This week we celebrate the festival of Passover. If asked on the spot what the point of the holiday is, you would probably respond “to commemorate the redemption from Egyptian bondage.” This interaction is reenacted on the Seder night: The…
Taste of Torah: The golden calf and blind decision making
Written by Devorah Friedman, Ha’Am’s External Managing Editor This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, begins with the completion of the Tabernacle and ends with a description of Moses’ relationship to G-d and his devotion to the people he led through…
Taste of Torah: the ultimate leader
Written by Rabbi Jacob Rupp, Jewish Awareness Movement at UCLA In this week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, Moses’ name is not mentioned. The Talmud explains that after the sin of the Golden Calf in next week’s Torah portion, G-d was prepared…
Taste of Torah: Constructing a permanently portable sanctuary
Written by Moshe Kahn, Ha’Am staff writer This week’s Torah portion, Terumah (Exodus 25:1 – 27:19), recounts the instructions for the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). This portable sanctuary was the focal point of Jewish communal activity until the permanent…
Taste of Torah: Approaching divinity
Written by Jon Sadik, third-year psychobiology major and vice president of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus When preparing to give the Torah to the Jewish people, G-d gives Moses a curious warning: “Set a boundary for the people roundabout…
Taste of Torah: Let my people go! A new look at an old story
Written by Daniel Levine, third-year cognitive science major and gabbai of UCLA’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus Throughout the Exodus story, we are presented with multiple interactions between Moses and Pharaoh. On their surface, these meetings seem to comprise Moses…
Taste of Torah: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
Written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. Heralded as a leader and revered in history as a paradigmatic hero, it’s hard to imagine that there was a time in Moses’ life marked with desperation. In this week’s…