This Shabbat we begin to read the fourth of the five books of the Chumash, which is called BaMidbar in Hebrew and Numbers in English. BaMidbar literally means “in (the) desert” and refers to the content of much of this book, which tells the tales of the Jewish people as they wandered through the desert. The name Numbers probably refers to the commandment that Moshe receives at the beginning of the book. He is told to take a census of the entire community, counting the numbers of individuals in each tribe. If I were the leader of the Jewish people, I prob ..read more

The first mitzvah we learn about in this week’s parsha is shmittah – the idea that every seven years, the land of Israel should rest from farming. Interestingly, this parsha also begins with an unusual formulation; “וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר הֹ’ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃” – “And Hashem spoke to Moses at Mt. Sinai, saying:…” Usually verses like this begin with “And Hashem Spoke to Moses, saying” but here Mt. Sinai is specifically invoked.  The great commentator Rashi asks why this is, and comes to a profound answer. What does the land’s sabbatical year have to do with Mt Sinai? Weren’t all mi ..read more

We are at the halfway mark of the Omer period. As we count the days until Shavuos, it is worth asking why we call it the counting of the Omer. On the second day of Pesach an offering from the new barley crop was brought in the Beis Hamikdosh. This offering was known as the Omer offering. An Omer is a measurement of volume, and it seems to be an odd name for an offering. Rav Yosef Salant (known as the Be’er Yosef and our own Chazan Subar’s grandfather) explains that the Omer offering reminds us of Hashem’s kindness in providing us with grain every year. Similar to the Bikkurim – the First Fruit ..read more

Passover is behind us, but this week’s parsha gives us the opportunity to reflect on a question that may have come up at our Seder.  Why did the birth of our nation take place after being in Egypt for over 200 years? Rabbi Shalom Rosner, in his collection of essays on the parsha entitled Shalom Rav, quotes the answer of Rav Yosef Ber Soloveitchik (1903 -1993, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University, NYC), “Why could we not rise as a people on our own land, in prosperity and abundance?  The answer is simple.  If our morality was to be one of kindness and Chesed, it could not ..read more

There is an interesting TikTok phenomenon going on right now of people asking/answering the following question:  If your daughter was alone in the wilderness, would you rather that she encounter a bear or an unknown man?  It seems like a straightforward question, but you might be surprised to hear that a sizable majority of people say that they would prefer that their daughter encounter the bear.  People point out that a bear might only eat you if it’s hungry, while a man’s intentions could be nearly anything… It is a sad commentary on the nature of human beings that we cause m ..read more

This past Saturday night, Israel was bombarded by a combination of more than 300 Cruise Missiles, Ballistic Missiles and Attack Drones. More than 99% of them were intercepted by a combination of Israeli and allied forces. When I first heard about it, it was after the attack had ended and I already knew that minimal damage had occurred. My reaction was a little routine. The Iron Dome and the other defensive weapons did their job. It is normal. I almost took it for granted. After I read a post by Maximilian Abitbol, a professor of astrophysics at Oxford University, who has worked in the defence ..read more

Parshat Tazria deals with the mysterious ailment of tzaraat. Though often translated into English as something similar to leprosy, it is unclear what this skin-whitening condition actually is. One thing, though, is clear. The cause of tzaraat is spiritual, rather than physical. In fact, Chazal (our sages) generally assume one particular cause – lashon hara (roughly translated as improper speech). Many commentators even note that the word metzora (one who suffers from tzaarat itself) is an acronym of motzei shem ra – one who indulges in&nbs ..read more

There was this ring tone on phones when I was a kid called the “mosquito.”  It was designed to be such a high pitch that adults couldn’t hear it, only kids could.  It was a great way to send messages to other kids that you didn’t want adults in the room (like your teacher) to notice.  Not that I’m admitting to performing any such antics myself of course. It’s fascinating that such a thing can even exist.  You see, our ears have tiny hairs that detect different types of sound.  As we are exposed to enough loud noises in life, those hairs slowly die, and the range of sou ..read more

The recent motion that was passed in the House of Commons stopping arms supplies to Israel and reinstating funding for UNWRA, is certainly very alarming. We are motivated to strengthen our efforts to increase awareness of the truth about Hamas and of the Jewish people’s right to live in Israel. At the same time, it should be a wake-up call to recognize that we cannot rely on the Canadian government or any government or individual to ensure our existence. This lesson can be found in the Megillah, in the story of Purim. When Mordechai discovers Haman’s plot to commit genocide and kill all the Je ..read more

If you found out on Sunday that Monday was actually a stat holiday, would you be disappointed in the extra time off?  If you were waiting in a long line to get into an amusement park, would you be sad  if the manager came out and had you skip the line so you could get in sooner? On the other hand, you might well get annoyed if your flight is delayed and you are stuck in an airport for an extra hour.  In this week’s Torah portion, Vayakel, it says: Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day, it shall be holy, a Shabbos to Hashem… Shemos 35:2 The word “Shabbos” is precede ..read more