Baka: the Verb Geula Keeps Using
The Hebrew for splitting the sea is בָּקַע. It is also the word for a chick breaking out of its…
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Tehom: the Deep That Holds the Essence
וְהַבּוֹר רֵק אֵין בּוֹ מָיִם The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Bereishit 37:24 תְּהוֹם, the primordial…
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Tohu · תֹּהוּ
תֹּהוּ Usually translated waste, emptiness or formlessness. The translation is what makes most of the verses it appears in sound…
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Lighting Chanukah with Oil
The Chanukah miracle was oil. Not wax, not a candle, and not light in general. One sealed flask. וּמָצְאוּ פַּךְ…
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Why the Soul Takes Only Smell
Four of the five senses feed the body. Sight, hearing, taste and touch all arrive through flesh and all serve…
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Shabbat, the Weekly Appointment
Shabbat is usually described as rest. The Torah files it under a different heading. אֵלֶּה הֵם מוֹעֲדָי These are My…
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The Home as Mishkan
With no Temple standing, the Gemara moves the altar rather than retiring it. וְעַכְשָׁיו שֻׁלְחָנוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם מְכַפֵּר עָלָיו And…
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Smell and Remembrance
The clearest place the Torah ties scent to memory is the flood, and it runs in a sequence. וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים…
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Solomon’s Question, Answered by an Eggshell
Solomon builds the most elaborate structure ever raised for divine service, stands in front of it on the day of…
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Oil, from the Deep to the Flame
Oil is the only substance the Mishkan asked for by purity rather than by name. שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר…
