A Blessing for Material and Spiritual Wealth
This week's portion, Naso, contains three of the best known verses in Torah, collectively called the Priestly Benediction or the Birkat Kohanim. (Num. 6:24-26)
Leaving the Fleshpots of Egypt for the Promised Land of Israel, Then and Now
In our portion of the week, B'haalot'cha, particularly in Numbers 11, we find a famous and classic episode of the murmurings of our people in the desert.
Sufficiency Consciousness: A Path to God
God said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron and say to him: 'When you mount the lamps, the seven lamps shall illuminate the menorah.'" (Numbers 8:1, 2) These two simple verses begin a diverse web of instructions and stories that comprise this week's Torah portion, Parashat B’haalot’cha.
"Daddy, Are We There Yet?"
There's a joke that started making the rounds when Jews from the former Soviet Union began arriving in large numbers in Israel:
"So, really, how was life back in Russia?" a Sabra asks a new immigrant, just arrived in Israel from the former Soviet Union.
The Committee Meeting from Heaven
Not so long ago, in a congregation that could be your own, lived a man named Joseph Smithstein. His synagogue, Congregation Echad, was once vibrant, but over time things had changed. Two years ago, because nobody wanted to take the helm, Joe, a new member, became the president.
B'haalot'cha: This Passage Is Out of Place
This week’s Torah portion, B’haalot’cha, begins with the instructions for the lifting up of “the lamps,” haneirot, to illuminate the Tabernacle. The initial letter of the word, “lamp,” neir, is nun.
Wholeness Is Found in the Little Details
This week's Torah portion, Parashat P'kudei, brings the Book of Exodus to a close. The Israelites — who by this point in our story have been freed from Egyptian slavery, stood at Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and the Torah, and in this week's parashah, completed the construction of the Tabernacle — are finally ready for their long years of wandering that will take up the rest of the Torah's narrative.
If your only exposure to the Book of Exodus was through children's Bible stories, Hollywood, or even the Jewish calendar, you might easily overlook the part of the story about the Tabernacle. Big stories like the liberation from Egypt, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the building of the Golden Calf, and God's appearance at the Burning Bush are almost always portrayed as the major events of the Book of Exodus. The building of the Tabernacle — the portable sanctuary that will serve as God's dwelling-place among the Israelite camp during their wanderings — barely even registers. But when Moses finally completes the Tabernacle in this week's Torah portion, it is after five weekly Torah portions, fifteen chapters, and almost half the Book of Exodus that are mostly devoted to the detailed and often repetitive description of the Tabernacle.