WUPJ Library

By Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black, Leo Baeck Centre , East Kew, Melbourne, Australia In Parshat Chukat we jump forward from the rules of the Red Heifer (Numbers 19) to the end of the forty years of wandering in the desert, 38 years later. Now the Israelites arrive at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Tzin (Numbers 20:1) […]

by Rabbi Goldie Milgram , Founder and Director of Reclaiming Judaism , and co-editor of Mitzvah Stories: Seeds for Inspiration and Learning This week’s portion appears to contain instructions for witchcraft. One finds a red heifer, known as the para adumah (though none seem to exist), burns it, throwing into the burning some cedar wood, […]

By Rabbi Benjie Gruber , Kibbutz Yahel , Arava Region – Israel Parashat Chukat is the the Parsha of the 40th year. The events described in it occurred during the last year in the desert for the people of Israel. In fact, at the end of the parsha we read of the end of the […]

by Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, incoming president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism The story of Moses striking the rock in Parashat Hukkat has great meaning for me as I begin to serve as President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. The story takes place near the end of the Children of Israel’s 40-year-long […]

by Rabbi Celia Surget, Mouvement Juif Liberal de France (Paris) The Israelites have returned to what appears to be one of their favorite activities and resume the complaints about the lack of food, lack of water, and a general repulsion of the provisions. After being punished by God who did not prevent the poisonous desert […]

We have heard enough about quick and easy success. A few years ago the Brazilian rock band Titans worked on an album whose name was, “The Best Band of All Times from the Last Week”. Impressive, so modern, so vain… People who until yesterday did not know who you were, now consider you a great […]

Korach and his Dishonest Argument // Parashat Korach (Numbers 16-18) By Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, founder of City Shul , downtown Toronto’s newest Reform congregation “Any dispute which is for the sake of Heaven will ultimately endure, and one which is not for the sake of Heaven will not ultimately endure. What is a dispute for […]

By Rabbi Nathan M. Landman. “They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s congregation?’” (Numbers 16:3) The above challenge to Moses’s leadership of […]

by Rabbi Matt Cutler, Congregation Gates of Heaven , Schenectady NY Jewish history has stories of Jews acting less than nobly and has its fair share of stories of Jewish criminals. At the turn of the 20th century, when nearly a million Eastern European Jews came through Ellis Island in New York, there were Jews […]

by Rabbi James Greene, Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center , Los Gatos, CA Our tradition gives Korah a bad rap. The rabbis tell a story of right and wrong, black and white, good versus evil, Moses against Korah. They see a narrative where Moses is defending God’s rule. But I prefer to tell it differently. For […]

by Rabbi Joel D. Oseran, Vice President, International Development, World Union for Progressive Judaism , Jerusalem Our weekly Torah reading from the Book of Numbers focuses our attention on the infamous act of rebellion by Korach, who along with Dathan, Abiram, On and another 250 heads of the Israelite community set out to challenge the […]

by Rabbi Ann B. Folb, Pretoria Progressive Jewish Congregation – Bet Menorah Parshat Korach contains two of the many challenges to the authority of Moses and Aaron which appear in the Torah, and in this case the punishment is quite severe. The earth literally opens up and swallows Korach and his followers. You may well […]