Judaism

Torah

Why Did the People Complain Over Manna?

Newsmakers

West Philly Rabbi Gives Benediction at Prayer Breakfast

Local

Does Birthright Stifle Teen Travel?

Torah

Itineraries of the Past Give Structure to Life

MATOT-MASEI, Numbers 30:2-36:13

By:

Rabbi Danielle Stillman

The book of Numbers opened with a list of the heads of the tribes of Israel and with the preparations for the journey toward the land of Israel. Here it ends with the portion Masei, recounting the journeys or marches that the Israelites have just completed. This is a more narrative list than the first. The starting point of each...

Torah

There's Something Broken About This Peace

PINCHAS, Numbers 25:10-30-1

By:

Rabbi Adam Zeff

This week's Torah reading begins by dealing with the aftermath of a horrific event at the end of last week's reading. God has brought a plague on the Israelites because of their sexual immorality and idolatry. In the midst of the plague, an Israelite publicly sins with a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation. Pinchas,...

Local

Funders Team Up To Boost Day Schools

By:

Deborah Hirsch

The Narberth-based Kohelet Foundation is teaming up with the national AVI CHAI Foundation to provide up to $3 million in matching funds in an effort to expand the base of donors supporting Jewish day schools throughout North America. This is the first time the local foundation has helped seed the MATCH program, which the Jewish Funders Network and Partnership for...

Synagogue Life

Church Finds Sanctuary at a Shul

St. Peter's Church, a historic Old City Episcopalian congregation that celebrated its 250th anniversary last year, is currently holding services at Society Hill Synagogue. Church leaders had long known that the building's roof would need replacement but when structural engineers discovered that the support beams were also compromised, they made the decision to exit the building temporarily. After hearing of...

Torah

Mah Tovu: What Can We Do to Expand Our Tent?

BALAK, Numbers 22:2-25:9

In the midst of our book of wandering, a Moabite sovereign engages a seer from a distant land in the hopes of cursing and thus defeating the Israelites. In the central irony of this fanciful tale that opens with the verb " vayar " (he saw), neither king Balak nor the hireling Balaam are able to "see" the Israelites. Balaam...