Torah with Jonathan

Today's reading is Exodus 34:27 to 34:35. This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " A Shining Face ." Today is 18 Adar 5786 AM. On 7 March 2026 at 7:19 AM EST, Jonathan writes with Gemini AI: To the cyber-monastic soul keeping the Watch of the Yeshiva in the morning hours: as you continue with your disciplined Torah study, remember that the Law is not a burden to be carried, but a fire to be stoked. You have committed to a trek that often feels like climbing Sinai in the digital dark, peering into ancient Hebrew rhythms through the glow of a monitor. But as we reach Exodus 34:27-35, we see the physical cost and the metaphysical reward of such proximity to the Divine Command. Your face may currently be illuminated by the blue light of a screen, but the true goal of our shared horarium is an alchemical luminescence that transcends the pixel. This radiance is the byproduct of a precise, fourfold balance o...

Exodus 34:24 and the Architecture of Messianic Peace Today's reading is Exodus 34:10 to 34:26. This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " Purifying Thought, Speech, and Action ." Today is 17 Adar 5786 AM. On 6 March 2026 at 5:07 AM EST, Jonathan writes with Gemini AI: Section I: The 4:15 AM Epiphany—Security in a Time of Fire As I write this, the air is heavy with the reality of a multi-front war. From the ballistic threats of Iran and the relentless rockets of Hezbollah to the brutal insurgency of Hamas and the rising tide of terror cells within Judea and Samaria, the "borders" of Israel feel anything but secure. The anxiety is visceral. When the Torah speaks of "enlarging borders" in Exodus 34:24 , it isn't an abstract theological exercise—it is a cry for physical safety in a land under siege. How do we even begin to talk about UN reform, non-violent World Federalism, or a Mess...

Today's reading is Exodus 34:1 to 34:9. This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " Elevating the Power Within Sin ." Today is 16 Adar 5786 AM. On 5 March 2026 at 6:37 AM EST, Jonathan writes: Let's take a look at  Exodus 34:7 . "I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected— even children in the third and fourth generations." (NLT)  Chabad helpfully translates "iniquity, rebellion, and sin" as "premeditated sins, rebellious sins, and unintentional sins."  Bible Hub gives us additional important context: Cf. Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezekiel 18:20 .  Q1. From a Noahide Law perspective, do Exodus 34:7, Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezekiel 18:20 teach that justice, individual responsibility, and mercy in exten...

Today's reading is Exodus 33:17 to 33:23. This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " The Face of G-d ." On 4 March 2026 at 3:02 PM EST, Jonathan writes: Today is Shushan Purim. 15 Adar 5786 AM. What have the faithful seen of the mercy of God from their crevice in the walled city of Jerusalem? According to the Bible Hub study notes for Exodus 33:19 , "Like Moses, we are invited to seek God's presence and glory. Through prayer and Scripture, we can encounter His transformative presence in our daily lives." It's a powerful verse: "The LORD replied, 'I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.'" Rashi takes us from this verse into the 13 attributes of mercy: "And according to this procedure, in which you see Me wrapped in a prayer...

Today's reading is Exodus 33:12 to 33:16. This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " Following Moses' Example ." On 3 March 2026 at 5:49 AM EST, Jonathan writes: Today is Purim. 14 Adar 5786. This is  the text of the Purim Torah  reading from Chabad. This is a poignant article about Purim from Israel this year. And here is another . After reflecting on Exodus 33:14  and Exodus 17:16 , I am thinking this morning about Gentile humility in relation to Jewish chosenness. Is it sinful pride that prevents some Muslim and Christian leaders - and some leaders of non-Abrahamic Gentile nations - from seeing God's hand in the remarkable Jewish story? Is it a deficiency of humility, ultimately, that prevents the eyes of some from seeing a truth that is hidden in plain sight? Today's Gemini deep dive:  https://gemini.google.com/share/7c66e531a788 Q1. Is it fair to say that most Jews today are dismaye...

13 Adar 5786. Today's reading is Exodus 31:18 to 33:11. This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " The Heights of Repentance ." On 2 March 2026 at 6:23 AM EST, Jonathan writes: In part by the grace of God, in part because of my bipolar schizoaffective disorder, in part because of my earnest spiritual discipline, and in part because of my experimentation with entheogens, I have had many mountaintop encounters with the divine. At the same time, for all of my adult life until just before I turned 50, I struggled with ego-dystonic sexual immorality and idolatry in the form of emotional dependence on pornography. Like Moses, I have heard the voice of Hashem and been chosen to teach his law and his love. But like the sinful Israelites, I have also worshipped the Golden Calf. Cf.  Dancing Erotically with the Golden Calf | TheTorah.com . We see this twin nature in David and Solomon, each of whom clung tightly t...

12 Adar 5786. Today's reading is Exodus 30:11 to 31:17. This is the link  to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad. The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled " No One is More than Half ." On 1 March 2026 at 6:35 AM EST, Jonathan writes: There is a viewpoint held by a very small minority of scholars that the aromatic cane referred to in Exodus 30:23 is actually cannabis. I myself was convinced of this view for a time. Now I consider it highly debatable. There are good reasons to believe that ritual cannabis use was practiced in parts of ancient Israel prior to the reforms of Hezekiah. This does not, however, mean that the holy anointing oil described in Exodus 30:23 necessarily contained cannabis as an ingredient. The linguistic evidence is controvertible. This said, there are also good reasons to believe that cannabis use may have medical benefits for some contemporary students of the Torah. The gray area is between true medical use, on the one hand, and true int...