Torah: Women challenge the status quo in this week’s Torah reading of Pinchas. At Mount Sinai, Moses learns the laws of inheritance: sons will receive the tribal land of a deceased father. A problem arises. Zelophachad has died with no sons. His five daughters plead to Moses, “Why should our father’s name be disadvantaged in his family merely because he did not…

Torah: Moab’s King Balak commissions a prophet for profit, Bilaam, to curse the Israelites. Bilaam agrees, but emphasizes that his words come from God” (Numbers 22:18). Four times, when Bilaam’s words flow from his vantage point of the hills overlooking the encamped Israelites, blessings emerge. Among the most famous of those words are the mah tovu, “How goodly are your tents O’ Jacob, your…

Torah: Hukkat These past two weeks have seen too much violence. I write under the shadow of painful images. What light can our Torah reading this Shabbat, Hukkat, shed? At the center of our Torah reading is the punishment of Moses and Aaron for the failure to “honor God in the midst of the people” (Deuteronomy 20:12). What was their sin in…