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...
ARE YOU STIFF NECKED? Is being stubborn a good quality or a bad quality? In this week’s parasha, G-d says to Moses that he is going to punish the Jewish nation after they had sinned with the golden calf, VeHinei Am Keshei Oref Hu, “behold this is a stiff-necked people.” (Shemot 32:9) Yet, when Moses...
PURE LIGHTS This week’s parasha begins with the commandment to kindle the Menorah in the Temple and the Mishkan (mobile Temple): “Command the Israelites to bring you pure olive oil, pressed for illumination, to kindle the lamp every night.” (Shemot 27:20) We all kindle Shabbat lights and Chanukah lights. Some of us will use candles...
GOLDEN AGE, SILVER AGE, BRONZE AGE The building of the Sanctuary or Tabernacle forms the subject of our Torah reading for the next five weeks. The intricate details of the structure have given rise to many symbolic interpretations. The most basic and fundamental is expressed in the words themselves: “They shall make a Sanctuary for...
GOING THROUGH THE DOOR There is a curious law described at the beginning of our parasha. A Hebrew slave who had served his six-year term was entitled to go free. If he chose to stay, he was required to have his ear pierced. After the judges decided that this genuinely was the slave’s wish then...
JETHRO’S JOURNEY In this week’s parasha, Jethro travels from Midian to the Sinai desert. But if we look carefully, we will see that it’s not just a physical journey that Jethro undertakes. It seems that there is a spiritual journey happening as well. Let me explain. At the beginning of the parasha he is referred...
DID G-D GIVE PHARAOH CARDIAC DISEASE? Throughout the episode of the Ten Plagues, described in last week’s and this week’s sidra, we read of the ‘hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.’ For the first five plagues, it is Pharaoh who hardens his own heart. For the remainder, we read that it is G-d who hardens Pharaoh’s heart....
