CAMP AND CONGREGATION The late Rabbi J B Soloveitchik (d.1993) once famously observed that there are two significant ways in which people can come together to form a group. This applies whether the group is small or large. A community, a society, or even a nation. The first is when they face a common enemy. They band together for mutual protection. They know that is the only way they will survive. That is called a machaneh, or a camp. Alternatively, people can come together because they share a set of ideals. This is what is meant by eda or congregation....

CAN OUR CHILDREN HEAR THIS? This week’s parasha, Naso, is the longest in the book. Why? Because for twelve days, the Princes of the tribes brought their gifts to dedicate the Tabernacle. Each gift was exactly the same but the Torah spells out each one, in full detail, twelve times. With the Tabernacle dedicated, now was the time for Moses to enter to hear the voice of G-d. In the final verse of the parasha, this is, indeed, what happens. How did Moses hear that voice? Where did the sound come from? Did Moses hear it from heaven? Did it...

SMELL THE COFFEE – IT’S SHAVUOT! A popular custom on Shavuot is to stay up all night studying Torah. How did this arise? The practice is not mentioned in the Mishna nor in the Talmud. It is not mentioned in Maimonides writings (12th century) nor in the Shulchan Aruch, the 16th century Code of Jewish Law. It is first referred to in the mystical work, the Zohar (on Vayikra 23) which says that a select group of individuals used to stay awake all night on Shavuot, so that the ‘bride’ (the Jewish people) would be adorned to meet the ‘King’...

COUNT DOWN OR COUNT UP? This Shabbat is the 39th day of the Omer. Nearly six of the seven weeks from Pesach to Shavuot have passed. The Sefer HaChinuch (Spain 13th cent.) poses an obvious question. If the Omer count represents the time that the Israelites, having left Egypt, anticipated receiving the Torah on Mt Sinai, why do we count up? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to count down? 40 days until Shavuot…39, 38, 37… He quotes Maimonides (d.1204) who compares the Omer count to two people, deeply in love, who have been parted. They are eagerly counting off the...

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID This phrase, from Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 US Presidential election campaign is likely to be heard often over the coming weeks as the starting gun has been shot for our own general election. The challenge of constructing an economic system that will both protect the poor and incentivize the rich is thousands of years old. The Torah makes no pretentions to being an economic textbook but many mitzvot – a number of which are found in this week’s parasha – recognize the need to balance social justice with economic opportunity. The first section of the parasha...