This parashah is one of my favorites, mainly because of Chapter 28, which is the Blessings and the Curses. Moses starts out by telling everyone that they must bring the first fruits of the land to the place where God
In this parashah there are many seemingly miscellaneous laws, dealing with everything from marrying a captured slave woman to how to divorce her, rights of the criminal, OSHA regulations (must have a parapet on the roof), mixing of different things
The laws covered in this portion of the Torah refer to the appointment of judges at all the gates of the cities, with admonitions against judging unfairly, for any reason. Warnings, again, against idolatry, rules for a king, should they
With this parashah we leave the First Discourse of Moses, the historical discourse, and come into the Second Discourse of this book, which is the Rehearsal of the Code. Essentially, Moses reviews (as is pretty much what D’varim is- a
Most of D’Varim (Deuteronomy) is a discourse from Moses reminding the children of Israel all that has happened to them over the past forty years, reminding them of God’s commandments and encouraging them to obey God after they have gone into
This parashah continues the First Discourse of Moshe, which is the chronology of the travels of the Israelites and starts to go into the Second Discourse, the foundations of the covenant. Moshe gives us in 6:4 – 9 the Shema
We are in the last of the 5 books of the Torah. This is where Moshe (Moses) reviews with the people the last 40 years of wandering, their laws and regulations, the history of their travels, warnings to stay true
God has Moses tell the tribes that any man who makes an oath to the Lord is bound, totally, to that oath. If a woman who is a minor or married makes an oath, she is bound by it so
The plague was just stopped by the zealousness of Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, when he killed a prince of Israel who was with a Midianite woman (also of high birth) and blatantly showing disdain and rebellion against Moses’s command
Here we have one of the more celebrated stories of the Bible. I expect most readers know the story: Balak, the king of the Moabites, calls upon Balaam, who is a well-known sorcerer and diviner, to curse the Israelites so
Where do I even start? The Red Heifer rules? The death of Miriam? The death of Aaron? The defeat of Sihon and Og? What about the incident at Meribah, which made God so angry with Moses and Aaron that He
This parashah starts with Korach, a Levite, coming together with Dathan and Abiram (both from the tribe of Reuben) against Moshe and Aaron, especially Moshe. They accuse Moshe of going too far and placing himself above them. Korach has organized
