“How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!” Bamidbar / Numbers 24:5 Balaam saw that the tent openings of the Israelites do not face each other; rather each opening was behind the next one, or at an angle, so that no one would look into the house of their neighbor. Bava Batra 60a Continue Reading »
At Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Let Aaron be gathered to his kin…” (Literally, gathered unto his people) Bamidbar / Numbers 20:23-24 “Let Aaron be gathered unto his people… that is to say,” writes Rabbi Baruch of Tulchin (1), “that Aaron’s attributes and positive qualities will Continue Reading »
…and the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds… “Put Aaron’s staff back before the Pact, to be kept as a lesson to rebels… Bamidbar / Numbers 17:23, 25 Our verse describes the resolution, by divine intercession, of the ongoing conflict which Continue Reading »
The Lord said to Moses as follows: Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; … look at it and recall all the commandments of the Lord and observe them… B’midbar/Numbers 15:18-19 With these verses the Torah introduces us Continue Reading »
When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say: Advance, O Eternal One! May Your enemies be scattered, And may Your foes flee before You! And when it halted, he would say: Return, O Eternal One, You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands! Bemidbar/Numbers 10:35-36 These very familiar verses from this week’s Torah portion, Continue Reading »
But to the Kohathites he did not give any; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder. Bemidbar/Numbers 7:9 This verse concludes Moshe’s allocation of the carts and oxen to pull them donated by the tribal chieftains as part of the dedication of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. Continue Reading »
“On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying:” B’midbar / Numbers 1:1 “The Torah was given in three venues: In fire, in water, and Continue Reading »
Many waters cannot quench love. Shir Hashirim/Song of Songs 8:7 Yuval Raphael: First with the Public, Second Overall Yuval Raphael’s brilliant performance captured the hearts of Europeans. Standing alone on a Basel stage at the 2025 Eurovision grand finale the 24-year-old Israeli survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre on October 7 sang a song Continue Reading »
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the LORD am your GOD. Vayikra / Leviticus 23:22 Through the centuries many commentators to Continue Reading »
Do not deal basely with your countrymen. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow: I am the Lord. Continue Reading »
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