Mindful Torah...and more

It seems that during the summer months I end up either skipping a week or republishing a post from the past.  Such is the reality of life in the summertime.   The following post is one that I first published in 2006 and then published again last year. Given the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, such as it is, I hand no qualms about publishing this peace yet a third time.   I hope and pray that next year I will be forced to write a new post for this week's parashah , for peace will be a reality and there will no longer be a need to dream of it. Shabbat Shalom, Steven ------------------------------ Commentary on Matot-Masei 5766 (2006) Last week and this week we conclude the reading of the book of Be'midba r/Numbers with the parashiot /portions of Matot & Masei (30:2-36:13). In non-leap years they are read together.  However, being a leap year, they are read separately.   In Parshat Matot we read of the laws given to the Isra...

This week’s parashah /portion is Pinchas (Deuteronomy/ Devarim 25:10 - 30:1 ).   In reading the parashah , a few things  caught my attention: 1) the parashah begins almost immediately with a census of all the males of the various tribes; 2) it then continues with the plea of the five daughters of Zelophehad to inherit their father’s holdings, even though inheritance at that time only went to sons, of which he had none; 3) the daughters of Zelophehad are all named, and in their plea make it clear that their father was not one of the faction led by Korach, who had rebelled against   God; 4) God declares to Moses that the claim of the daughters was valid and that they should indeed receive their father’s portion, as should other daughters in the future, if they have no brothers and 5) following this incident, God tells Moses to appoint Joshua as successor and to climb the mountains of Avarim to see the land that he will be unable to enter. It is easy to write about ...