weekly insights

In Numbers 4:1-20 we find the Lord’s instructions concerning how the Tabernacle [a portable sanctuary] should be handled when the...

Towards the end of the Book of Leviticus, we find in chapter 26 a listing of the blessings which will ensue if the people follow God’s...

Leviticus 22:32 has been called ‘Israel’s Bible in miniature.’ This verse expresses two of Judaism’s key commandments. First, it warns...

In the Hebrew Scriptures the term tzara’at can refer to a variety of skin ailments (translated in various ways, e.g., ‘scaly skin’,...

With a title like that, I welcome my most diehard Light of Torah readers (and/or the very curious!) to this week's blog. Our focus for...

Chapters 6-8 of the Book of Leviticus continue with instructions for worship. They start with details about bringing sacrificial...

This week, we turn to the Book of Leviticus, in our Light of Torah series of reflections. Compared to the action-packed stories of...

What can a face reveal about divine presence? This reflection on the face of Moses follows the insights of traditional Jewish approaches...

In John's Gospel we read, ‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us’ (1:14, NRSV). Lived among us. New Testament scholars consider...

Having received the stone tablets inscribed with the Decalogue (‘ten commandments’), in chapters 25-27 of the Book of Exodus, in this...

The obligation to treat the ‘stranger’ with justice resonates powerfully in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Jewish sages are sensitive to...

Astute Christian homilists and teachers know that one of the challenges of ‘breaking open’ the Scriptures during Lent, and especially...

Read Exodus 6:1—7:7 slowly, carefully, and preferably with a friend. The narrative describes God preparing Moses for the great event of...

This week, we commence the Book of Exodus and select this verse as our focus: "Now it was some years later, Moshe grew up; he went out to...

Can Christians find the words to honour Judaism at Christmas time? Jesus was born a Jew. He was born in the first century of the common...

As the Book of Genesis draws to its conclusion, in chapter 48 we find a poignant deathbed scene. The elderly Jacob shares final words...

The story of Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers is one of the great dramas of the book of Genesis, and Judah’s passionate speech...

In this week’s Torah portion Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy food while their own land is in the grip of famine. However he does not...

Chapter 37 of Genesis begins the saga of Jacob and his children. We soon learn that seventeen year old Joseph is the favoured, gifted...

It is hard to think of a more disturbing passage in the Torah than the rape of Dinah and the bloodbath that follows as described in...