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Parsha BAMIDBAR

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William Hamilton

May 18, 2018, 6:58 PM

Listening to every ‘I’ including the ‘I’ of God

“The press coverage on Monday” wrote Matti Friedman, “was a major Hamas success in a war whose battlefield isn’t really Gaza, but the brains of foreign audiences.” These days people’s heads seem less interested in information than in affirmation. ...

May 17, 2018, 3:18 PM

Why do we need the Levites?

This weeks parsha begins a new book of the Torah, the book of Bamidbar. The parsha starts with a census of the Israelite camp, and ends with very specific instructions by God, mandating the conscription of one tribe, the...

May 17, 2018, 6:45 AM

Parashat Bamidbar: What Is Possible in the Wilderness of Sinai or Gaza?

“In the wilderness of Sinai” are the opening words of the book of Numbers, the fourth and longest book of the Torah. Despite the textual interruption of Leviticus, we pick up the story on the heels of the Exodus...

May 16, 2018, 6:06 AM

A wedding anniversary gift

Jared Kushner went off-script while addressing the dedication ceremony of The US Embassy in Jerusalem. He referred to Jerusalem as the "eternal heart," not capital, of the Jewish people. This must have been the Psalmist's description speaking from his heart. "The city which has...

May 15, 2018, 6:06 PM

Every Grain of Sand…

The vastness of the world around us can be overwhelming. We think of the six million and, with shock and sadness, we realize how limited we are to grasp each was a unique, individual, living soul with specific experiences,...

Ben-Tzion Spitz

May 14, 2018, 7:23 AM

Bamidbar: Fire, Water, Desert

Am I willing to give up what I have in order to be what I am not yet? Am I able to follow the spirit of love into the desert? It is a frightening and sacred moment. There is...

Ariel Ben Avraham

May 12, 2018, 11:06 PM

Parshat Bamidbar: Living our relationship with the Creator (II)

“Each by his banner, with ensigns of the house of their fathers, do the sons of Israel encamp; over-against round about the tent of meeting they encamp.” (Numbers 2:2) We have mentioned often that the twelve tribes of Israel...

William Hamilton

May 27, 2017, 12:18 AM

JFK at 100: Lessons for a new century

“I first saw Palestine in 1939” John F. Kennedy described in the summer of 1960. “There the neglect and ruin left by centuries of Ottoman misrule were slowly being transformed by miracles of labor and sacrifice. I returned in 1951...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

May 26, 2017, 5:19 PM

Over the past few weeks, many flags have been displayed in Israel. Beginning on Erev Yom HaZikaron, the eve of Israel’s Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers, Israeli flags have been waving from windows and porches. Most public buildings...

Rachel Anisfeld

May 26, 2017, 12:24 AM

Parashat Bamidbar and Shavuot: Finding Your Place

In the vast, uncultivated desert, the Israelites had an orderly method of encampment and travel – three tribes on each of four sides, north, south, east and west, each group with its own representative flag, all surrounding the Tabernacle...

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