Richard A. Block

After weeks of dwelling upon the ideal, the vision that Leviticus sets forth of the pure and holy community the Israelites were commanded to construct, B'midbar ("In the Wilderness"), the Book of Numbers, brings the Torah back to the real, nitty-gritty world of conflict, dissension, and turmoil. This consumes nearly

The separate census of the Levites' ancestral houses, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari and their clans, begun in the prior portion, continues in Parashat Naso, along with the assignment of specific tasks to those between the ages of thirty and fifty. Here, the duties principally involve porterage, required when the Israelites

Parashat B'haalot'cha takes up the issue of the perils of materialism that Rabbinic interpreters found implicit in a verse from last week's portion, Numbers 6:24, "The Eternal bless you [with possessions] and protect you [from your possessions possessing you]." An incident occurring in this portion makes the point vividly. Complaining