Bamidbar/Numbers Chapter 20 is bookended by the deaths of Moses’ siblings, Miriam and Aaron. In between, Moses hits the rock to get it to bring forth water, and God tells both him and Aaron that they won’t enter the Promised Land with the people. The Israelites...
This week’s Torah reading, Naso, begins with God instructing Moses to take a census of the Levites between the ages of 30 and 50, who are responsible for the maintaining and transporting the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary and its furnishings, in the wilderness....
In this week’s Torah reading, Hukkat, both Miriam and Aaron die, and Moses learns that he won’t be the one to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. The people are in the 39th year of their wandering Bamidbar Sinai, in the Sinai wilderness, and there are...
When I subscribed to the Sunday The New York Times, the Magazine occasionally ran a featured called, “What They Were Thinking.” There would be a photo from several years earlier, and the subject or subjects of the photo tell the reporter what they remember thinking...
Photo Credits: Anil Gulati, Water in well in Purulia, https://www.flickr.com/photos/indiawaterportal/4483255321 In parshat Hukkat, both Miriam and Aaron die, but under very different circumstances. From a p’shat, or “literal” reading of the text, Miriam simply dies...
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