Let Us Sacrifice To Our God
Every school child knows the story. God told Moses to go speak to Pharaoh. Moses came to the evil Pharaoh and spoke the iconic words, “Let my people go!” But with all due respect to wonderful kindergarten songs, a simple perusal of our parsha reveals that this is actually not what Moshe Rabbeinu said. Throughout […]
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Jerusalem of Fear and Joy
In our parsha Moshe speaks to Aharon twice about the special sacrifices of the day the Mishkan was to be dedicated. First, Moshe tells Aharon about what he needs to do. Then, one verse later we read: And Moshe said to Aharon, “Approach the altar and perform your sin offering and your burnt offering.” Why […]
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Jerusalem and the Sea
One of the highlights of our parsha is the splitting of the sea. Generally, we think of this miracle as an act of divine kindness or perhaps as a reward for the Jewish people’s great faith in following God into the wilderness. Interestingly, though, in the midrash we find the following opinion: Rebbi Yishmael […]
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Jerusalem of Prophecy
This week’s parsha provides an overview of the future history of the Jewish people. Moshe Rabbeinu teaches the Jewish people a prophetic song which outlines that they will enter the Land of Israel, be materially and spiritually successful, but then fall prey to sin and be exiled. Eventually, God will redeem the Jewish people due […]
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The Sensitivity of Jerusalem
Our parsha concludes with the story of Miriam speaking ill of Moshe and God punishing her with tzara’at. While this story does not seem to be of critical importance in relation to the other stories of the parsha, nonetheless, later in the Torah God commands the Jewish people to remember this incident. Some commentators even […]
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Elders of Jerusalem
Our parsha opens with Moshe calling people to come to the Mishkan’s inaugural ceremonies: “On the eighth day Moshe called Aharon and his sons, and the elders of the Jewish people.” It is understandable that Moshe called to Aharon and his sons as they were the ones to perform the service in the Mishkan. The […]
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The New Torah of Jerusalem
After Moshe appeases God from His anger over the sin of the golden calf, he sees that it is a time of divine favor. Moshe decides to leverage this moment to audaciously ask for God to “let me behold Your Presence.” God responds that “no human can see me and live” but does agree to […]
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Trusting G-D in Jerusalem
In this week’s parsha, Moshe heroically protects his Jewish brother by killing the cruel Egyptian overlord. To protect his standing in Egypt and his life, Moshe tries to hide his actions. However, already the next day, Moshe realizes that the story is out. The Torah describes Moshe’s emotional reaction: “Moshe was frightened and thought: Then […]
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A Divine and Human City
In the aftermath of the death of Nadav and Avihu, unclarity entered what was supposed to be an extremely well-planned and choreographed day. The Kohanim were now mourners and it was unclear what they were to do regarding the meat of the sacrifices. The Torah tells us that Moshe discovered that the sin-offering was burnt: […]
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The Capital of Human Torah
There are many ambiguities in the Torah’s description of the events leading up to the Giving of the Torah. One such mystery is the meaning of the following verse: “The sound of the shofar grew increasingly stronger; Moses would speak and God would answer him with a voice.” What would Moshe say? In what way […]
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