Category: Torah Commentaries

I keep thinking about my trip last week to Israel. It reminded me of those t-shirts that I see from time to time (usually on African Americans who seem to have the largest families), which proudly announce: “Johnson Family Gathering – Hattie, Mississippi, July 20-24, 1998.” My whirlwind, four-day visit to Israel felt the same …

Read More “Pinkhas (Numbers 25:10-30:1)”

The signs of a spiritual renaissance are all around us.  Candidates are increasingly running for public office while openly touting their religious pedigrees as “believers” and even “born again” men and women.  The shelves in bookstores throughout the country are filled with the latest books on finding your spiritual path, discovering the meaning of life, …

Read More “Shelakh 2 (Numbers 13:1-15:41)”

I can’t help it. I’d like to write about something else, but I can’t. I wish I could just share your basic, run of the mill inspirational Torah commentary this week, but my heart isn’t in it. I don’t really want to burden you with my own personal sorrow, but I have to talk about …

Read More “Shelakh (Numbers 13:1-15:41)”

This week we read of the death of both of Moses’s siblings, Miriam and Aaron. According to Jewish tradition, throughout the forty years of wandering in the desert the Children of Israel were blessed with a miraculous well of water that followed them wherever they went. It was called “Miriam’s Well,” for it existed due …

Read More “Hukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1)”

Some people just can’t take yes for an answer. They are so committed to complaining about life, searching for things to be upset about, reveling in their role as victims of others that they simply can’t accept that things are going well for them no matter what.

Moses faces the most serious challenge to his leadership in his entire career this week. It comes from a man named Korah who was himself part of the leadership elite of the Israelites and a member of Moses’s own tribe. Korah accuses Moses of the sin of acting as if he is holier than (read …

Read More “Korah (Numbers 16:1-18:32)”

I was witness to a miracle last week. Really. It was one of the most powerful and profound moments I have ever been privileged to experience and it touched me so deeply that it brought tears to my eyes. I was reminded of what the great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides once said about the nature …

Read More “Behaalotkha 2006 (Numbers 8:1-12:16)”

I was witness to a miracle last week. Really. It was one of the most powerful and profound moments I have ever been privileged to experience and it touched me so deeply that it brought tears to my eyes. I was reminded of what the great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides once said about the nature …

Read More “Behaalotkha-2 (Numbers 8:1-12:16)”

I know many people who talk as if their lives are dictated by divine forces beyond their control. Sometimes it comes out in the form of “You know rabbi, I believe that everything happens for a reason.” Sometimes it is as direct as believing that no matter what happens, “It’s God’s will.”

One of my favorite passages in the Talmud, is the phrase, “More important than reciting blessings, is to be a blessing.” In many ways it sums up for me the Jewish attitude about the role of human beings in the world. Our job is to be a blessing to others, not only to our family …

Read More “Naso 2005 (Numbers 4:21-7:89)”

I remember the day of my rabbinic ordination, some 26 years ago, as if it were yesterday. I had spent five years studying at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, first in Jerusalem, then in Los Angeles and finally in New York. There I was after all those years of study standing …

Read More “Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89)”

A young woman called asking if I would be willing to visit with her 95-year-old grandmother. She seemed to be slipping away from life more and more each day, and had been asking to speak with a rabbi. I didn’t know the woman or her family, but I figured anyone who lives to be 95 …

Read More “Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)”