{"id":49167,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:38","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-2004\/"},"modified":"2022-09-06T09:05:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T06:05:14","slug":"wall-2004","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"book-Torah-Numbers"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"book","wall_id":"2004","book":"Numbers","books_group":"Torah","hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"posts":[{"order":1,"id":"49223","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Numbers: A 929 Summary ","post_title":"Numbers: A 929 Summary","slug":"numbers-a-929-summary","old_id":"49223","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2004","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"929 Doing the Book of Numbers in Numbers","post_main_content_content":"

Over the past 36 chapters, we have had:<\/p>\r\n

20 works of art according to the 10 weekly readings (parasha) of the Book
\r\n44 works of poetry
\r\n2 spoken word posts<\/p>\r\n

And fully 262 literary items: \u00a0<\/p>\r\n

32 single entry authors
\r\n28 by 9 authors who each contributed between 2 and 4 posts
\r\n42 by 5 authors who each contributed between 7 and 10 posts
\r\n160 by 5 authors who each contributed between 15 and 33 posts<\/p>\r\n

We hugely appreciate all the contributions we've received in every media, and we want to give a special shout out to:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Marc Bregman<\/a>, Avidan Freedman<\/a>, Avivah Zornberg<\/a>,\u00a0Brad Artson<\/a>, Ari Hoffman<\/a>, Erica Brown<\/a>, Michal Kohane<\/a>, and Ilana Blumberg<\/a> for their stellar writing, in quantity and quality!
\r\n
\r\n<\/p>\r\n

That's a lot of words \u2013 which is a good lead connection from \"Numbers\" to \"Words,\" Devarim,\u00a0 Deuteronomy, which we begin here tomorrow, without even taking a breath!<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49224,"alt":"","title":"Num-bookend-1735","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","width":364,"height":606,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735-180x300.jpg","medium-width":180,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","medium_large-width":364,"medium_large-height":606,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","large-width":364,"large-height":606,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","1536x1536-width":364,"1536x1536-height":606,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","2048x2048-width":364,"2048x2048-height":606,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","post_full_size-width":364,"post_full_size-height":606,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735-252x420.jpg","home_baner-width":252,"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":"Numbers: A 929 Summary","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"929 Doing the Book of Numbers in Numbers","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49224,"alt":"","title":"Num-bookend-1735","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","width":364,"height":606,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735-180x300.jpg","medium-width":180,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","medium_large-width":364,"medium_large-height":606,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","large-width":364,"large-height":606,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","1536x1536-width":364,"1536x1536-height":606,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","2048x2048-width":364,"2048x2048-height":606,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735.jpg","post_full_size-width":364,"post_full_size-height":606,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num-bookend-1735-252x420.jpg","home_baner-width":252,"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":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20190212","wall_id":"2004"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"72021","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"24 in 24: Numbers ","post_title":"24 in 24: Numbers","slug":"24-in-24-numbers","old_id":"72021","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":"440","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"#4 Numbers: Repetition With A Difference - Who Will Cross The Jordan River?","post_main_content_content":"

In an effort to bring more Torah content to your homes and devices, we are pleased to announce this new initiative.<\/p>\r\n

There are 24 hours in a day, 24 books of Tanakh and \u2013 counting from Monday \u2013 24 days until Pesach. Count up with us at 929!<\/p>\r\n

3.5 years to complete all of Tanakh might feel a bit long. If you are ready to dive into some of the later books of Tanakh, \u201c24 in 24\u201d is for you.<\/p>\r\n

Starting on Monday the 16th<\/sup> of March (click here to see all the videos to date<\/a>), alongside our daily chapter, we will be starting a parallel learning cycle, with the goal of working our way through all 24 books of Tanakh over the next 24 days. Drawing from our community of educators and writers, each day, here on the site, in our daily newsletter and through our social media channels we will be sharing a 20-30 minute video exploring a resonant theme in each of the 24 books of Tanakh, starting with Bereishit\/Genesis on Monday March 16, and ending with Divrei Hayamim\/Chronicles.<\/p>\r\n

Join us for this journey in text \u2013 from the comfort (and appropriately socially distanced semi-isolation) of your own home!<\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/E_iK7r7nFrQ?list=PLJ2vWliZqg0CF4iFnvfuo10Hn4VmnKrK4","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"24 in 24","tile_main_caption":"#4 Numbers: Repetition With A Difference - Who Will Cross The Jordan River?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"with: Ilana Blumberg","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/E_iK7r7nFrQ?list=PLJ2vWliZqg0CF4iFnvfuo10Hn4VmnKrK4","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":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"40","chapter_main_number":"440","date":"20270506","wall_id":"440"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"332","name":"24 in 24","old_id":"732"}]},{"order":3,"id":"46270","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"The Impossible Journey ","post_title":"The Impossible Journey","slug":"the-impossible-journey","old_id":"46270","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":"118","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How does one prepare for the wilderness, a place of anxiety and romance, independence and intense dependence?","post_main_content_content":"

When the Tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death. The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each man with his division and each under his standard. The Levites, however, shall camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, that wrath may not strike the Israelite community; the Levites shall stand guard around the Tabernacle of the Pact (Num 1: 51-53).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How does one prepare for the wilderness, a place of anxiety and romance, independence and intense dependence? A review of the word \u201c<\/span>midbar<\/span><\/i>\u201d in a Concordance offers us a range of biblical verses that speak of primal love and terror in a wasteland of flash floods, vicious animals, deep darkness and despair. One cannot ever completely prepare for it. Readers of the Book of Numbers will understand the book better if wilderness is studied as an actual character. The natural world the Israelites face was harsh and unforgiving. It makes and breaks people. One scholar notes that there is not one recorded birth in its pages but plenty of deaths, thousands in fact.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

T.\u00a0<\/span>S. Eliot\u2019s \u201cWaste Land\u201d helps us imagine the hardships of such a place: \u201c\u2026I was neither\/Living nor dead, and I knew nothing\/Looking into the heart of light, the silence.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The first ten chapters of Numbers put mechanisms in place to manage this wilderness. Numbers opens with a census to determine a credible army for protection. The camp is divided by tribe and flag with a strategic formation with every pause in the trek. Organization accompanied by intense vigilance was needed to fight the chaos of the wilderness. Discipline of this magnitude is captured magnificently by Amitav Gosh in his historical fiction, <\/span>The Glass Palace<\/span><\/em>, about British rubber plantations tended by in Burma before the Second World War: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThis is my little empire...I made it. I took it from the jungle and molded it into what I wanted it to be. Now that it\u2019s mine, I take good care of it. There\u2019s law, there\u2019s order, everything is well run. Looking at it you would think that everything here is tame, domesticated, that all the parts have been fitted carefully together. But it\u2019s when you try to make the whole machine work that you discover that every bit of it is fighting back. It has nothing to do with me or with rights and wrongs. I could make this the best run little kingdom in the world and it would still fight back. It\u2019s nature; the nature that made these trees and the nature that made us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The fight to conquer nature was constant so their sources of spiritual inspiration needed to be. It is for this reason that the <\/span>Mishkan<\/span><\/i>, the Tabernacle, lay at the center of the camp, the beating heart of the wilderness venture. On its altar were the tears and the joys of this impossible journey. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Where is your spiritual center when chaos surrounds you?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Israel Encamped Roundabout the Tabernacle in the Wilderness of Sinai<\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>John W. Kelchner (c. 1843-1939).<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46347,"alt":"","title":"Num1-Kelchner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","width":591,"height":362,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","medium_large-width":591,"medium_large-height":362,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","large-width":591,"large-height":362,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","1536x1536-width":591,"1536x1536-height":362,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","2048x2048-width":591,"2048x2048-height":362,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","post_full_size-width":591,"post_full_size-height":362,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","home_baner-width":591,"home_baner-height":362}},"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":"The Impossible Journey","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How does one prepare for the wilderness, a place of anxiety and romance, independence and intense dependence?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":46347,"alt":"","title":"Num1-Kelchner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","width":591,"height":362,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","medium_large-width":591,"medium_large-height":362,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","large-width":591,"large-height":362,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","1536x1536-width":591,"1536x1536-height":362,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","2048x2048-width":591,"2048x2048-height":362,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","post_full_size-width":591,"post_full_size-height":362,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Num1-Kelchner.jpg","home_baner-width":591,"home_baner-height":362}},"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":"1","chapter_main_number":"118","date":"20260210","wall_id":"118"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"788","name":"Desert","old_id":"1188"},{"term_id":"790","name":"Wandering","old_id":"1190"}]},{"order":4,"id":"46936","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Resident Alien (Ger Toshav) \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"Resident Alien (Ger Toshav) \u2013 Then and Now","slug":"resident-alien-ger-toshav-then-and-now","old_id":"46936","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":"126","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God\u2019s presence resides when we treat others equally","post_main_content_content":"

Our Chapter addresses the status of the g<\/em><\/span>er<\/span><\/em> (resident alien) in a way that seems remarkably relevant to our time: \u201c\u2026There shall be one law for you, whether resident alien or citizen of the country (<\/span>ezrach ha-aretz<\/span><\/em>)\u201d (Num. 9:14). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Steinsaltz commentary makes it clear that g<\/span>er<\/span><\/em> refers to those who are \u201cfrom other nations\u201d (<\/span>me-\u2018amim acherim<\/span><\/em>). According to the Midrash (Sifre to Numbers 9:1-- 4 71:1) the biblical phrase \u201cthere shall be one law for you\u201d means that \u201cthe g<\/em><\/span>er <\/span><\/em>is equal to the e<\/em><\/span>zrach<\/span><\/em> (\u201ccitizen\u201d) in respect to all the Mitzvot of the Torah\u201d. The rabbinic sages defined those non-Israelites who lived among Israelites in Israelite territory as g<\/em><\/span>er toshav<\/span><\/em> (\u201cresident alien\u201d) as distinguished from ge<\/em><\/span>r tzedeq<\/span><\/em> (full-fledged convert to Judaism). Maimonides ruled that the law of g<\/em><\/span>er toshav<\/span><\/em> was only in effect when the laws of the Jubilee Year were also in effect. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In modern times, after the resettlement of the Land of Israel by Jews, both Rav Abraham Isaac Kook and Rav Chaim Herzog, among others, maintained that the law of g<\/span>er t<\/span><\/em>oshav<\/em> should be applied in our time at least to some non-Jewish residents of Israel. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is worth noting that immediately following the law commanding the equal treatment of the <\/span>Ger<\/span><\/i> in our chapter (verse 14), we are told that the Shekhinah descended to dwell in the Mishkan: \u201cOn the day that the Mishkan was set up, the cloud covered the Mishkan, the Tent of the Witnessing; and in the evening it rested over the Mishkan in the likeness of fire until morning. It was always so: the cloud covered it, appearing as fire by night\u201d (15-16). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The contiguity of the law of the <\/span>Ger<\/span><\/em> to the dwelling of the Shekhinah in the Israelite camp suggests that when we regard as our equals those non-Jews who choose to live among us in peace, then God\u2019s Divine Presence too dwells among us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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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":"131","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The consequences of giving in to nostalgia doomed a generation of our ancestors, and can have that same devastating consequence today if we let it","post_main_content_content":"

It\u2019s not unusual for people to miss the days that have already passed, as we all have a tendency to forget the negative and recall only the good of what is no longer with us. We do that with friends that have moved away, loved ones no longer alive, jobs or schools we no longer are affiliated with. The daily struggles and challenges fade with time, leaving us an artificially-distorted perception that those days were idyllic and lovely in ways that these more bleak and trying times are not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the most famous example of such warped memory finds expression as the Israelites struggle with their newest challenge. Spies from the Israelites return from scouting out the land of Canaan, and report that the people there are like giants, powerful and strong. The report of the spies is so devastating that the Israelites don\u2019t want to go forward. Indeed, the terror gripping them is so devastating that they even forget what Egyptian slavery was actually like. It was, don\u2019t forget, their anguished cries that drew God\u2019s attention and launched the exodus in the first place. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But now, facing the challenge of entering the Land of Israel and having to fight for their place in the land, they look back with longing and recall a past that is literally too good to be true: \u201cIf only we had died in the land of Egypt, the whole community shouted at them, \u2026 It would be better for us to go back to Egypt! (2, 3).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Better to go back to relentless whippings, to endless toil, to despotism and despair! Such is the power of a false nostalgia that it unhinges our better judgment, blinds us to the possibilities inherent in the present, distances us from the courage we need to transform tomorrow for the good. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are all those newly-newly-liberated slaves, all standing on the narrow precipice of the present. Dare we to face down our fears, to admit that our nostalgia and yearning is for a past that is warped by our opportunities, and then to muster ourselves to face and conquer today\u2019s challenges? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The consequences of giving in to their nostalgia, with its false comfort, doomed a generation of our ancestors. It will have that same devastating consequence today if we let it. Instead, let us, like Joshua and Caleb, rise in affirming that we are the children of promise, that the future is ours to shape in line with our highest values and firmest convictions. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are, after all, the children of people who walked out of Egypt, to freedom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. 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":"133","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Discerning the pretenders from the leaders has never been more difficult, or more necessary.","post_main_content_content":"

A brief check of the etymology \u201cinsurrection\u201d reveals a directional vector; its roots convey a sense of rising, the low made high, or at least trying to climb in that direction. This verticality also suggests reversal; the powerless ascendant, the powerful brought to their knees, Moses falling on his face. A polemic, the glint of a blade, an overturned table, the last made first. Revolt, rebellion, insurrection- perhaps we have so many words for the same phenomena because there is always the fear of, and attraction to, upending the order of things. The world might be made anew, but it is terrifying to contemplate the implications of rampaging change. The pull of the current might surprise even the strongest swimmers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter is a carefully staged account of rebellion. \u00a0It features Korach, a member of the elite, fluently speaking the language of populism. If the episode of the spies in chapter 14 is an earthquake from below, spoken in rough accents, Korach\u2019s efforts are the suave instigations of the upper classes, those privileged enough to know just how close to power they stand. Unfortunately, grasping makes one vulnerable to falling, and Korach\u2019s tumble into the pit is a riposte to his ambition to ascend the mountain top.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses has the benefit of bolstering his leadership with the ballast of signs and wonders. His election is ratified by Divine Election. This does not entirely mute Korach\u2019s voice- his challenge still stands, millennia later. But we have it harder. Discerning the pretenders from the leaders, the sophists from the visionaries has never been more difficult, or more necessary. The ambition to lead blurs into the hubris to control and command. If we are all holy, why are some holier than others? And how truly are any of us, really, when we incline our ear to the haunting melody of glory?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: The Punishment of Korach, Sandro Botticelli,<\/a> <\/span>(1445\u20131510), photo: Attilias, <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47501,"alt":"","title":"Num16-Korah_Botticelli","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","width":620,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-435x420.jpg","home_baner-width":435,"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":"Universal Holiness And Absolute Power","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Discerning the pretenders from the leaders has never been more difficult, or more necessary.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47501,"alt":"","title":"Num16-Korah_Botticelli","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","width":620,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-435x420.jpg","home_baner-width":435,"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":"16","chapter_main_number":"133","date":"20260303","wall_id":"133"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"480","name":"Holiness","old_id":"880"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"794","name":"Korah","old_id":"1194"}]},{"order":7,"id":"47599","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Value of Difference ","post_title":"The Value Of Difference","slug":"the-value-of-difference","old_id":"47599","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. 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In this chapter, we learn that the Levites will have no land specifically assigned to them in the land of Israel. Instead, they will serve God in the Temple and God will be their portion. The people of Israel will bring them the sacrifices and the fruits of their assigned portions of land as gifts (18:20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is this difference \u2013 this specific destiny \u2013 something to be celebrated by the Levites? Their closeness to God, the freedom from working the land and tending the livestock, their centrality among the children of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Or is this difference something to be mourned? \u00a0No land that belongs to the Levites alone; none of the satisfaction in sowing and reaping, bringing first fruits; all the demands and the responsibilities attendant on the service of God in the Temple?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is this difference between the Levites and the other tribes merely descriptive, or is value-laden? What do we make of social difference?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The last few chapters have been deeply concerned with differences and what they amount to. Miriam and Aaron speak about Moses, and God becomes angry, reproving them for not understanding that Moses is different, his order of prophecy is different, he cannot be judged as any other prophet.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Korach and his party then come to challenge the authority of Moses but this time, the confrontation positions Aaron on the side of privilege and power, the very same Aaron who had just been positioned on the other side of this debate. \u201cThe entire assembly is holy,\u201d Korach argues, \u201cwhy are you elevating yourselves above them?\u201d (16:3) Why is it that Aaron should be High Priest and that the Levites have claimed such power for themselves?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abuses of power are one thing. Fair to say that they are wrong and should be curbed. But what if we are not looking at an abuse? What does it mean to be distinguished for a different path? To be selected for something? What does it mean not to be selected for something?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Aaron asks this about Moses; then Korach turns around to ask it about Aaron. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And we, the children of Israel, contemporary Jews, might ask it of ourselves. A people separated: what does this mean? What is to be celebrated? What is to be mourned?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Does difference necessarily imply a dynamic of power in which to be different is to be less or to be more than another?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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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 - 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He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_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. ","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":"148","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Are we up to the moral challenges?","post_main_content_content":"

I'm not afraid to struggle with the Torah. To be \"Yisrael\" means to have enough faith in yourself that you can be straight (<\/span>yashar<\/span><\/i>) with God, and enough faith in God that He can handle you wrestling with Him a bit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Like Jacob with the angel, I find myself locked in a struggle with chapter 31 that essentially ends in a deadlock. On the one hand, I won't let go of my moral intuitions. I won't accept that there's no moral issue with slaughtering man, woman, and child, leaving only young girls, and those as captives, while we get rich on the spoils of war. I can't see anyone in the moral world I inhabit seriously endorsing these practices as moral nowadays. That's a fact. <\/span>But, on the other hand, I know this is a Good Book from a Good God, and I'm not ready to reject it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Are you calling the Torah immoral, I begin to argue with myself?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hem. Haw.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Ramban says that Moshe didn't tell them what to do, they decided on their own...<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...but then Moshe himself chastises them for not killing the women.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...but God didn't tell them what to do, only to oppress the Midianites, to take revenge on them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...but since when does God endorse revenge?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...but Moshe refuses to accept it as Israel's revenge, and reframes it as God's revenge, according to the Midrash, sending only those who were not directly involved in the sin with the Midianite women. He distances this war from himself, a Midianite expatriate, as well as from Joshua, the future leader of Israel. There is something in him that is conflicted about this war as well.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...and anyways, that's what the standards of war were back then.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...but does that mean I need to think it's moral now? And couldn't the Torah demand more of us than the ethics of the time, as it often does?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...perhaps it does, by declaring the people who killed impure, by exiling them from the camp, by demanding they undergo a purification process...<\/span><\/p>\r\n

...and so it goes, until morning, when one side says, leave me go, it's time for the morning prayers, and the other side says- not until you bless me. The blessing? \"Jacob will no longer be your name, but rather Israel, for you have struggled with God and man, and you can do it.\" <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Don't be afraid, my servant Jacob. Struggle is the name of the game. And we're up to the challenge.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48708,"alt":"","title":"Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","width":900,"height":717,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-768x612.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":612,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":717,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":717,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":717,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":717,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-527x420.jpg","home_baner-width":527,"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":"My Night-time Struggle With Chapter 31","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Are we up to the moral challenges?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48708,"alt":"","title":"Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","width":900,"height":717,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-768x612.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":612,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":717,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":717,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":717,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":717,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Num31-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-of-god-527x420.jpg","home_baner-width":527,"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":"31","chapter_main_number":"148","date":"20260324","wall_id":"148"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"544","name":"Struggle","old_id":"944"}]},{"order":12,"id":"49109","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Alternatives to Incarceration: A Jewish Approach ","post_title":"Alternatives To Incarceration: A Jewish Approach","slug":"alternatives-to-incarceration-a-jewish-approach","old_id":"49109","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34257,"post_title":"Shmuly Yanklowitz","slug":"shmuly-yanklowitz","old_id":"34257","first_name":"Shmuly ","last_name":"Yanklowitz ","description":"Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the President & Dean of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L\u2019Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V\u2019Aretz Institute, the Founder and President of YATOM, and the author of thirteen books on Jewish ethics. Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America and the Forward named him one of the 50 most influential Jews. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the President & Dean of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L\u2019Tzedek","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34258,"alt":"","title":"sHMULY","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY.jpg","width":580,"height":580,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY.jpg","medium_large-width":580,"medium_large-height":580,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY.jpg","large-width":580,"large-height":580,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY.jpg","1536x1536-width":580,"1536x1536-height":580,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY.jpg","2048x2048-width":580,"2048x2048-height":580,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY.jpg","post_full_size-width":580,"post_full_size-height":580,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sHMULY-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"152","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Commitment to human dignity even for those who have violated the norms of society","post_main_content_content":"

One of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik\u2019s most inspirational and relevant teachings was that: \u201c\u2026[<\/span>H<\/span><\/i>]<\/span>alakhah <\/span><\/i>[Jewish Law] is not hermetically enclosed within the confines of cult sanctuaries but penetrates into every nook and cranny of life. The marketplace, the street, the factory, the house, the meeting place, the banquet hall, all constitute the backdrop for the religious life\u201d (<\/span>Halakhic Man<\/span><\/i>, 94).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As we look upon the myriad of challenges facing society, one of the more intractable is that of justice reform. The legacy of harsh punishment, rather than rehabilitation, has created systemic problems that we as a society have to reckon with for generations to come. Therefore, now is the time that those of us committed to Jewish law and values work to transform prisons and jails in America, so that they reflect and protect inherent human dignity, even for those that may not appear to deserve it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, maximum-security prisons in the United States are some of the most miserable places on earth. Impenetrable cement cells, feeding through a hole, and the bare minimum of exercise are the norm for those residing in their barren cells. These conditions are not only inhumane\u2013they bring on and worsen mental illness and raise recidivism rates.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And to be sure, the inhumanity of incarceration has no place in the Jewish tradition\u2013aside from temporary pre-trial detention (<\/span>mishmar<\/span><\/i>), the Torah has no model for prison as we understand it today, and only provides a number of alternatives. The only exception is a brief period when the Rabbis, under Roman influence, instituted a <\/span>kipa<\/span><\/i>, or temporary jail.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One important model in the Torah is <\/span>eved ivri<\/span><\/em> where one works to repair harm that is done. Another biblical alternative proposed is that of the \u201cCity of Refuge\u201d\u2014<\/span>Ir Hamiklat<\/span><\/em>\u2014w<\/span><\/i>hich provides sanctuary for the unintentional murderer a protective community operating in almost all ways like a normal city.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Jewish commitment to human dignity even for those who have violated the norms of society can inspire us to affirm more of the alternatives to incarceration that exist in America, such as: work crews, electronic monitoring, probation, educational sentencing programs, drug rehabilitation, and house arrest. These less expensive (and more humane) options can work to address systemic problems in more sustainable and moral ways.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We must be sure to maintain adequate and effective punishments for crimes, yes, but we must also remember the nuances of societal realities and cling to our tradition\u2019s value of compassion for the dignity of all human beings. Even criminals.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49110,"alt":"","title":"num35-prison","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison.jpg","width":1920,"height":812,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-300x127.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":127,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-768x325.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":325,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-1024x433.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":433,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":650,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":812,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-1200x508.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":508,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-993x420.jpg","home_baner-width":993,"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":"Alternatives to Incarceration: A Jewish Approach","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Commitment to human dignity even for those who have violated the norms of society","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49110,"alt":"","title":"num35-prison","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison.jpg","width":1920,"height":812,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-300x127.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":127,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-768x325.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":325,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-1024x433.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":433,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":650,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":812,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-1200x508.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":508,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/num35-prison-993x420.jpg","home_baner-width":993,"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":"35","chapter_main_number":"152","date":"20260330","wall_id":"152"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"476","name":"Compassion","old_id":"876"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"},{"term_id":"587","name":"Dignity","old_id":"987"},{"term_id":"737","name":"Crime","old_id":"1137"}]},{"order":13,"id":"49191","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"From Being To Belonging To Becoming Better ","post_title":"From Being To Belonging To Becoming Better","slug":"from-being-to-belonging-to-becoming-better","old_id":"49191","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. A Jerusalem resident, Gil's latest book The Zionist Ideas, updates Arthur Hertzberg\u2019s classic The Zionist Idea. 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Try an experiment. Put eighteen kids on a field and see how long they play well together. But take those same eighteen kids, give them a bat, a ball, and what some estimate to be 71 basic rules \u2013 and voila, they can play constructively for hours, \u00a0create a ten-billion-dollar-a-year business, while generating countless hours of entertainment, inspiration, and mythmaking on what now become \u201cFields of Dreams.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That\u2019s the message we learn in The Book of Numbers\u2019 grand finale, proclaiming: \u201cThese are the commandments and the ordinances, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.\u201d Juxtaposed with the opening of Numbers, when Moses takes a census of the people, we are given a profound lesson in child-rearing, baseball, peoplehood and dare I say it in this polarized age, nationalism.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The census, the count, the Book of <\/span>Numbers<\/span><\/i>, a people, begins with belonging, with taking responsibility. That, in itself, is a profound move, choosing not just to be, but to belong. But that\u2019s still luck of the draw, accident of birth, the start of the journey. The final verse 36:13 gets into the real work, \u201cthe commandments and the ordinances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, we\u2019re talking. We\u2019ve gone from being to belonging to becoming \u2013 becoming a better person, becoming better people, becoming a better people. The essential lesson here is that we started with \u201chardware\u201d now we\u2019re into \u201csoftware,\u201d we join the group, the group has norms - -the content, the programming -- and those norms stretch us, improve us and root us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That explains the second half of the verse. By specifying the location where the rules were given, the Torah is teaching us that these aren\u2019t just laws to list or learn and file away, but practical road signs, guideposts, and traffic signals for real life and real places.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These Bs essential to healthy constructive liberal nationalism, Jewish nationalism \u2013 of being, belonging, and becoming better-- are best explained by two other favorite \u201cBs\u201d of mine: Baseball and Isaiah Berlin. Our baseball experiment illustrates Isaiah Berlin\u2019s classic distinction between \u201cFreedom From\u201d \u2013 a negative freedom emphasizing liberation from oppression \u2013 and \u201cFreedom To\u201d \u2013 our positive freedom to build, to work together, to flourish, understanding that for all our individual potential and power, when we tap into one another\u2019s shared power constructively, productively, morally, our potential \u2013 to make order, to do good -- grows exponentially. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49198,"alt":"","title":"Num36-road 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Journey To ","post_title":"The Journey To","slug":"the-journey-to-2","old_id":"49226","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2004","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7UfnJAg92WE","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Special Video Overview of the Book of Numbers","tile_main_caption":"The Journey To","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"In accepting the responsibilities of freedom - everyone counts...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7UfnJAg92WE","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":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20190212","wall_id":"2004"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":15,"id":"106911","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"The Complex Character Of Miriam","post_title":"The Complex Character Of Miriam","slug":"the-complex-character-of-miriam","old_id":"106911","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":101758,"post_title":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam","slug":"naomi-bromberg-bar-yam","old_id":"101758","first_name":"Naomi ","last_name":"Bromberg Bar-Yam ","description":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam is a social worker and advocate in maternal and child health. 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In Torah, we meet Miriam four times: In Exodus 2 she follows her infant brother on the banks of the Nile looking after his welfare; Exodus 15:20, after experiencing God\u2019s \u201coutstretched hand\u201d at the Reed Sea, Miriam leads the women in dance and celebration; Numbers 12, she speaks with Aaron against their brother Moses; Numbers 20:1 Miriam dies. Moses invokes her name and experience of our chapter again after her death in Deuteronomy 24:9.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Who was Miriam, how did she serve her people? Miriam worked quietly in the background and she knew when to make herself heard publicly. Also, she and her brothers formed a successful team in bringing B\u2019nai Israel from slavery to freedom and peoplehood. That is a topic for another day - Numbers 20, to be specific.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our first introduction to Miriam (Exodus 2), she is nameless, purposefully in the background, keeping a protective watch over her baby brother, and coming forward boldly when action was called for to find a wetnurse, their mother, for Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, who found the Hebrew baby.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Exodus 15:20, after crossing the Reed Sea, we meet Miriam by name and status, prophetess and brother of Aaron. After the men\u2019s joyous celebration, she led the women in song and dance, communicating in her actions that the women were also part of this miracle and were also moved to make public their thanks. Once again, Miriam stood purposefully in the background (ready with her timbrel) until it was time to act.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Miriam next appears in our chapter, Numbers 12, speaking with her brother Aaron, slighting their brother Moses.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God chastised and punished both siblings, Miriam with <\/span>tzara\u2019at<\/span><\/i>, a visible, public disease requiring separation from the community she harmed by her act. Aaron, the passive participant, was forced to watch, as his sister suffered a disease he must diagnose and treat by sending her out of the camp. During her weeklong exile, the people waited for her. As Miriam stood purposefully in the background ready to act when needed, so the people waited while she was literally in the background, their waiting an action in itself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The text records this moment of Miriam's shame and humiliation and the people's honor of her. Gossip can sabotage the very community harmony Miriam and her brothers were working to achieve. Often whispered between friends, or in this case siblings, it takes on a life of its own, becomes public and is impossible to reverse completely. Such talk blurs the boundary of background and public actions that characterize Miriam\u2019s contribution to her people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We humans are not perfect, nor are we expected to be so. Miriam\u2019s merits far outweighed her flaws. In her life, Miriam\u2019s actions, in public and in the background, right and wrong can teach us how and when to act to create a strong community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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He has studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Yeshivat Otniel. A native of Dallas, Texas, Benji now resides with his wife, Leah Nerenberg, in Jerusalem.","short_description":"Benji Zoller is a current student of Jewish Thought and Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. A native of Dallas, Texas, Benji now resides with his wife, Leah Nerenberg, in Jerusalem.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":104023,"alt":"","title":"-6258019f9e1f4--6258019f9e1f5benji zoller.jpeg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","width":1011,"height":1011,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-768x768.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","large-width":1011,"large-height":1011,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1011,"1536x1536-height":1011,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1011,"2048x2048-height":1011,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1011,"post_full_size-height":1011,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-420x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"132","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"May it be Your will that from my frayed mind You will unify my soul.\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Like a frayed <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/i>, my mind unravels.
\r\n<\/span>Slowly, slowly thread by thread, what was molded to be wound unwinds,
\r\n<\/span>Untwists,
\r\n<\/span>Unrolls,
\r\n<\/span>Uncoils.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From one bound string of pure indigo stems countless scattered roots, branching out into the fertile universe.
\r\n<\/span>Anxiously the lone strands search for life, water, nutrients, soil.
\r\n<\/span>Helplessly they sway back and forth far above the earth.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Beside them, their brothers and sisters remain fastened stiff, performing the duties they were made for.
\r\n<\/span>But these blue scattered strings \u2013 blue like the sky high above, blue like the bluest waves \u2013 pursue freedom.
\r\n<\/span>Freedom to live, to explore \u2013 to stray.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How dare you!<\/span><\/i> The brothers and sisters shout. <\/span>How dare you follow your eyes! How dare you whore after your heart!
\r\n<\/span><\/i>Yet, as they shriek, the one blue fringe that once was one becomes two, three, four, five\u2026
\r\n<\/span>In their head they know what they need is grounding, earth to plant their ever sprouting roots.
\r\n<\/span>But their heart silences the truths they think they know.
\r\n<\/span>No.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Life is not only found in the soil down below, in the finite earth upon which one stands.
\r\n<\/span>Life is in the infiniteness of the bluest of blues. In the sea, in the sky, in the Heavens, in the throne of God.
\r\n<\/span>From one end of the universe to the next \u2013 from here to there to truly everywhere; <\/span>there<\/span><\/i> is where life is found.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the unwinding of a frayed fringe. The unbinding of the bound. The shattered, the broken, the cracked. (How else would the light get in?)
\r\n<\/span>My mind is scattered, my heart is broken, my clothes are torn, my strings are frayed.
\r\n<\/span>And I stray after my eyes, I whore after my heart.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But, God! I am not straying, I am not whoring.\u00a0
\r\n<\/span>I am seeking, I am asking, I am searching. I am climbing up the ladders, one-two-three-four-five-six, and when I arrive at the golden bed You are all I seek. Not in the wound and bound, but in my scattered blue strings.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

May it be Your will that from my frayed mind You will unify my soul.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Like A Frayed Tzitzit, My Mind","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"May it be Your will that from my frayed mind You will unify my soul.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":107008,"alt":"","title":"-62ef61895fd21--62ef61895fd22Num15-BZoller-Frayed 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First Gerrymander","post_title":"The First Gerrymander","slug":"the-first-gerrymander","old_id":"107610","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":"149","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moses divides a tribe and its territory. To weaken a political alliance?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Earlier, God decreed that each tribe would receive a proportional part of the Land. As the nation makes its way around the Jordan river to enter the land, they have been conquering the local peripheral populations. The tribes of Reuben and Gad see these fertile borderlands and decide that they do not want to enter the land. They approach Moses and ask if they can live in the trans-Jordan area because of their large flocks and the fertile land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This conversation is reminiscent of Lot\u2019s conversations with Abraham in Genesis. Compare:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Reubenites and the Gadites owned cattle in very great numbers. Noting that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were a region suitable for cattle (here, verse 1).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support them staying together; for their possessions were so great that they could not remain together. Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was the whole plain of the Jordan, all of it\u2026\u201d (Gen. 13:8-10).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses is not happy with the request. Possibly, he had a sense of personal frustration considering he would not be able to enter the land and now these tribes are asking to stay outside the land. Moses makes the tribes promise that they will enter the land and help the rest of the tribes conquer it before then return across the Jordan river: \u201cThe Gadites and the Reubenites answered Moses, \u2018Your servants will do as my lord commands.\u2019\u201d (verse 25). The two tribes then promise two more times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Satisfied with their promises \u201cMoses assigned to them\u2014to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph\u2014the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan...\u201d (verse 33).\u00a0 Thirty-three verses into the chapter half the tribe of Manasseh appears out of nowhere. Only Gad and Reuben asked to relocate. Why does Moses split Manasseh? One answer is that Moses was concerned that having Gad and Reuben on the other side of the Jordan would separate them from their brethren. He therefore had the tribe of Manasseh split over the Jordan river in order to link the two tribes to those in the land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But why Manasseh? Were they the largest tribe? No, they only had around 53,000 men. Issachar, Zebulan and Judah were all larger. Judah had the most with 76,000. Why didn\u2019t Moses split Judah? Perhaps this was a political move. Judah by itself was the most, but Manasseh and Ephraim together were over 85,000. This would put the sons of Joseph as the largest block over Judah, the eventual ruling tribe. To mitigate this, Moses splits Manasseh. This allows Judah to be the largest tribe in Israel and connects Reuben and Gad to the tribes inside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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