Why do we light two candles at the onset Shabbat? The Ten Commandments we read this week are slightly different from those that appear earlier in the Book of Exodus-Shmot. There we read Remember the Shabbat and this week we read Guard the Shabbat. Our Tradition teaches that Remember refers to Shabbat's positive commands, whereas Guard

For if you will not give heed, my inmost self must weep, because of your pride; my eye must stream and flow with copious tears... These are the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, describing what will happen should Jerusalem be destroyed. Why mention pride? Jeremiah was predicting, says the Talmud, that should Jerusalem be destroyed

You shall take possession of the land and dwell in it, for to you I have given the land to take hold of it. The Talmud asks about a situation where one spouse wishes to make aliyah and the other does not. The technical response is that the partner who wants to move is in

Numbers are important, in the Torah and in life. And so it is that this week we read of another census. We are told: These are the sons of Benjamin...their reckonings were 45 600...These are the sons of Dan...their reckonings were 64 400 This is interesting because at the end of Genesis (46) we are

While the book of Bamdibar contains few commandments, Parashat Balak is the only portion in that book tocontain no commandments. Instead it tells the story of a King and a Soothsayer who join to destroy the Jewish people. Is there a relationship between the lack of commandments and the attempt to destroy the Jewish people?