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This week’s parasha describes the worship-tent that God commands the Israelites to construct in the wilderness.

Around the tent, they are to construct a courtyard, of panels held between columns.

Perhaps you’ve seen a Torah scroll being unrolled around a sanctuary at Simchat Torah. You’ve seen how it’s long enough to go around the whole room, the ( Read more... )

I wanted to do you a post about why there aren’t any vowels or musical notation-marks in a sefer Torah, but when I came to study the subject, I realised it’s a good deal more complicated than can fit into one post. It seemed to require a brief history of vowel-marks, which in turn required a brief history of the alef-bet, which in turn required a ( Read more... )

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Another interesting titbit from Eisenberg, absolutely courtesy of Gabriel, because Jen is not in the habit of reading long Hebrew introductions to random books, and Gabriel is.

Remember that Eisenberg dissed Edomites, and said that they were sexually iniquitous. Well, there is an “Important Disclaimer” (מודעה רבה) in the front of the book:

To ( Read more... )

Joint post from Jen and Gabriel

Part 1 - Gabriel writes:

When Moses sends messengers to the King of Edom, requesting passage for the Israelites through his land, their message includes the following line:

נעברה נא בארצך, לא נעבר בשדה ובכרם ולא נשתה מי באר

May we please pass through thy land? we will not pass through fields or vineyards, and we will ( Read more... )