The biblical man did not fear an ox, though the Torah notes this week that an ox might gore a human to death. And whilst the Torah requires the execution by stoning of a man-killer oxen, it similarly decrees the same verdict for a human who murdered his fellowman.
The dog makes its actual entrance into the Hebrew Bible in Parashat Bo when Moses informs the Pharaoh about the imminent Tenth plague that would devastate ‘’all the land of Egypt’’ and bring about ‘’a loud cry in’’ every Egyptian household.
Ancient Egypt’s staple food, which is constantly featured on the main stage in this weekly Torah portion, Miketz, was essentially plant-based, or vegetarian. It is no wonder, therefore, why the Pharaoh went right to sleep after he first woke up following his first dream...
Reuben's lamentation, then, at seeing the empty pit without any clue for Joseph's whereabouts: ''The boy is gone, and I, where can I turn?'' might just as well be a call not to let the child in us leave us later on in life.
Given the scriptural evidence cited above it seems reasonable to infer that associating the dwelling in booths of the Israelites during their long journey through the Sinai desert was rather a late development that was projected retrospectively on the days of Sinai.
Selfishness is a major wall between a person and God; when a person goes – especially when s/he would rather not -- to a place where there is sadness in order to express sympathy, or when s/he goes to another place where there is joy in order to rejoice with them, one defies selfishness and gain more proximity to the presence of God.
In this weekly portion of Matot that discusses releasing a woman ("isha") from a vow that she had taken, God permits the father of a non-married woman to effectively cancel out her oath, but only on the same day that he heard out his daughter’s vow.
Moses -- in this weekly Torah portion Sh’lach – finds it necessary to include 12 tribal leaders in the scouting-of-the-Promised-Land adventure for the sake of being politically correct, rather than be militarily correct
A month into their journeying through the Sinai desert the people exhaust their small flour provisions that they carried from Egypt, and become nostalgic about “the flesh pots” and “the fish” that they recall eating even as slaves
