Moses

Joshua's spies chose faith over fear - can Israel do the same?

Joshua’s spies returned with faith and confidence, teaching a timeless lesson about courage, purpose, and the Land of Israel.

|ByMICHAEL FREUND
The Grapes of Canaan by James Tissot (circa 1900). Although the 12 spies brought back a cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it, only two of the 12 brought back a good report of the land.
THE PARTING of the Red Sea during the Jewish nation’s escape from Egypt, an illustration from a Bible card published 1907 by the Providence Lithograph Company

A different mind, a shared covenant - opinion

I often find myself drawn to the story of Moses, who, when called, responded: "Why me?" Any of Moses’ traits might be understood in the context of autism

|ByDAVID GOLDFARB
Reading a torah scroll

Parashat Beha'alotcha: Know your place

After Pharaoh intensified the Jewish slaves' work, Moses felt that his mission had failed. Out of deep pain, he turned to God and said, “Why have You done evil to these people? Why did You send me?

|ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
Title page of first edition of the Zohar, Mantua, 1558. (Photos: Wikimedia Commons)

'The Wisdom of Truth': Reaching the attic with a ladder to the Zohar - review

Introduction to the Zohar explores exile, desire, and repair, presenting the Baal HaSulam’s ladder as a path to inner spiritual transformation.

|ByBARUCH LANDA

Parashat Ekev: Your gift or God’s?

The Land of Israel, like all the goods of this world, is God’s gift, but the people must still fight to deserve it.

JULY 29, 2021ByDAVID WOLPE
THE ARCHEOLOGICAL site of the City of David. ‘The only people for whom the Land of Israel has ever been their national kingdom are the Jews’

Parashat Ekev: Gratitude and showing favor

In this week’s Torah portion, we continue reading Moses’s final speeches, addresses meant to prepare the Jewish nation for entering, conquering and living in Israel.

JULY 29, 2021ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
Moses Shows the Elders the Tablets of the Law by Marc Chagall, 1966

Parashat Devarim: The beginning of history

The Torah is insistent that no human is perfect, and it is in the rough and tumble of daily life that we show our spiritual striving.

JULY 15, 2021ByDAVID WOLPE
REMBRANDT'S MOSES with the Ten Commandments

Parashat Devarim: God as Moses’s temporary student

In this week’s parasha, Devarim, Moses focused on the years when the Jewish nation wandered in the desert and on the trials and tribulations they experienced there.

JULY 15, 2021ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
Moses leading the Children of Israel across the Red Sea from the ‘American Heritage Haggadah’ by David Geffen, Gefen Publishers 1992

Parashat Pinhas: Ego and leadership

From this week's Torah portion, Parashat Pinhas, we learn from Moses that a leader puts his ego aside. Moses’s first concern is for Israel, not for himself.

JULY 2, 2021ByDAVID WOLPE
‘MOSES,’ BY Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1513-1515, at San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome)

Parashat Pinhas: A plurality of opinions

We learn from this week's Torah portion, parashat Pinhas, a plurality of opinions is a godly phenomenon.

JULY 2, 2021ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
Microphone

Parashat Chukat: The articulation of Moses

Moses says that he is not a man of “d’varim” – the Hebrew term he uses for “words.” God nonetheless insists Moses be the leader of Israel. And the lesson begins.

JUNE 17, 2021ByDAVID WOLPE
A still from the film showing Moses leading his people out of Egypt.

Parashat Beha’alotcha: Bamidbar and ‘dibur’

This week’s parasha shows us several different kinds of speech illustrate a range of values expressed in language.

MAY 26, 2021ByDAVID WOLPE
Gossip, illustrative

Parashat Beha’alotcha: A journey to the unknown

After about a year of camping near Mount Sinai, the children of Israel began moving toward the Promised Land.

MAY 26, 2021ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
THE SINAI Desert.

Feeling sorry for Moses

MAY 15, 2021ByRAYMOND APPLE
REMBRANDT'S MOSES with the Ten Commandments