PARSHA POSTS: HUKAT

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Jul 9, 2025, 9:21 AM

From Balak to TikTok: Why the World Still Hates a Blessed People

Put on your saddle. We’re going on a ride. This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Balak, unfolds with eerie familiarity. It begins with the Moabite king Balak trembling in fear at the sight of a numerous and vibrant Israelite people. His...

Rebecca Sassouni

Jul 7, 2025, 12:09 AM

Parshah Hukkat, Independence Day, The Bitter End

Perhaps the quintessential weekend convergence is Shabbat Hukkat, Fourth of July weekend and a birthday. Between the fireworks (in the sky, and otherwise) and the family time (quality and quantity) it is…a lot. My weekend brightened and reverberated with...

Jul 6, 2025, 5:59 PM

‘They’re The Enemy’ and ‘You Are A Provocateur’ to Settlers Attacking Soldiers

May it be a Shavua Tov. I failed in my race against time to submit this blog entry before Shabbat for reasons explained below that are actually very connected to the topic of this entry: Although this week’s Torah portion...

Yael Chaya Miriam Gray

Jul 6, 2025, 5:19 AM

Striking the Rock: Today’s Challenge?

“Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give its water…” (Numbers 20:8) “And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice…” (20:11) This moment—Moshe Rabbenu striking the rock instead of speaking to it—has bewildered...

William Hamilton

Jul 4, 2025, 5:39 PM

Stay In The Light

As July 4th pastimes and picnics take place today, dim views are plentiful regarding our country’s ethical ardor and our capacity for compromise. Many hold dim views of our history and of the motives of current leadership. It’s understandable....

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Jul 4, 2025, 5:33 PM

Sickness, Symbol, Salvation (Chukat)

"Desert Serpent" (AI image by author)

Symbols are the imaginative signposts of life. —Margot Asquith Among the many symbols modernity has inherited from the ancient world, one of the most striking and perhaps unsettling is the emblem of the medical profession: a serpent coiled around a...

Jul 4, 2025, 10:46 AM

Navigating the waters of strife: Why anti-Zionism is antisemitism

(AI)

As we turn to Parashat Chukat this week, we recall Moses' fateful error at Mei Meriva (a location in the wilderness referred to as the “Waters of Strife”) where instead of speaking to the rock as commanded, Moses struck...

Micha Turtletaub

Jul 4, 2025, 10:31 AM

Chukas 2: Whoever becomes angry it is as if…

Chukas Part 2: Rambam's Opinion Did Moshe Really Get Angry? According to the Rambam, Moshe’s mistake at the rock wasn’t about hitting it instead of speaking. It was about anger. When Moshe says, “Listen, you rebels!”, the Rambam understands it not as rebuke,...

Jul 4, 2025, 4:11 AM

Losing Miriam (Chukat, Covenant & Conversation)

It is a scene that still has the power to shock and disturb. The people complain. There is no water. It is an old complaint and a predictable one. That is what happens in a desert. Moses should have...

Ruthie Hollander

Jul 4, 2025, 12:41 AM

Grandpa called it bullsh*t; I call it life

The commandments that align with our pre-existing beliefs are easier, but we don't always have that privilege, just as we can't know the 'why' of everything (Hukat)

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