Monthly Archives: March 2016

Torah Study Tuesday ~ Shemini


      Torah Study Tuesday is our opportunity to take the title of this week’s portion and see the bigger picture. As we already noticed in Access Granted, the root of Shemini, translated eighth comes from the same word as the word oil, shaman. Eight is a cardinal number, because it is […]

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Access Granted!


At the end of last weeks Torah Portion Tzav, Aaron and his sons had been instructed to remain in the tent of meeting for a total of 7 full days. During this time, each day, Moses erected the Mishkan (Tabernacle). These seven days started on the 23rd of Adar. On […]

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Peace


“Do not fear a sudden threat, nor the storm of the wicked. They will plot but it will be spoiled; they will plan but it will not come to be; for the Holy One is with us” ~Esther Rabbah 7:17 Very often our problem is that we think too much. […]

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The Straw Man


The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of “reasoning” has the following pattern: Person A has position X. Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of […]

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Torah Study Tuesday ~Vayikra


  On only three occasions does Torah speak of a call to Moses. Each involves a summons to preform a momentous act. First the burning bush (Exodus 3,4) and second was the call at Mount Sinai, just before the Divine Words were revealed to him (Exodus 19,3) The third call […]

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Extreme Makeover


Lo, the Winter is past; the rain is over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with tender grapes release a good […]

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Happy New Year!


Be Strong, Be Strong, and May you be Strengthened!

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Anoint It All! Pekudei


What does it mean to be “anointed”? Two words in the Hebrew are listed for anointing, cuwk, סוך, (pronounced sook) and mashach, משח, (pronounced maw-shakh). Cuwk relates to “in the toilet” meaning anoint, anoint self, at all. “And, you shall bathe and anoint yourself, and put your garments on and […]

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The Right Clothes Make The Man


Do the right clothes make the man? We’ve all heard the phrase, “Dress for success”.  For the most part I’m all about putting your best foot forward. How do we dress for success for The Holy One Himself?  This week’s Torah portion pekudei, we find the weavers busy creating the […]

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Torah Study Tuesday ~ Pekudei


Intimate accountability!

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