Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 16, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
in this week’s parsha, ki tissa, we learn much about moshe and God’s complicated relationship, through the nature of their interactions. by now, they seem to have developed an interesting dynamic in which God has singled moshe out from the rest of the people, almost as a companion or confidante. it is moshe that is Continue Reading »
Posted on February 8, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
in this week’s parsha, aharon is instructed to kindle lamps inside the אהל מעוד, the tent of meeting, to burn from evening until morning. each night, he must light the lights and each morning, he must put out their flames as a law for all generations. aharon, as the lamplighter of the jewish people, Continue Reading »
Posted on February 2, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
while moshe is up on the mountain, God instructs him in great detail, down to every last loop and fold in the fabric, on how to build the משכן, the tabernacle, which is to be His dwelling place amongst the israelities. however, the building process, is not the typical “build a new home from scratch” Continue Reading »
Posted on January 27, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
this week’s parsha entitled mishpatim translates to law in english. and this parsha is aptly titled as the bulk of the parsha is a long, long list of rules that it is quite easy to get lost in. topics covered include but are not limited to goring oxes, tunneling thieves, uncovered pits, and virgin-seducers. but, Continue Reading »
Posted on January 19, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
i’ve been wondering for the past few parshot to whom moshe is able to turn when overwhelmed by the responsibility that has been thrust upon him. as the middle man, he receives all of God’s direct commands while bearing the weight of the people’s fear and doubt. God is able to rant to moshe about Continue Reading »
Posted on January 12, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
In this week’s parsha, God finally makes good on His promise to the Jewish people and gets the Israelites out of Egypt in style. This is no shabby saving; The hand of God Himself causes the sea to swell and the waters to part. While the Israelites breeze through on dry land with walls of Continue Reading »
Posted on January 6, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
this is the parsha where it all happens. the full wrath of God, manifested in swarming locusts and complete darkness, falls not only pharoah but on the egyptian people, while the israelites watch protected on the sidelines. when God sent thunder and hail and fire raining down on all of egypt, which struck every man Continue Reading »
Posted on December 30, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
in this week’s parsha, parshat וארא, i struggled with God’s hand in the hardening of pharoah’s heart and the destruction and violence that result. while pharoah certainly has within him the seed to be the oppressive, tyrannical ruler that dominates this parsha, pharoah’s refusal and stubbornness to release the jewish people, seems to stem from Continue Reading »
Posted on December 21, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
we get our first hint “that we’re not in kansas in anymore” (dorothy, wizard of oz), when on our first page of our brand new book shmot, we learn that there’s a new king in town, and this new king does not know nor seem to care at all for joseph. this first parsha שמות, Continue Reading »
Posted on December 19, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
oops! I forgot to post this last week! this week’s parsha, ויחי, “he lived,” opens and closes with death. yaakov, recently uprooted from his home and supplanted to egypt, makes his son yosef swear that he will bury him in the burial place of his fathers. even after yosef agrees without protest, yaakov insists yosef Continue Reading »
