Parshat Va’etchanan Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11 By Torah Blogger, Jen Smith This week, I spent a couple of days in the University of Pittsburgh gymnasium in Pittsburgh, surrounded not by Torah or my favorite Jewish books, but by basketballs, squeaking sneakers, and teenagers giving their all on the court. My 15-year-old son, Jordan, was there […]

Pinchas Numbers 25:10 – 30:1 By Torah Blogger, Jen Smith In a portion named for a man who acted in self-righteous, judgmental violence, it is the voices of five courageous women – Machlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah – that offer us one of the Torah’s most powerful lessons in spiritual inheritance, sacred change, and […]

Parshat Balak Numbers 22:2 – 25:9  By Jen Smith  Parshat Balak is one of the Torah’s most surprising stories. A Moabite king, Balak, hires Balaam, a sort of “prophet-for-hire” to curse the Israelites. Balaam sets out to fulfill the mission, but things don’t exactly go as planned. Instead of curses, blessings pour from Balaam’s mouth. […]

Parshat Chukat Numbers 19:1 – 22:1 By Jen Smith Parshat Chukat is, on the surface, one of the most enigmatic in the Torah. It opens with the laws of the Red Heifer, or Parah Adumah, an ancient ritual that is intended to restore ritual purity, and yet at the same time, renders the pure immediately […]

Korach Numbers 16:1 – 18:32  By Jen Smith  Parshat Korach is a dramatic story of rebellion and ego, of swallowed tents and heavenly fire. Korach, a Levite by birth, challenges Moses and Aaron, claiming: All the community is holy, every one of them, and God is in their midst; why then do you raise yourselves […]

Parshat Sh’lach Numbers 13:1 – 15:41  By Jen Smith   In Parshat Sh’lach, twelve spies are sent to scout the land of Canaan. They all see the same terrain: lush, fertile, and inhabited territory claimed by mighty civilizations who build fortified cities. And yet, while only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, return with a […]