This week’s Torah portion, T’rumah, represents another abrupt shift in focus within the book of Exodus from the mostly legal material of last week’s portion, Mishpatim, to the first of ...

Today, light is ambient and inexpensive. We leave it on without noticing. Against that backdrop, the requirement of a steady flow of pure oil for the Mishkan’s lighting can easily be underestimated.

Rav Yehoshua Heller suggests that the answer lies in the dramatic shift caused by the golden calf. The commands in parashat Terumah were given before that fall, when the nation still lived with the ...

Explore the insights of Rav Shai Cherry on this week's Torah portion, Mishpatim, focusing on laws and justice in society.

This, I think, is the message of Simchat Torah: to hold firmly in one’s imagination the joyful possibility of a year made truly new. A month ago, I was asked to write about what it’s like to be an ...

Parchment maker Rabbi Mendel prepares a calf skin to be made into parchment upon which a Torah will be written. Ira Berger It turns out it does pay to have good penmanship — especially if you’re in ...