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B’haalot’kha: Spiritual Authority in Judaism

Is anything touchier in Judaism than the issue of authority?  This week's Torah reading addresses the question of authority head on—and through the person of Moses himself. The answers are unlikely to please either Orthodoxy or Reform Judaism.Emor: Judaism, the Temple, and the Royal Wedding

Many Jews today suffer from BCD: Biblical Cognitive Dissonance. The Bible, they feel, should be mostly about morality, accompanied by some nice stories to keep the kids interested and, if one is religiously observant, by a smattering of arbitrary, cut-and-dried laws for regulating one's daily life.Tazria: Purity is Only Skin-Deep

At last, leprosy! Just when we've had our fill of tabernacle ornaments and animal sacrifices, the Torah shows us how arcane it's willing to get.Tzav: Priests, Food, and God

This week's reading, like last week's, delves into the details of the ritual sacrifices performed by the priests in the Tabernacle. These sacrifices can generally be divided into three types: olah, in which the sacrificed animal is burned entirely on the altar, reflecting a solemn commitment and deference to the divine; shlamim, which is mainly brought during personal celebrations and holidays, partly burned, and partly eaten by both the priests and the owner to express the joy of the occasion; and hatat, brought as an atonement for sin and partly burned and partly eaten by the priests but not by...Yitro: The Commandments and the Man

There's something confounding about the way the Torah presents the delivery of the Ten Commandments in this week's reading. The revelation at Sinai, the centerpiece of God's message and perhaps the most influential single text ever given to mankind, appears against the backdrop of two poignantly human stories that consistently undercut the mythic stature of Moses. Bo: The Point of the Exodus

Nothing God does in the Bible is as self-consciously over-the-top as the Exodus. This week's reading shares the most intense moment thus far in the lives of the already harried Israelite slaves.Sh’mot: Six Women and Moses

In a series of crucial moments in the Torah, the deepest instincts of salvation come to the fore and powerful, unthinking truths prove to be the path not only to righteousness but to redemption. These are moments that often appear to contradict ideas of universal right and wrong; in them, the affirmation of self obliterates fairness and equanimity, love trumps law, and saving your child or your future is the only right worth knowing. They involve the intervention of women.Vayigash: Three Heroes, Three Paths

This week, the life stories of three great biblical figures—Judah, Joseph, and Jacob—all come to a head, as each of these individuals learns to rely on his strengths to help him overcome his weaknesses.Big Ten

 David Hazony succeeds remarkably in articulating a Jewish ethical understandingVayeishev: Judah, Not Reuben

When two figures in the Bible face a similar situation but respond to it differently, pay close attention: there's a lesson in the difference. A few weeks ago, I pointed this out in connection with Abraham and Lot. Another example occurs in the book of I Samuel, where King Saul and King David provide contrasting object lessons in the admitting of fault—in David's case, fault for having a man killed in order to take his wife. Still another occurs in this week's reading, where Reuben and Judah, sons of Jacob, present similarly parallel but morally divergent instances.