Reiach: the Sense That Came Through Eden Unbroken
Of the five senses, one is singled out by the Gemara as a transaction the body is not party to….
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The Pach: From Garbage Can to Holy Vessel
When the Greeks contaminated the Temple, the Maccabees searched for oil that was still fit to use. What they found…
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Tzion: the Place the World Came Out Of
Zion is treated as a location, and the sources keep declining to leave it at that. The world came out…
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Nun: Bent, Straight, Suspended, Missing
Nun is the fourteenth letter and its value is fifty. It is also the only letter the tradition hands over…
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Shemen: Oil Is the Soul of the Tree
Halacha establishes that oil may be poured for a lamp. It never says why oil should matter more than any…
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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…
