This week is a double portion that concludes the book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Torah that covers thirty-eight years of travel through the desert. The people are now poised to enter the Promised Land. Mattot means tribes. Each of the twelve tribe had a distinctive identity as part of a larger collective.…

Like Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Zelophachad in this week’s Torah reading had five daughters and no sons. Rather than singing “Tradition,” they challenge the laws of the past that only acknowledge sons as tribal heirs. Law and tradition unfold. Judaism has changed across the generations. Justice has demanded reevaluation. In our community, women…

“Holy, Holy, Holy,” the angels chant in praise of God in the prophet Isaiah’s vision (6:3). As we echo those words in our kedushah prayer we go up on our toes signifying that God is uniquely elevated. Korach leads a rebellion against Moses, his fellow Levite. His challenge focuses on holiness: “You have gone too…

What went awry? Contemporary Biblical scholar, Avivah Zornberg, faults Moses’ instructions. The Israelites “broke into loud cries and wept all night” (Numbers 14:1) in response to the report of the scouts. The goal of their mission was to prepare the Israelites to fulfill a long awaited goal: taking possession of the Promised Land. Instead, the…

Dr. Abraham Twerski, a Hasidic rabbi and psychiatrist, uplifts me with memories of our times together and through his writing on both the nature of addiction and the wisdom of the Jewish tradition. Dr. Twerski’s words resonate because I identify his life’s work and personality with compassion, humility, and integrity. In his book, Living Each Week,…

In this week’s Torah reading we are offered a three-fold, priestly blessing that begins, Yeverachecha Adonai VeYeshemerach- May God bless you and protect you (Numbers 6:24). Isaac Abravanel (15-16th century, Spain-Italy) understood this blessing as cautionary: May God give you material abundance and protect you from the possessions possessing you. We run the risk of obsessively gathering…

Did you ever dream that after much preparation you overslept and missed a big event? Well, that nightmare occurred to the rabbis when imagining what took place at Mount Sinai. The Torah recounts thunder and shofar blasts. Rather than reading that as a dramatic display of God’s power preceding God’s revelation, some rabbis imagined all…

Torah is a sacred text. We kiss the scroll when carried around the room to convey that it is precious. We relate to the Torah as a love letter from God and yet, for many of us the Torah is also a human document with a history. Dr. David Lieber, the chief editor of the…