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Rabbi Cukierkorn comments on Torah portion Beha’alotcha, Numbers 8:1-12:15: Be happy with what you have: lessons learned from the Manna

Rabbi Cukierkorn comments on Torah portion Naso, Numbers 4:21-7:89. He discusses why the cohanim face the congregation rather than the Ark while blessing the congregation.

Rabbi Cukierkorn has published an article in the Jewish Daily Forward: In Kansas City, Backyard Issues Higher on Agenda Than Israel

God – Adult Reflections I am sure that for God, dealing with the Israelites must have been quite frustrating.  God performed wonders and miracles for them through Moses, and the only thing God seemed to want was some loyalty and allegiance. Yet, those were not easy to obtain from the Israelites. God was clearly very frustrated, so much so, that…

Egyptians – Adult Reflections On the surface it seems quite unfair that the whole nation of Egypt is punished for the actions of a single man: Pharaoh.  Yet the Bible seems to teach us a lesson about civic involvement.  Joseph De Maistre, a 17th-century French diplomat, said the famous and much-paraphrased words: “Every Nation has the government it deserves.”  Clearly…

Israelites – Adult Reflections In the Exodus story, the Israelites are a royal pain in the neck!  Even though they see awesome miracles, never done before, performed on their behalf, they only complain and never seem to want to take personal responsibility in trying to make things right. They also seem to never support their leader, Moses. How often do…

Nachshon – Adult Reflections The parting of the Red Sea didn’t really happened as it is portrayed in Disney’s “The Prince of Egypt” or Cecil B. De Mille’s “The Ten Commandments.”  The Midrash relates that during the Exodus, when the Israelites reached the Red Sea, it did not automatically part. The Israelites stood at the banks of the sea and…

Miriam – Adult Reflections Chapter 15 of Exodus is a very disturbing episode that happens rights after the story of the Red Sea (which, by the way is a mistranslation, because it is really the Sea of Reeds).  After the Israelites cross safely, the sea closes on the Egyptians and drowns them.  In one of the most quoted passages from…

Moses – Adult Reflections Moses had it made! Even though he was an Israelite, he was adopted by Egyptian royalty, namely by Pharaoh’s sister. His adopted people enslaved his birth people.  That didn’t seem to bother him too much until he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating up an Israelite slave.  Then, acting not on his best interest but on his…