👂🏼 Listen to this week's Torah Portion! 📖 Parashat Behar-Bechukotai (“On the Mountain” / “In My Statutes”) Leviticus 25:1–27:34 This double portion begins with the commandments for the land of Israel. When the children of Israel enter the Promised Land, they must observe a Sabbath year for the land every seventh year. For six years they may sow their fields and prune their vineyards, but in the seventh year the land must have a complete rest. God then establishes the Jubilee year. The fiftieth year is proclaimed as the Year of Jubilee on the Day of Atonement with the sounding of the shofar. In that year, property returns to its original owner, indentured servants are set free, and the land rests once again. The portion continues with laws concerning the redemption of property, rules for Israelite servants, helping and redeeming a poor brother, and the prohibition against charging interest. It then presents the great blessings that will come if the people obey God’s commandments, and the severe punishments that will follow if they disobey. The portion ends with the laws regarding vows and valuations made to the Lord, detailing how people, animals, houses, and fields are to be valued and redeemed. Like my page to read the weekly Torah Portions with me! Support these Torah Videos: www.ashsoular.com/donate

👂🏼 Listen to this week's Torah Portion! 📖 Parashat Emor (“Speak”) Leviticus 21:1–24:23 "Emor" means speak because this portion begins with God telling Moses to speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, the commandments for preserving their holiness. The Portion details when a priest is permitted to become ritually unclean by approaching a dead body (only for his closest relatives: mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or an unmarried sister). It also explains who among the priest’s family may eat the holy offerings and includes laws regarding who a priest may marry. God further lists the physical defects that disqualify a priest from offering the bread of God. Next, the Portion outlines what makes an offering acceptable to God. For example a young animal must remain with its mother for seven days before it can be offered, and there are certain defects that make an animal unfit for an offering. God then gives the children of Israel His appointed feasts that they are to observe every year, from the weekly Shabbat, and Passover through Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). We are also given the ordinances for the placing of the showbread in the Tabernacle. Finally, it concludes with the story of a man who blasphemed the Name of God and the penalty for anyone who blasphemes the Name of God. Support these weekly Torah videos: www.ashsoular.com/donate

This week is another double portion: Acharei Mot which means after the death and Kedoshim which means holy ones. It picks up after the death of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu. God instructs Aaron on the service of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It details the ritual of the two goats: one is sacrificed to God, and the other (the scapegoat) is sent into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people of Israel. Then this portion gives us many more laws including not eating blood, the list of unlawful sexual relationships, commands when dealing with your neighbor, punishment for child sacrifice, punishment for seeking spiritists, and much more. God tells the people why these laws are given: "You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine." Support my work: www.ashsoular.com/donate

This double portion is all about the laws of ritual purity and impurity in the context of the Tabernacle. Tazria starts off detailing the laws of purification for a woman after childbirth, including different periods of impurity for the birth of a boy or a girl, followed by offerings to complete her return to ritual cleanness. The majority of both portions centers on tzara’at, often translated as leprosy, as well as other infections of the same type that can appear on clothing or the walls of a house. The Torah details how the priest examines, diagnoses, quarantines, and ultimately purifies the affected person, garment, or home. Metzora continues with the purification ceremony for someone healed from tzara’at and concludes with the laws about various bodily discharges, both normal and abnormal, that render a person unclean and the process for becoming clean again. These chapters emphasize the importance of distinguishing between clean and unclean and the path to restoration and return to holiness.

Shemini means “eighth.” This portion opens on the eighth day following the seven days of ordination for Aaron and his sons described in Parashat Tzav. On this day, the offerings are carried out exactly as the Lord had commanded. The service begins successfully: Aaron blesses the people, God’s glory appears before the entire congregation, and fire from the Lord consumes the burnt offerings on the altar. | However, tragedy strikes when Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu offer unauthorized “strange fire” before the Lord, and fire comes forth from the Lord and consumes them. Later, Aaron refrains from eating the sin offering as commanded. When Moses becomes angry, Aaron explains his grief over the death of his two sons, and Moses accepts his reasoning. The portion concludes with the detailed laws distinguishing between clean and unclean animals that the children of Israel may eat. Support my work! www.ashsoular.com/donate

Parashat Tzav is the second Torah portion in the Book of Leviticus. God commands Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons on the precise procedures for the burnt offering, meal offering, sin offering, guilt offering, and peace offering, including how the priests must handle the portions and keep the altar fire burning continually. By this point the Tabernacle has already been built, and this Portion recounts how these detailed priestly instructions were carried out, stating that Moses and Aaron did everything exactly as the Lord commanded. The portion concludes with the seven-day ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. Support my work to make these videos and more: www.ashsoular.com/donate Thank you!💗

Parashat Vayikra is the first portion of the Book of Leviticus also called Vayikra in Hebrew. This portion begins the detailed laws of worship in the Tabernacle. God calls to Moses from the Tent of Meeting and instructs him on the various offerings that form the sacrificial system. These offerings serve as a means to draw closer to God, express devotion, give thanks, and achieve atonement for sins, even unintentional ones. These are the five main types of offerings: Olah (Burnt Offering) — A voluntary offering where the entire animal (except the hide) is completely burned on the altar as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, to make atonement for the offerer. Minchah (Meal/Grain Offering) — A voluntary gift made from fine flour, oil, and frankincense. Part is burned on the altar as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, and the rest goes to the priests. Shelamim (Peace/Well-Being Offering) — A voluntary offering where the fat portions are burned on the altar as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Chatat (Sin Offering) — An obligatory offering for unintentional sins or violations of commandments, varying by who sinned (High Priest, community, leader, or individual); it is made to make atonement. Asham (Guilt/Trespass Offering) — An obligatory offering for specific wrongs, such as unintentional misuse of sacred property or false oaths; it includes restitution and makes atonement. Enjoy these portions and want to support these videos? https://www.ashsoular.com/donate

Listen to this week's Torah Portion as I read it to you! Parashat Vayak’hel-Pekudei is the grand finale of the Book of Exodus. After the dramatic scene with the golden calf, this double portion shows the children of Israel coming together to donate supplies and volunteer to help build the Tabernacle (Mishkan), God’s portable sanctuary in the wilderness. We are told again that God has called Bezalel and Oholiab and filled them with His spirit of to work in all manner of craftmanship for the tabernacle. They receive the contributions from the people, and they begin making all of the pieces for the Mishkan with God's detailed instructions: the curtains, frames, basin, ark with gold cherubim, the table, menorah, altars, garments and more. After all of their work, the tabernacle is finally finished, and Moses anoints and consecrates it. God descends upon it as a cloud and His glory fills the tabernacle. His cloud remained by day, and became a fire by night, and whenever the cloud would lift off, the children of Israel would pack up and set out again. 💗These videos are a labor of love to bring the Word of God to others, but unfortunately, they aren't cheap to make. If you'd like to support these videos and want to see more, you can make a donation here: https://www.ashsoular.com/donate Thank you!