Parshas Nasso 5786
Parsha Overview I’d like to give a brief overview of all the topics contained in this week’s portion, and then focus in and elaborate on one of the topics. The Longest This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Nasso, is the longest…
Parsha Overview I’d like to give a brief overview of all the topics contained in this week’s portion, and then focus in and elaborate on one of the topics. The Longest This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Nasso, is the longest…
In[1] the early 20th century, arguably the most famous economist in the world was a man named Irving Fisher[2]. Fisher was not just an economist, he was one of those rare people who seemed to turn anything into gold. His…
Trade between countries is a good thing. It enables people in Canada to have freshly squeezed orange juice at their breakfast table, and people in Brazil to have maple syrup at theirs. It has created tens of thousands of jobs…
When you think of laundry, you probably think of piles of dirty clothing, sitting at the bottom of the laundry chute, waiting to be sorted into darks, lights, and whites. But to a very specific subset of human beings, laundering…
Counting the Omer There is a mitzvah mentioned in this week’s Torah portion, that is relevant to our current time period; the days between the holidays of Passover and Shavuos. It is known as Sefiras Ha’omer, the counting of the…
Natural resources are a hot topic right now, as the earth continues to fill with more people but not more resources. In the era of technological leaps and blindingly fast innovation, humans also seek more resources than ever before. In…
Negative Surroundings ‘Do not perform the practices of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled; and do not perform the practices of the land of Canaan to which I bring you...’ (Vayikra 18:3) Before detailing the list of forbidden…
In the spring of 1453, the great city of Constantinople stood at the edge of collapse. For more than a thousand years it had been one of the most important cities in the world, the capital of the Byzantine Empire,…
When Words Become Visible What Tzara’as teaches us about the reality of speech Parshiyos Tazria and Metzora are among the most puzzling sections in the Torah. The Torah spends so much time discussing discolorations on skin, changes in hair color,…
Pithom, Egypt 1314 BCE Shimon stomped into the house kicking up dust, and wordlessly headed straight to the back of the house to change out of his work clothes. Rachel instinctively knew that he was coming from his brother’s house.…