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 […]

Thoughts on Parashat Shelach [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt,’ the whole community shouted at them, ‘or if only we might die in […]

In this week’s Torah portion Shlach Lecha (Hebrew for: “Send for Yourself”) Moses sends twelve spies whose task is to gather information about the Land of Canaan. After they complete their spying mission they are supposed to go back to Moses and tell him that it is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. […]

Desert – Midbar. Parched earth. Scorching sun. Bitterly cold nights. Hardly conditions anyone would call inviting. Every time I start reading parashat Bamidbar I feel similarly not invited by the text to continue reading. Bamidbar is the first parasha of the Book of Numbers for a good reason. Truly, it has enough numbers to make […]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Do not let the group of Kohathite clans be cut off from the Levites. Do this with them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most sacred objects: let Aaron and his sons go in and assign each of them to his duties and […]