The Torah describes a Metzora, one afflicted with a disease on his skin called Tzaraas. This was a spiritual impurity with obvious physical symptoms. A Kohein (a member of the priestly Jewish tribe) would examine a lesion on a person and declare him or her to be a...

The Passover Haggadah, which we read at the Seder, tells us about the many miracles that were done on behalf of the Jewish nation during their exodus from Egypt. It tells us that Hashem is watching over our nation and protecting us in every generation. And it also...

A great deal of the Book of Leviticus, which we begin reading this week, discusses the animal and flour offerings brought in the Tabernacle and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Hebrew word for offering, "Korban," literally means a tool to bring us closer to G-d. The...

Betzalel was appointed to manage the construction of the Mishkan (The Holy Tabernacle), both the building and its vessels. When Moshe (Moses) related the instructions from G-d on how to build the Mishkan, he began by describing the Holy Ark, continued with the other...

When the Rabbis instituted the Mitzvah of reading the Megillah (Megillas Esther, the Scroll of Esther) on Purim, they included a number of strict laws regarding the reading and writing of the scroll. One such law is to not read the Megillah backwards, meaning that...

This and the upcoming Torah portions explain the construction of the holy Mishkan (Tabernacle) in great detail. One key reason to discuss these details, the Talmud explains (Shabbos 49b), is to learn the 39 types of work done to construct the Mishkan—because these are...