Articles in Parsha Insights
Behar: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Three-Fifty-Four
Why are we obligated to let our fields lie fallow once every seven years? Rabbi Yonasan Eibshitz offered the following explanation. There are fifty-two Shabbats in a year, amounting to 312 Shabbats over the course of six years. Seven annual Biblical holidays, the first and last of Pesach, the …
Emor: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Inherent Sanctity
The Kohen (priest) must be holy for G-d is holy. It is not easy to be holy; holiness requires discipline, devotion, commitment and constant vigilance, which is why there are so few holy people. Yet the entire tribe of Levi was holy. The Levite’s holiness was not the …
Kedoshim: Food For thought For Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Shared Ownership
Addressing the entire Jewish nation, the Torah states, “When you reap the harvest from your fields (plural) do not fully reap the corner of your field (singular). . . leave it to the poor.” The first stitch of the verse is written in the plural whereas the second …
Acharei: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Repentance
The Holy of Holies was closed to human traffic throughout the year, even on Shabbat and holidays, Yom Kippur was the only exception. Yom Kippur is unique because it is a day of repentance. Our sages taught that the penitent’s deep remorse and yearning for G-d catapult him to …
Mitzorah: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Sequence of Portions
The Torah portion we read last week dealt with the affliction of Tzaraas, its symptoms and treatment. The Torah portion we read this week deals with the process that renders a past Metzorah ritually pure. Allegorically these two portions can be viewed as metaphors for the Jewish …
Tazria: Food for Thought at your Dinner Table
Sunday: What we Eat
Nutritionists believe that the quality of our food is critical to our state of health. We are directly affected by the food we eat; heavy foods cause sluggishness and light foods boost our energy. The Torah maintains that food also affects our spiritual character. Kosher food hones …
Shemini: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: A Transcending Number
Why was the first day of service in the Tabernacle referred to as the eighth? It was preceded by seven days of training, but it was still just the first day of actual service. The number eight represents transcendence. Seven is the number of days in the …
Tzav: Food for Thought For Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Virtual sacrifice
“This is the Torah of the burned offering; this is the burned offering upon the flames upon the altar, all night till the morning.”
The fact that this verse begins with “This is the Torah of the burned offering,” teaches that our Torah studies about a burned offering are …
