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Avraham Bronstein

Jun 24, 2018, 10:29 AM

Staffs, Statutes, and the Cries of a Child

In the year 399 BCE, the great philosopher Socrates was arrested and tried on charges of heresy and corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens. He was convicted, and sentenced to death. His students begged him to run...

William Hamilton

Jun 22, 2018, 5:35 PM

When repentance seems remote

Moses strikes the rock in this week’s portion of Torah. The punitive consequences seem unfair. Not merely because the sin seems subtle, but because it is so irreversible. After all, Moses could be very persuasive. He had persuaded God to reconsider punishments before. But...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jun 22, 2018, 4:28 PM

Moshe’s work is never done

In Parshat Chukat (Bamidbar 20:7-8), God asked Moshe to speak to the rock so that it may bring forth water. However, Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to it. In verse 12, God said to Moshe and Aharon,...

Jun 21, 2018, 2:16 PM

The consolations of mortality

'Moses Striking Water from the Rock,' by Nicolas Poussin, 1649. (Wikimedia Commons)

Our lives may feel depressingly inconsequential, but they have immense purpose (Hukat)

Jun 21, 2018, 12:50 PM

“Snakes and Serpents” Parashat Chukat 5778

Am Yisrael hit a roadblock on their way to the Land of Canaan. The Edomites, descendants of Esav, refuse to let Am Yisrael past border control and they are forced to reroute: “Why have you brought us up out...

Jun 20, 2018, 1:29 PM

Parshat Hukat — the power of fruit

There are many turning points in the narrative of the Torah, and most of them are bad, like the sin of the Egel and the sin of the Spies. This weeks Parsha, Hukat, is a breakthrough signifying the arrival...

Rachel Friedman

Jun 20, 2018, 12:16 AM

Mourning for Miriam (Parashat Chukat, 10 Tammuz 5778)

Parashat Chukat recounts one of the most dramatic and tragic episodes in Moses’ and Aaron’s tenures as leaders of the nation of Israel. When the Israelites arrive at the location Kadesh in the fortieth year of their journey through the...

Baruch Frydman-Kohl

Jul 2, 2017, 11:30 AM

Wilderness and Nation-Building: Canada and Israel

Our recent Torah portion finds the people of Israel near the conclusion of their 40 year journey through the Wildness, from Egyptian slavery to the Land of Promise. “And the children of Israel journeyed and camped in the plains...

William Hamilton

Jun 30, 2017, 3:26 PM

Amen-able Faith

Last night I decided to pay a visit to an old friend, a leading rabbinic figure of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community. For nearly an hour I made the case to the Kopitchinitzer Rebbe for why it is essential that their...

Jun 30, 2017, 1:33 PM

Walking towards each other: Lessons from a biblical judge (Haftarah Hukkat)

The Haftarah for the Torah portion of Hukkat (read in Jewish communities around the world this year on July 1) revolves around the story of one particular judge, named Yiftach (often rendered in English as “Jephthah,” but “Yiftach” is...

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