Torah Talk

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 29th, 2022 Num. 1:18 On the first day of the second month they convoked the whole community, who were registered [וַיִּתְיַֽלְד֥וּ] by the clans of their ancestral houses—the names of those aged twenty years and over being listed head by head. Hapax legomenon? – you decide.  But what does […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 22nd, 2022 Lev. 26:23    And if these things fail to discipline you for Me, and you remain hostile to Me [וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֥ם עִמִּ֖י קֶֽרִי],  24 I too will remain hostile to you [וְהָלַכְתִּ֧י אַף־אֲנִ֛י עִמָּכֶ֖ם בְּקֶ֑רִי]: I in turn will smite you sevenfold for your sins. […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 15th, 2022 Lev. 25:31   But houses in villages that have no encircling walls [וּבָתֵּ֣י הַחֲצֵרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֵין־לָהֶ֤ם חֹמָה֙ סָבִ֔יב] shall be classed as open country. חצרים are villages that have no encircling walls – but a חצר (as in Leviticus 6) is an enclosure!  How can this […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 8th, 2022 Lev. 24:10   There came out among the Israelites [בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל] one whose mother was Israelite [יִשְׂרְאֵלִ֔ית] and whose father was Egyptian. How do you say “Israelite” in Biblical Hebrew?  Amazingly, the nowadays common adjective יִשְׂרְאֵלִי appears nowhere else in the Bible but in this chapter!  But … why? This week’s […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 1st, 2022 Lev. 20:9    If anyone insults his father or his mother, he shall be put to death; he has insulted his father and his mother—his bloodguilt is upon him [דָּמָ֥יו בּֽוֹ]. Why does Leviticus 20 seem to repeat Leviticus 18, and how can we explain the […]