LECH LECHA Genesis 12:1-17:27 Many of the Torah’s most important teachings for all humanity come to us not in the form of laws and directives but embedded in story form, as in the cycle of stories of the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which begins with our present portion of Lech Lecha....

Torah speaks in the language of humans A fundamental principle of rabbinic Torah interpretation is that “the Torah speaks in the language of humans” (Baal HaTurim on Numbers 15:31 etc.). Surely this could not mean that the Divine Writ would use language in the sloppy, imprecise, sensationalist or...

Going round in circles My head is still spinning from the festival of Succot, which we celebrated all last week. On each morning of the first days of the festival we made a one-circuit procession around the synagogue Torah reading desk carrying our palm branches, citrons, myrtle and willow branches (“the...