by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 29, 2023
Originally Published June 2015 Transitions are hard. As the wandering in the desert begins to draw to a close, Bnei Yisrael encounter many changes and anticipate many more. Their leaders begin to die: Miriam and Aharon this week and Moshe a few months later.…
by Rabbi Daniel Epstein
Posted on June 29, 2023
Do you want time to go fast or slow? Time flies when you are having fun. Dunbar in Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 decides he wants his life to be as boring as possible so that he will live a very long time.…
by Eliezer Weinbach
Posted on July 7, 2022
Your community is running a fundraiser but you’ve never made fundraising calls before. Your synagogue needs a minyan but you are often late. A sick person down the block needs a visitor but you don’t know what to say. What if you mess up?…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 17, 2021
The transition into full adulthood, with its incumbent privileges and responsibilities, is often a long process. In recent years there has been increasing recognition of a stage of life between adolescence and adulthood; this stage has been called the “odyssey years.”…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 11, 2019
Transitions are hard. As the period of wandering in the desert begins to draw to a close, Bnei Yisrael encounter many changes and they anticipate many more. Their leaders begin to die: Miriam and Aharon both die in this week’s parasha, and Moshe will pass away a few months hence.…
by Rabbi Chaim Marder
Posted on October 26, 2016
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by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 15, 2016
Much ink has been spilled by the commentators—classical and contemporary—to explain Moshe and Aharon’s sin of smiting the rock, but the matter remains quite opaque. Greater clarity can be gained by comparing the story of the smiting of the rock in our parasha with the hitting of the rock in Parashat Beshalach.…
by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot
Posted on July 5, 2016
The failure of Moses to lead the Jewish people into the promised land constitutes a central tragedy of the second half of the book of Numbers and the book of Deuteronomy. The ambiguous circumstances surrounding both his loss of the reins of leadership and his disqualification from entry into the land add to the reader’s sense of frustration and wonder.…
by Rabbi Avi Weiss
Posted on May 25, 2016
In parshat Chukat Moses is told that he would not enter Israel because he hit the rock instead of speaking to it. Immediately afterwards, Moses sends a delegation to Edom asking that the Jewish people be allowed to go through his territory on their way to Israel (Numbers 20:14).…
by Rabbi Avi Weiss
Posted on May 21, 2016
There are differing opinions concerning the meaning of “chok” (commonly translated as statute), the type of law discussed at the beginning of Chukat (Numbers 19). Some maintain that “hook” is a law that although not understood today, one day in the future will be understood.…
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