Parashat Mattot/Mas’ei

By Jill Hackell

After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites are poised to cross the Jordan River, and to enter the Promised Land. In the previous parashah, Pinhas, a census of all individuals is taken, and Moses begins the transfer of authority to Joshua, who will lead the people in this next part of their history, the settlement of the Land, the grand finale to the Exodus from Egypt.

But, in our parashah, Mattot, the descendents of Reuben, and Gad look around, and see that the land east of the Jordan is perfect for their needs. They ask Moses, “Is it okay if we stay here to raise our cattle, rather than crossing the Jordan and being assigned land on the other side?” As Nehama Leibowitz points out, the ensuing interchange speaks volumes about the Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hackell M.D.|2009-07-14T20:30:23-04:00July 14, 2009|

Parashat Pinhas

By Julius Rabinowitz

Pinhas, the son of Elazar the son of Aaron, got up and took a spear in his hand and ran it through Zimri, the son of a chieftain from the tribe of Simon, and Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of the Midianites. What was their heinous crime that deserved such punishment: a public sexual act of undefined nature?

This week’s Torah portion is called “Pinhas” and you would be excused if you couldn’t find this gory depiction in the reading. Because it was in last week’s reading. This week we only read about God’s rewarding Pinhas with the “covenant of peace” for eternity – the only person to receive this reward from God. But if you didn’t read last week’s Torah portion you wouldn’t have a clue as to what he did to deserve the unique reward as the only indication we have this Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-07-07T07:55:21-04:00July 7, 2009|

Parashat Huqqat-Balaq

Judaism’s Prime Directive

By Irwin Huberman

There have been many attempts in our tradition to boil down the
entire Torah into one clear directive.

Over the generations, Jews and those from other faiths have wrestled with the difficult question, “what exactly does God want from me?”

The Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells the story of three persons who wished to convert to Judaism. In each case, they were initially rejected by the scholar Shammai, known for his strictness, but they were later accepted and converted by the more lenient Hillel who, when asked to describe the essence of the Torah “on one foot” responds, “What you dislike, do not do to your friend. That is the basis of the Torah. The rest is commentary; go and learn!” Read More >

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2009-06-30T07:55:35-04:00June 30, 2009|

Parashat Korah

By Boaz Marmon

“Can you hear them? They talk about
us, telling lies – well, that’s no surprise.”

This is the first verse, not of
Parashat Korah, but of the Go-Go’s’ 1982 hit “Our lips are
sealed” (you may be familiar with a recent cover by Hilary and Haylie
Duff). I doubt that Belinda and the girls had Moshe Rabbeinu
– Moses Our Teacher – and Aharon Ha-Kohen – Aaron the Priest
– in mind when they wrote the song, but not only do I think Moshe
would sympathize with the sentiments of the song, he also seems to have
internalized the strategy advocated by the Go-Go’s in response: “There’s
a weapon / which we must use / in our defense: / silent lips!”

Our Sages anachronistically applied
the title, “Rabbenu – Our Rabbi” to Moses. Those of us
serving in leadership roles Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-06-24T20:57:12-04:00June 24, 2009|

Parashat Shâ€™lah Lâ€™kha

Perception vs. Reality
By Rabbi Sharon Ballan

One of my favorite television shows when I was
growing up was “All in the Family.” I distinctly remember sneaking out of bed
and watching secretly from the top of the stairway, because it was shown past
my bedtime. Later, my parents let me watch with them and it became a weekly
family ritual. One episode in particular stands out in my mind. Edith, Archie,
Mike, and Gloria are at a restaurant, discussing the events of the day. Their
refrigerator had broken, and a repairman and his helper (who happened to be
black) had come to repair it. Mike and Archie had radically different memories
of what happened. Archie insisted the young black man, large and menacing,
threatened him with a knife. Mike, on the other hand described the man as
gentle and polite, and maintained that there was no knife at all. Finally Edith
tells the real story: the repairman had Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-06-17T13:44:24-04:00June 17, 2009|

Parashat Bâ€™Halotekha

Be Careful What You Ask For
By Gary A. Kabler

In this week’s portion the people complain to Moses that the manna
that G-d has provided so abundantly for them to eat no longer satisfies them. Like
petulant children, the people whine, “If we only had meat to eat! We remember
the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons,
the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is
nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!” (Num. 11:1-6)

Obviously the people have forgotten that to get the foods that they
were whining and complaining about they had to do back-breaking slave labor in Egypt, but
apparently that was seen as a triviality when compared to actually having the
food. Apparently it was far easier to recall the meager struggle of walking
freely towards a place that Moses has assured the people was, and would
eventually be, again their Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-06-09T13:56:57-04:00June 9, 2009|

Parashat Naso

By Molly Karp

Parashat
Naso begins with the continuation of the counting of the Gershonites and the
Merarites, the Levites who are responsible for transporting the hangings, poles,
planks and hardware of the Tent of Meeting. Just as the Tabernacle would not be
complete without all of its parts, so too, the Levitical family would not be
complete without all of its members.

Envisioning
the wilderness camp as a nest of concentric circles: the Torah places the space
for holiness, God’s presence, at the center, surrounded by the precincts of the
Mishkan, surrounded by the Levites, who are surrounded by the Israelites.

The parashah

continues with a number of apparently unrelated cases. We learn that anyone who
has become tamei, (unfit to approach the Holy space) is to be removed
from the camp, so as not to render the entire camp tamei
– unfit for God’s presence within it. We learn that any Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-06-02T20:08:54-04:00June 2, 2009|

Shavuot

Standing at Sinai
By Rabbi Michael G. Kohn

For me, the festival of Shavuot is a riddle shrouded in mystery, wrapped in an enigma. Although it is fixed in our modern calendars as the sixth day of Sivan, no such date appears anywhere in the Torah. In parashat Pinhas, where the additional sacrifices for each of the special days – Shabbat, the Yamin Nora’im (Days of Awe) and the Shalosh Regalim (Three Pilgrimage Festivals) – are specified (Num. 28-29), it is the only one of the holidays and festivals which does not begin with (or even mention) the date of its observance.

In parashat Emor, where each of the special days of the calendar is described (Lev. 23), there is no similar description for Shavuot as we have come to know it. On Pesa Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-05-27T09:11:14-04:00May 27, 2009|

Parashat Bemidbar

By Kaya Stern-Kaufman

Chapter
two of B ‘midbar describes the arrangement and organization of the Israelite
camp in the wilderness. The mishkan, God’s tabernacle, is to reside in the
center of the camp. It is surrounded by the tribe of Levites to guard and
protect it. In the east, with the rising sun, the tribes of Yehudah, Yissachar
and Zevulun are to encamp. To the south, in full sun and heat, will settle the
tribes of Reuven, Shimon and Gad. To the west in the setting sun, the tribes of
Efraim, Menasheh and Binyamin reside. And to the north, in a darker place, the
tribes of Dan, Asher and Naftali shall camp. The Torah speaks to us here in the
language of geography and orientation. Like a blossoming flower or the image of
the planets revolving around the sun, the Israelite camp expresses a truth in
spatial form. It is perhaps a model of community that offers lessons to us
today. Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-05-21T20:19:41-04:00May 21, 2009|

Parashat Bâ€™midbar

By Kaya Stern-Kaufman

Chapter
two of B ‘midbar describes the arrangement and organization of the Israelite
camp in the wilderness. The mishkan, God’s tabernacle, is to reside in the
center of the camp. It is surrounded by the tribe of Levites to guard and
protect it. In the east, with the rising sun, the tribes of Yehudah, Yissachar
and Zevulun are to encamp. To the south, in full sun and heat, will settle the
tribes of Reuven, Shimon and Gad. To the west in the setting sun, the tribes of
Efraim, Menasheh and Binyamin reside. And to the north, in a darker place, the
tribes of Dan, Asher and Naftali shall camp. The Torah speaks to us here in the
language of geography and orientation. Like a blossoming flower or the image of
the planets revolving around the sun, the Israelite camp expresses a truth in
spatial form. It is perhaps a model of community that offers lessons to us
today. Read More >

By ahsilver|2009-05-21T20:19:41-04:00May 21, 2009|

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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