| Bamidbar 5760 - June 2, 2000 |
In The Desert
Once a year, just before the festival of Shavuot, we spend a week in the desert.
In the desert there are no towns or neighborhoods, no office buildings or factories, no shopping malls or grocery stores. Wouldn't it be great to live in the desert?
| FROM THE CHASSIDIC MASTERS |
The 603,550th Jew
He counted us when we went down to Egypt. He counted us after we came out--three times in the year after the Exodus alone. He counted us again 40 years later, two more times in the days of Saul, and yet again under King David.
He counts us not to know our number (which He already knows), or even to get in touch with the quintessence of our souls (which He already is). So why is G-d constantly counting us?
A Whisper in Time
The wedding procession began. The Baal Shem Tov strode slowly at its head, the bridegroom at his side, the townspeople in their finery following behind. No one paid much attention to the solitary man, a stranger, who sat in a wagon by the side of the road.
Spiritual Warrior
I find this battle terrifying, because I have no idea where it will lead. It forces me to open myself to G-d and allow Him into the innermost, most intimate confines of myself. It forces me to confront the plaguing question: if I truly let G-d in, what will He do to me once He is there? Who will I be? What will the world have become? And what is my place and purpose within it?
The Practical Implications of Infinity
What is mysticism? The word conjures up connotations of lofty abstraction, other-worldly meditation, abstruse speculations into the meaning of existence--a world apart from, perhaps even opposed to, the mundane and prosaic questions that make up the texture of daily life.
If that is so, what does mysticism have to do with Judaism? It is, after all, the defining feature of Judaism, which some praise, others criticize, that its concern is with the small details of conduct.
Chapter Six
Such is the way of Torah: Bread with salt you shall eat, water in small measure you shall drink, and upon the ground you shall sleep; live a life of hardship and toil in Torah. If so you do, "fortunate are you, and good is to you"--fortunate are you in this world, and it is good to you in the World To Come.
In three years, the Lowenthals' Lag Baomer barbecue has grown from a small, humble gathering to one of the Danish Jewish community's most anticipated annual events.
|
Bamidbar
Numbers 1:1 - 4:20
Week of May 28 - June 3, 2000
The
Parshah In A Nutshell
Full
Parshah Summary With Commentary
THE REBBE: 50 YEARS
PREVIOUS ISSUE
NEXT ISSUE
MAGAZINE ARCHIVES
|
