Bamidbar is usually read on the Shabbat before Shavuot. Shavuot is the time of the giving of the Torah; “bamidbar” means “in the desert.” What is the connection between … more

Years ago, after a very difficult month in Lebanon, someone higher up decided our unit needed a break. Every unit maintains a daily events log (yoman iruim). Every patrol, ambush, search and seize, … more

We were exhausted, burned out. We felt that we needed a break. There were just two of us: me and my study partner, Yisrael. We were both not quite twenty years old, students in the post high … more

The Torah gives three examples of “Your brother becoming impoverished.” (V’khi yamukh achikha). The first has to do with selling family property, and how it returns to the … more

Sefer Vayikra is the only book in Tanach where we find the expression, v’yarata m’elokecha (“and you shall have awe for your G-d”). It appears three times in Parashat … more

It is an old word, and it describes a behavior that has been around since the beginning of history. Yet the word seems to me to be used more and more frequently these days, and the behavior it … more

I argued in my “Covenant and Conversation” for parshat Kedoshim that Judaism is more than an ethnicity. It is a call to holiness. In one sense, however, there is an important ethnic … more

CHAPTER 23 of our parasha is popularly known as parashat hamoadim. In its introductory verses we find: And Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: … more

WHEN I was in high school, my mother arranged for me to get a ride to school once a week with one of the teachers. We lived in Manhattan, and as the high school I attended was in Riverdale, having a … more

IN every group, there is one person who stands out as special. In childhood, it is often the kid with the greatest athletic prowess. Later in life, different attributes begin to qualify a person to … more