B’haalotkha: Redemption from Below
byA second chance is offered for one very important mitzvah because being part of the nation of Israel requires one to deeply self-identify as having been personally liberated from slavery in Egypt.
Culture
Nasso: Near & Far
byThe Torah’s different ways of addressing the personal crises people face might carry a dangerous side effect of too heavily focussing on the individual.
Bamidbar: The Collective & the Individual
byWhen confronting the challenges of Bamidbar, the Torah strikes a balance between the value of the individual & the importance of the collective.
Beḥukotai: In Your Anger May You Remember Compassion
byWithin the framework of nature, six represents creation & the seven represents a goal to be achieved within creation. Eight is beyond nature.
Emor: Holiness of the Kohanim
byThe power of the kohanim originates from two sources. Their separateness from Israel (above) & their connection to the nation (below).
Kedoshim: Sanctified for Praise
byContrary to popular belief, a blessing before eating doesn’t make the food holy but actually removes its kedusha (making it permissible to eat). The ‘after brakha’ then adds a level of holiness beyond nature.
Aḥarei Mot: Going In & Coming Out
byThe High Priest loses his identity as a result of the supreme pleasure inherent in being submerged in the Divine Presence. Therefore a rope is tied to him to remind him of his mission in the material world.
Metzora: Counting to Eight
byThe purified metzora waiting for seven days outside his tent parallels Moshe’s delay in returning to the people of Israel, after years of separation while in the house of Pharaoh & then later in Midian.
Tazria: Eight Types of Tzaraat
byThe Torah presents us with different forms of tzaraat, expressing various levels of moral decline.
Shemini: The ‘Eighth Day’ of Creation
byHuman history exists within the ‘seventh day’ of Creation while the Temple belongs to the ‘eighth day’ & therefore transcends the laws of our world.
Tzav: Disrupting the Chronology
byWhile the ‘Torah of Moshe’ teaches the korbanot in a way that’s relevant to righteous idealists, the ‘Torah of Aharon’ teaches these laws as they relate to the average person in need of cleansing from sin.
Accessing the Divine Light of Freedom
byEach year, on the 15th of Nisan, the Divine light of freedom shines into our world. That’s why it was appropriate for Israel to leave Egypt on this date.