KALEV’S SECRET WEAPON Twelve men are sent out on a mission. The brief? Spy-out the land of Israel and report back. Ten men become overwhelmed at the challenges that lie ahead. They decide that they could not support the entry to Israel. Two men, Joshua and Kalev, oppose them. We understand how Joshua was able to stand up to the others. Moses had prayed on his behalf, in advance. He changed his name from Hoshea to Joshua, adding the letter Yud, one of the letters of G-d’s Name. The Targum Yonatan explains that Moses was concerned that Joshua’s admirable quality...

THE SEVEN BOOKS OF MOSES This Shabbat, we read Beha’alotcha, the third parasha of Bamidar, the fourth of the five books of the Torah. Yet there is a passage in the Talmud (Shabbat 116a) that states that there are not just five books of the Torah, but seven. The extra two are found in this week’s parasha. If you look inside a Sefer Torah, you will see that two verses, 10:35-36, are enclosed by two inverted nuns. The verses are very familiar. We say them whenever we open the Ark to take out the Sefer Torah and to put it...

AI ON THE ALTAR AI is on everyone’s mind. The statement on AI risk issued this week by leading scientists and thinkers, projects concern to a new level. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority,” they say, “alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Responsible discussion about these issues has been taking place for some time. The Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI was founded in February 2021 and similar associations exist in Harvard and elsewhere. In view of this week’s alarming statement, these discussions need to be escalated. Will AI affect...

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’...

LITERATE JEWS An exciting discovery was announced in Jerusalem this week. A 2,000-year old chalkstone with seven rows of writing has been uncovered. The text appears to be a merchant’s accounting record, which indicates a high level of literacy among ordinary people in Second Temple times. This week also saw the publication of PIRLS 21 – the international survey of reading and literacy skills. Surprisingly, Israel has slipped down many places in international rankings since the last survey in 2016, though England has managed to rise to fourth place! Since biblical times, literacy for the Children of Israel was not...