פרשת משפטים

This is what I learned last week: The מצווה not to wrong a stranger (גר) appears 36 times in the Torah, more than any other מצווה. Just so happens that 36 is also the number of the ל"ו צדיקים. According to Jewish tradition, were it not for these 36 righteous people in the world, the world would come to an end. Not sure what to make of that, but I find it very interesting.

פרשת יתרו

I am intrigued by many things in last week’s פרשה, including Buber's suggestion that in the beautiful metaphor of eagles' wings (Exodus 19:4) "we have election, deliverance, and education, all in one"; the debate among the rabbis about whether Exodus 20:2 (... אנכי) is itself a מצווה or just a bit of prefatory throat-clearing; the possibility of reading Exodus 20:2 literally as "you will not have other gods to my Face" (לא–יהיה לך ... על–פני); and Ibn Ezra's division of the מצוות into three categories: those of the heart ("feeling rules," in the sociology of emotions), speech, and doing.