This week's parsha

Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.

When the Ghetto Walls Crumbled

Published: 06 June 2011 | Written by Levi Avtzon

Once upon a time, you told a kid what to do, and the kid did exactly as told. The transmission of Judaism and Jewish practice from generation to generation was a simple process: Parents told their child, "This is what we do and this is what we don't do," and the child obediently complied.

Our ancestors lived in a physical ghetto, there was nowhere to go, and in a psychological ghetto, there were no other real options to choose from.

Education was a simple process.

The Great Voice

Published: 01 June 2011 | Written by Yitschak Meir Kagan

"And when Moses came to the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him (the Almighty), then he heard the voice speaking with him, from upon the golden lid (kaporet) which was on the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim; and [G-d] spoke to him" (Numbers 7:89).

When Moses heard G-d's voice in the Sanctuary, a miraculous phenomenon occurred. Although the divine voice was as loud as at Mount Sinai when all two million people heard it, so loud as to be audible far beyond the confines of the Sanctuary, the sound was miraculously cut off at the Sanctuary entrance and went no further. Moshe was compelled to enter the Sanctuary in order to hear it (Rashi).

One and the Many

Published: 24 May 2011 | Written by Tali Loewenthal

According to Rabbi Akiva, the "great principle" of Judaism is "Love your fellow as yourself." A similar idea was expressed a century earlier by the great sage, Hillel. When asked to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching "while I stand on one foot" he replied: "That which you do not like, do not do to others. This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study!"

This week's Torah reading (Bamidbar -- Numbers 1:1-4:20), which begins the fourth Book of the Torah, is always read on the Shabbat before the festival of Shavuot[1], which celebrates the giving of the Torah at Sinai. If the great principle of the Torah is the theme of loving one's fellow, we might expect to find this idea in our Parshah as well. After all, in Jewish teachings there are many matching patterns, and each step forward is a preparation for the next.