Matot
Tribes are like branches of the same tree. When they are together they are unbreakable.
To take an oath is no easy thing. To break one is harder yet. Midian is one if Israel’s mortal and moral enemies. Darkness is not negotiated with; it is only vanquished by light. Then, when one turns night into day, the results are bountiful and shared. Two and half tribes desire to settle in the lands east of the Jordan. Only when Moses sees that they will lead the vanguard in conquering the Land if Israel, is Moses satisfied that they do so not to separate from their brothers but rather to uplift them further.
Do You Feel Listless? Inertia in an Age of Mobility
Join a provocative talk analyzing a growing paradox of our times. Discover a new perspective on mobility and how to free ourselves from becoming couch potatoes.
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Cracks in the Wall – What Can We Do About Israel? — Three Weeks Workshop
Discover how the Israel within your soul experiences its own battles, and how your actions allow you to bring peace to yourself and to the land of Israel.
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The Desolate Mountain: When Nothing is Everything. A Pre-Nine Days Workshop
Eye-opening Nine Days Workshop. The mightiest power lays buried in the most unglamorous places. Learn the deceptive nature of material existence.
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Lonely Man
Moses left us a legacy of facing our deepest questions and coming back stronger from it. He had faith even when there seemed to be no basis for it.
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Enough Water for All
Perspective and insight by Rabbi Meir of Premishlan as to how G-d runs the world and our misguided perception as to how we think the world is run.
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42 Journeys Part 6
Whenever you feel disconnected or lost you are going through this journey. An aimless life is a desolate one. Nothing is being built; every effort ends up going nowhere.
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A Slumber and a Headache
Revisiting the 42-stationed journey in the desert from the Exodus of Egypt (that marked our birth as a nation) to our entry into the Land of Israel.
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Ricochet Dance
History is a dance. G-d & the “maiden of Israel” have been dancing these steps some 4000 years now, advancing & retreating, drawing apart & pulling together
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The Hard Life
Both Mattot and Massei are parashiyot read during the Three Weeks – both are lessons on galut.
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The Paradox of Pain
From Parshat Maasei & the period of the 3 Weeks we learn not to view difficulty as a wholly negative experience, but as the greatest facilitator of growth.
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Wisdom and Wonder
The laws of “vows” grant the authority & ability to define with our words & actions the very nature of our environment to ordinary, mortal man.
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The Eastern Colonists
Chassidic explanation of the difference between the Spies and later the Tribes of Reuben and Gad who requested land east of the Jordan re divine sparks.
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Informed Debate
A Chassidic story of Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz inspiring two argumentative combatants to criticise themselves instead of each other.
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Signpost: Cities of Refuge
Discover the spiritual meaning of the Biblical cities of refuge. You can create spiritual cities of refuge in your life. The imperative to build cities of refuge has special meaning to us today, when the roads of life are teeming with spiritual refugees. It is our sacred duty to station ourselves at all the crossroads and serve as living signposts, calling out “Refuge! Refuge!” and pointing the way to the haven of Torah.
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Matot: What Can I Do About the Situation in Israel?
Let us create a true revolution. Let us reconnect to our Divine mission. Let us move heaven and earth with our actions. We have been promised that when we do, we will save the universe – literally.
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Matos Massei: Attack in Bulgaria
The angrier you get about events surrounding Israel, the more you should channel that intensity into positive action to create a spiritual revolution in your life, in your home, in your community and in your corner of the world. This is the true conquest of Israel.
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Mattot: World War III
Rabbi Jacobson discusses the tragic murder of Leiby Kletzky, and calls for a war against cruelty to children.
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Matos-Massei: One Small Step
If our “one step” on the moon can humbly remind us that the internal “moon” of our own inner malchus/dignity remains intact, and that it can actually experience rebirth and renewal, than this indeed is “one giant leap for mankind.”
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42 Journeys Part 7
This column has been following these journeys as we read through the book of Numbers – in an attempt to decipher the personal application and psycho-spiritual meaning and significance of the 42 journeys.
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Matos-Masei: 1967: The Summer of Awakening Part II
This week’s essay – a sequel to last week – discusses the power of inspiration and the profound consequences of not acting on a call from above….
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Matos-Massei: Why is Jerusalem Still Burning
Torah chapters read in the Three Weeks of destruction address issues of Jerusalem under siege: the link between Hezbollah and the Babylonians & Romans.
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Matos: Religious Violence Part II
The context behind waging war in Biblical historical events and the Torah’s perspective thereon, as seen in Parshat Matot in the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar).
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Matot-Masei: Tzugekumene
Response to a provocative letter: ‘The feeling of “us” and “them” was an undercurrent in the interactions between FFB’s and BT’s or non-observant Jews’.
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