In Philadelphia hangs a famous bell with a great crack running down its side. The Liberty Bell is inscribed with the King James translation of a verse from this week’s Torah portion, Behar: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof.” This bell was commissioned in 1752 to celebrate fifty years since…
Tag: Behar
Stand up straight? Behar-Behukotai 5781
Just before the Torah switches from blessing to rebuke in our second portion, Behukotai, God reminds the people that they were removed and liberated from Egyptian servitude in order to walk upright, and without restraint (Levit. 13:13). The word for “upright” קוֹמְמִיּוּת is unusual and ambiguous. As Rashi comments, it means “standing straight,” which is…