Your Word Is Powerful In this week’s parsha, we learn about oaths (Numbers 30:3): If a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips. You may have heard about fellow Jews…
Cosby in This Week’s News Cosby is in the new this week. But not just the secular news, in which Cosby was released from jail where he was serving time due to a sexual crime. Jews around the world will be reading about Cosby’s sexual crime in this week’s parsha, which is Parshas Pinchas. Who…
Standing Up For G-d At the very end of this week’s parsha, Balak, the gentile prophet Bilaam failed to curse the Jews, but came up with another plan: To seduce them. King Balak even volunteered his gentile daughter, who then successfully seduced Zimri, the leader of the tribe of Shimon. (FYI: The Code of Jewish…
One-Upping the Gentiles In this week’s parsha, Chukas, we are introduced to the ultimate chok – a commandment that seems illogical to the human mind. The reverse of this would be the commandment to honor one’s parents. Even the gentiles understand and follow this commandment. Why? Each person has a mother and father who brought him…
Measure for Measure In this week’s parsha, Korach, Korach starts a rebellion against Moses. I want to bring out two points from his actions: You should first know that Korach was a holy man, and the only way to tell that something was amiss was to look at the people hanging around him – otherwise, he…
Falling and Rising In this week’s parsha, Shelach Lecha, Moses sends 12 leaders – 12 great men – to scope out the future Land of Israel and bring back reports of the people currently living there. Instead, the 12 men came back with a poor opinion of the land (actually, two of the men did not join…
Who is Leading Us? Whether it was two days or a month or a year—however long the cloud lingered over the Tabernacle—the Israelites remained encamped and did not set out; only when it lifted did they break camp. (Numbers 9:22) Everyone seems to know that the Jews wandered 40 years in the desert. But most…
Cancelling Moses “and brought their offering before the LORD: six draught carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two chieftains and an ox for each one. When they had brought them before the Tabernacle, the LORD said to Moses: Accept these from them for use in the service of the Tent of Meeting, and…
Tonight is Shavuos, which lasts for 25 hours in Israel and 49 hours (2 days) outside of Israel.
Names & Numbers Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, numbering the names, every male, head by head. (Numbers 1:2) This week we begin the fourth book of the Torah. In Hebrew it is called Bamidbar, but in English it is called Numbers – probably because the Jews…
