by Sarah Gazitt | Sep 22, 2023 | Torah Reflections
HaAzinu Deuteronomy 32:1 – 52 Chutzpah. Whether Jewish or not, almost everyone knows this Hebrew/Yiddish word. The dictionary defines it as “unmitigated effrontery or impudence, gall, nerve, courage bordering on arrogance.” But there is a much deeper...
by Sarah Gazitt | Sep 8, 2023 | Torah Reflections
Nitzavim-Vayeilech Deuteronomy 29:1 – 31:30 One of the fascinating things about Semitic languages is the way words grow from a root (usually three letters) so that additional letters qualify, illustrate, and expand the meaning of the basic root. Take for example...
by Sarah Gazitt | Sep 1, 2023 | Torah Reflections
Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8 Sometimes it seems that the fast-approaching High Holy Days come way too early. The waning days of summer are still warm and inviting, kids are just starting back to school, gardens still need tending and harvesting—who has time...
by Sarah Gazitt | Aug 17, 2023 | Torah Reflections
Shof’tim Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9 Parashat Shof’tim is read around the beginning of the month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish year. Less than 29 days separate us from Rosh HaShanah, New Year’s Day, and Elul is a time of taking personal inventory in...
by Sarah Gazitt | Jul 21, 2023 | Torah Reflections
D’varim Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22 “Eleh ha-D’arim—These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel….” (Deut.1:1) With these words we begin the fifth and final book of the Torah, in which Moses both retells and explains the foundational myth of the Hebrew...
by Bet Alef Administrator | Jul 14, 2023 | Torah Reflections
Matot-Mas’ei Numbers 30:2 – 36:13 Parashat Masei is the closing section of the Book of Numbers, which many scholars believe was originally the last Book of Moses, i.e., the last book of the Torah. With the death of Moses, our history continued in the Book...
