KOSHER BACON? Probably the most famous – or infamous – non-kosher item is the pig. In Yiddish, if you wanted to call something completely non-kosher you would say it is chazer-treif – “as non-kosher as a pig!” On the list of the kosher and non-kosher animals in this week’s parasha, the pig is mentioned as...
TEMPLE WASTE DISPOSAL A number of households in St John’s Wood have recently been given new food waste bins. We are now required to separate food waste, mixed recycling and regular household rubbish for the weekly collection. Disposal of waste was a matter of practical concern in the Temple and Tabernacle. Every evening, offerings were...
REMEMERING AMALEK President Zelensky has no need to be reminded this Shabbat of the cruelty of Amalek. The inhumane and indiscriminate attacks made by Russia on civilians, even a children’s hospital, graphically conjures up the attack by Amalek on the most vulnerable section of the Israelite camp. We recall that brutality in this week’s special...
TEMPLE VERSUS TABERNACLE Two houses for G-d: Temple and Tabernacle (Mishkan). This week’s parasha describes the completion of the Mishkan. This week’s haftarah describes the completion of King Solomon’s Temple, 480 years later. The Mishkan was essentially a simple structure. The Temple was much more lavish and ornate. Which one, would you think, was superior?...
LUXURIES AND NECESSITIES Why is there so much detail relating to the building of the Mishkan (mobile Temple)? This is the fourth week that we are reading about it! Ramban (d. 1270) explains that actually there were two commandments to build a Mishkan. The original commandment occurred before the Israelites made the golden calf. The...
