This is Torah Talk for the week of January 30th, 2022 Exodus 25 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary [מִקְדָּ֑שׁ] that I may dwell [וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י] among them. 9 Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle [הַמִּשְׁכָּ֔ן] and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it. What is a mikdash … what […]

Torah Talk

Terumah 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of January 23rd, 2022 Ex. 21:1 These are the rules that you shall set before them: …  Ex. 23:19 … You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.   These are the beginning and ending words of the Covenant Code. [Or are they?  For more on this, listen […]

Mishpatim 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of January 16th, 2022 Ex. 20:21 [24]  Make for Me an altar of earth … 22 And if you make for Me an altar of stones …   Is this anticlimactic paragraph the end of the Ten Commandments?  Is it the beginning of the Covenant Code?  And why does it matter? This […]

Yitro 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of January 9th, 2022 Ex. 14:1  The Lord said to Moses …  3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, “They are astray in the land [נְבֻכִ֥ים הֵ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ]; the wilderness has closed in on them.” What does נבוכים really mean?  Why does Pharaoh not say this, as God expects?  And why […]

Beshalach 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of January 2nd, 2022 Exodus 12:42 That was for the Lord a night of vigil [שִׁמֻּרִ֥ים] to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is the Lord’s, one of vigil [שִׁמֻּרִ֛ים] for all the children of Israel throughout the ages. What is/are שִׁמֻּרִים and why is […]

Bo 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of December 26th, 2021 Exodus 6:4 I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners [‏אֶ֥רֶץ מְגֻרֵיהֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־גָּ֥רוּ בָֽהּ]. In Hebrew, you can “live” using lots of different verbs.  Translations often obscure the difference between settling […]

Va’era 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of December 19th, 2021 Exodus 3:13 Moses said to God, “When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 And God said to Moses, […]

Shemot 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of December 12th, 2021 Gen. 50:1 Joseph flung himself upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 It required forty days, for such is the full period […]

Vayehi 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of December 5th, 2021 Gen. 47:1  Then Joseph came … 2 And selecting a few of his brothers [וּמִקְצֵ֣ה אֶחָ֔יו לָקַ֖ח חֲמִשָּׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֑ים], he presented them to Pharaoh. “A few” is literally five (it’s an Egyptian thing).  But why does he select them from the end of his brothers?  (That’s what קצה literally means.) […]

Vayigash 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of November 28th, 2021 Gen. 43:29      Looking about, he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and asked, “Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he went on, “May God be gracious to you, my boy.” 30 With that, Joseph hurried out, […]

Miketz 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of November 21st, 2021 Gen. 37:2  This, then, is the line [אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ תֹּלְד֣וֹת] of Jacob. What does תֹּלְד֣וֹת mean, and why does Rashi’s grandson wait until this verse to explain his methods? This week’s handout: 09 Vayeshev 5782 Learn Biblical Hebrew! Donate via Paypal! Click here for more links or to contact me.

Vayeshev 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of November 14th, 2021 Gen. 35:18  But as Rachel breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her baby Ben-oni [בֶּן־אוֹנִ֑י]; but his father called him Benjamin [בִנְיָמִֽין]. What do these names mean, and what does Benjamin’s name imply? This week’s handout: 08 Vayishlach 5782 Learn Biblical Hebrew! Donate via Paypal! Click here for […]

Vayishlach 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of November 7th, 2021 Gen. 31:14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him, saying, “Have we still a share in the inheritance [הַע֥וֹד לָ֛נוּ חֵ֥לֶק וְנַחֲלָ֖ה] of our father’s house?” What are Rachel and Leah complaining about, and where else does that phrase direct our attention? This week’s handout: 07 Vayetze […]

Vayetze 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of October 31st, 2021 Gen. 26:1   There was a famine in the land—aside from the previous famine [מִלְּבַד֙ הָרָעָ֣ב הָרִאשׁ֔וֹן] that had occurred in the days of Abraham—and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Why must the story of Isaac tell us that this was […]

Toledot 5782

This is Torah Talk for the week of October 24th, 2021 Genesis 24 tells the story of Abraham’s servant going back to the old country to get a wife for his master’s son.  But in v. 65, the son gets a remarkable promotion.  Why? This week’s handout: 05 Hayyei Sarah 5782 Learn Biblical Hebrew! Donate via Paypal! […]

Hayyei Sarah 5782

a learner's guide by Michael Carasik (incorporating the "Torah Talk" podcast)

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