the world. The…
When Moshe Rabbeinu first approached his enslaved brothers and sisters, they ignored him. Rashi notes their breathing was stressfully shallow and short. A person of faith sidesteps anxiety and stress…
This week’s parsha, Tazria begins with a discussion of conception and birth. Just as a baby in its mother’s womb, is bent over, unseeing, and fully dependent, so are the…
Design underlies all of creation, presupposing both intent and a Grand Designer. The surface of the world is represented by the number seven – natural law. The number eight represents…