One of the most profound and influential comments ever made about Jewish destiny was made by the pagan prophet Bilaam in this week’s sedra: As I see them from the mountain tops, Gaze on them from the heights, Behold it is a people that dwells alone, Not reckoned among the nations. Num. 23:9 To many – Jews and non-Jews, admirers…
This is an extraordinary moment in Jewish history, for good and not-so-good reasons. For the first time in almost 4,000 years we have simultaneously sovereignty and independence in the land and state of Israel, and freedom and equality in the Diaspora. There have been times – all too brief – when Jews had one or the other, but never before,…
…have the power of blessing. They were able to invoke supernatural forces. This is the meaning of what Balak king of Moab says to the pagan prophet Bilaam: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. 6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they…
…are afraid it might be, let faith banish fear. KORACH: If you seek to learn, grow, pursue truth and find freedom, seek places that welcome argument and respect dissenting views. CHUKAT: Life lives in the tension between our physical smallness and our spiritual greatness. Life is short, but when we lift our eyes to heaven, we walk tall. BALAK: By…
The Parsha in a Nutshell Parshat Pinchas completes the episode which began in Parshat Balak: Pinchas had ended the plague that was devastating the Israelites who had been led into idolatry by the Moabite and Midianite women. Pinchas’ reward for his zealotry was a “covenant of peace” (Bamidbar 25:12) and “lasting Priesthood” (25:13). The parsha then moves on to the…
…lawlessness of the moment. The parsha of Balak ends with this terrible ambiguity unresolved. Only in our parsha do we hear the answer. God says: “Pinchas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the Priest, has turned back My anger from the Israelites by being zealous among them on My behalf, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people…
…qualities that make people follow those who demonstrate them. We follow those we trust, because they have acted so as to earn our trust. That was what made Moses the great leader Balaam might have been but never was. Always be loyal to the people you lead. Balak: Leadership and Loyalty Respect for diversity, care for the lowly and powerless…
…June – Shelach – Strong People Don’t Need Walls – Rabbi Shaul Robinson 21 June – Korach – Dying Twice: Korach’s mysterious end – Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum 28 June – Chukat-Balak – Dwelling Alone: Blessing or curse? – Rabbi Shaul Robinson 5 July – Pinchas – Who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh? – Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum 12 July…
Koren Publishers have launched a new Magerman edition of the Koren Tanach featuring, for the first time, the complete translation of Chumash by Rabbi Sacks zt”l. You can order your copy here and view the opening pages below. Peek Inside…
Emunah means faithfulness, reliability, loyalty. It means not walking away from the other party when times are tough. It is a key covenantal virtue…. Those who are loyal to other people find that other people are loyal to them. Those who are disloyal are eventually distrusted and lose whatever authority they might once have had. Leadership without loyalty is not…