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Price on Your Head
In our weekly reading, Behukotai, Vaikra ch. 27, Leviticus, we encounter arakhin - valuations related to vows made before Hashem. Torah is a very ancient document, which sometimes means it will be challenging for us to relate to the situations it describes. It speaks to a very different word. Nevertheless,...
Holiness and Wholeness
This etiquette of shelomim offering may sound strange to us today if we do not fully grasp the symbolism and the implications of the scenario Torah presents us. Shelomim is a special offering of well-being, shalom, and wholeness. It means everything is well between you and Hashem. A worshipper is...
Free as a Bird
Have you ever heard the saying "free as a bird?" Birds are considered free creatures because they have an amazing ability to fly. They can get away from danger very quickly. We observe them sitting on the branches of trees, singing and chirping. The impression we humans get...
Teaching in Your Heart
In Exodus 35 and 36, we read the stories about craftsmen Betzalel ben Uri and Ben Hur and how Hashem endowed them with his spirit, Ruach Elohim, the “breath of God,” as Torah says in Exodus 35:31. Torah says that God filled the craftsmen who created all the items...
Remove the Ashes
Our weekly reading begins with explanations about the burnt offerings. Offerings can teach us a lot. Vayikra, Leviticus 6:2 tells us that Aaron was to leave the Olah on the altar all night long, and the fire is to be maintained by the priests all night long. I believe...
Managing Setbacks
Everything was going well for Joseph until he deemed some amazing dreams that he unwisely shared with his brothers. He almost ended up dead because of that. Due to circumstances that were not entirely of Joseph’s own doing, the young man was sold into slavery and ended up in...
Build A Mikdash
In Exodus 25, verse 8, Hashem says, veasu li Mikdash veshakhanti betokham – “and they shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in the midst of them.” It struck me that after giving instructions, God charged Israel to build him a Mikdash. He expects them to be able to...
Wilderness Temptations
This is part 2 of a longer conversation. (Part 1 here). What was Jesus meditating on when he was in the wilderness for 40 days? It is speculation, but I like to think he was dwelling on the verses from Deuteronomy as he was contemplating Israel's tests, as...