Imagine the world without language. Impossible! We’re linguistic beasts, we have no existence as people without words. Still, imagine. The universe would be perceived as perfect unity, everything a part of a whole. (This sounds like the talk of mystics.) Yet we need language, despite the arbitrary symbols it uses, despite the illusion of distinctions […]Read Post ›
Yitro comes from the outside, and puts in words the implicit desire of the people: to be close to God and to truth, to be intimate and held. If not by Moses alone, then through his assistants, but ultimately, to preserve a spontaneous connection; to know the right way to act in an ever-renewed way. […]Read Post ›
First, the appointment of judges by Moses, then, the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. So far, Moses channelled a direct connection to God; problems were solved through prophecy. Now, judges must struggle to interpret, compromise and resolve real-life disputes. There is surely some connection between divine Justice and individual judgements – like the connection […]Read Post ›
Two commandments involve the doorstep. The Channukiah should ideally be placed just on the threshold of the home, by the doorstep or windowsill; when taking in a guest, the obligations of hospitality extend to accompanying the guest out to this same threshold. Boundary-spaces are complex and wonderful: they allow for the otherwise impossible interaction between inner […]Read Post ›
Man’s first task is to name animals, his first words are a string of nouns. He longs for verbs. On seeing a female, he bursts into a love-poem: “Finally! Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bones!” He struggles to create a new noun and express what it does. “This shall be called Woman, for […]Read Post ›
120 words of Torah 