The Hebrew Bible Weekly Library

Rosh Hashanah Torah & Haftarah Readings

Why are the stories of Ishmael and Isaac read on consecutive days of Rosh Hashanah? This lesson places Genesis 21 and Genesis 22 side by side and uncovers their striking literary and linguistic parallels.

We follow Abraham’s two endangered sons through departure, mortal danger, divine intervention, seeing, hearing, and renewed future—while also asking what the important differences between the stories reveal about election, responsibility, and God’s concern for both sons.

Parashat Nitzavim–Vayelech & Haftarah

What happens to the Torah when Moses is no longer there to teach it? This lesson explores the biblical system for transforming Moses’ teaching into a permanent national memory—through writing, public reading, Hakhel, education, song, and intergenerational transmission.

We also explore how the Torah and the Song both become witnesses to the covenant, allowing the words first spoken by Moses to remain alive in Israel long after his death.

Parashat Ki Tavo & Haftarah

Why must an Israelite farmer bringing a basket of fruit retell the story of Israel’s past? This lesson explores the First Fruits declaration as a ritual of historical memory and personal participation in Israel’s national covenant.

Through Biblical Hebrew grammar and the striking movement from national “we” to personal “I,” we discover how the farmer places his own land, harvest, and identity inside the continuing story of the Exodus and the Promised Land.

Parashat Ki Tetze & Haftarah

Why does the Torah forbid mixing seeds, animals, and fibers? This lesson explores the laws of kil’ayim, the differences between Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and the repeated creation formula “according to its kind.”

Along the way, we examine Biblical Hebrew, the meaning of יַחְדָּו, the unusual term כִּלְאַיִם, and possible explanations for these puzzling commandments.

Parashat Shoftim & Haftarah

Explore the Torah’s fascinating laws concerning magic, divination, omens, mediums, and knowing the future. What separates forbidden divination from biblical prophecy—and what does the command “You shall be wholehearted with the LORD your God” ask of us?

The lesson also follows the theme through Balaam, Isaiah, and the dramatic story of Saul and the medium at En-dor.

Parashat Re’eh & Haftarah

How can we distinguish a true prophet from a false prophet? We explore why a fulfilled sign is not enough, how Deuteronomy tests prophetic claims, and why the story of Micaiah and Ahab’s 400 prophets makes the question even more difficult.

Along the way we examine Biblical Hebrew grammar, including כִּי, the cohortative נֵלְכָה, negative commands, הֲיִשְׁכֶם, and the language of covenantal loyalty.

Parashat Ekev & Haftarah

What does the LORD truly require of His people? This lesson explores fear, love, service, obedience, and covenant through a close reading of Deuteronomy 10.

Discover the five infinitives of covenantal life, Moses’ three periods on Mount Sinai, the exclusive force of Hebrew word order, divine love and election, and the contrast between physical circumcision and an uncircumcised heart.

Parashat Va’etchanan & Shabbat Nachamu

This six-part class explores Moses as Israel’s teacher and mediator, the covenant with the generation entering the Land, and the trust required between a teacher and student. We compare the two versions of the Ten Commandments, focusing on the Sabbath as creation and liberation, the changing language of “You shall not covet,” and the principle of Bal Tosif—the command not to add to or subtract from the Torah.

Parashat Devarim & Haftarah

This class opens Sefer Devarim as a book of memory and retrospective. We examine how Moses retells Israel’s wilderness journey before the people enter the Land, beginning with the meaning of the names Devarim and Deuteronomy, the irony of Moses as “not a man of words,” and the journey that should have taken eleven days but became forty years.

The main focus is the story of the spies, comparing Numbers 13–14 with Deuteronomy 1. We explore how Deuteronomy retells the episode as moral memory, emphasizing fear, refusal to enter the Land, and the loss of trust in God’s promise. The class also connects this story to Shabbat Chazon and the rabbinic tradition that links the night of weeping to Tisha B’Av.

Parashat Pinchas & Haftarah

This class explores the Musaf offerings of Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and the biblical festivals. We examine how the Torah’s sacrificial calendar reveals the character of sacred time: the daily offering, the doubled rhythm of Shabbat, the Nisan and Tishrei festival systems, Sukkot as a double festival, and Shemini Atzeret as the intimate closing assembly.

Parashat Balak & Haftarah

This lesson focused on the complicated figure of Balaam son of Beor: a man whose words carry power, who hears divine speech, and yet remains surrounded by questions of money, honor, divination, motivation, and spiritual perception.

Parashat Chukat & Haftarah

This class explored one of the Torah’s most painful leadership moments: Moses striking the rock at Kadesh. We compared God’s command with Moses’ action, and asked whether the issue was anger, speech, the staff, or a deeper transition in biblical leadership.

Parashat Korach & Haftarah

Korach’s claim that “all the congregation are holy” sounds deeply spiritual, but the story asks what happens when a true religious idea becomes a weapon in a struggle for status and power. The Haftarah with Samuel deepens the same question of leadership, integrity, and kingship.

Parashat Shelach & Haftarah

This lesson began the dramatic biblical theme of spying and scouting. We focused mainly on the opening of the spies’ mission, the Hebrew language of tribal leadership, biblical geography, and the way people interpret what they see.

Parashat Beha’alotcha & Haftarah

This lesson connected Aaron’s kindling of the Menorah, Zechariah’s vision of divine light, the journey of the Ark, and the unusual inverted nuns around Vayehi Binsoa HaAron. The class moved from light in the Mishkan to the structure of the Torah itself.

Parashat Naso & Haftarah

This class explored three biblical paths to holiness: holiness one is born into, holiness one chooses, and holiness one is called to carry. The Nazir, the priests, and Samson became three models of sacred identity and divine purpose.

Parashat Bamidbar & Haftarah

This lesson explored the opening census of Israel, the counting of the Levites, the redemption of the firstborn, and the meaning of value in biblical and rabbinic money. The Haftarah then moved from the Valley of Achor to Petah Tikva — from trouble to hope.

Parashat Behar–Bechukotai & Haftarah

This lesson explored the Torah’s powerful idea that the land itself must keep Shabbat. Through Shmittah, Yovel, exile, and Jeremiah’s image of the tree by water, the class asked where true security is rooted: in ownership and control, or in trust.