By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 כי כל־העדה כלם קדשים ובתוכם יהוה “All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them” (Numbers 16:3) These words were uttered by Korach before he was consumed by the earth. If you hear something profound in them, you’re not alone. Were they not words of truth, the 19th century Hasidic master, the Ishbitzer Rebbe tells us, the Torah would not have recorded them... Read more
Out of the Depths I Called
Parashat Chukkat Numbers 19:1-22:1 Chukkat is a portion preoccupied with loss, limitation and attempts to cope with the consequences of human mortality. The very name of the parashah refers to a mysterious ritual for dealing with dead bodies described in the opening chapter. And this is followed by narratives of the deaths of two of the three leaders whom “[God] sent before you” (Micah 6: 4) as essential guides. The second leader to die is Aaron, brother of Moses and... Read more