Category: Sefer Bamidbar

Parshat Balak: Midrash and Archaeology in the Talmudic Village

by Dr. Steven Fine Posted on October 26, 2016

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Bilam’s Donkey (Hebrew)

by Rabbi Elchanan Samet Posted on October 26, 2016

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The Bitter Waters and The Delicious Food: The Mei Merivah and Manna Sequence

by Rabbi Chaim Marder Posted on October 26, 2016

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Bamidbar: The Counter-song of the Nesiim

by Rabbi Nachman Levine Posted on October 26, 2016

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Bamidbar: Bnot Moav as Narrative, Poetry, and Geography – At Once

by Rabbi Nachman Levine Posted on October 26, 2016

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Revealing the Selection of the Leveeim – A Three Act Drama in Bamidbar

by Rabbi Dr. Avi Walfish Posted on October 26, 2016

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The “Tentacles” of Sefer Shemot in Vayikra, Bamidbar, and Devarim

by Rabbi Menachem Leibtag Posted on October 21, 2016

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Words that Create Worlds

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on August 15, 2016

Words have power. They can cut deep, creating lasting scars in one’s psyche, or they can comfort, console, encourage, and inspire. Words can also convince and persuade when used in a cogent argument, as when the daughters of Tzelafchad approached Moshe to voice their claim of inheritance over their father’s land in last week’s parasha.…

Pinchas: Zealot-Prelate or Priest of Peace?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on August 15, 2016

Parashat Pinchas has much to say about zealotry and peace, and the messages certainly remain worthy of examination today. Consider the following situation: A religious zealot witnesses a person flagrantly violating religious standards of behavior. Acting in the name of God, she picks up the nearest available weapon and violently slays the sinner.…

Oh, Say Can You See?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on August 15, 2016

Speech is central in the story of Balak and Balaam, from Balaam’s blessings to the talking donkey. But as much as this parasha is about talking, it is also about seeing. “And Balak the son of Beor saw, va’yar, all that Israel had done to the Amorites.” (Bamidbar 22:2).…

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

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.…

Being Holy or Becoming Holy

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on August 15, 2016

As published in the Jerusalem Report, July 11, 2016 Is kedusha, holiness, a good thing or a bad thing? Certainly, in its privileged and particularist expressions it can lead to conflict, discord, war and violence. Fights over who has rights to sacred ground, which religion is holy and whose scripture is sacred have plagued us for centuries and have been the cause of immeasurable loss of life.…