Matot
Together Toward Redemption: Matot-Masei and the Nine Days
The necessary work of teshuva cannot be completed by one individual alone. Rather, our mandate to uphold God’s name “in truth, in justice and in righteousness” can only be achieved through collective action.
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Matot-Masei: Seeing the Good Through the Lens of Our Own Identities
...let us strive to learn from Zelophechad’s daughters, seeking good wherever we can find it.
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Turning our Backyards into Sanctuary Cities
...the Torah instructs that in the midst of our holiest cities and amongst people who do the work of God, that precisely there — in that place — are the vulnerable to take refuge.
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People Over Property
The lesson of Matot-Massei is very simple: If we want to move forward, we must first begin to acknowledge the people behind the comforts and luxuries of our everyday lives. We must acknowledge that our healthcare system is no longer truly about care, but about profit.
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The Daughters Who Roared and Were Heard
If the wood gatherer teaches us about the threat of a raid on the commons, the sisters reinforce the lesson by anticipating a more subtle version of it. Consider what would have happened had the daughters not acted. In short, Zelophehad’s brothers likely would have fought over who should get their brother’s land. At the extreme, if all it takes to inherit land is to be the last brother standing, we face the dire prospect of a fratricidal free-for-all.
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Human Rights In Progress (Slowly)
Rabbi J. Fred Schwalb traces the history of women's rights in the Torah and offers a prayer for the continued evolution of our ideas.
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We Are Unstoppable/Another World Is Possible
Rabbi Arielle Lekach-Rosenberg reflects on her visit to the San Diego-Tijuana border with T'ruah and HIAS.
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Silence Implicates Us
“The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.” These words were spoken by Rabbi Joachim Prinz, one of two Jews to speak at the March on Washington in 1963 alongside the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Rabbi Prinz knew of which he spoke, having served the Jewish community...
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Being Like Reuben and Gad: What sort of allies will we be?
Have you ever been the one white person, or one of the only, attending a Black activist event or protest? Have you been the one, or one of the only, men gathered in a Feminist space? Have you been the one cisgender individual in a room of Trans activists organizing for change? Have you ever...
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Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?
As my 8 month old son becomes more mobile and is more interested in engaging with his 2 ½ year old sister, the discussions about pushing and hitting have ramped up in my house. What’s most frustrating is that I know my daughter loves my son. She wakes up every morning wanting to know where...
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