Julian Ungar-Sargon

Shlomit bat Divri of the tribe of Dan (Lev 24) the rape victim, loses her son to blasphemy but the back story is darker. We explore the connection between Ex 2 and Moses's extrajudicial killing of the Egyptian with the cursing of the blasphemer…

Shaatnez has a dubious etymology which we review and delve into the midrashic connection between this mitzvah and the first fratricide of Genesis. Pirke DeReb Eliezer and the first targumim open us to the moral ambiguity behind the theological arguments between Cain and Abel prior to the murder. Our commentators suggest the Chok (non rational command) for Shatnez and its exceptions (Kohanim and Tz...

For a millennium commentators have struggled to identify the mysterious skin disease mentioned in our sidra. We explore the deeper meaning behind the eruption and the reentry sacrifices and mysterious connection to the simanim Rachel gave Leah.

We examine the sacrifices of the Yoledes in Leviticus 12 and the reverse sequence of the 2 korbanot she must bring to enter the Tabernacle. How to make sense of the notion of Tum'ah following her delivery.

Following up from last week's Little Aleph, we move to the Large Taf of the last chapter of the Book of Esther, which points to the last revelation of prophecy according to the rabbis. We then move on to discuss the source for Esther in the Torah being divine hiddenness and compare the positions of David Weiss Halivni and Aviva Zornberg in their approach to the absent Divine in times of crisi...

We review the midrashic interpretations of the little aleph of the first work of Leviticus  “Vayikra” and how orthography mirrors Moshe’s humility then how the mystical texts remake this image as Hashem making Himself small and the hassidic master’s appropriation of this idea in reflecting the “smallness” of Torah itself.

We explore the last verse of the book of Exodus where the pillar of cloud returns finally to the Mishkan after having been absent ever since the Golden Calf episode. Why was Moshe Rabeinu denied access when the cloud was present and how do we resolve the conflicting verses? The midrash reveals the anxiety of the nation when the pillar of fire surrounded the tabernacle at night forcing us to reflec...

We explore the meaning of the hapax “Erev Rav” as well as the term Asafsuf..in Num 11:4  through the eyes of Midrash and Zohar and how the term has been used through the ages for those Jews wo do not conform to the normative values. Including the conversos arriving in Palestine in the 1600’s, the Frankist/contra talmudists against their orthodox neighbors in Wojsławice, Poland and as recent as Har...

In this podcast, we explore the midrashic narratives that attempt to grapple with the absence of any mention of Moshe’s descendants as opposed to his brother Aharon. (Num 3). We then recount the horrific midrashim regarding the use of newborn babies as quotas of bricks in building materials in Egypt. God tells Moshe (Yalkut 243)  "its just as well since they are all wicked" and if he lik...

Our podcast struggles with the absence of Moshe Rabbeinu at Yisro’s feast upon becoming a GER. Was this a piety as our commentators suggest (waiting on their table like Abraham) or does his absence reflect a deep difference in approach to Jewish Law and Revelation. (He fails to mention Yisro once in Devorim when discussing the very same laws). I submit that Yisro’s turn to Judaism was based on his...

The tomb of Joseph, David Roberts 1839 In this podcast below I review the midrashic problems regarding the three citations of Yosef’s bones in Gen 50, Ex 13, and Joshua 24, almost framing the history of Israel from Exodus to conquest. Then we explore the archetypal psychology (C G Jung) to expose the inner dimensions of the paradox of Joseph’s bones being laid in an aron alongside the aron of the...

From Preface to Night by Elie Wiesel 2006 The argument Moshe uses is a Kal Vachomer as well as a matter of speech impediment. We explore the difference and possible similarities in the eye of the Rophschitser Rebbe (Zera Kosdesh) and the Shem MiShmuel.

JACOB BLESSING HIS SONS. Jacob's twelve sons gathered to hear their father's prophecies regarding each of them and to receive his blessing (Genesis 49). Woodcut from the Cologne Bible, 1478-1480. Gen 49:1 In the last scene on Jacob's deathbed, surrounded by his children, he has a prophetic moment when he desires to tell them the (acharit yamim) end days. In the next verse (Gen 49:2)...

We complete the series on the tears of the Patriarchs with Jospeh’s final meeting with Benjamin. We investigate the “vale of tears” ( in hac lacrimarum to borrow from our neighbor religion) that extends from the biblical narrative through the rabbinic imaginative midrash to Song of Songs (the temple as the neck of Israel) and subsequent Hurban,  down to the Piacetzna’s lcarimosal final parting wor...

In our third in a series of "Tears of the Patriarchs" we examine the seven scenes where Joseph weeps in the last few chapters of Genesis. We use the literary chiastic analysis to reveal the moment of deep awareness of his wound and its catharsis. We compare the analysis of Harav Aharon Lichtenstein (z’l) with scholar Aviva Zornberg in exposing a spiritual roadmap we too can participate i...

Codex Leningrad 1008 We explore the orthography of Gen 33:4 (those pesty dots over the word "and he kissed him") and the history of interpretation of the strange puncta extraordinaria either as an ancient "nota bene" begging for a reverse meaning or an actual cancellation of the word due to scribale error.  Both the Rabbis and Origen! struggle to decide betwween the two choices...

Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah 1855 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882 Bequeathed by Beresford Rimington Heaton 1940 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N05228 The stories of Genesis reveal the underlying hand of Providence that insists (tragically) on the bloodlines over human emotions and relationships. In the tears of Jacob we sense the intimations he already senses for the temporality of his...

The Image of Esau crying when he discovers the blessing was stolen has repercussions for the descendants of Jacob. The Midrash and Zohar track the grief he suffered through the three tears he shed and their effect on Jewish suffering.

The Constantinian church at Mamre appears on the Madaba Map (right margin, adjacent to the modern pillar) Mamre is the site where Abraham pitched the tents for his camp, built an altar ( Genesis 13:18 ), and was brought divine tidings, in the guise of three angels, of Sarah 's pregnancy ( Genesis 18:1-15 ). The Oak of Mamre is possibly a Terebinth ( Pistacia terebinthus) and its location near...

In this mediation on the space between Now ch and Lech Lecha we are provided midrashically with the first of the ten trials of Abraham. This unacknowledged trial in the listing in Mishnah Avot is however mention in Pirke DeReb Eliezer. We struggle with the evolution of the trials from the first in Nimrod’s fire to the tenth, the fire on the altar with isaac bound. Is it possible to plot a trajecto...

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Art by Salome Worch