Recent Weekly Torah
Eichah: Praise, Rebuke, or Lament?
It is noted in Midrash Rabbah to Eichah, the Book of Lamentations, that three prophets each made a statement to Israel that begins with the word “Eichah,” “how.” What is more, we will encounter each of those verses this week:
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Day Before You Die
In the first of this week’s double portion, Matot-Mas'ey one verse catches my attention: “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites after which you will be gathered to your kin.” (Numbers 31:2) Once Moses completes this task, he will die.
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On Zealotry and the Pursuit of Peace
Our Torah portion this week recalls a man named Pinchas, the great-nephew of Moses, who engages in an
act of vigilante violence. The Israelites are in the midst of a plague, brought down by God as penance for
rampant acts of sexual immorality. Pinchas responds by capturing a couple in flagrante delicto, and
executing them-- stabbing the pair of them through with his spear.
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Be the Blessing
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Rabbi Zushya on Moshe's Transgression
To Rabbi Zushya, an early Hasidic master who left behind no writings but many stories, belong two of the most darkly encouraging statements about human purpose: to him is attributed the saying, “Each person should have a coat with two pockets—one pocket with a note on which it’s written, ‘I am but dust and ashes,’ and the other pocket with a note on which it’s written, ‘For my sake the world was created.’” Rabbi Zushya is also credited with exclaiming, tearfully, “When I am judged for the World-to-Come, I won’t be asked why I wasn’t more like Moshe, but why I wasn’t more like Zushya.” These
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