Light of Torah
A Night Remembered
For many Christians, the celebration of the Easter Triduum begins tonight (Holy Thursday, 14 April 2022). Meanwhile, Jewish communities...
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weekly insights
Light of Torah
- Apr 1, 2022
- 5 min
Motherhood, Birth, and Ritual Purity in the Bible
This week’s Torah reading comes from the Book of Leviticus where the theme of ritual purity draws the attention of Jewish commentators....
67 views
Light of Torah
- Mar 25, 2022
- 4 min
Two sons of Aaron . . . and a ritual that went terribly wrong
Join us in an imaginative, insightful approach to an intriguing and disturbing biblical story, with the help of traditional Jewish...
63 views
Light of Torah
- Mar 18, 2022
- 3 min
The many shades of Thanksgiving
Once again, we explore a passage of the Hebrew Scriptures that we might not ordinarily dwell upon as Christians. As we shall see, even...
73 views
Light of Torah
- Mar 4, 2022
- 3 min
Divine presence in a construction site?
Many Christians find it somewhat intimidating to read those parts of the Hebrew Scriptures that are filled with repetitive ritual detail....
72 views
Light of Torah
- Feb 18, 2022
- 3 min
Moses, God, and the Blessing of a Robust Prayer Life
This week we explore an episode of 'straight talk' between God and Moses in chapter 32 of the Book of Exodus. The Golden Calf episode is...
94 views
Light of Torah
- Feb 11, 2022
- 3 min
Sacred Light
Have you have ever found your eyes glaze over at a seemingly tedious passage of ritual instruction in the Old Testament? This week's...
127 views
Light of Torah
- Feb 4, 2022
- 4 min
Ancient Insights Speak to Us Today
“And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). Having received the Torah at Mt Sinai, in Exodus 25 the...
67 views
Light of Torah
- Jan 29, 2022
- 3 min
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME
This week, we explore a brief excerpt from an ancient legal text through the eyes of Jewish interpreters. It is from Exodus 22. Right...
95 views
Light of Torah
- Jan 20, 2022
- 3 min
Ten Commandments: Harsh laws? Or a meeting of lovers?
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the LORD had come down upon it in fire...and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blare of...
73 views
Light of Torah
- Jan 13, 2022
- 3 min
Miracles and muddy shoes
In Exodus 14:15-16 the Lord speaks to Moses in the midst of a terrifying scene: Having escaped from Egypt, the Hebrew refugees find...
80 views
Light of Torah
- Jan 3, 2022
- 4 min
The light that leads to ‘Bethlehem in Judea’
The Christian festival of the Epiphany, in the West, primarily celebrates Christ’s ‘manifestation’ to the Gentiles as depicted in the...
124 views
Light of Torah
- Dec 24, 2021
- 4 min
The Child in the Manger is a Jewish Child
'Whoever meets Jesus Christ, meets Judaism' (St John Paul II) [1] Indeed, Christian remembrance of the nativity of Jesus is always an...
108 views
Light of Torah
- Dec 17, 2021
- 3 min
When Jacob died
As the Book of Genesis draws to a close, we find the elderly Jacob and his sons and their families still living in Egypt, having gone...
107 views
Light of Torah
- Dec 9, 2021
- 3 min
'I am Joseph, your brother'
'I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold to Egypt' (Genesis 45:4). With these words, Joseph reveals his true identity to his estranged...
77 views
Light of Torah
- Dec 3, 2021
- 3 min
The New Joseph
Pharaoh further said to Joseph, “See, I put you in charge of all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:41). By the end of Genesis 41 one can’t...
14 views
Light of Torah
- Nov 26, 2021
- 3 min
What are you Seeking?
Chapter 37 of Genesis begins the saga of Jacob and his children. We soon learn that seventeen year old Joseph is the favoured, gifted...
61 views
Light of Torah
- Nov 19, 2021
- 4 min
Jacob's Struggle
“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:29)....
73 views
Light of Torah
- Nov 12, 2021
- 3 min
Why did Jacob weep?
Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and broke into tears” (Genesis 29:11). Thus begins the love story of Jacob and Rachel in the book of Genesis....
1,069 views
Light of Torah
- Nov 4, 2021
- 3 min
Living Water, Living Tradition
Genesis 26 tells a story from the adult life of Isaac. It is a story strikingly similar to a story about his father, Abraham, in Genesis...
73 views
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