Mattot-Masei (Numbers 30:2–36:13) By Rabbi Avi Killip | July 2, 2021 The first time I made a vow, I surprised myself. I was angry that my hometown baseball team moved to a new stadium in a different neighborhood and I declared—with great indignation—that I would never set foot in the new stadium! Less than a year later, I went to the stadium. Was this the first time I made a vow? Probably not. I must have made similar declarations before, usually from... Read more
Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1) By Rachel Adelman | June 30, 2021 I dedicate this essay to two of my BeMidbar students, Ken Richmond (spring 2020) and Sara Blumenthal (spring 2021), who presented on this topic in my class and inspired many of these insights. The story of Pinchas and the apostasy of Baal Peor straddles two Torah readings: the end of Parashat Balak (Numbers 25:1-9) and the opening of this week’s reading, Parashat Pinchas (25:10-15). The story begins when the Israelites... Read more
Parashat Balak (Numbers 22:2–25:9) By Naomi Gurt Lind | June 22, 2021 Pssst! Have you heard the one about the talking donkey? Parshat Balak has a bit of a reputation. Between the talking donkey, the two main characters with just-similar-enough names, and its position in the Torah cycle as the mother of all tangents, Balak is hard to pin down. It’s tempting to underestimate its theological import, but as any follower of the Marx Brothers or Sarah Silverman can tell you, just... Read more
By Rabbi Brian Besser This d’var is dedicated to Brian’s father, Avraham Gutman ben Hayyim ve-Tzipporah, z”l. May his memory be a blessing. Parashat Chukat (Numbers 19:1–22:1) One of the flash points in the national conversation on racism concerns the power of symbols to foment violence. Monuments to the Confederacy, which may have once fostered facile pride and solidarity, and still do for some, are now generally regarded as invidious. When the South Carolina governor removed the Confederate flag from state grounds,... Read more
Parashat Korach (Numbers 16:1–18:32) By Rabbi Micha’el Rosenberg | June 8, 2021 In the year 2021, the story of Korah’s rebellion—a narrative that composes most of this week’s parashah—hits a bit too close to home. It is a tale of populist rebellion against those sitting in authority, a story that ends with graphic violence and national calamity. Though the Torah’s telling of the event is ambiguous, this much is clear: several named figures—including Korah, Dasan, and Aviram—attempt a coup against the political leadership... Read more
Parasha Shlach (Numbers 13:1–15:41) By Rabbi Daniel Klein | Jun 02, 2021 The section of the Torah we are in now offers a fairly grim portrayal of the religious journey. It depicts a people incapable of consistently living responsively to the Divine encounter. Again and again, both at the foot of Sinai and as they journey into the wilderness, the People of Israel stray from God and from the path of holiness that they have been invited into. In fact, in this... Read more
Parashat Biha’alotcha (Numbers 8:1–12:16) By Rabbi Daniel Klein | May 25, 2021 As a teenager, I was very blessed that I more or less enjoyed school and my school-year activities. But, like many kids, summer camp was the core of my life. It felt like 10 months of the year were lived in black and white, and then I arrived at Camp Yavneh, and life sprang into color. The summer, for many of us, is the great destination up ahead on the... Read more
Parashat Naso (Numbers 4:21−7:89) By Rabbi Avi Killip | May 14, 2021 What holy work can be done through the use of technology, and what must be done in person or by hand? This is the question being asked today in every prayer community. These questions can feel mundane and perhaps even trivial. We want to focus our energy on creating powerful, emotional moments of prayer and connection. The logistical questions feel like they drag us down. But they are not... Read more
Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1–4:20) By Tyler Dratch | May 10, 2021 We are approaching the holiday of Shavuot, yet another Jewish festival in which we work hard to find our way, amongst the limits of our current world. So much of Jewish life these last many months has felt like wandering in a desert. We wish to journey forward, but there is no road showing us the correct way. We move in one direction, and then, with new health data or technical difficulties,... Read more
Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25:1–27:34) By Matthew Schultz | May 03, 2021 The second verse of the Shema comes from the book of Deuteronomy. Recited twice daily by Jews around the world, it consists of two “if/then” propositions: If you follow God’s commandments, then you will be rewarded with ample rains and the bounty of the land. If you stray, then the land will falter, and you will be exiled from it. This, at least, is the traditional understanding of the text. There... Read more
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