Running Away from Honor

Our reading begins, “And He [G-d] called to Moshe, and Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying...” [1:1] The first word of this book, that which identifies the Sefer as “Vayikra,” is traditionally written with an unusally small letter Aleph at the end of...
Commander and Commanded

Commander and Commanded

In this week’s reading, we find the second, longest paragraph of the Shema [Deut. 11:13-21], the daily reading in which Jews commit to follow G-d and His Commandments. The first section, with Shema itself [6:5-9], was part of our reading last week. The Mishnah...

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Take it from Truman

Take it from Truman

The Medrash tells us that Bilaam was a prophet, that Hashem, G-d, spoke with him. No one, however, came closer to Hashem thanks to hearing Bilaam’s prophecy. All the Jewish prophets, and of course Moshe himself, caused people to turn to Hashem, but Bilaam was an utter...

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No Parallel

No Parallel

“And Korach the son of Yitzhar, the son of K’has, the son of Levi, and Dasan and Aviram the sons of Eliav, and On the son of Peles, the sons of Reuven, took [themselves to the side]; and they rose up against Moshe…” [16:1-2] The Mishnah in the Chapters of the Fathers...

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Yosef’s Extra Punishment

Yosef’s Extra Punishment

This week we read about the tragic expedition of the spies into the Land of Israel. They returned with a bad report, briefly convincing the Israelites that they would be unable to enter their land. This is why the generation that left Egypt was not allowed to enter...

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Leadership Is Not About Me

Leadership Is Not About Me

In this week's reading, G-d tells Moshe to assemble 70 of the Elders of Israel, for them to be prophets to the people [see Num. 11:16-17 and 24-29]. They would form the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Rabbinic Court. There were 12 tribes, and the division was to be as equal as...

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Striving for More

Striving for More

In this week's reading, we learn about the inaugural offerings brought by the heads of each Tribe of Israel to the Tabernacle. First the Torah spells out for us, in detail, the contents of the first offering, brought by. Nachshon ben Aminodov of the tribe of Yehudah....

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