Numbers ends in much the same way that it began: with a list of the princes of each tribe, standing on the plains of Moab, preparing to enter into the land promised to their ancestors. Numbers 34:17-19 states, “These are the names of the men who shall...

If peace is the absence of conflict, then there are at least two paths to peace.  In a conflict of winners and losers, violence and dominance is a path to peace. One “side” overcomes the other, and imposes terms. The winner enjoys peace, the loser...

Sage advice gives quiet strength in the midst of turmoil. Scholars of Torah are sometimes called sages. I might call the author Parker Palmer a sage. Palmer comes from the Quaker tradition — which like our own is committed to an abstract, indivisible...

Who among us hasn’t emerged from narrow straits? Is there anyone who hasn’t come through a fraught situation, maybe bruised but not beaten; blemished but not broken? Our Torah portion this week, Chukat, is famous for its enigmatic law of the Red Heifer....

Every so often, the people in the Torah pray. Maybe not as often as we might expect from such a holy text, but they pray, and sometimes with breathtaking intensity. Patriarchs and Matriarchs, lowly servants, great kings and humble shepherds, prophets...

In this week’s Torah portion, Shelach, the Jewish people have completed the short trek from Mount Sinai to the Land of Israel. God tells them to send the heads of each tribe as spies to spy out the Land of Israel. After 40 days the spies return. Ten...

As the fourth book of the Torah opens, God orders Moses and Aaron to take a census of the people, specifically those males who are of the age of conscription.  The Israelites still have many challenges to face, as they continue their journey from Mount...

O holy parshat Behar, you are speaking to me in the voice of metaphor, poetics, images. We call an image a mashal — a parable, an example. You open with the mashal: Begin with keeping the Sabbath of the land (Leviticus 25:2). The Sabbath of the land;...

A favorite Jewish folktale of mine tells of a group of monks at a monastery who over time lost sight of their own behaviors and treated each other with disrespect. Once known for living in an atmosphere of good will and human decency, the monks increasingly...

The double portion Tazria-Metzora is abundant with everything we need to know about dealing with skin diseases and bodily infections. Offering us more than a search on the Internet, we are taught not only the signs of these diseases, but how we should...

One of my favorite stories is found in a small, but important book by Rabbi Marc Gellman entitled, “Does God Have a Big Toe?” It is a collection of midrash that is written for children but also teaches the adults who read the short selections to them....