The figure of Korach as it emanates from this week’s Torah reading is a most enigmatic one. The rabbis chose to characterize his rebellion against Moshe not so much in terms of evil as in terms of ultimate folly. Rashi quotes the famous statement that “Korach was such a wise and clever person; what on earth possessed him to engage in such a foolish venture?” Rashi states that since Korach... READ MORE →
דמותו של קורח כפי שהיא נראית בפרשת השבוע היא דמות חידתית מאוד. חז"ל בחרו לאפיין את המרד שלו במשה, לא במונחים של רשע אלא דווקא במונחים של איוולת גדולה. רש"י מצטט את האמירה המפורסמת "קורח, שפיקח היה, מה ראה לעשות שטות זו?" רש"י... READ MORE →
Last Shabat afternoon I lay down on my bed and took my traditional Shabat afternoon rest. I slept more soundly than usual and I dreamt a dream that was so visibly etched in my mind that I awoke with a start. The dream was about a sermon that I was somehow going to give that Shabat in the synagogue. My subconscious completely neglected the fact that I had already delivered my immortal sermon for... READ MORE →
בשבת שעברה, אחר הצהריים, שכבתי במיטתי למנוחת שבת מסורתית. ישנתי שינה עמוקה יותר מהרגיל וחלמתי חלום שמראהו נחרת במוחי כל כך עד שהתעוררתי בבהלה. החלום היה על דרשה שעמדתי לתת באותה השבת בבית-הכנסת. התת-מודע שלי שכח לגמרי את... READ MORE →
Even though the central theme of this week’s Torah reading seems to be the story of the ill-fated mission of the spies that Moshe sends to gather intelligence regarding the Land of Israel, there are other important topics in the Torah reading as well. The Torah teaches us that it is possible that all of Israel, including its leaders and scholars, can make a mistake regarding matters of... READ MORE →
על אף שהנושא המרכזי בפרשת השבוע נראה סיפור השליחות הכושלת של המרגלים שמשה שולח לתור את הארץ, יש בפרשה גם נושאים חשובים אחרים. התורה מלמדת אותנו שיכול להיות מצב שבו כל עם ישראל, לרבות המנהיגים ותלמידי-החכמים,... READ MORE →
The Torah reading this week emphasizes the rule in life of seizing the moment of opportunity. Moshe tells the Jewish people that “we are traveling now to the place that the Lord has promised” to give to us as our national homeland. But this proposed victorious march somehow unravels. There is an incident with Yitro, the father-in-law of Moshe, who does not agree to accompany his adopted... READ MORE →
This week’s parsha is the longest one of the Torah. It is mainly so because of the description of the identical offerings to the dedication of the Mishkan by the heads of the individual tribes of Israel. What makes this lengthy repetitive section of the parsha so difficult to understand is the fact that each of the twelve leaders of the tribes brought the exact same identical offering to... READ MORE →
Now that the great holiday of Shavuot has passed, the cheesecake has been safely digested, and the summer is right around the bend, I am struck by certain ideas that the holiday inspired within me. Firstly, I am always impressed by the fact that Shavuot is celebrated here in Israel by all sections of Jewish society. Shavuot is a live thing here. In the Diaspora, outside of the observant Orthodox... READ MORE →
The Chumash of Bamidbar is devoted to the narrative of the experiences of the people of Israel during their forty-year sojourn in the desert of Sinai. However, the Torah’s narrative of any event or historical happening is never restricted to dry facts alone. In its nuanced phrasing the Torah comes to reveal to us the human factors and the psychological and spiritual import of these... READ MORE →
