Torah Study Date Saturday, July 27, 2024 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 25:27-25:40 Next Session Saturday, August 3, 2024 Starting at Exodus 26:1 Despite jet lag from her recent trip, Rabbi Sara guided our detailed discussion last week. We discussed the gold rings being for the gold-plated poles of acacia wood that are used to carry […]
Ark, Cover and Cherubim
Torah Study Date Saturday, July 20, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 25:9 – 25:26 Next Session Saturday, July 27, 2024 Starting at Exodus 25:27 Thank you to Rabbi Myra for leading and guiding our discussion. We discussed the acacia wood prescribed for the mishkan being a common wood in the area. We discussed it being […]
Glory, Fear and Awe
Torah Study Date Saturday, July 13, 2024 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 24:13-25:9 Next Session Saturday, July 20, 2023 Starting at Exodus 25:9 Last week, Rabbi Ben led us in discussing Moses going up the mountain with Joshua. We noted that Joshua was not mentioned in the previous account of Moses going up in which it […]
Seeing God?
Torah Study Date Saturday, July 6, 2024 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 24:9-24:12 Next Session Saturday, July 13, 2024 Starting at Exodus 24:13 Rabbi Ben led us again last week. We discussed Exodus 24:9-12 beginning with different views of what Torah means by saying that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders “saw the God […]
A Simple Altar and the First Laws
Torah Study Date Saturday, March 16, 2024 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 20:21-21:4 Next Session Saturday, March 23, 2024 Starting at Exodus 21:5 Last week–when noting YHVH telling the Israelites to make an altar out of earth and to sacrifice on it and that wherever YHVH’s name is commemorated, YHVH would come to them and bless […]
Mitzvot Regarding Human Beings
Torah Study Date Saturday, March 9, 2024 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 20:12-20:20 Next Session Saturday, March 16, 2024 Starting at Exodus 20:21 Last week we discussed the transition from mitzvot regarding God and mitzvot regarding human beings, the first one being to honor your father and your mother. We discussed the result of doing so, […]
The Long Way to Canaan
Torah Study Date Saturday, October 21, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 13:17-14:5 Next Session Saturday, October 28, 2023 Starting at Exodus 14:6 Last week, we discussed God leading the Israelites to Canaan the long way—not by way of the Philistines but by way of the wilderness of the Sea of Reeds because the former was […]
Institutionalizing Practices of Judaism
Torah Study Date Saturday, October 7, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 13:3-13:16 Next Session Saturday, October 21, 2023 Starting at Exodus 13:17 We opened our session with verse 13:3 and immediately noticed an odd shift to the future. Moses was explaining why we celebrate the feast of Passover, when in fact in our narrative the […]
Native and Sojourner
Torah Study Date Saturday, September 30, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 12:34-13:2 Next Session Saturday, October 7, 2023 Starting at Exodus 13:3 Last week we discussed circumcision at length in response to the text saying that a circumcised slave could eat from the pesach offering—but no settled or hired laborer–and that any other male who […]
The First Israelite Practice
Torah Study Date Saturday, September 23, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 12:34-12:44 Next Session Saturday, September 30, 2023 Starting at Exodus 12:45 Last week, Rabbi Sara reminded us that the Pesach sacrifice and meal is the first actual practice the Israelites are given and that they don’t even have Shabbat yet. God, she continued, is […]