Nedarim 87

According to Numbers 35, if a man killed someone accidentally — what today we would call manslaughter — he should be sent to a “city of refuge” to live out his life. This is a form of exile, but it’s also an opportunity to live free from the threat of retaliation by the victim’s family, at […]

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Parashat Vaera: Honesty, Not Silence

In last week’s Torah portion, we saw that Moses fiercely resisted God’s call to lead the Israelites and God had to reassure him of success multiple times before he finally acquiesced. But after returning to Egypt, Moses’s first confrontation with Pharaoh shook the little faith he had. When Pharaoh refused to free the Israelites and […]

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What’s in a Name?

When God approaches Moses at the burning bush, Moses is initially reluctant to return to Egypt to free the Israelites. He asks God, “When I come to the Israelites and say, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘what is God’s name?’ — what shall I say?” God answers with […]

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