A Quick Torah Thought

Datan and Aviram appear in this week's parsha as Korach's sidekicks, but, as often is the case in rabbinic literature, when a particular characteristic or quality trait appears in multiple instances, the sages state that the actors in one instance are the very same actors as the other instances when the traits described are at play.  And so, Datan and Aviram became the symbol of dispute, for the sake of dispute itself. They like conflict, live off of it, and thrive on it.  But, who really were Datan and Aviram?! In rabbinic literature they were similarly heroic, like righteous Judenrat of the camps who took the blows rather than see other Jews suffer.  Yet, upon Moshe's second foray to see his brother's suffering, it is, our sages teach us, Datan and Aviram who are fighting. We do not know why they are fighting, but one tries to strike the other, and Moshe says, "Evil man, why would you strike your brother?" It would seem that Datan and Aviram had an identity ...

Parshat Shlach tells of the spies who are sent to the Land of Canaan to sing its praise and encourage the masses before the rigorous conquest. The nations of the land were fierce and the spies were viewed as a way of boosting the morale of a tribal nation who had fled Egypt but who were not yet amassed into any semblance of fighting force ready to take on the mightiest and most formidable of nations. In some respects, the personal journey of each of the spies was reflective of the narrative of the nation as a whole. The Chafetz Chaim, in his book Shmirat Halashon depicts this connection. The spies, he writes, were fearful that though certain individuals might be worthy of such victory, the nation as a whole was not. In essence, they feared that the base spiritual level of the people would not enable them to go the distance, leaving them easy prey for the far stronger inhabitants of the land. Taking it a step further, the Chafetz Chaim, says that that can be our greatest pitfall...

We spent a large part of Friday night in a dusty, cramped bunker, overcrowded because it was lined with old filing cabinets from the Mother and Child Health Center a floor above, which used it as a storage area for that among old building supplies it had used when renovating. For us as parents it was less than pleasant but there were a few golden moments worth sharing.  One, a local rabbi, Rav Itamar Gugenheim saw a row of children sitting on low-lying nursery chairs and he said to them quizically, "Did you say Hallel yet for what Israel did this morning?!" and then, he started singing, " Be'tzeit Yisrael Mimitzraim " and all the kids joined in chorus, singing with him in a beautiful display of Ahavat Yisrael  and helping children deal with the exceedingly difficult situation.  Another, a friend of mine, a Hareidi man whose sons I happen to teach English and who is part of the Homefront Command, and actively engaged in reserved duty, started singing Am Yisrael C...

The Torah uses a very powerful metaphor to describe adultery: stealing from God.  It says that the same way one who has eaten without reciting a blessing prior has stolen from Hashem, the same way one who steals from the Holy Temple, Beit Hamikdash has similarly stolen and needs to repay the value of the stolen item and add one fifth of its value, and the same way one who has stolen from sanctified booty at war time has stolen from God, likewise, the adulterous act is an act of theft, or in Hebrew, me'ilah . This term, me'ilah essentially means that a person has taken something that was sanctified and used it for profane uses; interestingly, when the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half of the tribe of Menashe make an altar on the Jordan and are accused of serving an alien god, the term me'ilah is likewise used.  The term is a loaded term, a term with very deep meaning, and is meant to construe something very specific.  In the words of the Seforno on the bitter wars that would ...

I had the honor of speaking on Shavuot night and ever so often, when you speak publicly, new ideas come to mind either as a product of questions asked, or the need to clarify the connection between seemingly disparate concepts, so I wanted to share these thoughts now on the topic of authority, and the democratization of decision making from a Jewish lens.  The text case that I looked at was a famous one (Berachot 27:28.), the temporary dismissal of Raban Gamliel, the previously undisputed leader, head of the Sanhedrin and from the Davidic line, and the great-great grandson of Hillel the Elder.  The incident took place in Yavneh, which you will recall was the one place that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai had sought when bargaining with the Roman Emperor Vespasian; he chose the elders, and the ability to reconvene a Sanhedrin instead of the Beit Hamikdash, he chose the human minds and hearts over a place that has lost its efficacy as a resting place for God almighty. And this Yavneh w...

Years ago I read a book called "My Losing Season," by Pat Conroy, about, more than anything his father's almost vicious approach to winning, and the struggles he faced as a child with a father who tended towards abuse. One of the things though that I remember most saliently from the book was how the young author, pointguard and captain of his school team, the Cital Bulldogs, was able to keep the peace on his team by remembering how many times he had passed the ball to each of the other players on an attack. He mentally kept track of how many times the shooting guard, the center and the two forwards received the ball. That, he said, kept the team together.  The sojourns in the desert and the encampment around the mishkan seemed to have a similar message.  Though each tribe had a unique place, they were part of a larger division, led by one of the paramount tribes. The heads of divisions included Judah, from whom kingship would derive, Reuven, who chronologically was the fi...