Torah & History Today

A short daily study email — the week's Torah portion in plain language, one real Talmudic debate (named sages, both sides), and the historical context around it. Written for sharp, curious readers, not scholars. No sermons.

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Latest edition — September 16, 2026

Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16; Numbers 29:7–11) — Ha'azinu/Shabbat Shuva week: does the day itself atone?

This Shabbat (9/19) is still Ha'azinu — Moses' 43-verse poem-as-witness, which we covered Sunday (the song as deliberately survivable format) and again yesterday (Moses' death sentence in the maftir). So today, with Yom Kippur landing Sunday night into Monday (9/20–21), the main event is the Yom Kippur Torah reading itself: Leviticus 16, plus the musaf offerings of Numbers 29:7–11.

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What a day looks like

Each edition has three parts:

Torah — what actually happens or is commanded in this week's portion, plainly told.

The Debate — one real, specific argument from the Talmud and its commentators, with both sides laid out well enough to argue either one.

History — where this text sits in the long arc of Jewish history, with a running interest in how a people kept its identity through text and law when land and temple were lost.