Torah Study Blog

We don’t often talk about the fact that Moses, the prince of Egypt, the man that led the Israelites out of bondage, killed someone. In this week’s Torah portion we are told:

When Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. He turn this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in...Read more...

Before we can jump into Rabbi Jaech’s Torah Study session for today, let’s review what we know about Joseph. The story of Joseph can be found in the book of Genesis and, at thirteen chapters long, is the most coherent narrative in the Torah.

Joseph was the first-born to Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, and Jacob favored Joseph over his brothers. In addition to having the status of “pet” child, Joseph had an ability to...Read more...

In last week’s Torah portion, we learned that Jacob left his home. Although our scholar-in-residence, David Sperling, pointed out two different reasons why Jacob might have left (because he was in fear for his life, or because he wanted to find a wife) we will go with the more common version that Jacob was in fear for his life. Jacob had tricked his older brother, Esau, twice, and Esau vowed to kill Jacob.

Jacob traveled to the land...Read more...

Regular attendees of Torah Study have become accustomed to encountering troubling tales in the Bible. Frequently, the Bible stories we’ve been told have been subject to editing, so that we get a cleaned-up version of the longer story. The fact is that the Bible contains adult stories that are complicated, and sometimes disturbing.

This week’s Torah portion contains the third telling of a salacious tale in the book of Genesis....Read more...

This week’s Torah portion includes the tale of the destruction of the evil city of Sodom. We are never told exactly what the sins are, but the city of Sodom, and her sister city, Gomorrah, are referenced multiple times in our sacred texts as examples of wickedness and depravity.

In Genesis 18, God tells Abraham that, “The outrage of Sodom and Gomorra is so great and their sin so grave!” God has decided to send two angels to...Read more...

Most of us are familiar with the Ten Commandments. And many of us may be aware that Jewish tradition teaches that there are 613 commandments in the Torah that Jewish people are obligated to live by.

Using biblical literalist chronology, which uses genealogies and timespans of biblical events to calculate dates corresponding to the modern civil calendar, the Ten Commandments were given to Abraham sometime around the 18th century BCE....Read more...

High Holiday services were very different this year. In prior years, some of us would have attended services in person where we might shake hands with, or hug, our friends. We would sit together closely and sing meaningfully.

This year has required changes to the standard format of High Holiday services. Change is often hard for people, but human beings are inherently creative – when we are handed lemons, we make lemonade! Software...Read more...

Throughout history there have been times of despair, or sadness, or loss, or social upheaval. With a pandemic impacting the entire world and close to 200,000 people dead from it in the US, and social injustice being played out on camera, and riots in the streets, and fires on the West Coast, people may find themselves asking, as we head toward the High Holidays, “How can I find meaning in my prayers?” Or, “How can I find God in my...Read more...

It is a Jewish-cultural norm that that when you do something nice for someone, it’s called a “mitzvah.” But, technically, a “mitzvah” is a commandment; not just something you do because you are a nice person. According to the Talmud, there are 613 commandments in the Bible.

One of the commandments from this week’s Torah portion states, “If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground,...Read more...

The Twelve Tribes of Israel are said to be descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. Each of the Twelve Tribes were assigned land, with the exception of the tribe of Levi. Those descendants, known as Levites, became the priests of all the Israelites, and the other tribes were expected to support them. Although all priest were Levites, not all Levites were priests. The priests were a subset of the Levites who had sacred responsibilities that...Read more...

In biblical times, adultery was a capital crime. However, adultery in biblical times did not mean the same thing we think about today. In biblical times, women were the property of men. When a daughter was born, she was the property of her father (who would have been in his right to sell her into slavery - Exodus 21:7). When she married, she became the property of her husband.

Adultery in biblical times meant that an owned woman had...Read more...

During Shabbat services in traditional Jewish communities, it is the norm that a Kohen be called upon to recite the blessing for the first aliyah and then a Levi for the second aliyah. In traditional communities, this privilege recognizes the claim of the Kohens and Levites that they are descendants of the priestly class of ancient Israelites and, somehow, elevated over the general Israelite population. The Reform movement did away with...Read more...

The holiday of Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, and it is the time to reflect on your actions and to atone for your sins. Jewish leaders may encourage you to seek out those individuals you knowingly hurt and apologize to them before Yom Kippur. This tradition cannot be found in the Bible; it is a rabbinic innovation. The writers of the Bible were not concerned about individual sinning and they did not have the concept...Read more...

When there is a change in leadership, a common idiom used is that the new person has “inherited the mantle,” or “assumed the mantle,” or “picked up the mantle.” A “mantle” is an article of clothing, like a cloak. This idiom has its origins in the biblical book of Kings.

Last week Rabbi Roberts led us in an introduction to the prophet Elijah. This week Rabbi Jaech introduced us to the prophet Elisha. Elisha was a...Read more...

There have always been times of economic and social instability. In biblical times, the people might have looked to supernatural forces to find deliverance from their woes. Many of us living in the United States today have been fortunate to live during a time of wealth and safety, and we generally think that we have a greater understanding of science giving us greater sense of control over our circumstances. But the pandemic afflicting the...Read more...