Parshah Columnists

Why Moses was troubled by Reuben and Gad's request to settle outside of the Holy Land.

Why is it important to list the journeys? The Torah isn’t a history book, nor is it a travelogue, so what’s the purpose of this list?

I can't believe I find myself in the same position, doing the same task: packing. Again, we're moving. We've moved five times in seven years...

I had been a seeker for many years by the time I knocked on the door of Lubavitch House...

“Why should our father’s name be eliminated from his family because he had no sons? Give us a landholding among our father’s brothers!”

Did the nation of Israel transform? Have the people integrated lessons learned? And are they ready to become independent, mature, individuated human beings, leading themselves through their life journeys?

The Land of Israel is Heaven’s perfectly suitable gift suited for the Jewish people. By the same token, it is beyond what the Jews can ever deserve.

Now this is very strange. Here is a man who, though not a murderer, is not entirely innocent of having caused the loss of a person's life. Opposite him stands the High Priest of Israel, noble, aristocratic and, arguably, the holiest Jew alive. Do we really have reason to fear that the prayers of this morally tainted prisoner will have such a negative effect on the exalted High Priest, to the extent that the High Priest may die?

When you give up something you want in order to make someone else happy, that is commendable. But when you ignore something because you don’t value it sufficiently, that is inexcusable.

A smoker once told me that quitting was dead easy; he personally had stopped dozens of times...

The Jews of the desert may have remained relatively undisturbed for years at a stretch, but they had no way of knowing, from one day to the next, how long they could expect to stay where they were.

People often tell me wistfully how they wish they would have been raised in a Torah-observant home. They imagine that I am already at the destination that they are journeying towards...

Moses' dismay at the request of several tribes to remain on the eastern bank of the Jordan is a powerful lesson in Jewish communal responsibility.

Isn't encouragement of vengeance precisely what the City of Refuge system does? Doesn't the American system do a better job of dealing with such a sad episode, discouraging vigilante justice?

Why are these forty-two pit stops referred to as “journeys,” rather than “encampments”? Weren’t each of these destinations milestones reached, not just locations left behind?

Gad's battle victims were readily identifiable. With one fell swoop of the sword they would cut off the head together with the arm. The ability to strike such a blow is an indication of tremendous lion-like strength.

G‑d commanded Moses to wage battle against the Midianites, after which he would pass away. But when it came time for Moses to forward the commandment to the Jewish people, the instruction went through some editing . . .

The clouds represented everything that Aaron stood for—millions of people can be shielded by the same cloud, unlike food or water that can’t be shared by even two people simultaneously. Like the clouds, Aaron protected and cherished everyone equally...

The tribes had put sheep first, then children. But can it then be that that they actually loved their sheep more than their children?

When we stand up to the negative pressures around us, holding our own, we are really moving forward and discovering new dimensions.

"Mateh" is the same slim branch, but now detached from the tree. Despite this, or because of this, the mateh becomes hard and strong, and can be used a supporting staff or as a symbol of leadership...

Are we searching for freedom? Then the Torah will help us in our search...

Personal journeys. Relationship journeys. Our national cosmic journey . . .

Which is more important--Torah precepts or ethical concepts? It is a well-meaning but misguided question

The wilderness is “where man does not dwell”; on the highest level this refers to Adam HaElyon (“Supernal Man”)—G‑d. One who finds himself in such a state must transform the desert into a place where G‑d does dwell . . .

The message is mixed

The penimi appreciates the differences between important things and things of lesser importance, between means and ends, between journeys and destinations. But in whatever he is involved, he is fully there. When he's on the way to something, he's fully invested in being on the way to something

Abstention is a humbling admission of defeat – "There's something in the world that G‑d created for a purpose; other people are capable of using it for that purpose; I cannot."

History and destiny had combined to make Jews aware of the temporariness of any dwelling outside the Holy Land. To be a Jew is to be on a journey.

Jeremiah, the most passionate and tormented of all the prophets, has gone down in history as the prophet of doom. Yet this is unfair. He was also supremely a prophet of hope.