This is Torah Talk for the week of August 2nd, 2020 Deut 8:9 says that Israel is “a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper” — which leaves me with 2 questions. (1)  Is it true? (2) Why are they telling us this now? This week’s handout: 46 Ekev 5780 […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 26th, 2020 Deut 7:9 says that God “keeps His covenant faithfully to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments” — but “commandments” is spelled as if it were singular.  Is this a misspelling, an old-fashioned spelling, or something more significant? This week’s […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 19th, 2020 Deut 2:36 (“not a city”) and 3:4 (“not a town”) both use the word קריה (kiryah) rather than the far more common עיר (ir).  We’ll look at some possible explanations why — with a stop in the New Testament and another in the northern […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 12th, 2020 Today Torah Talk goes to Tin Pan Alley. Num 31:21 features a list of six metals, and two of them — iron [ברזל] and tin [בדיל] do NOT have Semitic names. We’ll explore why. This week’s handout: 42-43 Mattot-Masei 5780 Contribute!          […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of July 5th, 2020 In Numbers 27, Zelophehad’s daughters bring a complaint to Moses. Why didn’t Moses know what to do? This week’s handout: 41 Pinchas 5780 Donate!                    Learn Biblical Hebrew! • click here for more on Ben Sommer’s book Revelation and Authority

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 28th, 2020 Balaam was the prophet to the Gentiles, as Moses was the prophet to the Jews (listen to Vayikra 5780). Numbers 22 hints to us that Balaam was like Abraham (take my Biblical Hebrew course to see how).   But there is one more biblical […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 21st, 2020 Num 16:17 features 252 firepans [מחתות].  And Numbers 16-17 uses that word almost as much as the rest of the Bible combined.  Here’s why. This week’s handout: 38 Korah 5780 Donate!                    Learn Biblical Hebrew!

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 14th, 2020 In Num 14:28-29, God literally swears to make the current generation of Israelites “drop dead.”  Why does He add that this is an “oracle of the LORD [נאם-י.הוה]?” This week’s handout: 37 Shelach Lecha 5780 Donate!                  […]

This is Torah Talk for the week of June 7th, 2020 Moses’ questioning of God in Num 11:11-15 is a little sharper than it seems.  Ed Greenstein explains, with help from Moshe Held. This week’s handout: 36 Beha’alotcha 5780 Donate!                    Learn Biblical Hebrew!

This is Torah Talk for the week of May 31st, 2020 Num 6:24-26 is the Priestly Blessing: The Lord bless you and protect you! The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you! The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace! But v. 27 may be even more important: “Thus they shall link […]