Parshas Ekev

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כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, מְבִיאֲךָ אֶל-אֶרֶץ טוֹבָה:  אֶרֶץ, נַחֲלֵי מָיִם--עֲיָנֹת וּתְהֹמֹת, יֹצְאִים בַּבִּקְעָה וּבָהָר. ח  אֶרֶץ חִטָּה וּשְׂעֹרָה, וְגֶפֶן וּתְאֵנָה וְרִמּוֹן; אֶרֶץ-זֵית שֶׁמֶן, וּדְבָשׁ 7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey;

Parshas Vaeschanan

Parshas Vaeschanan - lots of mussar, & mitzvos & 10 commandments. Chose one important mitzva - tefillin. 

As a woman, I never knew anything about tefillin except that they were black and cost a lot of money.

I have learned that the Tefillin of the Hand have a knot that looks like a yud on one side and a strap from the other. The Tefillin shel yad are made from one piece of leather

The Tefillin of the head is made from 4 sections of one piece of leather that are pressed into a square, has a shin on its side, and straps coming from both sides of the back.

The boxes are sewn with gid - sinew of a kosher animal - in a square. The corners cannot be rounded.

Parshas Devarim

In this week's parsha, bnei Yisrael capture the lands of Sichon & Og. The pasuk describes Og's bed as being 9 amos by 4 amos - There is a machlokes if this is by Og's amos or regular amos but Huge by any measure.

Parshios Matos-Maasei

 a map of Bnei Yisrael's travels through the desert. This map shows Egypt, Sinai Desert and the south of Israel

Parshas Pinchas

In this week's parsha,  the shevatim picked their portion in Eretz Yisrael by lots.