This week’s parasha will introduce a theme that will characterize much of the remaining narrative of Bamidbar. Chapters 11-25 contain a series of refusals on the part of Israel to accept authority. In chapter 12 even Miriam challenges Moses’ authority.…
Tag: Jewish Spirituality
Nasso – Bless is More
Listen to an audio version… The Blessing We Never Outgrow This week’s parasha contains one of only two prescribed blessings in the entire Torah: the Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing. “Adonai bless you and keep you! Adonai make His face…
Shavuos All Over Again
Déjà Vu at Sinai Yankee Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was renowned for his unique and often comical way of turning a phrase. One expression that became part of the American lexicon was, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”…
Bamidbar – Making Souls Count
Counting More Than Numbers There is something both necessary and unsettling about a census. Most of us understand why governments conduct them. Demographic information helps determine where roads are built, where hospitals are needed, how schools are funded, and how…
Passover – All Who Are Hungry?
Racial strife is nothing new. We sometimes speak as though our moment is uniquely fractured, as though division and suspicion are inventions of modernity. But the truth is more sobering. From the earliest days of human society, we have struggled…
Terumah – God’s Presence in Our Homes, Hearts, and Worship
God’s Desire to Dwell Among Us The central question that runs through the book of Exodus is both simple and profound: “Is God with us or not?” This is not merely a theological inquiry but a practical one. For Israel…
Mishpatim – The Covenant of Being
If the Exodus teaches anything essential about Judaism, it is that redemption is not merely remembered. It is embodied. Israel’s foundational story does not simply recount that God once intervened in history. It proclaims something far more daring, that history…
Va’eira – Four Stages of Liberation
Listen to an audio version This Shabbat marks three weeks into the New Year in accord with the western secular calendar, the one by which a majority of Jewish people worldwide attempt to conduct their normal life’s business. Many have…
Vayechi – Mercy and Justice: The Incredible Two-Headed Servant
Parashat Vayechi brings us to the close of the book of Genesis and places us squarely at a moment of transition. These are end-of-life words—Jacob blessing his sons, Joseph preparing to die in exile, and in the Haftarah, King David…
Vayeshev – Dream On
Dream On — not the dismissive phrase our culture sometimes uses to mock hope, but the ancient call our tradition gives to test, discern, and live the dreams that come from God. When the world grows cynical, when spiritual longing…