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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Bamidbar 5775
EFRAT, Israel—‘And God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they came out of the Land of Egypt’ (Num. 1:1)...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Naso 5775
EFRAT,Israel – Few passages in the Bible are as well known as the Priestly Benediction. In Israel, the kohanim (priests) rise to bless the congregation every morning, while in the Diaspora Ashkenazi...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Beha’alotcha 5775
EFRAT, Israel – “And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite (Midianite) woman he had taken to wife (and divorced) ….And they said, ‘Did the Lord speak only to Moses? Did He not...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Shelach 5775
EFRAT, Israel – ‘We should go up at once and possess it [the land] for we are well able to overcome it’ (Num. 13:30) The tragedy of the desert generation is the refusal of the Israelites to conquer the...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Balak 5775
By Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – Balaam is an impressive and poetic personage who demonstrates the universalistic ideal that the Almighty communicates with gentiles as well as with Israelites. But...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Pinchas 5775
By Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Matot-Masei 5775
What unites Jews throughout the world as one nation and one people? What is the most critical factor responsible for our amazing persistence as a unique historical entity, despite our having been...
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Sedra of the Week -Parshat Devarim 5775
Efrat, Israel – The Biblical reading of Devarim always falls out on the Sabbath preceding Tisha Be’av, the fast commemorating the destruction of our Holy Temples. This is not merely an “accident” of...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Bamidbar 5775
EFRAT, Israel—‘And God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they came out of the Land of Egypt’ (Num. 1:1)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sedra of the Week – Parshat Naso 5775
EFRAT,Israel – Few passages in the Bible are as well known as the Priestly Benediction. In Israel, the kohanim (priests) rise to bless the congregation every morning, while in the Diaspora Ashkenazi...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sedra of the Week – Parshat Beha’alotcha 5775
EFRAT, Israel – “And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite (Midianite) woman he had taken to wife (and divorced) ….And they said, ‘Did the Lord speak only to Moses? Did He not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sedra of the Week – Parshat Shelach 5775
EFRAT, Israel – ‘We should go up at once and possess it [the land] for we are well able to overcome it’ (Num. 13:30) The tragedy of the desert generation is the refusal of the Israelites to conquer the...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Korach 5775
Efrat, Israel - Moses said to Korah: “Hear me, sons of Levi: Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart [as Levites]… Must you also seek the priesthood?”(Num. 16:8-10) Last...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Hukat 5775
Efrat, Israel – This is the statute of the Torah which the Lord has commanded saying, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel and they shall take for you a red heifer…”’ (Num. 19:2). The mystical ritual of...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Balak 5775
By Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – Balaam is an impressive and poetic personage who demonstrates the universalistic ideal that the Almighty communicates with gentiles as well as with Israelites. But...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Vaetchanan
Efrat, Israel – The sages of the Talmud teach that the Holy One, Blessed be He, dons tefillin every day (as it were) (BT Brachot 6a); they suggest that in the boxes of God’s tefillin are verses...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Eikev 5775
Efrat, Israel – The Biblical source for thanking the Almighty for the our worldly gifts is to be found in this week’s portion, Ekev. And if preparation of our meals takes a great deal of time and...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Re’eh 5775
Efrat, Israel – Behold I give before you this day a blessing and a curse. The blessing, when you will hearken to the commandments of the Lord your God… and the curse, if you will not hearken to the...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Shoftim 5775
Efrat, Israel – “When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and live therein, and you say, ‘I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me,’ you shall...
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Sedra of the Week – Parshat Ki Tetze 5775
Efrat, Israel – “An illegitimate person [mamzer] shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even his tenth generation shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord” (Deut. 23:3) One of the...
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