by Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, Ahavat Zion, Beverly Hills 

This week’s passage speaks of matters which all leaders and members of UMJC congregations should bear in mind. Those matters are the mechanics of a congregational split, and the kind of leadership that deserves and experiences the blessing of God.

The text tells us of four ring leaders of an attempted congregational split in the days of Moshe. Korach, a Levite, and Datan, Aviram and On, of the tribe of Reuben, were all at the head of about 250 participants in the revolt. The great medieval commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra points out that this rebel band contained grumblers and malcontents of all kinds. Included were Levites, who felt aggrieved at being appointed to serve the priests, and Reubenites, who considered that they had been deprived of the birthright that had been transferred to the tribe of Joseph. According to Ibn Ezra, they suspected Joshua (an Ephramite) of using his influence to favor his own tribe over others. Then there were the firstborn of Israel who felt aggrieved because the privilege of priesthood had been taken from them and granted to the Levites who had not worshiped the golden calf.

by Howard Silverman, UMJC president 

On Shavuot, we complete the counting of the omer. According to tradition, we count the omer with expectation, looking forward to Shavuot, when we celebrate the receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. On the other hand, counting the omer is a time of sadness, of remembering many of the sad events in Jewish history. Isn’t that the way life is? For most people life is a mixed bag of good times and sad times. I don’t know anyone whose life is always just right. Everyone has some form of sadness – unmet expectations, disappointments, regrets, or perhaps tragedy. But for people who believe in the Scriptures there is always hope – always looking forward. That is the meaning of Shavuot.

by Aaron Kasdan, ministry intern at Sha'arei Shalom, Cary, North Carolina

Ma tovu ohalecha Ya'akov, mishkenotecha Yisrael. 

According to the rhythm of traditional Jewish prayer, these well-worn words are the first spoken upon entering the synagogue. Although used metaphorically to speak of the space we occupy as a community for prayer and learning, Balaam's impetus for this proclamation was the actual physical dwelling of Israel in the desert, the organization of its tents and standards. It is the Lord's organization for the Israelite camp that we find in this week's parasha.

We can learn many things from God's instructions for Israel's encampment, especially regarding the organization of our own "tents".

by Eduardo Stein Maroniene  
Beit Tefilat Yeshua, Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL

Parashat Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2) begins with the laws of Shemitah, the sabbatical year that occurred every seventh year. During this year we are ordered to stop all agricultural activities. For that whole year there was no cultivation; people and fields rested and were rejuvenated.

What kind of freedom is that? Is that freedom?

Rabbi Joshua Brumbach,
UMJC Young Adult Liaison

Parashat Kedoshim is one of my favorite portions in the Torah. It also illustrates the stark distinction between the concept of holiness as understood within the Jewish community and that within much of the western world.

The concept of holiness is one that draws a lot of attention.  People often talk about being holy, pursuing holiness, and being set apart as holy unto God.  For many, however, it seems holiness is some sort of ethereal or mystical reality. No matter how hard we try, it always seems to elude us.  It is something other-worldly and hyper-spiritual.  Yet, the Torah paints an entirely different picture of what holiness is, and how we are to be set apart as holy.

by Rabbi Russ Resnik

And he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Luke 24:46-47

When I served as a local Messianic congregational leader, I used to get lots of phone calls with questions during the Passover-Easter season. One of the most popular went like this: How can people claim that Jesus was crucified on a Friday and rose on Sunday morning when he said he'd be in the grave for three days and three nights? The caller was thinking of Yeshua's saying about the sign of Jonah: "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:39-40). This scenario seemed to mean that Yeshua was crucified and buried on Thursday, and spent Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night in the grave. But since that would actually only add up to three night and two days–Friday and Saturday–there was another theory that Yeshua died and was buried late on Wednesday, and spent Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night, and all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, in the tomb, rising just after dark on Saturday night.

Last week, I was in a Barnes and Noble and was surprised to discover that while the Judaism and Spirituality sections seemed to be shrinking, the largest book section by far was the one dedicated to Paranormal Romance novels. Spawned by the phenomenal success of the Twilight series, teen vampire love has apparently become its own literary genre. This leaves me feeling scandalized on so many levels. First, I mourn the apparent evaporation of the contemporary adolescent mind. I know middle-aged people have been saying this since Moby Dick was a minnow, but somehow the dating habits of uber-hot gel-headed vampires feels like a new low. Secondly, these stories all seem to present these hormonal para-humans as a misunderstood persecuted minority. As a member of a bona fide, misrepresented and misunderstood minority I want to scream foul, and lobby for our own romance novel series. And lastly, THEY'RE VAMPIRES!! Am I the last person on the planet who has a problem with drinking blood?! As a civilized people we should be scandalized by the idea of any ritual or lifestyle that appears even slightly invested in cannibalism. This should be so because we are given our general mores from Torah, which of course abhors such behavior.