Commentary

*This is commentary on the Torah, or, from a non-Jewish perspective, the Old Testament.  I approached these ‘commentaries’ very much as an analysis of text, using what I saw in front of me.  In this regard, since I can only understand ‘Bar Mitzvah’ Hebrew, it became very important to have an English translation that sticks as close to the Hebrew as possible, and for that I used the Art Scroll Chumash (the times I have picked up a Bible in hotel rooms it has felt like I wasn’t even reading the same text.)  This is significant since the Torah can be considered as being constructed much in a similar way to poetry, in which word choice, syntax, and phrasing play an important role in imparting meaning.  Before reading these commentaries, I do recommend reading their corresponding text (don’t worry these passages aren’t that long!), but if you don’t happen to have an Art Scroll Chumash then you can find a translation on the Chabad website.  There are some differences between the Art Scroll translation and that on the Chabad site (for example, in the second day of creation, the space that results from the division of the waters is referred to as the ‘Firmament’ in the Art Scroll translation and the ‘expanse’ in that from the Chabad), but, overall, it is similar.  In re-approaching this traditional of traditional texts I have found a way of connecting personally to it, and it has been very exciting, mostly, at the least, because the text and stories revealed themselves to be amazing.

 

The first story of creation

The Akeidah