ON Scripture - The Torah (original) (raw)

As the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding marriage equality for same-sex couples, I returned, as I do each year, to the Torah portion Shemini, with its cryptic report of the tragic fate of two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu.

Why tell our stories and discuss immigration policy reform during Passover this year?

Might we read that notorious, boring, neurotically detailed and bloody cultic manual of Leviticus as an instruction manual on maintaining intimate human relationships?

The ancient sacrificial system had a purpose.

(March 5, 2013) Responsibility has no endpoint; there is no retirement from a life of mitzvot. The elderly, for the most part, continue to grow, as does their capacity to give; they have a long view of life’s experiences to share and time to offer.

(February 28, 2013) Three thousand people were killed the day the Golden Calf was made; three thousand were also killed the day Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai fought. It is, therefore, possible that when the Talmud said that that day "was as...

(February 26, 2013) I used to think that Aaron was a pretty smart person. After all, they don’t make you the High Priest of the whole Jewish people unless you are a pretty capable person. But now I believe that Aaron was an amateur—at least at the...

(February 19, 2013) Purim celebrates the upside-down, topsy-turvy nature of reality. People can be powerful one moment and powerless the next, the oppressed Jews can be stronger than their non-Jewish oppressors, and a woman (often portrayed as as...

(February 19, 2013) There is a person missing in this Torah reading. He is found in every portion of the Torah starting with Exodus, except for this one. Do you know who it is?

(February 12, 2013) God is not a physical being and doesn’t need a dwelling place. If God is truly all-powerful and omnipresent, why is there a command to build the mikdash to house God in the first place?