Reflection on Parashat Pinchas The Torah portion for this week, apart from laws and other stories, contains also the one about daughters of Tzelafchad petition Moses that they be granted the portion of the land belonging to their father, who died without sons. God accepts their claim and incorporates it into the Torah’s laws of […]

In this week’s parasha Pinchas we read about the second census of the whole Israelite community conducted among the Israelites wandering across the wilderness. This census describes the division of the tribes of the people of Israel into clans, whose leaders are mentioned by name. Each tribe and clan is described in an identical way, […]

Eleven years ago I participated in the Festival of Jewish Culture in Kraków for the first time. My most vivid memory from that Festival is associated with the Nowy Square. I remember standing at the square with a group of friends from the Polish Jewish Youth Organization. Together we were watching a concert at the roof of the round market hall known as […]

In this week’s Torah portion we find a number of laws related to matters of purity and impurity. Moses teaches the people of Israel about the laws related to the red heifer, whose ashes purify a person who has become impure as a result of touching a dead body. In addition, in the subsequent part […]

In 1997 along with the other residents of my hometown of Wrocław I experienced the so called “Flood of the Millennium”. Fortunately our home had not been flooded; we found ourselves on a peninsula surrounded from three sides by the waters of the Odra river. One of the consequences of Wrocław’s “Great Water” was the […]

Thoughts on Parashat Korach This week’s Torah portion describes the beginning of a revolution which proved to be an utter and complete failure. Korach was trying to incite a rebellion by questioning the leadership of Moses and the fact that Aaron was made a priest. In his undertaking he is accompanied by the implacable enemies […]