It's a critical question that the rabbis debate, partially in response to last week's Torah portion, and partially in response this week's parsha. Is emerging backwards still emerging? "Well no," says Rabbi Shmuel, "and here's why." Hear the answer to this fascinating debate and follow along in the source sheet on Sefaria.

We're still on leprosy this week in the Torah portion. There's beauty in things that peel, as we see in nature. I ordered some trees this week that shed their bark in beautiful curls of golden and orange, because I want to bring that beauty into my yard, even if it looks to some like the trees have been struck by disease.

In this week's Torah portion, Aaron is invested as high priest, as are his sons, in a lavish ceremony before the entire Israelite community. It's a high moment for Aaron, a week before his world will fall apart. I don't know why the rabbis segmented the Torah portions this way, but perhaps its a reminder to keep everything in balance, and to focus on the good at times, even—or perhaps because—you know rough waters are coming up ahead.

It's been a long wait, but shows are starting to pop up in my media stream again. One of my favorites returned after a long hiatus (what else is new?) for it's 5th and final season. Watching the first few episodes, I couldn't escape its relationship to this week's Torah portion, and the work of asking for help, guidance, and strength from the divine, and the challenge of hearing an answer.

We're halfway through November, which means the end of 2021 is coming up quickly. With a few weeks left in the year, I took a moment this week to reflect on some goals I'd set at the start of the year, how much progress I've made towards them, and where I find myself as the year wraps up.

This week, I put Robert Frost's famous poem—"The Road Not Taken"— in conversation with our weekly Torah portion, Toldot. The parsha covers the story of Isaac, including the exchange between his sons Jacob and Esau, where Esau sells his birthright to his younger brother.

I finally set my television up after moving in, which meant last Sunday morning was the perfect time to break in the new space with a fine home cinema experience. Naturally I picked Ferris Bueller's Day Off, because I love it, and because it's leaving Netflix at the end of this month. What I didn't expect was to spend the whole movie reflecting on the similarities between the movie and this week's Torah portion—Parsha Vayera.

Getting to this episode has been a journey. I took a break in May 2021, after producing 59 episodes, with plans to return in September 2021, at the start of the Jewish New Year. Then my wife and I bought a house, and life got busy with housework. Then my mother's illness took a turn for the worse and life got busy with life.

This may come as a surprise, or not, especially if you know me, but I identify with Korach the much demonized revolutionary who gathers followers and challenges Moses's leadership in this week's Torah portion. Most of Jewish history makes Korach out to be the bad guy—seeking power for power's sake, power he thinks he has a right to but which has been denied to him by Moses, Aaron, and the new hierarchies of leadership handed down by G-d.

This may come as a surprise, or not, especially if you know me, but I identify with Korach the much demonized revolutionary who gathers followers and challenges Moses's leadership in this week's Torah portion. Most of Jewish history makes Korach out to be the bad guy—seeking power for power's sake, power he thinks he has a right to but which has been denied to him by Moses, Aaron, and the new hierarchies of leadership handed down by G-d.

This week, as the Torah returns to the theme of counting, in Parshat Bamidbar, the world seems to have more to count than ever—infection rates to be sure, but also global vaccine programs. And if you’re focused on Israel you might be tracking rockets fired from Gaza, interceptions by the Iron Dome. Of course, you might also be tracking Palestinian casualties in Gaza and the West Bank, the number of seconds you have to chuck a teargas canister before the vapors envelope you, and the number of houses demolished by Israel, to make way for new Jewish neighborhoods.

I’ve been reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, in the same week the Torah presented the laws of shmitta in Parshat Behar. The shmitta tradition is all about our cyclical obligation to treat the Earth with integrity, trading the produce of our toil rather than the land itself, and I found it impossible to read both texts in the same week.