Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Tazria [Leviticus 12-13] flies solo this year because it is a leap year in the Jewish calendar. Most years it is paired with Metzora [Leviticus 14-15], which will be the Torah Reading next week. The double portion is preferred by most people because it is not so easy to derive personal and spiritual meaning from a text devoted to childbirth and skin afflictions. The rabbis themselves identify the sin of lashon ha-ra [often translated as slander] as the responsible agent for the disease, which can be fruitful ..read more

Parsha alk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Sh’mini [Leviticus 9-11] coincides this year with Parashat Ha-chodesh [maftir: Exodus 12:1-20; haftarah: Ezekiel 45:16-46:18]. This is the last of the four special shabbatot before Pesach, which is now officially just over the horizon. Ha-chodesh is the first commandment given to the Israelite people, understood to mark Nisan as the first of the months; it takes place on the Shabbat before or coinciding with Rosh Chodesh Nisan, so that we are finally, or too soon, depending on your cleaning schedule, about to ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Tzav [Leviticus 6:1-8:36] coincides with Parashat Parah [maftir: Numbers 19:1-22; haftarah: Ezekiel 36:16-38], the third of the four special shabbatot before Passover. Tzav presents the priestly view of the sacrifices which were covered in last week’s parashah from the Israelite’s point of view. Our conversation touched upon a writing feature found in the second verse, the word moq’dah beginning with a small mem [equivalent to English m]. From there our conversation caught fire as it were! We hope you enjoy i ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yiqra [Leviticus 1:1–5:26] coincides this year with Shabbat Zakhor [maftir, Deuteronomy 25:17-19; haftarah 1 Samuel 15:2–34] in anticipation of the holiday of Purim, which begins Saturday night, upon the conclusion of Shabbat. Parashat Va-yiqra, the opening parashat of Sefer Va-yiqra [Book of Leviticus], introduces the principal sacrifices of the Israelite Temple cult. We ourselves made a sacrifice this week, by devoting our conversation to the Book of Esther, read as part of the Purim observance on Saturd ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. With the reading of parashat P’qudai [Exodus 38:21–40:38] we conclude the reading of the Book of Exodus. We have already seen most of this material in parashat T’tzavveh three weeks ago. Our conversation focused on the last several verses [40:34–38], comprising the maftir aliyah. We discussed what the verses themselves mean as well as the arc of the Book of Exodus itself. We hope you enjoy it! It is customary to say חזק חזק ונתחזק [hazzaq, hazzaq, v-nit’hazzeq, let us be strong, let us be strong, let us be strengthene ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yaqhel [Exodus 35:1-38:20] coincides with Shabbat Sheqalim [special maftir (Exosdus 30:11-16) and haftarah (I Kings 12:1-17)], the first of the four special shabbatot preceding Passover. Whereas the previous three parashiyot concern the plans for the mishkan [tabernacle], Va-yaqhel and P’qudai [next week] concern themselves with the execution. There seems to be a lot of repetition. Our conversation focused primarily on the opening passaged, the intriguing opening word, va-yaqkel [and he (Moshe) gathered ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Ki Tissa [Exodus 30:11-34:35] features the episode of the Golden Calf, one of the great sins of the Exodus generation. In the rabbinic imagination, it is paired with the sin of the spies, bracketing the 3-week period of mourning introduced by the 17th of Tammuz and culminating with the 9th of Av. The sin itself is not so easy to understand, in part because of the curious use of the word Elohim, here used to refer to pagan gods, with the plural verb; when Elohim refers to God, the verb is always in the singula ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat T’tzavveh [Exodus 27:20-30:10] deals mostly with the priestly vestments and the installation of the priests. It raises the question: do the clothes make the person or the person make the clothes? In our conversation we attempt to address this question, though you may find we skirt it more than you like and barely touch other aspects which you might think require more attention. Such is the style of our conversation this week! Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the hostages, may they be returned to t ..read more

Parsha Talk - with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Mishpatim [Exodus 21–24] is the sixth parashah of Sefer Sh’mot. It is made up almost entirely of what Biblical scholars call the Covenant Code, the exact parameters of which scholars disagree. Suffice it to say, after the drama of the Revelation at Mount Sinai comes a litany of laws. What exactly is the relationship between the two? We discuss Rashi’s comment as well as offer our own interpretations of the exact connection between what one might call the poetry of revelation with the prose of legislation. G ..read more

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Yitro [Exodus 18–20] is the fifth parashah in the Book of Exodus. It features the 10 commandments which was the topic of most of our conversation. How does the Sh’ma compare with the Ten Commandments? What meaning might these commandments have for us today? How do we evaluate them as a text? These are some of the questions we discuss. We’ll leave for another time chapters 18 [the arrival of Yitro and the establishment of the judiciary] and 19, the description of the event of revelation. There is always next y ..read more