Bamidbar Archives | Page 7 of 14 | Academy for Jewish Religion

24 05, 2017

Parashat Bemidbar

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2017-05-24T15:48:07-04:00May 24, 2017|

Parashat Bemidbar: Tribalism or Multitribalism?

Rabbi Jill Hammer

The first parashah in the Book of Numbers (or in Hebrew Bemidbar) makes a significant point of listing the census numbers of each tribe (adult males able to go to war) as well as the leaders of each tribe (hence the moniker Book of Numbers). The parashah goes on to list where each tribe camps in relationship to the Tabernacle: Judah, Issachar and Zebulun on the east, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad on the south, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin on the west, and Dan, Asher, and Naftali on the north, with Levi camped in the center. Then the parashah details the particular duties of each subclan of the tribe of Levi as well as their census numbers. It’s as if we’ve discovered an Iron Age accounting tablet. Aside from the tale of the elevation of the Levites, there isn’t a story or a law to be found Read More >

6 07, 2016

Parashat Korah

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2016-07-06T18:06:31-04:00July 6, 2016|

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

[The AJR Devar Torah email will be taking some time off during the summer, but don’t worry, we’ll be back before you know it.]

“Everyone has a choice when to and not to raise their voices, it’s you that decides”
Run of the Mill by George Harrison

In this week’s Torah portion Korah, along with Datan, Aviram and 250 chieftains from among the Israelites, attempts a full scale rebellion, challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

When Moses hears about it, “Vayipol al panav,” “He fell on his face” (Numbers 16:4). According to Rashi, after having endured the incident of the golden calf, and the complaining about food, and the spies who had so little faith in God, Moses feels utterly discouraged.

As he lay on the ground following this challenge from Korah and his followers, imagine how Moses might have reflected on the three prior incidents that Rashi mentions.

While on the mountain at Sinai Read More >

29 06, 2016

Parashat Shelah

By Rabbi Len Levin|2016-06-29T15:30:57-04:00June 29, 2016|

The Generations of the Wilderness

by Rabbi Len Levin

Should the Israelites of the wilderness generation be condemned for their unruliness and lack of faith? Or admired for their heroic survival in the face of adversity?

Closer to our time: Should Jews of Diaspora be condemned for their effeteness, rootlessness, and apathy? Or should they be admired for their cultivation of intellectual and ethical values, their balancing of universalistic and particularistic concerns, and their sheer survival over 2000 years, keeping the Jewish legacy alive amid adverse circumstances?

“Negation of the Diaspora” was a topic of fierce debate in early Zionist polemics. The exilic mind-set of Diaspora Jewry was compared to the slave mentality of the ancient Israelites. Jews who were too timid to defend themselves against the pogrom perpetrators would have to undergo a change of character in order to reclaim their place in history and build the Jewish homeland.

In a famous exchange of the early Read More >

24 06, 2016

Parashat Beha’alotkha

By ahsilver|2016-06-24T09:31:27-04:00June 24, 2016|

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

Near the end of this week’s parashah, in the midst of Aharon and Miriam’s attempt to undermine Moshe’s authority, the Torah tells us that “Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3) In the eyes of the Rabbis humility was a trait that all people should try and acquire. Rabbi Yohanan, a third century sage from the Land of Israel, included humble people as one of the few upon whom the Shekhinah, God’s presence, would rest. (Nedarim 38a)

The Talmud relates the following story about Moshe.

R. Joshua b. Levi said, “When Moses came down from before the Holy One, blessed be He, the Satan came and said before him, ‘Lord of the world, where is the Torah?’ “He said to him, ‘I gave it to the earth.’ “He went to the earth and said to Read More >

16 06, 2016

Parashat Naso

By ahsilver|2016-06-16T21:37:37-04:00June 16, 2016|

by Hazzan Marcia Lane

[We would like to bring to people’s attention the difference between the traditional Diaspora and Israeli Torah reading cycles for the next few months. Since this year the eighth day of Passover, which was observed by many in the Diaspora, fell on Shabbat and had a special Torah reading, the Israeli Torah reading cycle moved one parashah ahead of the traditional Diaspora cycle. The AJR divrei Torah will follow the traditional Diaspora cycle and will catch up to the Israeli cycle at the beginning of August.]

The Text is Context

Parashat Naso begins with a census of the Levitical priests and ends with a series of repetitive paragraphs outlining the gifts that the chiefs of each tribe bring to outfit the Tabernacle. But in the middle of the parashah (Numbers 5:11-5:31) there is a curious description of a ritual that shall be carried out in the case of a man who Read More >

25 06, 2015

Parashat Hukkat

By Rabbi Len Levin|2015-06-25T00:47:38-04:00June 25, 2015|

Coming into the Home Stretch

by Rabbi Len Levin

A Dvar Torah for Hukkat

We begin a new narrative unit with Chapter 20 of the Book of Numbers. After an indeterminate time lapse in the previous few chapters, the text suddenly announces that Miriam died in the first month. Of what year? Correlating this chapter with Numbers 33:37–39 allows us to infer that Miriam and Aaron both died in the fortieth year of the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness. We also learn in the present chapter that when Moses lost his temper with the rock, God decreed that he would die before the people entered the Promised Land.

Thus the narrative is giving us clues that Moses is coming into his home stretch, that in this last year of Israel in the wilderness, the leaders who led them this far – – Miriam, Aaron, Read More >

18 06, 2015

Parashat Korah

By ahsilver|2015-06-18T23:18:45-04:00June 18, 2015|

Jules Verne’s classic work of science fiction, Journey to the Center of the Earth, describes how Professor Otto Lidenbrock, along with his nephew and their guide, descend to the center of the Earth through a volcanic tube. While on their travels they experience many exciting adventures, encounter strange animals, and even met the descendants of Korah. Wait a second, did I just say that Professor Lidenbrock, Axel, and Hans met the descendants of Korah while they were journeying to the center of the Earth?

Leaving aside the mingling of characters in the Bible and those from a Jules Verne novel, whatever did happen to Korah and his followers? Many people assume that they died on that hot desert day after the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them. Isn’t that what happened? Truth be told, it’s complicated.

This is how the Torah describes the fate Read More >

10 06, 2015

Parashat Shelah

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2015-06-10T21:40:17-04:00June 10, 2015|

by Rabbi Isaac Mann

The importance that the Torah gives to someone’s name is underscored in this week’s Torah portion of Shelah. Before Moses sent forth the twelve spies to scout out the land of Israel, he changed the name of one of them, namely Hoshea, the representative of the tribe of Ephraim, to Yehoshua (the Hebrew equivalent of Joshua) (Bemidbar 13:16).

The purpose of the name change is obvious. While the meaning of “Hoshea” is salvation, there is no indication whence comes the salvation. By adding a yud to the name, it now makes reference to G-d as the source of the salvation. As Rashi suggests (ad loc.), Moses prayed for Hoshea — “May G-d save you from the conspiracy of the spies.” Thus when the spies returned from their mission and brought back a negative report, only two maintained their faith in G-d’s promise that Israel would conquer the Land, Read More >

3 06, 2015

Parashat Beha’alotkha

By ahsilver|2015-06-03T21:55:39-04:00June 3, 2015|

The Seven Books of Moses

Hazzan Marcia Lane

There’s a very famous story from the Talmud regarding Rabbi Akiva. When Moses ascended into heaven, he saw God occupied in making little crowns for the letters of the Torah. Upon his inquiry as to what these might be for, he received the answer, “In the future there will come a man named Akiva ben Joseph, who will deduce halakhot(laws) from every little thorn and crown of the letters of the Law.” Moses asked to be allowed to see this man, and was instantly transported to Akiva’s classroom. But he was dismayed as he listened to Rabbi Akiva’s teaching. “Rabbi,” his student asked, “from where do we get this (law)?” Akiva explained, “This law is from Moshe, received at Sinai.” (Menachot 29b)

Of course poor Moshe couldn’t understand a word of their conversation!

Whenever I look at a Torah Read More >

28 05, 2015

Parashat Naso

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2015-05-28T09:21:08-04:00May 28, 2015|

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

יְבָרֶכְךָ יְיָ וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ.

יָאֵר יְיָ פָּנָיו אֵלֶֽיךָ וִיחֻנֶּֽךָּ.

יִשָּׂא יְיָ פָּנָיו אֵלֶֽיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם.

Numbers 6:24-26

The Ohel David Synagogue in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), home to a small group of Baghdadi Jews, was once visited by Nathan Katz, as he relates in his book Who Are the Jews of India? When Katz walked into the synagogue one Shabbat morning, he didn’t realize he was about to set off a major halachic conundrum. As it so happened he was the tenth man, fulfilling the requirement for a minyan. As it also turned out he is a kohen, descendent of the biblical kohanite priests, and therefore required to participate in the ritual of duchan, offering of the priestly blessing. But Katz was wearing short sleeves, which went against the custom of this community for performing duchan – even in tropical Mumbai. Hence 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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