Bamidbar Archives | Page 10 of 14 | Academy for Jewish Religion

5 07, 2011

Parashat Hukkat

By ahsilver|2011-07-05T14:33:15-04:00July 5, 2011|

By Simon Rosenbach

Many years ago, a friend proposed that we write a book: Management Lessons From the Torah. We never wrote the book, but this week’s parashah provides a fascinating management lesson. It involves the waters of Merivah.

We all know the story. The Israelites encamped at Kadesh and, as usual, started to complain. This time, they complained that here they were, stuck in the desert, and there was no water.

As usual, Moses went to the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, to consult God. As usual, God provided instructions. In this case, God told Moses to order a rock to produce water, and it would. Read More >

23 06, 2011

Parashat Korach

By ahsilver|2011-06-23T16:12:13-04:00June 23, 2011|

By Rabbi Jo David

Korah Wasn’t Wrong?

For the last six months I’ve been teaching a comparative religion course – “The Religious Experience” – at Berkeley College in Manhattan. The student body at Berkeley is predominantly black, Hispanic, and Christian, with a large number of foreign students, many from Africa. There are very few Jews on staff. Few students have ever met a Jewish person, not to mention a rabbi or a female rabbi! This is my ideal rabbinate – putting myself in settings where “no Jew has gone before” and introducing Judaism to people for whom Judaism is an unknown quantity.

This is challenging territory. Inevitably there are a few religious Christians in my class who are eager to show off their knowledge of Judaism and to bond with me over our “shared” faith. It’s a tricky business to explain without disenchanting Read More >

16 06, 2011

Parashat Sh’lah L’kha

By ahsilver|2011-06-16T15:39:35-04:00June 16, 2011|

In this week’s parashah we read about the spies, twelve tribal leaders selected by Moses for a forty day reconnaissance mission to report on the nature of the Promised Land.

After traversing wilderness and mountainous terrain, the men returned and described a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Num. 13:27). With hyperbole and distortion, ten of the spies also reported how the land devours its inhabitants, the people are exceedingly fierce, and the cities fortified, populated with giants (Num. 13:28, 32-33). This news bulletin evoked intense fear among the Israelites, nearly catalyzing a popular revolt.

In understanding Torah, I search for an inner, psycho-spiritual dimension. This approach is comparable to the allegorical interpretations of Philo, and the Hasidic Masters who tend to psychologize elements and characters in Torah.

The Passover Haggadah reads: Hayav Adam li’rot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza miMitzraim– it is Read More >

10 06, 2011

Parashat Beha’alotekha

By ahsilver|2011-06-10T18:58:17-04:00June 10, 2011|

By Eliana Falk

A friend of mine has a lapel button that I love. It boasts the standard red circle and slash of caution printed over the word “WHINING.”

NO WHINING.

And now that we are wandering Bemidbar, “in the wilderness,” it seems that we will hear almost nothing else from the Israelites. Indeed, Beha’alot’kha is replete with tales of disappointments, greed and desperation on the part of the Israelites, and frustration on the parts of God and Moses.

What lessons can we learn? The wisdom of walking willingly to the place God leads us, the troubles we bring upon ourselves when we cease to appreciate our blessings and allow our anxieties to motivate usÂ and yes, learning to trust God. Read More >

2 06, 2011

Parashat Naso

By ahsilver|2011-06-02T16:50:30-04:00June 2, 2011|

By Hayley Siegel

The middle section of this week’s parashah, Naso, is definitively not for the faint of heart. As the text describes, God instructs Moses how B’nei Yisrael should deal with a woman accused of adultery by her husband. Upon suspicion of infidelity, the woman was to be brought to the Sanctuary by her husband where they would meet the Kohen. After the husband presented the Kohen with a minhat kena’ot (Num. 5:18),a “meal offering of jealousy,” the Kohen would then begin a ritual designed to establish the veracity of the husband’s claims. The Kohen would first expose the accused wife’s hair, an action of dishonor and shame for the woman. Following the embarrassing revelation of her hair, the accused woman would undergo a “trial by ordeal” to identify her guilt. She would take an oath and then drink a special concoction, which was comprised of water Read More >

25 05, 2011

Parashat BeMidbar

By ahsilver|2011-05-25T10:57:26-04:00May 25, 2011|

By Rabbi Alan Abraham Kay

The fourth book of our Torah is called BeMidbar in Hebrew, meaning, “in the desert,” and Numbers in English, referring to the first parashah (also called BeMidbar) in which we learn the numbers of men of military age who would defend the Israelites in the event of attack. In the second book of our Torah, Exodus, Moses had begun to lead the Israelites “in the desert” on their journey to the Promised Land of Canaan. Here, the journey continues.

The Israelites were a well-ordered people: the numbers of men able to bear arms is determined:the Kohanim, the Levites and Kohathites are given their specific responsibilities with respect to the Tabernacle while the other Israelites would be camped in four groups under their ancestral banners around the Tabernacle. These are a people to be reckoned with: liberated from Read More >

7 07, 2010

Parashat Mattot-Masei

By ahsilver|2010-07-07T13:47:17-04:00July 7, 2010|

By Rabbi Danny Horwitz

My wife wasn’t planning to marry me. She was back from kibbutz, saving up money in order to make aliyah. Although I had spent a year studying in Israel, as a newly ordained rabbi I was not a good candidate for aliyah and we both knew it. I loved Israel, but I believed my future was in America. Something changed her mind, and twenty-eight years and four mostly grown children later, we are still together and back in the region where we both started out.

Maybe I should have changed my plans. Maybe I should now. That’s the challenge of the Torah, at least if one takes it personally: …And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. (Num. 33:53) I do accept that it is the land of our ancestors, Read More >

30 06, 2010

Parashat Pinchas

By ahsilver|2010-06-30T13:49:06-04:00June 30, 2010|

By Hayley Siegel

This week’s parashah, Pinchas commences with a description of Pinchas’ reception of the unique brit shalom (a covenant of peace) and a priestly role from God. And yet, despite the fact that Pinchas receives these accolades and the entire parashah bears his name, we witness the momentous occasion when the tribe’s leadership is transferred instead from Moses to Joshua at the end of the parashah. If we want to discover why Joshua ended up succeeding Moses, we need to gain more insight into these men’s personalities and analyze their different styles of leadership.

In order for us to understand Pinchas, we need to backtrack for a bit to last week’s parashah, Balak. As our text describes, God afflicts the Israelites with a plague after they perform idolatry and illicit sexual dalliances with the Moabite people at Shittim. As the Read More >

22 06, 2010

Parashat Balak

By ahsilver|2010-06-22T14:10:41-04:00June 22, 2010|

By Rabbi H. Rafael Goldstein

In the middle of all the kvetching in the Book of the Wilderness, Bemidbar, we have a king who commissions a special curse for the people of Israel, and ends up paying to bless them. We have a talking donkey, working for a guy who is supposed to be a prophet, who has a vision of G!d which the prophet completely misses. The Torah portion Balak is comic relief when we need it most!

Balak, the king of Moab, wanted desperately to curse the Israelites. So he called in his expert for blessings and curses, Balaam, and ordered him to come up with some good curses. Balaam refused, but agreed after making a deal with G!d that he would do exactly what G!d would tell him. Read More >

9 06, 2010

Parashat Korah

By ahsilver|2023-04-26T11:20:21-04:00June 9, 2010|

By Rabbi H. Raphael Goldtsein

I did not have a clue as to what the Torah portion was about on the day of my Bar Mitzvah. I was shocked when Rabbi Joachim Prinz told me about a guy named Korah who rebelled against Moses. I had been a particularly troublesome and rebellious kid in Hebrew School. I will always be very indebted to Rabbi Prinz for what he said to me.

Rabbi Prinz told me that Korah was not evil. He rebelled for what he thought was right. He said that it was ok to rebel for what I believe in, to take risks, to stand up for my beliefs. But Korah failed in his rebellion. Korah embarrassed Moses and Aaron, bringing unrest among the people, achieving none of his goals. Korah rebelled without the savvy or understanding of how to negotiate with the Read More >

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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