Justice Begins with Mercy One of the most persistent misunderstandings of Scripture is the belief that the Torah reveals a God of judgment while the Besorot reveal a God of grace. Few portions challenge that misconception more clearly than Masei.…
Tag: Numbers
Korach – You Say You Want a Revolution
Do you ever have, as one children’s book would describe it, a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day”? Well, Moses sure did. In fact, it must have seemed to him like he had fourteen thousand six hundred days like…
Matot / Massei – Passing On Our Inheritance
The Hebrew word morashah is often translated as heritage or legacy, and at times it refers to a more concrete inheritance. But in the biblical imagination, inheritance is never just about land or possessions—it’s about identity, destiny, and continuity. In…
Balak – Blessed and The Source of Blessing
Listen to an audio version Every year we read Parashat Balak and I am utterly amazed. What a remarkably different approach to a reoccurring theme. Many have understood Torah as love letters between Hashem and Israel. In fact the focus…
Chukat – Bitter Water and Sweet Surrender
Parashat Chukat is one of the most enigmatic portions in the entire Torah. It seems to flow with contradiction: it begins with a mysterious ordinance, introduces a miraculous yet perplexing deliverance, and ends in what feels like a strange and…
Korach – In the Manner of a King
The story of Korach’s rebellion against Moses is one of the most dramatic crises of leadership in all of Torah. It’s not simply a political challenge—it’s a spiritual mutiny. Korach and his followers rise up, not because they misunderstand Moses,…
Shelach Lecha – The Battle Belongs to HaShem
These are unsettling days. The headlines seem endless violence in the Middle East, growing instability, and a troubling resurgence of antisemitism, not just on the fringes, but in the mainstream of public discourse and politics. It can feel like we…
Beha’alotcha – Come On In, We’ll Leave the Light On
An old commercial for a budget motel chain used to end with the warm invitation: “Come on in—we’ll leave the light on for you.” Delivered in a friendly, down-home tone, it evoked a sense of welcome, hominess, and belonging—an invitation…
A More Intimate Gathering
Listen to an audio version When I was a boy growing up in New York our family gatherings were like a scene out of the Barry Levinson movie Avalon. On Thanksgiving and Chanukah especially our get-togethers would involve not only…
Matot – A Place of Refuge
This week’s Torah portion contains a theme that in the ancient world was peculiar to the religion of Israel – the compassion, care and grace of their patron God. A historically popular approach to theology is to bifurcate of the…