ekev: do not give me my daily bread
sholem aleichem, Hi friends! Welcome to another Friday. Lots to discuss. First, thank you to everyone who replied to last week's newsletter -- I promise I...
vaeschanan: choose love
sholem aleixem, Note א: My learning this week is dedicated to the memories of tristen, fern, fall, and soph. I'm thinking of you. Note ב: I studied the text...
devarim: a man of few words
Hey friends, Welcome to Devarim :) I'm feeling really grateful for the Torah cycle this week. It's so nice to have study practice like this that just keeps...
matos-masei: purest anguish, purest joy
Happy (?) av friends, A quick newsletter (sorry about the typo. I don't know which one, I just know it is there.) Hard to believe we're here at the end of...
pinchas: always more
sholem aleichem, friends! another week in the book. which book? we'll find out soon! We're going to do a short one this week, that I haven't planned at all....
balak: no nations, no borders
hello friends, It's been a week, and that's a fact. I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready (once again) for Shabbos. We're in Balak this week, which is the...
chukas:
sholem aleixem! Wow, another week! I'm personally feeling quite overwhelmed by gestures broadly. But, it's time for some Torah study and preparation for...
korach: for the sick and afflicted, a maskil of moshe
hello all, a short note this week -- i've found it difficult to write, for absolutely no particular reason whatsoever at all. starting in bamidbar 15:32 (end...
sh'lach: fringe theories of halakha
hello! What a week! I'm sitting down to draft this on Friday, at the last possible moment, because I've been wildly busy with work and other activities....
beha'aloscha: hello darkness my old friend
hello friends! Did you know that cranes build other cranes, unless they are really tall, and then they build themselves? What a metaphor for,,, something....
nasso: priesthood for the people
sholem aleichem, Hello friends! Welcome to the end of another week (the plan is to be weekly again for Bamidbar). I hope you had a revelatory Shavuos (if...
bamidbar: borders require police
sholem aleixem, Hello again friends! It has been a little while. I hope this newsletter finds you [screeching noises]. Over the course of my Vayikra-hiatus I...
tazria-metzora-achrei: אין אחד אלא דאגה
hello friends, A couple introductory caveats. I will be using the words "pure" and "impure" in this drash. Often we try to avoid these, since they carry...
shmini: 1+1=1
hello friends, A few very brief thoughts on this week's Torah portion. So in this portion we have Moses giving some commands and then we're told that ויקרבו...
ki sisa: give the infinite to hashem
dear friends, hashem spoke to moshe saying: see, i have called by name betzalel son of uri son of hur of the tribe of yehudah. i have filled him with the...
tetzaveh: without wisdom
the root of yiddishkeit is walking with simplicity and without wisdom and you will teach all that are wise of heart a person who goes after their wisdom will...
terumah: beauty for its own sake
hello friends, I have had an unfortunate flare-up of some nerve problems, and I have to save the limited amount of time I can type for giving my students...
mishpatim: remembering
sholem aleixem, I hope you'll forgive me a slightly more personal newsletter this week. I promise we'll be back to wild gematric minutiae shortly. But...
yisro: be ready and be gay
hey cats, This email is a bit late and a bit short because I have been overwhelmed by the three-pronged trident of starting a new semester teaching,...
beshalach: apocalyptic hope
hello friends, My school decided to go remote for the first couple of weeks this semester, thank g-d, so I just finished reorganizing my classes for that and...