The practice of סוֹפְרוּת is amazing. In this world of new technology and techniques there are people who dedicate the time and effort to learn the scribal art of hand-copying sacred Hebrew texts. The Torah text has to be written so carefully, every letter correct and then there are the special parts - the areas where the Torah is written in a special layout, optional crowns on letters, and, one of my favorite, niqqudot (in Hebrew) or puncta extraordinaria (in Latin/scholarly

While I usually find two different ideas/pasukim/sections in the Torah portion to use in my #parshainspiredmenus, this will be the second week in a row where one idea has so many possible foods that I'm just sticking with the one element to share/explain/highlight. This week in what is, admitedly, a parsha jam-packed with action and familiar stories (and some less familiar ones), there was one pasuk and it's phrasing that I hadn't really noticed before and wanted to explore f

I've heard the last aliyah of Parashat Bereshit MANY more times than I've heard most of the torah. It was our son's bar mitzvah parsha and he read the 7th aliyah (which I taught him), so I during the many practice sessions. So, when I read the beginning of parshat Noach, I caught an interesting repetition that is often less noticed because it's separated by a week. In the last line of chapter 5, we read וַֽיְהִי־נֹ֕חַ בֶּן־חֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֣וֹלֶד נֹ֔חַ אֶת־שֵׁ֖ם אֶ

Many of us have the images of biblical events deep in our minds from having seen renditions of the scenes in art. Sometimes the details in the art are based in text, but often they are imaginative. A few of these imaginative ones take on a life of their own, such that it becomes almost canon. While the Torah is noticeably vague when it comes to the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (we'll get back to this), it is explicit about the kind of tree leaf Adam and E

Moadim v'Simcha! I hope it's been a nice Sukkot so far. After a few weeks off from #parshainspiredmenus, I'm back this week with something for V'zot HaBracha. The last few weeks we've spent several Shabbat mornings reading holiday readings vs. our regular parsha schedule (though on the one Shabbat we had of normalcy in the midst of chagim, I also didn't do #parshainspriredmenus because I was so "cooked out," we ate leftovers. Delicious leftovers from chag, but leftovers all t

Our people is both ancient and current. We have adapted and changed in various ways over the centuries and part of that ability to change is based on a section of this week’s parsha. Moshe tells the people: Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who

In our parsha, there's discussion of some of the major agricultural harvesting and sharing - the bringing of first fruits, with the spoken formula that starts with "My father was a wandering Aramean," which may sound familiar from Passover, and the tithing of the 10% of the harvest yield in the 3rd year to give to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and widow. In both cases, by putting rules and limitations around what we can eat from the harvest, it compels the Israeli

God places a really high value on hospitality. We see that in several places in the Torah and one example is from this week's parsha when God tells the Israelites who from other peoples CAN and CAN'T become part of the congregation of God. No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of GOD; no descendants of such, even in the tenth generation, shall ever be admitted into the congregation of GOD, because they did not meet you with food and water on your jour

When we lived in Norfolk we knew a LOT of people who serve in the US Navy. It was a real priviledge and honor to be part of that community and I came to better understand the level of commitment and sacrifice made by the men and women who serve. I also came to understand the level of commitment and sacrifice made by their families. Deployments, PCS (permanent change of station - aka moving) across the country or the world, packing and unpacking and losing and breaking things

I never thought that a Turkducken would come up as a possible Parsha Inpsired Menu item, but here we are...so how did we get here? Well, it starts with this interesting pasuk: וְנָשַׁל֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ אֶת־הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֛ל מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ מְעַ֣ט מְעָ֑ט לֹ֤א תוּכַל֙ כַּלֹּתָ֣ם מַהֵ֔ר פֶּן־תִּרְבֶּ֥ה עָלֶ֖יךָ חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃ The ETERNAL your God will dislodge those peoples before you little by little; you will not be able to destroy them quickly, else the wild beasts would

Much of Dvarim is spent with Moshe telling the people about how or why to stay close to God. In Vaetchanan there's one of these mentioned, but what caught our attention was the paraenthetical description given to Egypt in this particular section. It is the only time this phrase is used for Egypt in the Five books of Moses. It says "And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to

So begins the last sefer of the Torah: These are the things that Moshe told to all of Israel on the other side of the Jordan, in the desert wilderness facing Suf, between Paran and Tofel and Lavan and Hatzerot and Di-Zahav. It is a journey of eleven days from Horev, via Mount Se'ir, to Kadesh Barne'a. In the fortieth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, Moshe spoke to Bnei Yisrael according to all that God had commanded him for them; After he had slain Sihon

In parsha Mattot, God instructs Moshe to assemble a band of warriors to exact vengance on Midian (who had led some of Israel astray.) Interestingly, the leader of this campaign is not Moshe, nor Joshua, the next leader of the people, nor Eleazar, the High Priest. It is Pinchas. I've discovered two ideas for the reason for this choice. The first is that this battle is ideological in nature vs. national or land-based, therefore it makes sense for the leader to be tied to the re

My family loves Legos and not in a "nostalgic, we keep some in the basement from when our kids were little" way; more in a "we are still buying new sets to build for everyone from my 13 year old son to my 51 year old husband" way (those 80's nostalgia sets are FIRE). And through all these years, no one in my family has swallowed a brick or mini head, but I was still intrigued when I saw a reel about a change Lego made in 2013, adding barium to the materials so that when kids

We read from pasukim that are in Parsha Pinchas A LOT! In this week's parsha, we find the passages that also get read on the Shalosh Regalim (Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot) and the passages read on Rosh Chodesh. It's the list of the sacrifices that should be brought on each of these special days. I may have mentioned this before, but the Rosh Chodesh torah reading the first one I really learned (not memorized.) It's also one I've taught to our boys and I felt immensely proud when

When Miriam passes away and there's no water, we get more complaining by the people. Why have you brought GOD’s congregation into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die there? Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!” This is a strange complaint for 2 reasons. One - if the main concern is lack of fresh water due to the disappearance of Miriam's well, w

There are 3 times in this parsha where Moshe or Moshe and Aaron fall on their faces - in all 3 the common theme is humility. The first instance is as Korach and team malign Moshe and Aaron, saying "They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and God is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above God’s congregation?” Before they go on to explain more of their grievances, Moshe falls on

In this parsha we get the story of the spies, which famously has just two people who believe enough in God to feel confident that the Israelites can successfully take the land - Caleb and Joshua. When Joshua is introduced as one of the spies, the Torah has this pasuk: These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to scout the land; but Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua. While name changes are not unusal in the Torah, they usually come from God, but what's

Food has a central focus in part of this week's parsha, as does whining! Manna was introduced when the Jews first fled Egypt and, using some of dates and timeline we know from the Torah, by the time we get to BeHa'alotecha, it's been over a year of manna. That's a lot of manna. As someone who makes sure that our family has variety in food (even my kids' lunches each day), I can see how this might get tiresome. There are midrashim that suggest that manna adapted to each person

We've been reading Naso during the week and at Shabbat mincha for 2 weeks since last week Shavuot's Torah reading filled the Shabbat morning slot. Good thing it's such a long parsha that there's still more to find in it for Parsha Inspired Menus two weeks in a row! In fact, it's a really long parsha. The longest single parsha in the whole Torah. As I mentioned last week, a good chunk of the 176 lines is the repetition of the gifts from the tribal leaders. While I was thinking