This parashah contains a song of Moses, which follows the Torah’s traditional pattern of poetry by being written in equal couplets (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Dea...

In this parashah the last two precepts appear that, through Moses, God declares to the people of Israel. Both refer to the importance and centrality of the T...

This parashah begins by describing how the new generation, the one born in the desert, renewed the covenant with God that Abraham had made for himself and hi...

This parasha begins by presenting the prayer that the Hebrew farmer should say when offering to God the first fruits (bikurim) that were grown in his field (...

This parashah is characterized by being entirely composed of general laws and, in particular, family laws. They include legislation about the causes of and p...

This parashah begins with the command to establish a judicial and policing power in the society that the Israelites are going to build in their land. The bib...

The twentieth century can be described as the time when totalitarianism spread. Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin are just some names on the long list of demagog...

In this parashah there is a verse (10:12) that, like Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 from last week, expresses fundamental elements of Israel's faith. The verse says: “An...

This parashah presents two passages that define Israel's faith: the Ten Commandments and the first paragraph of Keriat Shema, the prayer that should be recit...

The Jewish tradition teaches that the liturgical reading of the fifth of the books of the Torah or Pentateuch, Devarim, should begin on the Shabbat before th...

These two parashot, which are usually read together, both list laws and regulations about the conquest of the land of Canaan and its division among the tribe...

At the end of the previous parashah, Balak, the text recounts how Moabite and Midianite priestesses sexually perverted many members of the people of Israel t...

Balak, king of Moab, upon learning of the military victories of the children of Israel over the Amorites, decided to hire Balaam to curse them since he could...

The first thirteen verses of chapter 20 of the book of Numbers, which are part of this parashah, describe a small story of that is very difficult to understa...

"The Bible is not man´s theology but God´s anthropology.” This famous phrase of Abraham Joshua Heschel that appears in his book Man Is Not Alone, summarizes ...

This parashah presents the story of the twelve spies whom the people of Israel sent from the desert into Canaan. They were to acquire information about the l...

From the account in the book of Exodus (2: 11-17) it is clear that Moses had been chosen by God for one of the most important missions in the history of huma...

In this parashah appears the formula by which the priests were to beseech God for a blessing on the people of Israel. The priestly blessing is a claim to God...

Tradition teaches us that on the Shabbat prior to the festival of Shavuot, we read the first parashah from the fourth book of the Pentateuch, Bemidbar, or th...

In this parashah the biblical text describes the blessings that will come to the righteous (those who live with goodness and rectitude) and the punishments t...