by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 12, 2014
The parasha of tzitzit which closes parashat Shelach seems decidedly out of place. However, there are two key words which tie it back to the beginning of the parasha: lirot, to see, and la’tur, to spy out, or to seek. The purpose of tzitzit we are told is u’ri’item oto, and you shall see them, and you will remember all the mitzvot of God and do them, v’lo ta’turu acharei li’vavkhem vi’acharei eineikhem, that you should not seek, taturu, after your hearts and your eyes.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on May 23, 2013
After the arranging of the camps around the Mishkan, in parashat Bamidbar and Nasso, our parasha, parashat Biha’alotkha, sees the camp moving forward and the beginning of the trek through the desert. At the opening of this trek, two verses are set off from the rest of the text – va’yehi binsoa ha’aron, “And it was when the Ark would journey…”, u’vinukho yomar, “And when it rested, he said…” (Bamidbar 10:35-36). …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on May 10, 2013
Feel free to download and print this week’s Parsha Sheet and share it with your friends and family: Click here: Parshat Bamidbar This week, when we move from sefer Vayikra to sefer Bamidbar, we are finally moving away from Har Sinai, where Bnei Yisrael have been encamped for almost a year.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 13, 2012
The Israelites have been wandering through the Wilderness for forty years and they are now on the cusp of entering into the Land of Canaan. Things will be different now. There will no longer be the cloud of God to lead them during the day and the pillar of fire to lead them at night.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 6, 2012
Parashat Balak is the only parasha in the Torah which provides us with an outsider’s view of Children of Israel. As such, it affords us with a perspective not only on how others see us, but also on how others see, that is, on other ways of seeing.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 8, 2012
The Children of Israel have divided themselves into camps, dedicated the Mishkan, and arranged themselves around the Mishkan, so that God, both literally and figuratively, now “dwells in their midst.” The time has come, in this week’s parasha, to decamp and move forward.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 10, 2011
Reprinted from 2011 and dedicated in honor of this year’s 2018 semikha class of our amazing new rabbis travelling forth to serve Klal Yisrael! As the academic year ends, many of us will be beginning new chapters in our lives. High school students preparing to go to Israel or college; College students preparing to enter into the job world; men and women becoming lawyers, doctors, scientists, professors; and rabbinical students becoming rabbis. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on June 2, 2011
After the organizing of the camp with the mishkan at its center – the focus on parshat Bamidbar, this parsha focuses on what it means to be outside the mishkan, to be in the camp, and to continue to orient oneself to God’s presence.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 6, 2009
B’ha’alotkha is rich with many stories of the challenges, adventures, and misadventures of Bnei Yisrael’s travelling from Har Sinai and moving towards the Land of Israel. What is visually the most striking is the parsha of “va’yehi binsoa ha’aron,” “and it was when the Ark travelled,” which occurs in the middle of the parsha, and is set off by inverted Hebrew-nuns.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 22, 1998
The parsha of Matot-Masay concludes the story of the Moab-Midian attack against the Israelites. In the parsha of Balak we read that the Moabite women enticed the Israelite men to engage in illicit sex and to worship the pagan god Ba’al.…
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