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The Next Generation

Since I’m the only rabbi in the Duluth area, I regularly get called on by the local hospitals to visit patients who indicate on their admission forms that they are Jewish. Sometimes I’m visiting members of my own congregation. Sometimes I’m visiting unaffiliated Jews who might live in the area,

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The Importance of Re-reading Torah

This d’var Torah was written in 2010. Although it refers to some events occuring at that time, its larger message remains deeply relevant. -Ed. The Book of Numbers is in many ways the least cohesive of the five books of the Torah. Its narrative excursions and legal legacies are occasionally

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Making the Epic Personal

The Torah portion Mas’ey (Numbers 33:1 – 36:13), which concludes Sefer Bamidbar (the Book of Numbers), brings us to the end of our ancestors’ journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Forty years have passed since the Exodus. A new generation, born in freedom, has replaced the last generation to

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The Inner Journey

Eileh mas’ei v’nei Yisrael asher yatz’u me’eretz Mitzrayim אֵ֜לֶּה מַסְעֵ֣י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצְא֛וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם לְצִבְאֹתָ֑ם בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְאַהֲרֹֽן׃ These are the journeys of the Children of Israel after leaving the Land of Egypt (Numbers 33:1) As we reach the end of the Book of Numbers, the Children of Israel have

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Silence as Protest

Silence in the world of verbal communication can be as complicated to interpret and as deliberate as any word choice. We are often as careful (or should be) about when we choose to remain silent as we are about the words we use to convey a message. In the world

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How Good It Is

Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, mishkenotecha Yisrael / מַה טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel (Numbers 24:5) The Israelites are journeying toward the Jordan River, and pass through the territory of King Balak of Moab. Balak is terrified, and hires the prophet

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Reacting to Loss

In Genesis 50:10-11, Joseph observed a seven-day mourning period for his father Jacob, mourning bitterly and loudly. When the Caaanites witnessed this, they observed that the people were holding “a solemn ceremony of mourning.” From this we derive the practice of shiva where we observe a specific period of mourning

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Who Was Korakh?

During the forty years in the wilderness, Moses faced a number of challenges to his leadership. Some arose out of our ancestors’ sense of loss and deprivation. Others centered on issues of policy. The most threatening of these challenges, however, was the constitutional crisis brought about by Korakh’s attempt to

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Putting Aside Fear for Courage

The signs of a spiritual renaissance are all around us. Candidates are increasingly running for public office while openly touting their religious pedigrees as “believers” and even “born again” men and women. The shelves in bookstores throughout the country are filled with the latest books on finding your spiritual path,

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The Reconstructionist Network