Friends, Thanks to those who have asked – the podcast is on hiatus for the time being. You can still find the previous 2 years worth of podcasts here (click “older entries” if you need to, or simply search for them in the sidebar). Subscribe by email, if you haven’t already, to follow the writing […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of October 16th, 2022 Deut. 34:6  He buried him [וַיִּקְבֹּ֨ר אֹת֤וֹ] in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day. The “him” who was buried is Moses – but who buried him … and how?   This week’s […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of October 2nd, 2022 Deut. 32:2   May my discourse come down as the rain [כַּמָּטָר֙],                       My speech distill as the dew [כַּטַּ֖ל],                       Like showers [כִּשְׂעִירִ֣ם] on […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of September 25th, 2022 Deut. 31:1  Moses went and spoke these things to all Israel.   Did he really?  He was already speaking to them!  So where did he “go”?  The Dead Sea Scrolls may have the answer.   This week’s handout: 52 Vayelech 5782-83 Learn Biblical Hebrew! Donate via […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of September 18th, 2022 Deut. 30:3   The Lord your God will restore your fortunes [וְשָׁ֨ב אֶת־שְׁבוּתְךָ֖] and take you back in love [וְרִחֲמֶ֑ךָ].   What does this grammatically strange expression really mean?  “Take you back in love” may provide the answer!   This week’s handout: 51 Nitzavim 5782 My second “Bible […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of September 11th, 2022 Deut. 27:4   upon crossing the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I charge you this day, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster. 5 There, too, you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of September 4th, 2022 Deut. 22:23    In the case of a virgin who is engaged to a man—if a man comes upon her in town and lies with her, 24 you shall take the two of them out to the gate of that town and stone them to death: […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of August 28th, 2022 Deut. 19:8    And when [וְאִם] the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He promised to give your fathers 9 … then you shall add three more towns to those three.   Didn’t […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of August 21st, 2022 Deut. 12:4    Do not worship the Lord your God in like manner, 5 but look only to the site that the Lord your God will choose [הַמָּק֞וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַ֨ר] amidst all your tribes as His habitation, to establish His name there … But when did the […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of August 14th, 2022 Deut. 11:6 What He did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab son of Reuben, when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, their tents, and every living thing [וְאֵ֤ת כָּל־הַיְקוּם֙] in their train, from amidst all Israel. This word yekum is only […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of August 7th, 2022 Deut. 4:41   Then Moses set aside three cities across [בעבר] the Jordan 42 to which a manslayer could escape.   Modern and medievals agree: these words are an appendix – but why is it here?   This week’s handout: 45 Va-etchanan 5782 Learn Biblical Hebrew! Donate via Paypal! Click here for […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 31st, 2022 Deut. 1:17    You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike. Fear no man, for judgment is God’s [כִּ֥י הַמִּשְׁפָּ֖ט לֵאלֹהִ֣ים ה֑וּא]. The words are simple, in English and in Hebrew – “judgment is God’s” – until you stop […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 24th, 2022 Num. 33:5   The Israelites set out [וַיִּסְע֥וּ] from Rameses and encamped [וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ] at Succoth. Sounds very straightforward, but saying that the Israelites “set out” and “camped” is telling us something about them that’s not obvious from the text. This week’s handout: 42-43 Mattot-Masei 5782 […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 17th, 2022 Num. 26:9  The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, and Dathan and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram, chosen in the assembly, who agitated against Moses and Aaron as part of Korah’s band when they agitated against the Lord. 10 Whereupon the earth opened its […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 10th, 2022 Num. 23:7  He took up his theme [וַיִּשָּׂ֥א מְשָׁל֖וֹ], and said: Is a mashal really a “theme”? What does it mean to “take up” a mashal? And why does this phrase pervade the story of Balaam? This week’s handout: 40 Balak 5782 Learn Biblical Hebrew! Donate via Paypal! Click here for more […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 3rd, 2022 In Num. 20:17 the Israelites say they “will follow the king’s highway  [דֶּ֧רֶךְ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ נֵלֵ֗ךְ],” and in v. 19 that they “will keep to the beaten track [בַּֽמְסִלָּ֣ה נַעֲלֶה֒].” Are these two roads or one? What kind of road is a mesillah? And what does this tell us about Jacob’s […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 26th, 2022 Num. 16:30 But if the LORD brings about something unheard-of [וְאִם־בְּרִיאָ֞ה יִבְרָ֣א יְ׳הוָ֗ה], so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that these men have spurned […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 19th, 2022 Num. 14:10  As the whole community threatened to pelt them with stones, the Presence of the Lord appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. This week, two (seemingly) simple questions:  Who is “them” that the community is threatening to stone, and why does […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 12th, 2022 Num. 11:25    Then the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him; He drew upon the spirit that was on him and put it upon the seventy elders. And when the spirit rested upon them, they spoke in ecstasy, but did […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 5th, 2022 Num. 7:89    When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the Voice addressing [מִדַּבֵּ֣ר] him from above the cover that was on top of the Ark of the Pact between the two cherubim; thus He spoke […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 29th, 2022 Num. 1:18 On the first day of the second month they convoked the whole community, who were registered [וַיִּתְיַֽלְד֥וּ] by the clans of their ancestral houses—the names of those aged twenty years and over being listed head by head. Hapax legomenon? – you decide.  But what does […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 22nd, 2022 Lev. 26:23    And if these things fail to discipline you for Me, and you remain hostile to Me [וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֥ם עִמִּ֖י קֶֽרִי],  24 I too will remain hostile to you [וְהָלַכְתִּ֧י אַף־אֲנִ֛י עִמָּכֶ֖ם בְּקֶ֑רִי]: I in turn will smite you sevenfold for your sins. […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 15th, 2022 Lev. 25:31   But houses in villages that have no encircling walls [וּבָתֵּ֣י הַחֲצֵרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֵין־לָהֶ֤ם חֹמָה֙ סָבִ֔יב] shall be classed as open country. חצרים are villages that have no encircling walls – but a חצר (as in Leviticus 6) is an enclosure!  How can this […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 8th, 2022 Lev. 24:10   There came out among the Israelites [בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל] one whose mother was Israelite [יִשְׂרְאֵלִ֔ית] and whose father was Egyptian. How do you say “Israelite” in Biblical Hebrew?  Amazingly, the nowadays common adjective יִשְׂרְאֵלִי appears nowhere else in the Bible but in this chapter!  But … why? This week’s […]