My first memorable experience with Parashat Ki Tavo came when I was a child. My father and I were invited to a Bar Mitzvah in an Ashkenazi synagogue, and the parasha was Ki Tavo. The Bar Mitzvah ...

Ki Tavo is the Torah portion that nobody likes. While it does contain beautiful verses of blessings, there’s that one frightening section, the sixth aliyah, with 54 verses of devastating curses. It’s ...

The first words of the Torah reading of Reeh (Deuteronomy 11:26) starts off by declaring: “See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.” The first two words are “See” (Reeh) and “I” (Anochi).

Who is the storyteller? Is he reliable? All writers are faced with these questions. This week’s Torah portion begins with the Moabite king Balak sending messengers to the sorcerer Balaam with a ...

“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God.” ...

Samuel L. Boyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

Never did I imagine, as a preppy high school student at a Protestant boarding school, that my spiritual journey would lead me to serious Torah study. At my bat mitzvah, despite several years of Hebrew ...

Simchat Torah is about more than beginning to read the Torah all over again. It’s about the need to reexamine what we think we know, over and over again. The Jewish holiday known as Simchat Torah, ...