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Weekly Torah Commentary on 03 4th, 2010 |
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Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11-34:35
Our portion tells the story of the sin of the golden calf, which took place only forty days after all Israel stood at Mt Sinai in awe and trembling to hear God’s solemn injunction:
“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any kind of likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them…” (Exodus...
Posted by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum in
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Weekly Torah Commentary on 02 25th, 2010 |
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Tetzaveh, Exodus 27:20-30:10
Our portion is mostly devoted to the call of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, the garments they were to wear when serving in the Sanctuary, and the instructions for their inauguration into this unique service.
Just as God chose Moses to receive and teach the Torah, so He chose Aaron – Moses’ brother, his senior, and a prophet in his own right – to serve in His chosen sanctuary, and to be the progenitor of all later Israelite priests.
Contrary to contemporary...
Posted by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum on 03 4th, 2010
Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11-34:35
Our portion tells the story of the sin of the golden calf, which took place only forty days after all Israel stood at Mt Sinai in awe and trembling to hear God’s solemn injunction:
“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any kind of likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath...
Posted by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum on 02 18th, 2010
Terumah, Exodus 25:1-27:19
“For My house will be called the House of Prayer for all the Nations” (Isaiah 56:7)
The central theme of all the remaining five portions of the book of Exodus is the design, construction and inauguration of the Wilderness Sanctuary. The first six portions of the book of Leviticus then set forth the various priestly sacrificial and other rituals that were to be...
Posted by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum on 02 10th, 2010
Mishpatim, Exodus 21:1-24:18
The narrative of the event known as the Giving of the Torah – when all the people of Israel stood at Mount Sinai, heard the voice of HaShem and undertook to observe all His commandments – is spread over two Torah portions: the previous portion of Yitro and our present portion of Mishpatim.
In Yitro , Exodus chapter 19 told of the assembly of the Children of Israel...
Posted by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum on 02 3rd, 2010
Yitro, Exodus 18:1-20:23
It is testimony to the universality of the Torah that the very portion which describes the election of Israel as God’s “kingdom of priests” through the Covenant at Sinai is named after the world’s greatest high-priest of idolatry, Yitro – Jethro – who on hearing of God’s miracles for Israel and the justice He brought upon Egypt, became a convert...