by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 20, 2022 | Antisemitism, Israel, Miracles, Shelach
For over 2,000 years, the people of Israel were scattered throughout the world, always vulnerable to the machinations and attacks of their enemies. With the modern miracle of the Jewish people’s return to the Land of Israel, this dynamic was supposed to change. With...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 12, 2022 | Beha'alotcha, Israel, Leadership, Light Unto the Nations, Temple
I often find myself walking around my house, turning off lights in empty rooms. Why waste electricity if there is no one there to benefit from it? Interestingly, a similar question arose thousands of years ago, in the Temple itself! In the eighth chapter of Numbers,...
by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 9, 2022 | Hebrew Language, Israel, Judges, Messiah, Naso, Redemption, Revelation and Prophecy
It is not common for someone to take a Nazirite vow in modern times. The most notable exception was Rabbi David Cohen who, like Samson, became a Nazirite for life. And both of these Nazirites have a role in redemption. Every week, the reading of the Torah portion in...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 31, 2022 | Bamidbar, Community, God, Israel
As its name implies, the Book of Numbers opens with a census, counting the men of Israel for the purposes of war, and then describes how they camped in the desert. Very much like an army camp, the tribes were arranged in four groups of three tribes each. At the center...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 29, 2022 | Bamidbar, Israel
The Book of Bamidbar, which literally means ‘in the desert’, is referred to in English as Numbers. Rather appropriately, it begins with a census of the Children of Israel (Numbers 1). This is, in fact, the third census taken during the two years since the...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 25, 2022 | Bechukotai, Chosen Nation, Covenant, God, Holiness, Israel, Kindness and Compassion, Repentance
There are two passages in the Torah that contain a short list of promised blessings should the Children of Israel adhere to the commandments, and a longer list of curses should they not. The first is found in Leviticus chapter 26 and the second is in Deuteronomy 28....
