I’m So Special…

I’m special.  So so special. Yes, I’m very very special. How do I know that, you ask? First of all, that’s offensive. You questioning me like that is totally discriminatory, and you are probably just jealous of my specialness or…

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Parshas Balak

It is customary, when travelling by plane, to acknowledge your seatmate when takingyour seat, and maybe even to say a word or two as you deplane. Conversation betweenseatmates during flight is uncommon, perhaps, because people have come to enjoy a…

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Parshas Chukas

In this week’s portion’s final two chapters, the Jewish nation is attacked by theworld’s two most powerful leaders, Sichon, King of the Emori, and Og, king of Bashan,whom the Jews handily defeated. When the Jewish people merely asked Sichonpermission to…

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Parshas Korach

In this week’s portion we learn about Moshe’s cousin, Korach, who challengedMoshe’s authority claiming that, out of nepotism, Moshe chose his brother Aharon to bethe high priest. Korach alleged that Aharon’s position should have gone to him.Korach was a 130-year-old…

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Parshas shelach

Traveling to the Amazonian jungle in the mid-1800 was dangerous and harrowing. Bringing your entiremishpacha with you would either be described as blindly optimistic or just plain foolish. But when HenryWickham decamped from England to build a plantation in the…

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