THIS IS OFFICIALLY the 2,000th edition of Perceptions, boruch Hashem, a personal milestone. It is hard to believe that I have done this 2,000 times.

The parsha begins with the mitzvah for the kohanim to light the Menorah in the Mishkan. But after discussing it, the Torah adds:

Do blessings really work today? Not the kind you make over food or a mitzvah, because those are rabbinical enactments for other reasons.

THE DESERT IS an interesting place, though only if you’re not stuck in one without food or drink. Deserts probably represent death better than anything else in the world since nothing really grows there, and plenty of people have died there.

THE PARSHA BEGINS with a reference to Har Sinai. Considering that we know the Jewish people had yet to leave the mountain, it seems to be a superfluous fact.