THE MIDRASH LEARNS that the four terms in the second verse of the Torah, null, void, darkness, and deep, allude to the four exiles the Jewish people were destined to undergo.

The name itself has the same letters that spell “bald,” perhaps given to him at birth as a prophecy of how one day his being shaven bald would lead to his rebellion and demise.

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.