On Shabbat and festivals, it is a universal practice in the Jewish world to read the weekly Torah portion - the parsha. There are many books that deal with the weekly parsha, but one seeks explanation and ideas that are new. Therefore, there is place for another book on this subject that emphasizes the p'shat - the literal meaning of the Torah verses. There are ''seventy approaches'' to the Torah and the p'shat is surely one of the most important.Careful reading of the Torah verses according to the p'shat reveals new and deep insights. The goal of this book is to present these new ideas to the reader. Probing the Parsha contains eighty-five chapters, each dealing with a single topic. It is my hope that Probing the Parsha will enrich the Shabbat and festival table and will also provide food for thought during the week.About the AuthorNathan Aviezer is Professor of Physics at Bar-Ilan University He has served as visiting professor at the Universities of Cambridge and Leeds in England. In recognition of his research contributions, Aviezer was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society.Aviezer also has a long-standing involvement in Torah and science, and he has authored three books on this subject: In the Beginning (translated into nine languages), Fossils and Faith (translated into four languages) and Modem Science and Ancient Faith.Born in Switzerland, raised in the United States, Professor Aviezer received his doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago, and subsequently held a senior research position at the IBM Watson Research Center near New York. In 1967, Nathan and his wife Dvora made aliya to Israel. The Aviezers have four children and sixteen grandchildren, and they live in Petach Tikva.
