Commentary on Parashat Yitro

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you. Exodus 20: 12 The Ten Commandments are often cited as the bedrock of our faith. For both Jews and Christians, they are said to lay down the …

Commentary on Parashat Va-Yehi

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it was wrong, so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. “Not so, Father,” Joseph said to his father, “for the other is the first-born…” Genesis …

Commentary on Parashat Mikeitz

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis “After two years’ time, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, when out of the Nile came seven cows, handsome and sturdy, and they grazed in the reed grass. But presently, seven other cows came up from the Nile close behind them, ugly and gaunt…. And the ugly …

Commentary on Parashat Ki Teitzei

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis If a man has a wayward and defiant son, who does not heed his father or mother and does not obey them even after they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the community. They shall say to …

Commentary on Parashat Naso

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis Here the priest shall administer the curse of adjuration to the woman, as the priest goes on to say to the woman – “may the Lord make you a curse and an imprecation among your people, as the Lord causes your thigh to sag and your belly to distend; may …

Commentary on Parashat Emor

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis There came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. The son of the Israelite pronounced the Name in blasphemy, and he was brought to Moses – now his …

Commentary on Parashat Aharei Mot

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis “Do not defile yourselves in any of those ways, for it is by such that the nations that I am casting out before you defiled themselves.” Leviticus 18:24 Parashat Aharei Mot consists largely of a catalogue of sins that the priests and the people are not to commit. These range …

Commentary on Parashat Tzav

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out; every morning the priest shall feed wood to it, lay out the burnt offering on it, and turn into smoke the fat parts of the offering of well-being. A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the …

Commentary on Parashat Vayikra

Bettijane Eisenpreis By Bettijane Eisenpreis “The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying speak to the Israelite people…” Leviticus 1:1-2 The Hebrew title of the third book of the Torah is Va-Yikra, taken from the first words of the first sentence, “And God called.” For centuries, the Jewish …

Commentary on Parashat Tetzaveh

February 13, 2019 By Bettijane Eisenpreis “I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. I will abide among the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I the Lord am their God, who brought them …

Parashat Be-Shallah

January 17, 2019 by Bettijane Eisenpreis Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war and return to Egypt.” So God led the people roundabout, …