In his introduction to the book of Bamidbar, Nachmanides posits that the majority of the mitzvot of this book were commandments for the specific time period of wilderness travel and would not be applicable once they reached the land of Canaan/Israel. more

While Chapter 11 in the book of Bamidbar bears little resemblance to the famous reorganization process of the Bankruptcy Code, it does have a series of setbacks that seem to put the people in a negative light. Disobedience, complaining, people getting punished by fire, or their bodies suffer the effects of too much quail. more

The Yalkut Shimoni (Naso 6:710) raises an interesting non-halakhic debate between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon as to what was the motivation for becoming a Nazir. more

Take a drive up the south side of the Golan Heights, and you will see one of the most incredible vistas in Israel. more

There is a widespread custom to stay up on Shavuot evening learning Torah. Obvious, you’ll say, but the truth is that the custom is mostly kabbalistic in nature. more

This week we celebrate the festival of Shavuot, commemorating a moment, 3200 years ago, when we all stood together, beneath a wind-swept mountain, deep in the Sinai desert. more

A story is told of a Jewish man who was riding on the subway reading a newspaper of the Klu Klux Klan. A friend of his, who happened to be riding in the same subway car, noticed this strange phenomenon. Very upset, he approached the newspaper reader, 
“Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading a Klu Klux Klan newspaper?” more

Many who write about this parsha focus on the question that Rashi asks (quoting the Sifra on B’har), “Why are the rules of Shmittah (the Sabbatical year for the land of Israel) mentioned in the context of ‘Moshe at Mt. Sinai?’” more

It was our first Masah, our first forced march. We were barely two weeks in the army, and Itzik, a sadistic little first sergeant who had made it his mission to make us, or rather, break us into soldiers, owned us for the night. more

Last week I was privileged to teach a class about Mikveh to a group of non-Orthodox Jews. The first ten minutes of the class focused on the concepts of "tumah" and "taharah" and how every single-word or two-word "translation" of each word does not do justice to the discussion. more