Desert

Matan Emunah Essay:

The importance of being In the desert

The desert is a place which inspires inner peace, calm, simplicity, silence.

Conversation in the desert

The twelve men chosen to reconnoitre the Promised Land in a heart to heart (imagined) conversation.

Behaalotcha (Israel): Meet the complainers

Today, as then, there are people who simply have to complain - and those whose gripes are murmured ceaselessly.

How could the Jewish people behave this way?

I wonder to myself,,,

Why give the Torah in a desert, not in a five-star resort?

Who owns Judaism?

Bamidbar: Navigating uncertainty

The Israelites spent a long time in a state of unknowing. They had no first-hand knowledge of where they were going.

Rabbi Yisroel Reisman captures the Essence of Life

It seems like a contradiction in timing, but it is really a model for living.

Moshe’s final days: Love or anger?

What went through Moshe's mind as he reviewed the forty years in the desert and castigated the people, then blessed them?

Summing up forty years

Moshe communicates a message to the generation in the desert and about to enter an unknown land, and he resonates on for eternity.

The heat of summer

The Israelites traversed the desert in the heat of many summers. What gave them the strength for 42 journeys? What can we take from it?

The parasha for politicians: 'Whatever he says, he must do'

Just as there is chillul Shabbat or desecrating Shabbat, there is also chillul dibur or desecrating our speech by not doing what we say..

Shlach: Testing God

The people’s relationship with the Creator was dysfunctional and it seems they did not share Hs program for their future.

Behaalotcha: Towards Israel

The sequence of breaking camp and travelling is not random or capricious: there are reasons for the Tribes travelling in formation.

Chaos is back

The deep meaning of the world "midbar" - translated "desert", but whose root is the same as that of speech - and more insights in Judaism.

The fight is part of the Mitzvah

Why didn’t Hashem send the Israelites to a part of the world that was empty ,where we wouldn’t have to battle for our very survival? Opinion

The forty year-long Ulpan

During their forty years of desert wandering, the most crucial lessons of Israel's essence were tested and learned.

The essential ingredient in Manna: Faith

Did God really want us to simply accept the gracious gift from His outstretched hand so that our faith would grow and deepen?

Forty years in the sukka

Forty years of living in sukkot were a lesson in what this world really is. They woke up every day to see flimsy walls blowing in the wind.

Our generation is, in its own way, that of the Book of Numbers

Numbers separates the slave-generation which left Egypt from the free desert-generation. Which generation are we?

Fluffy Lemon Custard

Creamy, airy lemon custard is a light and refreshing finale to a heavy Shabbat meal.