Over the past week, we have seen anti-Israel college takeovers with protestors openly declaring their desire to kill Jews and to render Israel—from the river to the sea—Juden Rein. The brazen tactics and bullying have left many Jewish students and faculty members afraid to venture onto campus. As we approach …
Read the full story »Naso: Transforming The Desert
A G-dless Environment
The Temple service, described in our Parsha, was held in an arid and barren locale, the desert. G-d charged our ancestors with a special mission: transform the desert and make it bloom, bloom with the flowering blossoms of spirituality. In our day we have a similar mission: transform …
B’midbar: Celestial Formations
Around the Tabernacle
They traveled together, a single mass of two million people moving slowly through the sands. Each tribe precisely positioned, each group in perfect formation, their footsteps marked the desert.
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B’Midbar : The Counting Paradox
To Count or not to Count?
In this week’s Torah reading, (1), we read, in detail, about one of the several censuses taken of the Children of Israel in the years following their Exodus from Egypt.
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B’Midbar: A Question of Numbers
A Small Tribe
In this week’s Parsha we read that Moshe took a census of the nation. A quick scan of the numbers shows the tribe of Levi to be the smallest, with only twenty-two-thousand members. By way of comparison, the other tribes had anywhere from thirty to more then one …
B’Midbar Shavuot: Shavuot and the Desert
Seeking Inspiration
This weekend we will celebrate the last Shabbat before Shavuot. Since Shabbat is the source of blessing for the following week it is fitting to reflect upon the upcoming holiday during the course of this Shabbat.
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B’Midbar: Everyone Counts
The Census
During the forty years of our ancestors’ journey across the dessert their census was taken a total of four times, one of which is recorded in this week’s Parsha.
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B’har: Sabbatical – An Expression of Faith
Sabbatical
Would you enjoy taking a full sabbatical every seven years? You could relax, travel, study and spend quality time with your family.Would you enjoy it if your entire country took a sabbatical every seven years?
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Emor: Demonstrating Confidence
Fortuitous Beginnings
Our Parsha begins with the many restrictions placed upon Kohanim, the priestly class.
They are forbidden, with rare exceptions, to attend funerals lest they become ritually impure. They are restricted in whom they may marry. They are forbidden to shave or to mutilate themselves. This is because they have an …
Parsha Insights »
A Shlemiel
A shlemiel is a clumsy person who always stumbles and unwittingly finds his way into mishaps. It is Yiddish slang that is meant to be a play on the word shlimazel, another Yiddish aphorism. Shlimazel is a compound of two Hebrew words, shelo-mazel, without luck. A luckless person who always …
Yearly Cycle »
Chanukah: A Love Fest
The Arithmetic of Light
Every Jewish child masters the Chanukah arithmetic long before graduating from kindergarten. We light one candle on the first night, two on the second, three on the third, till we reach night number eight. In fact every child takes special pleasure in kindling their very own Chanukiah. …
Concepts »
Chanukah: Spice Up Your Routine
Routine can be boring. You do it every day and you grow tired of it. We are always looking for something new and exciting. Something to pique our interest and engage our curiosity. Routine doesn’t do the trick. We need something novel, something unusual, something unexpected. The problem with new …
Rabbi’s Desk »
What Can We Do?
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
