Kol Ramah

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Sh’lach [Numbers 13-15] is primarily concerned with the episode of the so-called spies [Numbers 13-14]: Moshe, apparently at God’s bequest, sends 12 men, each a princes of his tribe, to scout out the land in anticipation of entrance and conquest by the Israelites, in fulfillment of God’s promise to the ancestors....

Parsha Talk, with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. We often refer to the Torah as the Chumash, a shortening of the Hebrew phrase for the 5 Books of Moses or 5 Books of the Torah. But there is a rabbinic tradition that there are actually 7 books, based on a scribal anomaly where the two verses 10:35-36 are bracketed by inverted nuns [the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky: Parashat Naso [Numbers 4:21–7:89] is not just amazing, it is the longest single parashah in the Torah, with well over two thousand words, and contains the longest chapter, chapter 7, with 89 verses. Among the topics taken up is the completion of the levitical census, the trespass offering, the ritual for the woman suspected of adultery, t...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Eliot Kalmanofsky. We begin a new book of the Torah this week, Sefer B’midbar [the Book of Numbers], with the opening parashah [Numbers 1:1–4:20] also named b’midbar [literally, “in the wilderness (of)”, which is the setting for the opening chapters]. This parashah is concerned with the tribal census of fighting men, which is what influenced...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat B’chukotai [Leviticus 26:3-27:34] concludes the reading from the Book of Leviticus. Chapter 26 contains the tochechah, the lengthy passage of rebuke for failure to live up to God’s commands, which finds an echo in parashat Ki Tavo, near the end of Deuteronomy. Chapter 27 discusses votive offerings to the tabernacle, where a perso...

Parsha Talk; with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat B’har [Leviticus 25:1–26:2], at 57 verses, is one of the shortest of the weekly readings. It is concerned with the shmittah [sabbatical] year and yovel [jubilee] year, as well as other legislation designed to remediate poverty which leads to the selling of ancestral land. Of particular note for Americans [of the...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky bring us Parsha Talk! The parashah this week is Emor [Leviticus 21-24], which features the Levitical calendar [chapter 23], last read in the synagogue on the 2nd day of Passover. This calendar is a culmination of the move to a fixed calendar, with nearly all the holidays now designated for a specific day and month, completing the shift fro...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofskt and Barry Chesler. This week we are back to the regular weekly reading, parashat Kedoshim [Leviticus 19-20]. For the rabbis, this is the central portion of Leviticus, with the famous verse, ve-ahavta l-re’akha ka-mokha [“you shall love your neighbor as yourself”], at the very center of the Torah. According to the Sage, Hillel, the rest [of the Torah] is com...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barrry Chesler. Parashat Acharai Mot [Leviticus 16-18] is familiar to many of us from Yom Kippur, when we reach chapter 16 in the morning and, traditionally, chapter 18, though in modern times congregations have chosen to read chapter 19 or parashat nitzavim for Deuteronomy. Chapter 16 describes the Yom Kippur ritual in the mishkan [tabernacle], and is...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky for Parsha Talk! Because the next two shabbatot are the first and last Yom Tov of Pesach, we offer this special Pesach edition of Parashah Talk, where the conversation focuses on the Haggadah, rather than the Torah portion. We hope this will carry you through until parashat Acharai Mot, read in synagogues on April 30, when we will ret...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. This week’s parashah is M’tzora [Leviticus 14-15], which continues the Torah’s discussion of the skin affliction commonly, but mistakenly, identified with leprosy. In the latter part of chapter 14, this affliction plagues the houses of the Israelites. The Torah raises the curiosity of the Israelite summoning the priest to...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Malomet, Kalmanofsky and Chesler. This week is the 4th of the special Shabbatot before Pesach, each with a special maftir [additional reading] and haftarah [prophetic reading]. Next week is also special; it is the Shabbat before Pesach and is called Shabbat Ha-gadol, for reasons which fall far short of unanimous agreement. While Shabbat Ha-gadol does have a special haftarah...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky for Parsha Talk! Parashat Sh’mini [Leviticus 9-11] coincides with Shabbat Parah this year, the third of the four special shabbatot before Passover, each with its own maftir [this week Numbers 19] and haftarah [Ezekiel 36:16-38]. The Torah reading features the culmination of the ordination ceremony for the priests and sacrifice with it...

Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Tzav [Leviticus 6-8] divides, unevenly, into 2 sections. The first 2 chapters reprise the sacrifices discussed in last week’s parashah, but this time from the priest’s perspective. In this sense, it is a coda to last week. Chapter 8 is the first half of what Baruch Levine calls, in his JPS Torah Commentary on Leviticus, “The Init...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. This week, we begin a new book of the Torah, Va-yiqra [Leviticus] with the parashah [chapters 1-5] taking its name from the book. It provides a detailed description of the 5 major sacrifices an Israelite might offer, 3 voluntary [olah (burmt offering), minchah (grain offering), zevach sh’lamim (sacred gift of greeting)] a...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat P’qudai [Exodus 38:21-40:38] recounts the final details of the erection of the mishkan [Tabernacle] with the concluding verses noting that the cloud covered the ohel mo’ed [sacred tent] and the glory or presence of God filled the tabernacle, so much so that Moshe could not enter. When the cloud lifted, the Israel...

Parsha Talk-with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. Parashat Va-yaqhel [Exodus 35:1-38:20] is the penultimate parashah of Sefer Sh’mot [the Book of Exodus]. In non-leap years it is paired with the last parashah [P’qudai, more on that next week] to make one of the longest parashiyot of the year. These last two parashiyot take up the actual construction of the mishkan [taber...

Join Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmonofsky for Parsha Talk. Parashat Ki Tissa [Exodus 30:11-34:25] features the episode of the Golden Calf, which provided the material for most of our discussion this week. How should we evaluate the performance of God? Moshe? B’nai Yisrael? What is the nature of the sin of idolatry? Does it have modern relevance? resonance? We came at these qu...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Tetzaveh [Exodus 27:20-30:10] follows closely on T’rumah with the plans for some of the furniture and objects of the Mishkan [Tabernacle] and the priestly vestments. On the face of it, it does not seem to provide material for an interesting discussion, but we persevered and perhaps even prevailed! As with last we...

Parsha Talk - with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. Parashat T’rumah [Exodus 25:1-27:18] begins the Torah’s lengthy disquisition on the building of the Tabernacle, whose plan and construction will take up most of the remaining chapters of Exodus. This week and next the Torah will describe in great detail how the Tabernacle should be constructed, including descriptions of...

Parsha Talk - with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. Parashat Mishpatim [Exodus 21-24] contains the Covenant Code, one of the major pieces of legislation in the Torah. One way of looking at it is to think of it as the prose to the poetry of revelation in last week’s parashah. In Jewish terms it is the halachah [law] to last week’s aggadah [narrative, non-legal material]....

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler. Parashat Yitro [Exodus 18:1-20:23, and in some versions enumerated as 20:26] features the Ten Commandments, which is half of a larger unit generally referred to as Revelation at Sinai. When I used to teach Exodus 19 and 20 in high school, I would entitle the unit, “Revelation: There is less than meets the eye”. For many p...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah, after the Song of the Sea [Exodus 15:1–18], which is featured in this week’s parashah, parashat B’shallah [Exodus 13:17–17:16]. For the haftarah [Judges 4:4–5:31], the rabbis chose another triumphant song, the Song of Deborah [Judges 5:2–31], celebrating another event in Israel’s s...

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Jeremy Kalmanofsky and Barry Chesler: Parashat Bo [Exodus 10:1-13:16] contains the first commandment to B’nai Yisrael, the commandment to mark what came to be known as the month of Nisan, the month in which Passover is observed, as the first month in the calendar. So important is this commandment that Rashi [1040-1104], the famous Bible [and Talmud] commentat...

Parashat Va-era [Exodus 6:2-9:35] opens with a verse that has intrigued modern critical biblical scholars for generations: God tells Moses that He appeared to the patriarchs as El Shaddai, but did not make his name YHVH [the unpronounceable 4-letter name of God] known to them. How much does it matter by which name we call upon God? The parashah also features the first 7 plagues; the phenomenon of...