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, […]
God’s Jealousy, Our Sins, and Holy Shabbat
Torah Study Date Saturday, March 2, 2024 Verses Covered Exodus 20:5-20:11 Next Session Saturday, March 9, 2024 Starting at Exodus 20:12 Last week we discussed the different way the ten sayings or utterances (often called the “ten commandments”) are numbered by Jews and Christians of different denominations. The main difference is that Jews consider the […]
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 […]
Death of the Firstborn
Torah Study Date Saturday, September 9, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 12:24-12:33 Next Session Saturday, September 23, 2023 Starting at Exodus 12:34 Last session we discussed YHVH saying, you shall observe this thing as a law/statute for you and your children forever. What, R. Ben asked, is the thing to be observed? We thought it […]
Holy Assembly and Destruction
Torah Study Date Saturday, September 2, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 12:16-23 Next Session Saturday, September 9, 2023 Starting at Exodus 12:24 Last week we discussed the holy assembly, the mikra kodesh, that YHVH tells us to have on the first and seventh day of the holiday of matza and pesach (halting, protecting). Rabbi Sara […]
The Meaning of Pesach
Torah Study Date Saturday, August 26, 2023 Verses Covered Exodus (Sh’mot) 12:10 – 12:15 Next Session Saturday, September 2, 2023 Starting at Exodus 12:16 Last session we discussed the detailed specificity of the instructions regarding the Pesach meal and wondered whether the meal might be an adaptation of some ritual meal that was common in […]