Weekly Torah portions / parashiot

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 9th July 1993. The ambiguities in the Pinchas narrative were all too evident to the ancient rabbis. If the act of Pinchas in killing Zimri, the prince of Israel, and Kozbi, the Moabite princess, was so worthy of praise, why did Moses not order the killing, or even carry it…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 22nd October 1954. And he died. (Gen. v, 5). The striking resemblances between the early narratives of the Book of Genesis and those in Babylonian and Assyrian sources makes it appear most probable that these primitive sources were utilised in the Biblical account, which, by purging them of their grosser…...

Originally published in the Jewish press, 13th April 1993. The verse in the sidrah, “Ye are children of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14: 1), implying that God can be described as a father, finds an echo in many a passage in the classical sources of Judaism. Not only in the Avinu Malkenu prayer, but…...

Few of the doctrines of Judaism have been so misunderstood as that of the Chosen People. Shaw, who compared the idea to the Herrenvolk notion of the Nazis; Wells, who considered it an impediment to world unity; the poet who wrote “How odd of God to choose the Jews”; Protestant theologians who continue to speak…...

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 3rd June 1955. His offering was one silver dish . . . (Num. vii, 13, 25, 31f.) When the lengthy, tedious account of the gifts that the princes brought at the dedication of the Sanctuary is read in the synagogue, even the most devout worshipper may be excused if he…...

Originally published in the Jewish Gazette, Friday 26th November 1971. It is easy to understand why the story of Jacob’s dream should have exercised such a permanent fascination over the hearts of men and why it still does. What could be more romantic than a ladder with his feet on the ground reaching up to heaven…...

And the Lord appeared unto him . . . as he sat in the tent door . . . (Gen. xviii, 1). Men have sought God in many different ways. Some have sought Him in the desert, the hermitage, the monastery, in religious exercises, in contemplation, in deep meditation on Divine themes. Others have found…...

And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings (Leviticus xxiii, 14). In Temple times it was forbidden to eat new corn until the “waving” of…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle on the 14th December, 1956 ” And the days of Israel drew near to die . . .” (Gen. xlvii, 29). ” Now the days of David drew near to die . . .” (I Kings ii, 1). This, the literal reading of-the two verses, is interpreted by the…...