Parshah Columnists

What does it take to be a Torah teacher? Are there qualifications?

Couldn’t He have let them hang out in the Bahamas instead? Or at least some nice vacation spot along the Red Sea and let them do a little scuba diving?

This is going to be, eventually, a column about love.

Why all this counting?

I was about to board the train, a middle-aged man exited the train and immediately approached me. “I’m a Jew,” he said.

How does one switch from the stage where everything is sanctified to the stage where the sacred must be carried on one’s shoulder?

How many of us say, “Don’t rely on me,” or, “Don’t count on me”? But we all count. And, yes, we do count on you.

Once there was a small town that had exactly ten men over the age of bar mitzvah. One day, a new Jewish family moved in to town. Great joy and excitement; now they would have eleven men. But as soon as they had one extra, they could never manage a minyan!

Seemingly, we have two opposing forces tugging at us: our need to stand out as individuals vs. our need for belonging.

Two censuses, taken at two times which could not be more dissimilar. But a singular message—and a message with a singular theme—emerges . . .

The desert is desolate, bare; where survival is chancy and death is a given.

Why the “countdown” to the holiday of Shavuot? What is the connection between numbers and counting, and the special gift which our nation received on this holiday?

Even when the negative influence is right next door you have the ability to resist their blandishments.

It may be tempting to claim a deferment from duty, but the truth is that when fighting G‑d’s fight, everyone is a professional soldier.

When the Torah tells us who lived near whom, it’s telling us about t There’s the influence of a rebel rouser and of the scholar…

G-d certainly knew of the travel magazines’ “100 best locations to vacation,” of the beautiful beaches of Maui and the majestic Alps. Why, then, was the Torah given in a hot desert in middle of the summer?

In the eyes of G-d, counting Jews is far more than keeping score; it is, rather, His way of telling each and every one of His children: “You matter to Me. You’re not just a number. You’re on My speed-dial.”

The passage is curious. G‑d proposes, always, that we come closer to Him—but here He demands a conspicuous distance. He seems to want to create a "mystery" of an "Inner Sanctum": "Gaze At It And Die!"

In this process of counting there is an interesting feature: G-d tells Moses to count the people as individuals and also by their families, within their tribes...

To us on earth, looking with the unaided eye and perhaps not thinking too much about the matter, the stars seem tiny and insignificant. Yet each is a powerful and unique force.

G‑d descended from the heavens surrounded by a majestic entourage of 22,000 angels, led by Michael to the east, Gabriel to the west, Raphael to the north and Uriel to the south . . .

Who defied Pharaoh's decree and risked their lives to carry, give birth to and nurse these children? Now that the children are to be counted, the mothers are no longer noteworthy?

Had the Torah been given in a settled area, the implication would have been that it was linked somehow to that neighborhood, that it belonged exclusively to the people of that place.

In the desert there are no office buildings or factories. So if you lived in the desert, chances are you wouldn't have a job. There'd be no boss bossing you, and no underlings under you

We find that the Twelfth Step's call for service – that we "carry this message to other alcoholics" – is not just a way of paying back to the program, it is crucial to our own sobriety.

The Torah, with great realism, is telling us something counterintuitive and of great significance: The journey from is always easier than the journey to.

There is something unique about the relationship of Jews to the Torah, the way we stand in its presence as if it were a king, dance with it as if it were a bride, listen to it telling our story and study it, as we say in our prayers, as “our life and the length of our days.”

However large the group you lead, you must always communicate the value you place on everyone.

What is the significance of this counting? What is the connection between this counting and Shavuot?