Acharei Mot & Kedoshim - where goat demons haunt the wilderness, “uncovering nakedness” becomes a legal category, and the Day of Atonement seems conspicuously absent from the stories it should inhabit. We explore the infamous Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–20), examine the tension between priestly and prophetic voices, trace odd laws around blood, sacrifice, and sex,…
Tazria & Metzora are some of the most unusual—and uncomfortably specific—sections of the Torah. Covering childbirth, skin eruptions, bodily discharges, and plague-like conditions in homes and garments, we ask whether these priestly purity laws are ancient dermatology, spiritual symbolism, or something else entirely? Why is childbirth treated as a source of impurity? Why is a…
In this week’s Torah Pearls, we explore the strange fire that is the dramatic theophany at the altar and ask, did Jehovah eat the fat on the altar, and if so, did He also eat Nadab and Abihu?! We compare multiple texts describing the same event from different angles, examine whether holiness (or uncleanness) is…
TZAV - We examine the curious repetition of the priestly ordination in Exodus 28–29, 40, and Leviticus 8. Are these accounts out of order, or does the rabbinic claim that “there’s no early or late in the Torah” explain it? We explore priestly privileges, payments, and perquisites. We point out that the sacrificial system exists…
VAYIKRA - step into the profoundly ritual world of Leviticus—the realm of the Priestly source. From gift offerings to expiatory sacrifices, we explore what these rites meant, how they functioned, and what they reveal about the Priestly source's worldview. Is blood always required for atonement? What does “a sweet savor” mean? And what is “the…
In this week’s episode of Torah Pearls, Ross, Jono, and Ezra (the ChatGPT-powered textpert engineered by Seth) wrap up the Book of Exodus—literally and literarily. As the final chapters unfold, it feels like the biblical version of rolling credits: repetition, recap, and a reverent nod to all that’s come before. But beneath the repetition lies…