This is Torah Talk for the week of August 5th, 2018
Deut. 13:13 If you hear it said, of one of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you to dwell in, 14 that some scoundrels from among you have gone and subverted the inhabitants of their town, saying, “Come let us worship other gods”—whom you have not experienced— 15 you shall investigate and inquire and interrogate thoroughly [ודרשת וחקרת ושאלת היטב] If it is true, the fact is established—that abhorrent thing was perpetrated in your midst— 16 put the inhabitants of that town to the sword and put its cattle to the sword. Doom it and all that is in it to destruction.
What does חקר mean, and why and how should we do it?
This is Torah Talk for the week of July 29th, 2018
Deut 7:15 The LORD will ward off from you all sickness; He will not bring upon you any of the dreadful diseases of Egypt [מדוי מצרים], about which you know, but will inflict them upon all your enemies.
What are the “diseases of Egypt,” and what does this promise imply?
Num. 28:7 The libation with it shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb, to be poured in the sacred precinct as an offering of fermented drink [שכר] to the LORD. 8The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, preparing the same meal offering and libation as in the morning—an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.
Num. 5:12 If any man’s wife has gone astray [כי-תשטה אשתו] and broken faith with him …
“Going astray” is a familiar biblical topic — and so is a woman cheating on her husband. But the verb used for it in this passage about the “sotah” is extremely rare. Where else does it occur?
This is Torah Talk for the weeks of March 25th and April 8th, 2018
Lev. 11:46 These are the instructions concerning animals, birds, all living creatures that move in water, and all creatures that swarm on earth, 47 for distinguishing between the unclean and the clean, between the living things that may be eaten and the living things that may not be eaten.
But why? The High Priest supposedly explained it all to Aristeas …
