Twelve Tribes of Israel, The

If the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel each brought the same gift in honor of the Tabernacle’s inauguration, why does the Torah repeat the 35-item list twelve times, making Naso the longest Parshah in the Torah? There is a lesson here, says the ...

The day has 12 hours; the Jewish day has the 12 sons of Jacob

The Price of a Wife, Jacob’s Children, Jacob’s Wealth

Beginning today, and continuing through Nissan 13, we recite the verses (from Numbers ch. 7) describing the offerings made by the "princes" (nesi'im) of the 12 tribes of Israel (see "Mishkan inaugurated"). Today we read of the gift bought by Nachshon ben ...

In order to ensure the orderly division of the Holy Land between the twelve tribes of Israel, restrictions had been placed on marriages between members of two different tribes. A woman who had inherited tribal lands from her father was forbidden to marry ...

The stick, it can be said, is a piece of tree that has paid the price of leaving home. The stick, it can also be said, is one who has reaped the rewards of leaving home . . .

Is tribalism good or bad for the soul? How are we to weigh our loyalties to family, community and "tribe" against our role as a partner in the mission and destiny of the entirety of the Jewish people?

If life were a chessboard, would you be a pawn who can travel only in one direction?

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

For the most part, tribal identities have been lost through the generations, and the majority of Jews do not know which tribe they are from. There are a number of people whose families have passed down their identity as Kohanim (Priests) or Levites, ...