Our reading this week discusses at length the camp of the Children of Israel “in the desert”—Bamidbar. The head of each tribe is identified, followed by a census of that tribe. This is followed in turn by a description of where each tribe, and group of tribes, camped...

We hardly need reminders that this has been a painful year, making the curses found in our reading this week perhaps even more difficult to read than usual. Several lines within it might even be regarded as triggering, in modern lexicon, to those who experienced the...

The laws of Shmittah, the Sabbatical Year, are so unique, and so contrary to nature, that they are used to demonstrate that G-d has true power over His world, and gave us the Torah. Today, observance of the Sabbatical every seven years is a Rabbinic obligation (in the...

At the beginning of our reading, Kedoshim, Moshe is commanded to "speak to the entire congregation of the Children of Israel" [19:2]. Rashi explains that everyone was summoned to Moshe, to be taught these Commandments together. Why? Because, Rashi says, the majority...

Everyone knows that this has been a difficult year. But it is specifically after a year like this one that we see that the Haggadah, a text thousands of years old, remains as relevant and empowering as ever. During the Seder, we not only talk about Pharoah and the...

Being human, we've all made mistakes. We've all made bad decisions, even doing things we knew we really shouldn't. Sometimes, of course, such wrongdoing becomes public knowledge, and the embarrassment is extreme. [We even know of cases where people took their own...