{"id":47998,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:30","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1029\/"},"modified":"2022-08-26T14:35:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T11:35:08","slug":"wall-1029","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1029\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20220821-to-20220827"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1029","date_from":"20220821","date_to":"20220827","book":"Numbers","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"107505","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Re\u2019eh, Rosh Hodesh Elul: The Expansiveness of Freedom ","post_title":"Re\u2019eh, Rosh Hodesh Elul: The Expansiveness of Freedom","slug":"reeh-rosh-hodesh-elul-the-expansiveness-of-freedom","old_id":"107505","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1029","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In dealing with the land \u2013 working it, taking care of it, making it bloom - we have to be constantly connected to the Divine\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The new month of Elul famously opens us to a time of renewed intimacy. As we gear up for the Yamim Noraim, the holiest days of the year, we enter into the holy of holies of the Jewish heart.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The weekly Torah reading, Re\u2019eh, follows a similar trajectory, detailing all the ways we can affirm our intimacy with holiness. We are offered a choice, between blessing and curse. This choice ripples through descriptions of the sanctuary and its service, ways to choose what is right and good in our eating, our serving true prophets, and prioritizing God in our tithing, our calendar, and our labor relations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Of course, this series of blogs deals with Shmita, the recurrent cycle of seven years during which we allow the land to rest. Just as the Jewish people rest on the seventh day, so too the land of Israel is offered a chance to rest, recalibrate, and recenter. The expansion of the Shmita concept in Deuteronomy is one of taking a brilliant environmental piece of legislation, affirming that relational dance between the Land and the people, and then overlapping a layer of social justice as an integral part of that concern.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Even the way the topic is launched reveals that shift of focus: \u201cEvery seventh year you shall practice remission of debts.\u201d Its first expression is not with the soil and our relationship to the earth, but rather the unequal distribution of wealth, and rebalancing the bonds that connect the lender and the debtor, the rich and the poor. The Torah moves to assert that social equity is no less a Shmita concern than its ecological priorities.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After articulating the lofty vision of an end to poverty, the Torah concedes that that dream, however worthy to keep our focus, is unlikely. In the meantime, we must keep our hearts open to the poor, and not pervert the arrival of Shmita into an excuse to close our hearts and our wallets toward their sustenance. \u201cFor there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kin in your land (Deut. 15:11).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Finally, that connection of Shmita to the welfare of the poor is extended to the wellbeing of Hebrew slaves. The Shmita year is to mark their return to freedom and their release from indentured servitude. Just as the land is meant to rest, so too are our fellow citizens. Slavery is not the normal condition; freedom is. Remarkably, the Torah makes explicit that this right to liberty extends to male and to female slaves. It is the essence of the human condition.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are cautioned not to be resentful that we might have squeezed more money out of our fields, or from our loans, or from our slaves. Instead, the impulse to liberation embodied in Shmita bids us to also free our hearts from the stultifying anesthetic of greed and possession. In releasing the land, our finances, and our fellows to freedom, we free ourselves as well. Says the Torah, this freedom ripples out in expansiveness and life: \u201cMoreover, the Lord your God will bless you in all you do (Deuteronomy 15:18).\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This year is the shmita year: Shmita means a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we continue to share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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As the pagan prophet winds down his whirlwind tour, hired by Balak to survey and curse the Children of Israel, he offers a few final observations on his way out. Gazing at the Israelite camp below, he is filled with God\u2019s spirit, and in that trance, he enunciates one of humanity\u2019s most bizarre and unlikely ideas. He tells the Israelites, \u201cBlessed are they who bless you; Accursed they who curse you! (24:9).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Imagine if a minute and obscure Semitic tribe were a cosmic fulcrum: blessing and curse were the consequence of one\u2019s relationship with that particular people. How arrogant to claim that kind of centrality in the drama of human affairs, and how unlikely. History is a series of cause and effect, best explained by sociological, economic, political, military, or even ideological forces. But surely not as a barometer of how nations relate to the Jews.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So it must seem, dear reader, astounding to note that Balaam\u2019s weird declaration is one of the Bible\u2019s most literally true claims. The Egypt of the Pharaoh\u2019s is no more, the Syrian Greek empire collapsed, as did the Roman Empire. In our own time, the Nazis and the Soviets trotted to the dustbin of history, and what all these failed societies share is the extent of their focus on the Jews as objects of hate, ridicule, and brutality. And the nations that bless their Jewish residents: well, the Golden Age of Spain was a time of relative interfaith cooperation, blessing not only the Jews but the Christians and Muslims as well. Think of the Prophet Mohammed in Medina \u2013 another Golden Age of interfaith cooperation. Think of the United States in the Twentieth Century.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Apparently, Balaam was on to something: Jews are the canary in the coal mine, and one way to assess the social health and potential of a nation or community is to assess its relationship to the Jews: bless them, and harvest blessing. Curse them and suffer in turn. That much is the consistent lesson of history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What we don\u2019t know, though, is: does the blessing emerge from the creating a habit of generosity and blessing, or is the blessing that follows specific to the treatment of Jews? Can we broaden this Biblical anomaly to include others: how we treat the outcast, the marginalized, the despised will come back to us, will be visited on us? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why risk it? Instead, lets double down on loving our neighbor, loving the stranger, and then wait for the bounty that will flow from that love and welcome.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":63174,"alt":"","title":"blessingorcurse","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","width":800,"height":533,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":533,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":533,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":533,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Blessed When We Bless; Cursed When We Curse","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How we treat the outcast, the marginalized, the despised will come back to us","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":63174,"alt":"","title":"blessingorcurse","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","width":800,"height":533,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":533,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":533,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":533,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"458","name":"Nations","old_id":"858"},{"term_id":"667","name":"Judaism","old_id":"1067"}]},{"order":4,"id":"48151","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"From Magician\u2019s Blessing to Daily Prayer ","post_title":"From Magician\u2019s Blessing To Daily Prayer","slug":"from-magicians-blessing-to-daily-prayer","old_id":"48151","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Good to get an \u201cobjective assessment,\u201d \u00a0but should our self worth be coming from outside sources?","post_main_content_content":"

An old joke tells about two old Jews sitting on a bench, reading their newspapers, when one notices that his friend is reading the bulletin of the Nazi party. \u2018What on earth are you reading?\u2019 \u2018And what should I read?? This is the best news ever\u2019, replies the friend, \u2018We are the largest, most powerful, most successful nation in the world!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A magician, a speaking she-donkey, curses that turn into blessings\u2026 Numbers 23 and 24 tell us a fantastic colorful story that leaves many questions. For example, if Balaam is so powerful, why not hire him to bless the Moabites, instead of curse the Children of Israel? Turns out, that sometimes, people (we) get so involved in our desire to destroy someone else, that we focus on that, instead \u2013 and often at the expense of \u2013 our own well-being.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another question is about the famous \u201cma tovu\u201d, the words that decorate many synagogues throughout the world and open our morning prayers, although they are taken straight from Balaam\u2019s speech (Numbers 21:5). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why pick the words of a non-Jewish magician who set to destroy us, as those that adorn our shuls and start our day?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The MaHaRaL (1520-1609) teaches that these words are true, davka<\/em> because they come from an \u201coutsider.\u201d We know from the Talmud that witnesses must be completely not related to the matter over which they testify, or it seems false because they are \u2014- <\/span>noge\u2019a bedavar,<\/span><\/em> related to the matter. In order for something to credible, it should come from an impartial source. So it is with ma tovu<\/em>: had we praised our own tents, camp, overall fabulousness, it might come from \u2013 and create \u2013 a feeling of haughtiness and pride, the same feeling that might have led to the transgression in the next chapter. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the other hand, should all our self worth be coming from outside sources?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nothing much has changed since: we still struggle how to take compliments: Is an \u201cobjective observation\u201d best? Or a kind word from a close friend?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Mah Tovu Ohaleicha Yaakov: Moshe Kastel<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48152,"alt":"","title":"Num24-mah tovu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","width":1024,"height":751,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-768x563.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":563,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-1024x751.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":751,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":751,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":751,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":751,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-573x420.jpg","home_baner-width":573,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"From Magician\u2019s Blessing To Daily Prayer","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Good to get an \u201cobjective assessment,\u201d \u00a0but should our self worth be coming from outside sources?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48152,"alt":"","title":"Num24-mah tovu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","width":1024,"height":751,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-768x563.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":563,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-1024x751.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":751,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":751,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":751,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":751,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-573x420.jpg","home_baner-width":573,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"463","name":"Truth","old_id":"863"},{"term_id":"587","name":"Dignity","old_id":"987"}]},{"order":5,"id":"48201","color":"#f2e9df","size":"2","name":"Morality Binds And Blinds ","post_title":"Morality Binds And Blinds","slug":"morality-binds-and-blinds","old_id":"48201","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39525,"post_title":"Erica Brown","slug":"erica-brown","old_id":"39525","first_name":"Erica ","last_name":"Brown","description":"Dr. Erica Brown is associate professor at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University and director of its Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership. She is the author of 12 books. Her forthcoming book is The Book of Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid\/OU).","short_description":"Dr. Erica Brown is Director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership at The George Washington University.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39526,"alt":"","title":"erica brown","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","width":154,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium-width":154,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium_large-width":154,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","large-width":154,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","1536x1536-width":154,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","2048x2048-width":154,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","post_full_size-width":154,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","home_baner-width":154,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"142","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Pinchas quelled a rebellion but would be unable to create a longer legacy of leadership","post_main_content_content":"

So Moses said to Israel\u2019s officials, \u2018Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.\u2019 Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, he followed the Israelite into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked. (Num 25:5-8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One of the most difficult passages in Numbers presents yet another leadership collapse. Moses, unable to check the rebelliousness in his camp, is shown up by Pinchas, who swept into the scene fully armed and ready to stop the open promiscuity in the camp. All were paralyzed by the affront. They wept, unable to believe the brazenness of this sight and how it happened. By charging to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, Pinchas invites us to think of our own possible response and to contemplate religious violence through the ages. Pinchas accomplished his objective and was even rewarded for taking these two lives, but at what cost? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In <\/span>The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span>Jonathan Haidt<\/span><\/a> helps us understand the way in which religion and any group commitment can create a unity oblivious to reality. \u201c\u2026when a group of people make something sacred, the members of the cult lose the ability to think clearly about it.<\/span> Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle. It blinds us to the fact that each team is composed of good people who have something important to say.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our own ideologies can make us strong and can also make us insensitive to situations that require more nuance and less judgment. Haidt concludes that this, \u201c\u2026is why it's so important to have intellectual and ideological diversity within any group or institution whose goal is to find truth...\u201d\u00a0Pinchas may have stopped the problem right in front of him. He was rewarded with a covenant of peace. Some may regard this as a validation of his violence. Perhaps instead it was a farewell consolation prize to a leader who had his moment and only that. Pinchas quelled a rebellion but would be unable to create a longer legacy of leadership. That requires the capacity to sustain lasting peace and unity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Jan Luyken, creative commons <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48202,"alt":"","title":"Num25-Jan Luyken","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","width":428,"height":306,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken-300x214.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":214,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","medium_large-width":428,"medium_large-height":306,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","large-width":428,"large-height":306,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","1536x1536-width":428,"1536x1536-height":306,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","2048x2048-width":428,"2048x2048-height":306,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","post_full_size-width":428,"post_full_size-height":306,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","home_baner-width":428,"home_baner-height":306}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Morality Binds And Blinds","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Pinchas quelled a rebellion but would be unable to create a longer legacy of leadership","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48202,"alt":"","title":"Num25-Jan Luyken","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","width":428,"height":306,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken-300x214.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":214,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","medium_large-width":428,"medium_large-height":306,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","large-width":428,"large-height":306,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","1536x1536-width":428,"1536x1536-height":306,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","2048x2048-width":428,"2048x2048-height":306,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","post_full_size-width":428,"post_full_size-height":306,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num25-Jan-Luyken.jpg","home_baner-width":428,"home_baner-height":306}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"142","date":"20260316","wall_id":"142"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"543","name":"Violence","old_id":"943"}]},{"order":6,"id":"48198","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Redemption Through Sin ","post_title":"Redemption Through Sin","slug":"redemption-through-sin","old_id":"48198","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. 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He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"142","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Extremism pierces to the heart of Zimri, and the matter","post_main_content_content":"

In 1936, at a time of gathering storm clouds in both Gershom Scholem\u2019s native Berlin and his adopted Jerusalem, the magus-like scholar of the kabbalah published an extraordinary article entitled \u201cRedemption through Sin,\u201d not translated into English until 1970. This piece, which eventually matured into the full length monograph Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah<\/em>, laid out a stark and explosive thesis; the Frankist movement, a 19<\/span>th<\/span> century Jewish heresy in eastern Europe which proposed a violation of all religious norms and encouraged transgression as a vehicle to holiness, in fact emerged from the conversion and unmasking of Sabbatai Sevi, the purported messiah two centuries before who was summoned to Istanbul and chose Islam over sacrificing his life. True believers developed a theology of salvation whereby Sevi\u2019s conversion was an eschatological necessity, a plumbing of the depths to reach the heights. It was through violation that true holiness might be found, and taboo was a kind of shrouded Torah. At its most extreme, Frankists plunged themselves into orgies. The greater the descent, the more shimmering the ascent.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter features an incident of communal breakdown, as Balak achieves through women what Balaam could not with words. Like the episodes of Korach and the Golden Calf, it is a captivating portrayal of communal consciousness and the ability of a crowd to lose its bearings and find its id. Such bacchanals would have been known to the ancient world, and not always with a negative valence. The releasing of tension, the joy of rules suspended and conventions held in abeyance would have had a great appeal in hierarchical societies structured with ritual. Here, however, the hero is not the one who starts the fun, but the one who starkly ends it. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The valorization of Pinchas is not just the celebration of a zealot, but a definitive rejection of the route of redemption through the field of sin. Extremism in defense of norms is no vice, we are told; it pierces to the heart of Zimri, and the matter. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Shabbatai Tzvi enthroned - \u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Shabbatai2.jpg<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48199,"alt":"","title":"N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","width":239,"height":426,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai-168x300.jpg","medium-width":168,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","medium_large-width":239,"medium_large-height":426,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","large-width":239,"large-height":426,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","1536x1536-width":239,"1536x1536-height":426,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","2048x2048-width":239,"2048x2048-height":426,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","post_full_size-width":239,"post_full_size-height":426,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai-236x420.jpg","home_baner-width":236,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Redemption Through Sin","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Extremism pierces to the heart of Zimri, and the matter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48199,"alt":"","title":"N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","width":239,"height":426,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai-168x300.jpg","medium-width":168,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","medium_large-width":239,"medium_large-height":426,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","large-width":239,"large-height":426,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","1536x1536-width":239,"1536x1536-height":426,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","2048x2048-width":239,"2048x2048-height":426,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai.jpg","post_full_size-width":239,"post_full_size-height":426,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/N\u05d5um25-Shabbatai-236x420.jpg","home_baner-width":236,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"142","date":"20260316","wall_id":"142"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"403","name":"Redemption","old_id":"803"},{"term_id":"500","name":"Messiah","old_id":"900"}]},{"order":7,"id":"48209","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Noble violence? ","post_title":"Noble Violence?","slug":"noble-violence","old_id":"48209","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"142","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A zealot cannot be a leader","post_main_content_content":"

Few biblical stories trouble modern readers quite as much as that of Pinchas, the Torah\u2019s zealot-hero.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Numbers insists upon the nobility of Pinchas\u2019 violent deed. Yet there is something profoundly disturbing about this evaluation. Not surprisingly, Rabbinic tradition was decidedly ambivalent about Pinchas, seeing him both as a hero and as a potentially dangerous force needing to be contained and restrained. Even if one defends what Pinchas did, he remains an extremely troubling figure, and tradition gives voice to that fact in a variety of powerful ways.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin (Netziv, 1816-1893) asks why does God grant Pinchas a covenant of peace? \u201cIn reward for calming the anger and wrath of the Blessed Holy One,\u201d he writes, \u201cGod blessed him with the attribute of peace... Since it is in the nature of Pinchas\u2019 action\u2014killing human beings with his hands\u2014to leave an intense emotional unrest in the soul afterwards... the blessing he received was to be in a state of peace and tranquility\u201d (Ha\u2019amek Davar to Numbers 25:12). On this reading, the blessing Pinchas receives is the one he most needs: A zealot needs help in discovering calm.<\/p>\r\n

Some commentators seem to doubt that zealotry can be checked or tamed at all. Affirming Pinchas\u2019 greatness, they nevertheless insist that his zealotry disqualifies him from leading the people. Not long after Pinchas\u2019 slaying of the Israelite leader and his Midianite consort, Moses is reminded by God of his impending death; he will not lead the people into the land. Moses makes a request: \u201cLet the Lord, God of all spirits,<\/span> appoint someone over the community who shall go out before them and come in before them, and who shall take them out and lead them in\u201d (27:16-17). God responds by appointing Joshua, \u201ca man filled with the spirit\u201d (27:18). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why does this exchange between God and Moses happen specifically now? Why did Moses not make this request of God earlier, when he had first learned that he would not be the one to lead the people into the Promised Land? The Hasidic Master R. Menahem Mendel of Kotzk explains that until Pinchas\u2019 moment of ferocious zealotry, Moses had always assumed that the latter would be his successor. The Kotzker affirms that Pinchas\u2019 actions were incomparably great, and he reminds us of the tremendous reward he receives from God. Still, he insists, \u201chaving seen Pinchas\u2019 zealousness for God\u2019s name... Moses thought, \u2018A zealot cannot be the leader of Israel.\u2019\u201d Therefore Moses turned to God to find an alternative (Amud Ha-Emet, p. 42).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107406,"alt":"","title":"-6301fd8425706--6301fd8425707num25-gun violence 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Of \u201cPeace\u201d?","post_title":"Covenant Of \u201cPeace\u201d?","slug":"covenant-of-peace","old_id":"107394","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"142","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The many possible meanings of shalom\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

After the brief interlude of the story of Balaam and Balak, the story returns to the Israelite camp. Chaos reigns again, as the people are consumed by the orgiastic worship of the Moabite god Baal-Peor. Moses and the elders (again) have fallen on their faces, apparently in sadness. A grandson of Aaron takes things into his own hands, literally. Pinchas (Phineas) takes a spear and impales Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Simeon, and Cozbi, a princess of Moab, mid-coitus. The people snap out of their trance and following a massive plague, calm is restored to the camp. In return for his heroic vigilantism, God promises Pinchas \u201chis Covenant of Shalom\u201d (verse 12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What exactly is the \u201cCovenant of Shalom\u201d? Rashi believes this is simply God being grateful to Pinchas and offering him a friendly \u201cshalom\u201d greeting. This is a nice gesture, but why is it called a covenant? Ibn Ezra focuses on the word <\/span>shalom<\/em> <\/span>as \u201cpeace.\u201d He believes that God is promising Pinchas that he will continue to have peace and should not fear retribution from Zimri\u2019s family even though Zimri was a prince. This opinion introduces a whole layer of political and legal implications and questions. It implies that Pinchas, a grandson of the high priest, should have to worry about the political implications of killing a corrupt prince.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chizkuni expands on Ibn Ezra and explains that Pinchas not only did not have to worry about Zimri\u2019s family, but he also did not have to worry about his own heritage as a priest. Because it was forbidden for a priest to come in contact with a dead body, Pinchas was concerned he would lose his priestly status. God promised him that he would not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sfrono expands even further. The covenant of peace is not just for safety from Zimri\u2019s family, but a general peace with the angel of death. God promises Pinchas a long life with some sources showing that he lived as much as 300 years through the ages of the Judges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim extends this even further. He brings the midrashic interpretation that Pinchas was actually the prophet Elijah. Both characters have a similar zeal for God that causes them to act in an \u201cextra-legal\u201d manner. Because the midrash also holds that Elijah never died, Pinchas is given eternal life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik explains that God is trying to teach an important lesson. The Covenant of Shalom means a promise of peace. This is ironic. Pinchas was responsible for a violent act of murder to stop a religious rebellion. Such an act is the exact opposite of peaceful! God\u2019s message is that sometimes peaceful means cannot be achieved by pacifism and crying at the doorway, like Moses and the other leaders. The example the Rav gives is Neville Chamberlain\u2019s infamous attempt to pacify Hitler. Sometimes to achieve peace, one must be willing to go to war.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51202,"alt":"","title":"dt20-peace-war","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war.png","width":1280,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-300x150.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-768x384.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-1024x512.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-1200x600.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-840x420.png","home_baner-width":840,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Covenant Of \u201cPeace\u201d?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The many possible meanings of shalom","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51202,"alt":"","title":"dt20-peace-war","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war.png","width":1280,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-300x150.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-768x384.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-1024x512.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-1200x600.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-peace-war-840x420.png","home_baner-width":840,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"142","date":"20260316","wall_id":"142"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"366","name":"Commentators","old_id":"766"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"409","name":"Peace","old_id":"809"},{"term_id":"543","name":"Violence","old_id":"943"}]},{"order":9,"id":"48356","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"2","name":"A Count That Recounts Those Who Are Not \u00a0 ","post_title":"A Count That Recounts Those Who Are Not \u00a0","slug":"a-count-that-recounts-those-who-are-not","old_id":"48356","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47016,"post_title":"Ilana Blumberg","slug":"ilana-blumberg","old_id":"47016","first_name":"Ilana ","last_name":"Blumberg ","description":"Ilana Blumberg is a prize-winning author and teacher. Her most recent book is the memoir, \"Open Your Hand: Teaching as a Jew, Teaching as an American\" (Rutgers UP, 2018). She directs the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar Ilan University and lives in Jerusalem with her family.","short_description":"Ilana Blumberg is a prize-winning author and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47017,"alt":"","title":"ilana blumberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","width":188,"height":249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","medium_large-width":188,"medium_large-height":249,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","large-width":188,"large-height":249,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","1536x1536-width":188,"1536x1536-height":249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","2048x2048-width":188,"2048x2048-height":249,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","post_full_size-width":188,"post_full_size-height":249,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","home_baner-width":188,"home_baner-height":249}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"143","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"For Caleb and Joshua, what is it like to be all that is left?","post_main_content_content":"

The counting that we see in this chapter is a re-count. It brings us back to the first chapter of Numbers which describes the counting in the second year of the travels of Israel in the desert. We run through the names, with a minimum of narrative digression, and we learn that the land will be distributed by lot to these tribes, according to their numbers. None of this surprises. It sounds like simple business.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet when we reach the last verses of this chapter, we learn an astonishing fact. Among those counted now by Moses and by Aaron\u2019s son, Elazar, (Aaron, who had been Moses\u2019 partner in the first count is no longer living), there is not a single man who was counted also in the second year because God had said about them: \u201cthey will die in the desert.\u201d Only Caleb Ben Yefuneh and Joshua Bin Nun remained from that number (26:63-65).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now the count has a very different feel. With this ending, it becomes a count that foregrounds absence perhaps even more than presence. As much as the people has grown, there are no longer the elders, those who left Egypt. It is an utterly new generation, with two survivors in their midst: Caleb and Joshua. And Moses.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For Caleb and Joshua, what is it like to outlive the people with whom you have undergone a miraculous historical transformation? What is it like to be all that is left? To look around and to see only those who have replaced their predecessors? What does it mean to know that you are the only figures who will have been on both sides of history? There and here, then and now. They must reckon with leaving behind the life of slavery but recognizing its shadow in inaugurating a meaningful, intentional freedom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses, too, looking at the tribes, is looking at shadows. Shadows of those who came out of Egypt. He sees the absences of Miriam and Aaron, and the certainty of his own death. He, of all the children of Israel, is truly alone in this counting. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps now the intense emphasis on remembering the exodus takes a new poignancy. We must remember -- daily, weekly, yearly -- because the event of exodus has been structured so that the memory, rather than the experience of slavery and the first stage of redemption, will be what marks the life of mitzvot in the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Michal Ben Hamu<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47356,"alt":"","title":"Num14-MichalBenHamu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","width":900,"height":386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu-300x129.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":129,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu-768x329.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":329,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":386,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":386,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":386}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Count That Recounts Those Who Are Not \u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"For Caleb and Joshua, what is it like to be all that is left?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47356,"alt":"","title":"Num14-MichalBenHamu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","width":900,"height":386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu-300x129.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":129,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu-768x329.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":329,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":386,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":386,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num14-MichalBenHamu.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":386}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"143","date":"20260317","wall_id":"143"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"601","name":"Exodus","old_id":"1001"},{"term_id":"806","name":"Joshua","old_id":"1206"},{"term_id":"809","name":"Caleb","old_id":"1209"}]},{"order":10,"id":"48343","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Serah bat Asher - Then and Now ","post_title":"Serah Bat Asher - Then And Now","slug":"serah-bat-asher-then-and-now","old_id":"48343","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"143","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A legendary woman of valor who never tasted the taste of death","post_main_content_content":"

Our Chapter contains a census of the Israelites who came forth from Egypt, a total of 601,730 men of military age, 20 years and older (26:2-51). Among all these men, only one woman is mentioned: Serah bat Asher (verse 46; see also I Chronicles 7:30). Significantly, Serah has been mentioned previously among the 70 souls who went down to Egypt with Jacob (Genesis 46:17), and again, she is the only woman mentioned in this list as well. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Rabbinic Sages reasoned that if Serah is mentioned among those sixty myriads of Israelites who made the Exodus from Egypt, she must have \u201cspanned the generations\u201d from the time of Joseph to the time of Moses, having lived for several hundred years (see Pesiqta de Rav Kahana, Beshalah, ed. Mandelbaum, p. 189). It is perhaps only natural then that the Sages included this extraordinary woman among those few immortals who \"never tasted the taste of death\" and \"entered Paradise alive\" (Derekh Eretz 1:18). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, Serah continues to live on in the folktales of the Jewish people. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The following story is collected in the Israel Folktale Archives (9524 -- Story 28). Once there was a king who made laws against the Jews. One day the king was hunting in the forest with his soldiers. He saw a doe and chased after it. The doe entered a cave and the king followed. The entrance to the cave closed behind the king and he was caught there in the dark for several days. Then the king suddenly saw emerging out of the dark a beautiful maiden, a woman warrior with her female soldiers. She called the king to come to her. She asked the king: Do you recognize me? He said: No. She said: I am the doe that you were chasing who jumped on your head and you were unable to catch. I want to know -- Why have you made laws against the Jews? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The king then asked her: \u00a0Who are you? She answered: I am Serah bat Asher, the granddaughter of Jacob, the Jewish patriarch. The king promised her that he would revoke the laws against the Jews and she released him from the dark cave. The king kept his word and gave the Jews beautiful clothes, so they could celebrate all their holidays. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The king told the Jews what had happened to him and asked them if there was in their books someone called Serah bat Asher. They answered: Yes, she was blessed by our father Jacob with immortality. And then the king built a big synagogue where he had entered the cave, so that the Jews could pray on all their holidays as a memorial to Serah bat Asher. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, a memorial to Serah bat Asher still stands today in the Jewish cemetery at Pir Bakran in Iran.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image: View of Sera bat Asher cemetery at Pir Bakran<\/a> (formerly Linjan) near Isfahan; By Kipala<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48344,"alt":"","title":"Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery,_Pir_Bakran","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","width":794,"height":447,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","large-width":794,"large-height":447,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","1536x1536-width":794,"1536x1536-height":447,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","2048x2048-width":794,"2048x2048-height":447,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","post_full_size-width":794,"post_full_size-height":447,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-746x420.jpg","home_baner-width":746,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Serah Bat Asher - Then And Now","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A legendary woman of valor who never tasted the taste of death","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48344,"alt":"","title":"Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery,_Pir_Bakran","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","width":794,"height":447,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","large-width":794,"large-height":447,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","1536x1536-width":794,"1536x1536-height":447,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","2048x2048-width":794,"2048x2048-height":447,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran.jpg","post_full_size-width":794,"post_full_size-height":447,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-Serah_bat_Asher_cemetery_Pir_Bakran-746x420.jpg","home_baner-width":746,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"143","date":"20260317","wall_id":"143"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"651","name":"Aggadah","old_id":"1051"}]},{"order":11,"id":"48347","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Imperfect","post_title":"Imperfect","slug":"imperfect","old_id":"48347","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44967,"post_title":"Abe Mezrich","slug":"abe-mezrich","old_id":"44967","first_name":"Abe ","last_name":"Mezrich ","description":"Abe Mezrich wants to know what our sacred texts say about our world right now. Sometimes he writes down his answers to those questions. His second book, Between the Mountain and the Land Lies the Lesson, is available through Ben Yehuda Press. Learn more at www.abemezrich.com.","short_description":"Abe Mezrich wants to know what our sacred texts say about our world right now. Learn more at www.abemezrich.com.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":101452,"alt":"","title":"-61fd0e6c351e2--61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","width":1914,"height":1754,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-300x275.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-768x704.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":704,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-1024x938.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":938,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1408,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","2048x2048-width":1914,"2048x2048-height":1754,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-1200x1100.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1100,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-458x420.jpg","home_baner-width":458,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"143","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"They too are a part of us\u2026","post_main_content_content":"

These are mentioned in the genealogy:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Datan and Aviram <\/span>strove\u2026against the Lord. And the earth\u2026swallowed them.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

Er and Onan, the sons of Yehudah, <\/span>died in the Land of Cana\u2019an<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

for they were <\/span>wicked in the eyes of the Lord.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, <\/span>brought a strange fire before <\/span><\/i>God; they are smitten down.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Zelophchad, of the tribe of Menashe, <\/span>died of his own sin<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

and left no sons.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are those who are so imperfect
\r\n<\/span>they disappear.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Even they are a part of us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Genesis 38:7, 10; Numbers 26:9-10, 19, 61; 27:3<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55839,"alt":"","title":"jud12-part-whole","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","width":1920,"height":1357,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-768x543.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1024x724.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1086,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1357,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1200x848.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-594x420.jpg","home_baner-width":594,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Imperfect","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"They too are a part of us\u2026","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55839,"alt":"","title":"jud12-part-whole","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","width":1920,"height":1357,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-768x543.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1024x724.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1086,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1357,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1200x848.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-594x420.jpg","home_baner-width":594,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"143","date":"20260317","wall_id":"143"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"712","name":"Inclusion","old_id":"1112"},{"term_id":"770","name":"Perfection","old_id":"1170"}]},{"order":12,"id":"48416","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Zelophehad\u2019s Daughters Mansplained ","post_title":"Zelophehad\u2019s Daughters Mansplained","slug":"zelophehads-daughters-mansplained","old_id":"48416","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. 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","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"144","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Human laws privilege men, but Divine justice is egalitarian","post_main_content_content":"

Similar to the story in Numbers chapter 9, the story of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters introduces us to a group of people who, feeling excluded by the <\/span>halacha,<\/span><\/i> come to Moses with the question: \"Why should we be any less?\" God's response to Moses in chapter 9 demonstrates that he was just waiting for someone to ask in order to introduce new laws that were even more far-reaching and inclusive than that which was requested. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In our story, the message emphasized by Rashi is that not only does God <\/span>want<\/b> people to ask, He <\/span>needs <\/b>them to. \"Thus is it written before me above, teaching that their eyes saw what Moses\u2019 eyes did not see\" (Rashi on 27:7). The halacha of inheritance as it had been presented up until that point was lacking! The daughters of Zelophehad needed to burst into the <\/span>beit midrash<\/span><\/em> and make their demand in order for the \"Torah-true\" approach to be revealed. Without their intervention, there would have been a dissonance between the divine law above and its application in the world below.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what motivated this intervention? An honest, non-anachronistic reading of the text would seem to yield no proto-feminist motivations behind the daughters\u2019 request, and perhaps just the opposite. What moves Zelophehad\u2019s daughters is their desire that the patriarchal name of the family not be diminished, not any criticism of the lack of egalitarianism in Jewish law. This plain reading is replaced by a \u201cmansplained\u201d reading by the Sifrei, but with an astonishing twist.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"When the daughters of Zelophehad heard that the land was being divided among the tribes and not the women, they gathered together to advise. They said: the mercy of flesh and blood is not like the mercy of God! Flesh and blood have more mercy on men, but God is not like this, rather, on men and women, He has mercy on all...\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When women in modern times have advocated for halakhic change, they have frequently been met with the accusation that they are not motivated by Torah values, but rather by an egalitarian ideology which is foreign to Torah. The rabbinic readings above tell nearly the same story, with the opposite conclusion. The egalitarian assumptions of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters are what allow them to access to previously unrevealed truths of Torah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cYes, Zelophehad\u2019s daughters\u2019 words are just\u2026\u201d (27:7). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And what of the words of their spiritual great-granddaughters?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73253,"alt":"","title":"ez6-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","width":1920,"height":927,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-300x145.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":145,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-768x371.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":371,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1024x494.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":494,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":742,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":927,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1200x579.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":579,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-870x420.jpg","home_baner-width":870,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Zelophehad\u2019s Daughters Mansplained","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Human laws privilege men, but Divine justice is egalitarian","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":73253,"alt":"","title":"ez6-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","width":1920,"height":927,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-300x145.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":145,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-768x371.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":371,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1024x494.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":494,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":742,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":927,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1200x579.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":579,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-870x420.jpg","home_baner-width":870,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"27","chapter_main_number":"144","date":"20260318","wall_id":"144"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"370","name":"Divine\/human","old_id":"770"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"}]},{"order":13,"id":"48435","color":"#eceffa","size":"2","name":"Grandpa\u2019s Bible-Based Egalitarianism ","post_title":"Grandpa\u2019s Bible-Based Egalitarianism","slug":"grandpas-bible-based-egalitarianism","old_id":"48435","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46249,"post_title":"Gil Troy","slug":"gil-troy","old_id":"46249","first_name":"Gil ","last_name":"Troy ","description":"Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, has written ten books on the American presidency. 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My shtetl-born grandfather, Leon Gerson z\u201dl, had a great \u201cbah.\u201d One harrumph evoked an exhaustion and indignation honed by millennia of Jewish suffering. To him, all the media yelling about \u201cthe feminists,\u201d pro and con, was bah-worthy. Yet, he was so proud of the flexibility, vision, humanity, and respect for women that Moses, the Torah, and God convey in Numbers 27 \u2013 with the daughters of Zelophehad.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The story begins with five daughters approaching Moses thoughtfully, respectfully. Their father died without sons. They nevertheless feel they should inherit a portion of his land to continue his name -- a nice reminder that the stuff we inherit represents our parents\u2019 spiritual legacies.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses lobbies God \u2013 <\/span>VaYikrav<\/span><\/em>\u2013 \u201cto approach\u201d; also, \u201cto make a sacrificial offering.\u201d A mere six words later, voila, God understands the daughters spoke \u201cjustly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A powerful moment in democratic reform occurs. God declares in 27:11 that this new expansiveness shall remain forever as <\/span>Chukat Mishpat<\/span><\/em>\u2013 a \u201cdecreed statue as the Lord commanded Moses.\u201d Using the traditional wording legitimizes this innovation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sadly, Moses\u2019s fortunes turn abruptly in the next verse. God tells Moses to glance at the Promised Land, while remembering he won\u2019t reach it, as a punishment for his previous sin of not lobbying God properly for water.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Numbers <\/span>again distinguishes between constructive dissent triggering legitimized reform versus destructive lashing out. \u00a0This helps explain Grandpa Leon\u2019s delight in Zelophehad daughters. My grandfather\u2019s \u201cbah\u201d wasn\u2019t rejecting powerful women but all the polemics, which obscured his more natural, organic, Bible-based egalitarianism. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

He loved recalling that he discovered Zionism as a 12-year-old by reading <\/span>Daniel Deronda<\/span><\/em>-- written by a woman, George Eliot -- during Kol Nidre<\/em>. A congregant seized the book and passed it to the rabbi, forcing my formidable great-grandmother to demand it back after the fast. My grandfather was proud that his mother ran a bakery in Stavisk, Poland, his wife worked in the Bronx and Queens, his daughter \u2013 my mother \u2013 worked \u2013 in Brooklyn and Queens, and his only granddaughter had a fancy job in the only borough that counted, Manhattan \u2013 what we kids from Queens called \u201cNew York.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

When I read about our spiritual great-great-grandmothers, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, I delight that the Torah named them, Moses heard them, God legitimized them, and my grandfather taught us to revere them as strong women and change-agents in a tradition solid enough to root us, flexible enough to adapt when necessary.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

artwork by: Linda Adams, courtesy of the artist <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48436,"alt":"","title":"num27-adams-troy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy.jpg","width":4032,"height":3024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Grandpa\u2019s Bible-Based Egalitarianism","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A tradition solid enough to root us, flexible enough to adapt when necessary","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48436,"alt":"","title":"num27-adams-troy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy.jpg","width":4032,"height":3024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-adams-troy-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"27","chapter_main_number":"144","date":"20260318","wall_id":"144"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"365","name":"Gender","old_id":"765"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"},{"term_id":"614","name":"Daughters","old_id":"1014"}]},{"order":14,"id":"48430","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Implicit Tensions","post_title":"Implicit Tensions","slug":"implicit-tensions","old_id":"48430","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34004,"post_title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","slug":"avivah-gottlieb-zornberg","old_id":"34004","first_name":"Avivah Gottlieb","last_name":"Zornberg","description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives in Jerusalem where she has been lecturing on Torah since 1980. She reads biblical narratives through the prism of midrash, literature, philosophy and particularly psychoanalysis.\r\nShe was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, where her father was a Rabbi and the head of the Rabbinical Court. She studied Torah with him from childhood. Her PhD in English Literature is from Cambridge University, England. She taught English literature at the Hebrew University before turning to teaching Torah. She now teaches throughout the Jewish world, at synagogues, universities, and psychoanalytic institutes.\r\nShe is the author of five critically acclaimed books. Her latest book, Moses: A Human Life, was published by Yale University Press.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives and lectures on Torah in Jerusalem. She is the author of five critically acclaimed books. ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34006,"alt":"","title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","width":454,"height":359,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-300x237.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":237,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":359,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":359,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":359,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":359,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":359,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","home_baner-width":454,"home_baner-height":359}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"144","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A woman\u2019s view, a woman\u2019s voice","post_main_content_content":"

Rashi questions why Moses takes the case of the daughters of Tzelofchad immediately to God. The simplest answer is, Because he could not answer it himself: the law eluded him, was <\/span>hidden\u2014nit'alma<\/span><\/em>\u2014from him. This fit of forgetting is a punishment for the tone of superiority in Moses' long-ago words, in which he seemed to set himself up as the ultimate authority on the law. (It is striking that <\/span>takrivun<\/span><\/em>\u2014<\/span><\/i>\"you shall bring to me\"\u2014is the same expression used in our narrative of the \"approach\" of the sisters to Moses for a legal decision.) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But there is another possibility: in this case, Moses loses the privilege of \"having the Torah written through him\"\u2014\"by his hand\"\u2014directly. Instead, the five sisters are granted that privilege; they are the catalysts of a page in Torah\u2014in a sense, they are accredited with its authorship. To author is to initiate, to authorize, to assume responsibility. To have a section of Torah written through one's agency is a privilege that the women, in this case, take over from Moses. The sense of an implicit tension between Moses and the five sisters \u2014his loss is their gain\u2014is carried over into the next passage. \"Their eye saw what Moses' eye did not see.\" <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The theme of tension between Moses and the five sisters is, perhaps surprisingly, to be found in many midrashic sources. For instance, in <\/span>Midrash Rabbah<\/span><\/em>, the women refuse to marry anyone who is not appropriate (<\/span>hagun<\/span><\/em>) for them. God brings the women into Moses' field so as to chasten any pride he might take in his own sexual abstinence. By force of their very being, they bring a moral perspective that in a sense makes Moses' self-control less remarkable. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Even more eloquently, the following section in the midrash relates another version of the story about the law that is hidden from Moses. It eludes him. In the end, God charges him with hubris in his declaration, \"What is too hard for you, bring to me!\" And then God seemingly taunts Moses: \"The law that you don't know, women discuss it!\" The sarcasm slights Moses with its implication of \"Even women ...\" This is, at least, the obvious way to read the midrash, again implying tension between Moses and the sisters. And yet, as we shall see later, there is another possibility: without sarcasm, God may be making a factual observation about the difference between Moses' vision and theirs. <\/span><\/p>\r\n


\r\nExcerpted from: \u00a0Bewilderments<\/em>, Schocken Books, 2017, p.<\/span>265 - 267 <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":92645,"alt":"","title":"pro15-women praying","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Implicit Tensions","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A woman\u2019s view, a woman\u2019s voice","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":92645,"alt":"","title":"pro15-women praying","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro15-women-praying-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"27","chapter_main_number":"144","date":"20260318","wall_id":"144"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"414","name":"Law","old_id":"814"},{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"}]},{"order":15,"id":"48432","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"On The Cusp Of Changing Norms ","post_title":"On The Cusp Of Changing Norms","slug":"on-the-cusp-of-changing-norms","old_id":"48432","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37333,"post_title":"Esther Jilovsky","slug":"esther-jilovsky","old_id":"37333","first_name":"Esther ","last_name":"Jilovsky","description":"Dr Esther Jilovsky is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. A native of Melbourne, Australia, she comes to the rabbinate with a PhD from the University of London in 2011. A granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she is the author of Remembering the Holocaust: Generations, Witnessing and Place and co-editor of In the Shadows of Memory: The Holocaust and the Third Generation. \r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr Esther Jilovsky is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":52868,"alt":"","title":"esther jilovsky.jpeg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1.jpg","width":3581,"height":5371,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"144","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Five marriageable daughters - from Numbers to Jane Austen and Shalom Aleichem","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.\u201d This opening line from Jane Austen\u2019s Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, a tale of upper-class English society in the early nineteenth century, introduces the story of the five Bennet sisters as they search for suitable husbands. In this world of dances and balls at lavish country house estates, marriage to a wealthy man is the only way to secure a woman\u2019s future, for she cannot inherit her father\u2019s title or estate. Whether she is beautiful like Jane, smart like Elizabeth, plain and serious like Mary, ditsy and silly like Kitty, or foolish like Lydia, marriage is the only solution.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Later in the nineteenth century, we find another fictional family of five daughters \u2013 this time in Yiddish. Sholem Aleichem\u2019s stories of Tevye the Dairyman later became the much loved musical, Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>. Like Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> tells the story of five young women as they approach marriageable age. Once again, the five sisters are dependent on marriage to secure their future. While in Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, both Jane and Lizzy eventually marry suitable husbands, the young female protagonists in Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> challenge their community\u2019s rules for marriage. Tevye is caught between his community\u2019s expectations and his daughters\u2019 breaking of the boundaries. Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava make their choices and break their father\u2019s heart. (Shprintze and Bielke are still too young \u2013 but we can guess what is in store for them). The parallel story of an approaching pogrom suggests that the entire community is doomed \u2013 perhaps because of the younger generation\u2019s actions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Numbers 27, we find another family of five sisters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, daughters of the late Zelophehad. Women cannot inherit their father\u2019s land, and so are dependent on marriage to secure their future, while their father\u2019s inheritance is divided among the other men of the tribe. Yet, this story runs a little differently. These women speak up. They approach Moses, Elazar the Priest and the other men in power, and ask for their father\u2019s inheritance to be given to them. Moses does not answer them immediately, but refers their question to God, who tells Moses: \u2018The plea of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father\u2019s kinsmen; transfer their father\u2019s share to them\u2019 (Numbers 27:7). God agrees with the five sisters that they are entitled to inherit their father\u2019s estate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This surprising, even revolutionary, response instigates a change in the law. God instructs Moses to tell the people of Israel that \u2018If a man dies without a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter\u2019 (Numbers 27:8). Here we find an ancient example of the theme played out in Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>. Jewish tradition evolves, despite opposition to change. Even in the Torah, change in tradition was possible.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48433,"alt":"","title":"num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"On The Cusp Of Changing Norms","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Five marriageable daughters - from Numbers to Jane Austen and Shalom Aleichem","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48433,"alt":"","title":"num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"27","chapter_main_number":"144","date":"20260318","wall_id":"144"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"},{"term_id":"614","name":"Daughters","old_id":"1014"},{"term_id":"761","name":"Tradition","old_id":"1161"}]},{"order":16,"id":"48529","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Offering Up Our Guilt ","post_title":"Offering Up Our Guilt","slug":"offering-up-our-guilt","old_id":"48529","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38928,"post_title":"Genevieve Greinetz","slug":"genevieve-greinetz","old_id":"38928","first_name":"Genevieve ","last_name":"Greinetz","description":"Genevieve Greinetz is currently in her third year at Hebrew College Rabbinical School. In her undergraduate at Colorado State University, she studied eastern religion, philosophy, and literature. After graduating, she spent a year studying yoga and living at an ashram in the Santa Cruz mountains in CA. She worked as an organic farmer and studied Chinese tea with a master for several years before beginning her Master\u2019s in Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, which she completed in 2016. \r\n","short_description":"Genevieve Greinetz is currently in her third year at Hebrew College Rabbinical School.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38933,"alt":"","title":"Genevieve Greinetz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437.jpg","width":848,"height":864,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437-294x300.jpg","medium-width":294,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437-768x782.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":782,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437.jpg","1536x1536-width":848,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437.jpg","2048x2048-width":848,"2048x2048-height":864,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Genevieve-Greinetz-e1535526296437-412x420.jpg","home_baner-width":412,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"145","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God recognizes the perfection in our imperfection","post_main_content_content":"

After commanding precise food offerings and times for them to be offered, God commands a sin offering on the new moon, and during <\/span>Pesach<\/span><\/i>. One who sins makes an extra offering for atonement. The word used in this chapter is <\/span>kaper<\/span><\/em>, as in <\/span>Yom Kippur<\/span><\/em>, Day of Atonement. \u00a0God offers us chances to atone multiple times per year. The fact that God offers us times of atonement is also a recognition that we are going to need them, that we are definitely going to sin; to miss the mark in some way at sometimes. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

God recognizes the perfection in our imperfection here. It\u2019s as if She says, \u201cOffer to me at these times! Oh, and here is what to do when you don\u2019t.\u201d \u00a0There is no punishment, but an opportunity is bestowed. The sinner is asked to make an additional offering to God. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Wrongdoing creates an opportunity to give God an extra gift. This is not an encouragement to sin, but rather an affirmation that we will indeed sin, and that when we do, we get to atone. \u00a0When wrongdoing occurs, guilt often arises in hindsight. Guilt is filled with wisdom; the feeling arises to remind us to atone; to remind us to make the wrongdoing into an offering. Instead, what so often happens is that we use the guilt to punish ourselves, we beat ourselves up and hide away in shame. \u00a0We treat ourselves as if we were supposed to be perfect, as if we were supposed to be flawless in our actions. Our Creator, however, knows well that we will sin, hence the myriad times to atone. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We strive to do good in the world, and part of that process is messing up, it\u2019s inevitable, we are wired to. Instead of beating ourselves up, can we embrace our imperfections? \u00a0Can we acknowledge the mistakes we have made and turn them into opportunities to make unique offerings to God?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48530,"alt":"","title":"num28-cracks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Offering Up Our Guilt","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God recognizes the perfection in our imperfection","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48530,"alt":"","title":"num28-cracks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-cracks-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"28","chapter_main_number":"145","date":"20260319","wall_id":"145"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"770","name":"Perfection","old_id":"1170"},{"term_id":"825","name":"Atonement","old_id":"1225"}]},{"order":17,"id":"48532","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"How To Make Every Day A Festival ","post_title":"How To Make Every Day A Festival","slug":"how-to-make-every-day-a-festival","old_id":"48532","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46994,"post_title":"Sarit Kattan Gribetz","slug":"sarit-kattan-gribetz","old_id":"46994","first_name":"Sarit Kattan ","last_name":"Gribetz ","description":"Sarit Kattan Gribetz is an assistant professor in the Theology Department at Fordham University and a core faculty member for the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University. She teaches and publishes about Jews in the Roman Empire, the history of time and time-keeping, gender and sexuality, Jewish-Christian relations, and the history of Jerusalem. Her book, Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism, is under contract with Princeton University Press.","short_description":"Sarit Kattan Gribetz is an assistant professor in the Theology Department at Fordham University and a core faculty member for the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46995,"alt":"","title":"sarit gribetz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124.jpg","width":2471,"height":2709,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124-274x300.jpg","medium-width":274,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124-768x842.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":842,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124-934x1024.jpg","large-width":934,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124.jpg","1536x1536-width":1401,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124.jpg","2048x2048-width":1868,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124-1095x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1095,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sarit-gribetz-e1546786449124-383x420.jpg","home_baner-width":383,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"145","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Indeed, make one\u2019s whole life one continuous feast","post_main_content_content":"

Numbers 28-29 contains a long list of the annual festivals and their accompanying sacrifices. \u00a0These are the holidays that the Israelites were commanded to observe, and that Jews around the world still celebrate. The text then lists the sacrifices that ought to be offered every day, on Sabbath, Rosh Hodesh (the New Month), Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Portions of these chapters are still part of the Torah reading (the <\/span>maftir<\/span><\/em>) for the holidays, and so they are read in synagogue many times each year. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first-century Jewish philosopher and exegete, Philo of Alexandria, interpreted these chapters in his multi-book work, <\/span>The Special Laws<\/span><\/i>. This work, written in Greek, was addressed to those who wanted to learn about the basic laws and customs of the Jews. \u00a0There is much to say about Philo\u2019s explanations of the holidays. He tries his best to universalize their meaning and significance so that they could be understandable, logical, compelling, and appealing to those beyond his community. He offers unique interpretations of their numerical significance, their relationship to nature and the natural world, and the ways in which their observance cultivates values of integrity, industriousness, and gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Of special interest is the festival with which Philo decides to begin his list: the festival of every day. When Philo reads Numbers 28:3-8 about the <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em> offering (<\/span>tamid<\/em> <\/span>literally means \u201calways\u201d or \u201cat all times\u201d), the daily offering in the tabernacle, he understands that the requirement of a daily offering teaches us an important lesson about how we ought to relate to each day. \u00a0Philo explains that the <\/span>tamid<\/em> <\/span>offering teaches us that every day is a festival, if people choose to make each day a festival. If they do so \u2013 which, for Philo, entails contemplation of wisdom and the cosmos and the pursuit of peace and justice, but for every person might mean something different \u2013 then one\u2019s whole life, from birth to death, becomes \u201cone continuous feast.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What Philo does is encourage us to celebrate each day \u2013 not to take time for granted, but to make the most of it. He doesn\u2019t make this suggestion in the abstract, but rather in very practical terms: if we remember the daily offering in the tabernacle, then we will remember not to waste the day with the wrong tasks, but rather to let our values guide the decisions we make about how to use our time well. That is, he argues that it is important not only to celebrate holidays once each year and to make certain times, like Shabbat, sacred and different. \u00a0He also sees the value in using <\/span>all<\/em> <\/span>of our time in ways that are sacred. Philo explains that we ought to celebrate <\/span>each<\/em> <\/span>day, so that our entire lives become one long celebration. If we stay conscious of our time each day, Philo insists, we will manage it well and live a meaningful life.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48533,"alt":"","title":"num28-festival","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"How To Make Every Day A Festival","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Indeed, make one\u2019s whole life one continuous feast","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48533,"alt":"","title":"num28-festival","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num28-festival-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"28","chapter_main_number":"145","date":"20260319","wall_id":"145"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"366","name":"Commentators","old_id":"766"},{"term_id":"516","name":"Holidays","old_id":"916"},{"term_id":"696","name":"Celebration","old_id":"1096"}]}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/47998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}