Tag Archives: Greek

Torah of Fire: Adele & Metatron

This weekend we conclude the annual Torah reading cycle with the final parasha, v’Zot haBerakhah. It begins by saying: “This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died. He said: YHWH came from Sinai, and shone upon them from Seir—appearing from Mount Paran, and approaching from Ribeboth-Kodesh; lightning flashing at them from His right.” (Deuteronomy 33:1-2) The three concluding words, esh dat lamo (אש דת למו), are cryptic and mysterious, giving rise to various interpretations and translations.

The first word, esh, is seemingly clear, meaning “fire”. However, in an actual Torah scroll, it is fused with the next word and written as eshdat lamo (אשדת למו). This combined term is more difficult, and can mean “slope“ or “waterfall” or “cascade“, so some translations of the verse say “a fiery stream for His people”. Meanwhile, the word dat later came to mean “law” or “religion” (see Em laMikra on the verse). So, some interpretations translate the phrase as “He gave a fiery law to His people”. Others say God gave the Torah “out of the fire”, or that He gave a “flaming Torah”. Rashi comments here that it refers to the famous mystical teaching that God gave the Torah as “black fire on white fire”.

The Tikkunei Zohar (57b) expands on this fiery Torah theme and first suggests that it’s a Torah of fire because if we don’t fulfil the Torah, God’s fiery wrath comes down upon us, chas v’shalom. This is what led to the destruction of the First and Second Temples, and the exile of the Shekhinah. Later (in 127b), the Tikkunei Zohar has a much deeper discussion. The meaning of that fiery Torah on God’s right side is actually a reference to the “angel of the Torah”, who is always described as God’s “right-hand man”, so to speak. This is, of course, Metatron. Continue reading →

Vav or Waw?

This article is a follow-up to the previous one about the correct pronunciation of God’s name (יהוה), YHWH. Recall that our Sages teach that the nekudot vowels on God’s name are shva, cholam, and kamatz, meaning that the right way to pronounce the name would be “Yehowah”. A number of people reached out arguing that the letter vav is pronounced with a “v” sound, and therefore the name is “Yehovah”. Some referred to the work of Dr. Nehemiah Gordon, who makes the case for the vav being “v” partly based on words in Ezekiel (more on that below), and partly based on a poem by Elazar haKalir (c. 6th century CE) where he rhymes levi (לוי) with navi (נביא). The implication is that Jews as far back as the 6th century were pronouncing the vav as a “v” sound. Gordon himself notes that great rabbis like the Ibn Ezra were puzzled by this rhyme, because it was common knowledge then that the vav is really a “w” sound. Indeed, we find that the vav was a waw for most of Israelite and Jewish history. Below are ten big reasons for why the vav is a waw. Continue reading →

God of Gods, King of Kings

‘The Midianites Put to Flight’ by Gustav Doré

One of the difficult passages in this week’s double parasha, Matot-Massei, which closes the Book of Numbers, is where God seemingly commands a complete massacre of a neighbouring people, the Midianites. This is actually God’s final command to Moses, saying “Take revenge for the Israelites against the Midianites. Afterwards, you will be gathered to your people.” (Numbers 31:2) The next and final book of the Torah is Moses’ own account of his leadership, and was relayed over the last 37 days of his life.

The Israelites go on to slaughter every male Midianite (31:7), take the women and children captive (31:9), then burn down all the cities and take plunder (31:10-11). Still, the Israelites are chastised for letting the adult women live (31:15), as they were the very ones that tempted Israel into various sexual sins beforehand. Understandably, this is one of the most troubling passages in the whole Torah—how could a holy nation seem to behave in a manner more like the violent and bloodthirsty nations we condemn? Unfortunately, passages like this have also turned many away from the Torah, and generated numerous atheists. One such atheist is Richard Dawkins, who summarized it this way in his book, The God Delusion (ch. 2): Continue reading →