IfNotNow Torah

Our Fire will not be Extinguished: Parashat Tetzaveh

The latter half of Exodus, for many of us, is not the most exciting section of the Torah. Our inspirational journey out of Egypt occurred earlier in the book and we received the Ten Commandments shortly afterward. The remaining Torah…

Mishpatim: An eye for an eye

Following the gathering at Sinai, the Torah’s narrative resumes with this week’s parasha, a series of laws and remedies for righting civil wrongs. One passage in this week’s text has confounded readers probably from the time it was written down. I refer to Exodus 21:23–25 which…

Parashat Terumah: Make Me a Sanctuary

Rabbi Lizz Goldstein, IfNotNow DC

In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Terumah, God starts telling the Israelites the very specific blueprints for how they should build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, the Divine dwelling place on Earth…

Ki Tisa: Sinai and The Bad Parts of Torah and Activism

Ki Tisa is a monumental parasha in Exodus, featuring the golden calf, the broken tablets, and a deeply beautiful ending: three times in the seventh reading, we’re told that Moses’s skin “had become radiant” after spending 40 days and…