Parashat Mattot

By Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Finding Our Way Out of Helplessness

Peep! Peep! Peep! The brood of baby chicks – domesticated or wild I do not know – was scurrying and moving en mass, with loose chicks running off in every direction, peeping. They kept scurrying into the street, a busy street, and it was dark out. Desperately I tried to shoo the little guys onto the sidewalk. But they kept constantly moving back and forth and this way and that way, all the time peeping, peeping, peeping. And no mother in sight. I was terribly distressed. I didn’t want them to get run over. But I didn’t know what to do! Finally, seeing the unending nature of trying to keep them off the street, I left the chicks behind and went inside.

In this week’s parashah, God tells Moses, “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites” (Num. 31:1). So the Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-21T12:16:27-04:00July 21, 2011|

Parashat Pinhas

By Peter Levy

Parashat Pinhas

My wife, Amy, and I just returned from opening day at the URJ Eisner Camp in Great Barrington,Â Massachusetts. It was wonderful to see kids gathering together and greeting each other after months of separation. They had kept in touch via Facebook and other social media over the winter, but the physical proximity was what made it special. It was heart-warming to see the campers hugging each other in greeting.However, we also learned about something called a “sideways hug.”Â Apparently this is the proper way for counselors to hug the campers in order to avoid physical contact that might be construable is “inappropriate.” Yes, physical contact is potentially taboo and needs to be handled delicately.

This is in contrast to our parashah this week, Pinhas.Â Here, in Numbers 27:18, Moses is told to ordain Joshua, “v’samakhta et yad’kha alav“, “and lay your hand on him.” The Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-14T12:18:20-04:00July 14, 2011|

Parashat Balak

By Hazzan Marcia Lane

In our parashah, we have the story of Balak, king of Moav, who sends emissaries promising wealth to a certain prophet, Bilaam son of Be’or, if Bilaam will curse the Israelites. We know Bilaam is a real prophet because the Torah says, “those who you bless are truly blessed and those you curse are cursed.” (Num. 22:6) That is, Bilaam‘s prophecies come to pass. Not only that, but we know Bilaam is on the up-and-up because he says – repeatedly – to these messengers, “I can only do what Adonai tells me.” In fact, Bilaam says, no matter how much gold and silver Balak gives, “I can do nothing small or great contrary to the word of Adonai, my God.” How extraordinary that Bilaam clearly understands that his power, his ability to bless or curse, comes directly from Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-07-07T09:42:26-04:00July 7, 2011|

Parashat Hukkat

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 >

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

Parashat Korach

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 >

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

Parashat Sh’lah L’kha

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 >

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

Parashat Beha’alotekha

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 >

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

Parashat Naso

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 >

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

Parashat BeMidbar

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 >

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

Parashat Behukkotai

By Rabbi Halina Rubinstein

In this week’s portion, the last in the Book of Leviticus, Moses relates to the people of Israel the blessings that God will bestow if they obey God’s commandments and the curses in store for them if they don’t. Behukotai raises serious questions about divine justice. For sure, following mitzvot framed in the ethical precepts of Judaism leads to a better world, regardless of our reward; indifference and neglect cause many of the scourges described in our parashah. But are they punishments? And, are the blessings in life rewards?

I understand this parashah as an assertion that everything in nature is a consequence or effect of God’s will; that the real drama of life is not between man and nature but a moral drama between man and God. This reminds me of something I experienced in a recent visit Read More >

By ahsilver|2011-05-18T16:34:12-04:00May 18, 2011|

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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