Sefer Bemidbar Archives | Page 6 of 14 | Academy for Jewish Religion

21 06, 2019

Parashat Beha’alotekha 5779

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2022-07-29T11:24:34-04:00June 21, 2019|

Lighting Us Up: Theology, Pluralism and Becoming the Menorah
A D’var Torah for Parashat Beha’alotekha
By Rabbi David Markus

What does God need of our spirituality, what do we need of it, and how do we know? These questions cast long theological shadows across sacred tradition, and efforts at clarity often generate more heat than light.

It’s with those questions in mind that I read of Parashat Beha’alotekha’s seven-branch gold menorah, symbol of Jewish peoplehood and the modern State of Israel.

Why seven branches? The parashah doesn’t say. God just tells Moses to instruct Aaron: “In your lifting the lamps (beha’alotekha et ha-neirot) to light, let seven lamps shine at the front of the menorah” (Numbers 8:2). The fact of the menorah’s “seven” is assumed.

Torah continues that the menorah should look as previously described – alluding to the design God showed Moses at Sinai (Exodus 25:40). There too, however, Torah doesn’t say why seven branches.

Do the Read More >

14 06, 2019

Parashat Naso 5779

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2022-07-29T11:24:34-04:00June 14, 2019|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Naso
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)

Last week’s Torah portion, Bemidbar, started with a lot of counting of Israelites. This week’s Torah portion, Naso, also begins with counting. The word “Naso” means “take up,” as in “Take up a census of the Gershonites also” (Numbers 4:22). The counting in this Torah portion is of different clans of the Levites who have responsibilities to pack up and transport different parts of the Tabernacle when the Israelites decamp and move on through the wilderness.

We are told the final counts: There are 2,750 Kohathites between the ages of 30 and 50—which are the years when the Levites are responsible for the work of the Tabernacle; there are 2,630 Gershonites; and there are 3,200 Merarites, for a total of 8,580 Levites. This seems like rather a lot of people for the task of packing and moving the Tabernacle around, but the Torah Read More >

6 06, 2019

Parashat Bemidbar 5779

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2022-07-29T11:24:35-04:00June 6, 2019|

The “New” Tribes of Israel
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bemidbar
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)

Over the centuries, there has been much debate and speculation regarding the fate of the twelve tribes of Israel.

In recent years, with the advent of such genealogy programs as Ancestry.com and 23andMe, there has been considerable interest within the Jewish world and beyond in tracing our roots and countries of origin.

Yet, in spite of this new technology, few of us, with the exception of the Kohanim and Levi’im, know which tribe we descend from.

But, can we truly say, in 2019, that the idea of tribalism within Judaism is passé? Perhaps not.

In Biblical times, each Israelite knew where they came from. Each tribe has its own banner. Each tribe had its own personality. In the closing portion of the Book of Genesis, in his last days, Jacob gathers his twelve sons, and gives each tribe its own blessing according to that personality. Read More >

12 07, 2018

Mattot/Massei 5778

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2018-07-12T15:06:53-04:00July 12, 2018|

A D’var Torah for Mattot/Massei
by Rabbi Heidi Hoover (AJR ’11)

In this week’s Torah portion, Mattot/Massei, we have a remarkable episode. Two tribes, Reuben and Gad, look around the land where they Israelites are staying before they enter the Promised Land. They see that the land where they are is good for cattle, and they are cattle-herders. They decide this is the land they want, instead of the allotment of land they’ve been promised in Canaan.

What is surprising about this portion is that we’ve taken it for granted ever since the Exodus that what the Israelites really want is to get to the Promised Land. That was the destination after the Exodus. During the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness they’ve just been waiting for the opportunity to get into the Promised Land. Or so we would think. Then along comes this passage where two tribes go to Moses and say, “We’re Read More >

5 07, 2018

Pinhas 5778

By Bruce Alpert|2018-07-05T16:57:25-04:00July 5, 2018|

A D’var Torah for Pinhas
by Rabbi Bruce Alpert (AJR ’11)

Merely to have survived is not an index of excellence,
Nor, given the way things go,
Even of low cunning.
Yet I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a green bay tree.
And the good as if they had never been;
Their voices are blown away on the winter wind.

Those familiar with the old Reform mahzor, Gates of Repentance, will recognize these lines from the poem Words for the Day of Atonement by Anthony Hecht. They remind us that, even if lacking in other virtues, survival itself is the necessary component and, in times of distress, a lofty enough goal.

Mere survival is the underlying theme of this week’s parashah, Pinhas. The various threats to that survival that have arisen over time – the sin Read More >

21 06, 2018

Hukat 5778

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2018-06-21T13:34:35-04:00June 21, 2018|

Miriam’s Obituary:
A D’var Torah for Hukat
by Rabbi Irwin Huberman (AJR ’10)

“The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.” (Numbers 20:1)

The descendants of Miriam wish to advise you of the passing of our beloved ancestral mother, during the reading of this week’s Torah portion.

While the Biblical version of Miriam’s passing is limited to a short mention in this week’s parashah, we, the inheritors of Judaism’s oral tradition, would like to tell you more about her life and her legacy.

Additional stories, contained in the Midrash, Talmud and other commentaries, provide additional layers to her story. These teachings from our oral tradition are important, as we eulogize her today.

Miriam was born in Egypt during a time of slavery and persecution. Without Miriam’s intervention, it is conceivable that Moses, our greatest leader, may Read More >

14 06, 2018

Korah 5778

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2018-06-14T10:14:15-04:00June 14, 2018|

A D’var Torah for Korah
by Rabbi Isaac Mann

The conflict between Moses and Korah, which occupies much of this week’s parashah, is usually seen as a struggle between right and wrong. Indeed the Torah itself warns us (Numb. 17:5) that we should not be like Korah and his followers (ve’lo yiyeh khe’Korah ve’kha’a’doto). In a similar vein the Rabbis in Pirkei Avot (Chapters of the Fathers 5:20) depict Korah and his followers as engaging in a mahloket she’lo le’shem Shamayim (“a conflict that is antithetical to Heaven”) and thus one that we should stay away from. In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 109b) it is stated, according to R. Akiva, that Korah and his followers have no portion in the World to Come.

However, a more nuanced reading of the Korah story leaves one wondering whether there was some merit in the arguments that he advanced against Moses’ and Aaron’s leadership – and to Read More >

7 06, 2018

Shelah Lekha 5778

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2018-06-07T08:14:10-04:00June 7, 2018|

A D’var Torah for Shelah Lekha
by Cantor Sandy Horowitz ’14

In the story of the twelve spies who scout out the land of Canaan in Parashat Shelah Lekha we experience several different leadership styles — from the spies, Joshua and Caleb, Moses and God.

God instructs Moses to send representatives from each of the twelve tribes, “everyone a leader among them”, to spy on Canaan, the land which God has promised to the Israelites. After forty days they return and ten of these tribal leaders produce an “evil report” with regard to the overwhelming size and strength of the Canaanite people. An eleventh, Caleb, expresses disagreement and suggests going right away to possess the land (Numbers 13:30). But his is a lone voice, as the ten continue their litany of fear and exaggeration.

In response the people “lifted up their voice and cried” (Numbers 14:1). They speak out against Moses, Aaron and God, Read More >

31 05, 2018

Beha’halotekha 5778

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2018-05-31T12:36:07-04:00May 31, 2018|

The Waving
A D’var Torah for Beha’alotekha
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

“You shall bring the Levites close before the Divine, and the Israelites shall lay their hands on the Levites, and Aaron shall wave the Levites as a wave-offering before the Divine…” Numbers 8:10-11

Among the many kinds of offerings we encounter in the Torah, the one that fascinates me most is the tenufah: the wave-offering. The root of tenufah comes from a word that means to flutter or undulate. A priest must wave the offering before God at the altar, rather than burning it. This waving appears to indicate that the entity being waved belongs to God. The wave-offering is then given to the priests to consume.

This offering is used for the first omer/measure of barley at Pesah, the first fruits at Shavuot, as well as the two loaves of Shavuot (Mishnah Menahot 5:5-6). The lulav is Read More >

31 05, 2018

Naso 5778

By Rabbi Len Levin|2018-05-31T12:27:22-04:00May 31, 2018|

A Puzzling Law, Seen in Context
A D’var Torah for Naso
by Rabbi Len Levin

“I will not punish their daughters for loose behavior,

Nor their daughters-in-law for infidelity,

For they themselves turn aside with whores

And sacrifice with prostitutes” (Hosea 4:14).

Sometimes the Torah speaks to us as a timeless document, whose proclamations (“love your neighbor as yourself”; “you shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” — Lev. 19:18, Deut. 10:19) are as relevant to us today as when they were first uttered.

At other times, its laws seem situated in a culture and society so remote from ours, that to tease the universal message from its particulars is a frustrating and complicated task. The law of the ordeal of the bitter waters for the wife of the jealous husband is one of those cases.

The history of 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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