Torah Portion

Bamidbar

במדבר

Numbers 1:1-4:20
Hosea 2:1–22

Hosea’s Abusive Marital Metaphor Ends with Courtship, Not Violence

Hosea’s Abusive Marital Metaphor Ends with Courtship, Not Violence

Hosea’s depiction of the marital relations with a promiscuous woman, as a metaphor for YHWH’s relationship with Israel, is problematic in ancient and modern terms. The structure of Hosea 2, however, suggests that we have been overlooking the prophet’s message: YHWH rejects and repudiates violence in favor of gentle persuasion and courtship.

Prof. Rabbi
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Levites: A Transjordanian Tribe of Priests

Levites: A Transjordanian Tribe of Priests

Pre-exilic biblical texts describe Levites as landless priests who can serve in any holy site. The origin of this status can be found in ancient times, when the tribe of Levi lost control of their territory in the Transjordan, but remained in the vicinity serving in the Nebo temple, where their ancestor Moses was buried.

Prof.
Alexander Rofé
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

The Tabernacle: A Post-Exilic Polemic Against Rebuilding the Temple

The Tabernacle: A Post-Exilic Polemic Against Rebuilding the Temple

The Priestly Torah discusses the Tabernacle at extraordinary length, emphasizing its portability. Nothing in P ever says this structure was meant to be temporary. P’s Tabernacle was not foreshadowing the Temple, but was a polemic against Haggai and Zechariah’s agitation to build the Second Temple.

Dr. Hacham
Isaac S. D. Sassoon
TheGemara.com
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Why Are There No Israelite Priestesses?

Why Are There No Israelite Priestesses?

Hittite texts show us that in the ancient Near East, women, including the queen, served as priestesses. The biblical authors, in their fervor for YHWH, monotheism, and centralization of worship through one Temple and one priesthood, strongly objected.

Prof.
Ada Taggar-Cohen
TheGemara.com
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Who Were the Levites?

Who Were the Levites?

The Torah describes the Levites as a landless Israelite tribe who inherited their position by responding to Moses’ call to take vengeance against sinning Israelites. This account masks a more complicated historical process.

Prof.
Mark Leuchter
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Jezreel: A Military City and the Location of Jehu’s Coup

Jezreel: A Military City and the Location of Jehu’s Coup

Biblical, geographical, and archaeological data coalesce to clarify the military importance of this city to Iron Age Israel and the possible meaning of the term “Ahab’s hêḵal.

Dr.
Norma Franklin
TheGemara.com
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Relegating Redemption of the Firstborn to a One-time Event in the Wilderness

Relegating Redemption of the Firstborn to a One-time Event in the Wilderness

The Priestly Torah has two different conceptions of why/how the firstborn Israelites are exempt from serving as priests. Is a questionable firstborn census an effort to weigh in on this dispute?

Dr.
Eve Levavi Feinstein
TheGemara.com
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Dr. Rabbi
Zev Farber
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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Bamidbar

במדבר

Numbers 1:1-4:20

אִישׁ עַל דִּגְלוֹ בְאֹתֹת לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם יַחֲנוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל...

במדבר ב:ב

The Israelites shall camp each with his standard, under the banners of their ancestral house...

Num 2:2

Numbers

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