What is the Promised Land?
One of the best known and most perplexing passages in the Torah occurs in Parashat Chukat. In Numbers 20:12, Adonai informs Moses and Aaron that they will not enter the Promised Land because they did not place enough trust in Adonai.
Holding on to the Vision
The shadow of death hovers over Parashat Chukat. (Numbers 19:1-22:1) The parashah begins with the instructions for the ritual slaughter of a heifer and the necessity for purgation after contact with a dead body.
Thinking before Speaking
People should think before they speak. This is common sense, you might say, but judging from the number of miscommunications and painful verbal exchanges that occur each day, this sense is not so common-even for Mosheh and Aharon in this week's parashah, Chukat.
Fear Itself
Focal Point
They marched on and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan, with all his people, came out to Edrei to engage them in battle. But Adonai said to Moses, “Do not fear him. . . .” (Numbers 21:33–34)
The Death of Miriam, the Death of Aaron, the Death of Moses, the Death of Me
Death flows like a stream throughout Parashat Chukat —from the laws about repurification after contact with a corpse, to the death of Moses’s sister Miriam, to the death of his brother, Aaron.
“Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”
This year marks Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's twentieth anniversary on the United States Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg likes to tell her version of a story that has many versions: 1
Awakened as a People, Raised Up as Jews
If you swim off the beaches of Australia, you need to be on the lookout for “blue bottles,” an Aussie nickname for the Portuguese man of war. A blue bottle is not a jellyfish nor is it a single creature.
The Sotah (Suspected Adulteress), the Nazir (Nazirite) and the Kohein (Priest)-How Odd They Should Be Neighbors!
Parashat Naso receives its name from the first word of its second verse (Numbers 4:22). The Hebrew verb naso, typically means "to lift up," but the idiom "lift the heads" has the special meaning of counting heads, or taking a census.
Nahshon, Music, and Shmutz
In Parashat Naso we finally reach the completion of the Tabernacle with all of its elaborate furnishings. The chieftains of each tribe are invited to present offerings for the dedication of the altar, one chieftain per day.