View from Denver
‘All brides are beautiful, all dead were pious’
Hillel GoldbergJul 24, 2014
THE Israelites were condemned to wander 40 years in the desert. Did they? Following the failure of the spies to instill confidence in the free Israelite slaves that...
We are all kabbalists
Hillel GoldbergJul 17, 2014
KABBALAH means receiving. It means taking in the spiritual energy coming down. It means doing nothing active. This weeks Torah portion presents the purest opposite:...
Did Pinchas the Zealot win or lose?
Hillel GoldbergJul 10, 2014
IN this country we have learned that it is not enough to win the war. Did we win the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam or South Korea? For my purposes […]
What’s with the number seven?
Hillel GoldbergJul 03, 2014
EVERYONE knows that the Sabbath falls once every seven days. Did you also know: David, King of Israel, was the seventh son of Yishai. Seven weeks divide Passover from...
Is there order in the Torah?
Hillel GoldbergJun 26, 2014
ORDER in the court! Order in this sense means silence, or good behavior. Order in the Torah means sequence. Did the events recorded in the Torah actually happen in the...
Is prayer an attempt to manipulate G-d?
Hillel GoldbergJun 19, 2014
AS we go to press, people around the world are praying for the safety and release of the three boys apparently kidnapped in Israel on June 12. What do we […]
The mission of the 12 spies
Hillel GoldbergJun 12, 2014
JUST as the opening chapters of Genesis are not meant to be a science book (though Genesis does contain scientific data), the middle chapters of Numbers are not meant to...
The personality of Miriam
Hillel GoldbergJun 06, 2014
JUST when you thought that a burst of creativity in Biblical exegesis became the final word in the field, a subterranean paradigm shift unfolds. With its development...
‘And they established their genealogy’
Hillel GoldbergMay 22, 2014
G-d counts the Jewish people because he loves them. Each person is important to Him. Each census has a more specific reason, too. The census at the start of the...
Doug Seserman’s Jewish journey
Hillel GoldbergMay 15, 2014
SPEAKING at a public victory rally in New York City right after the end of the Six Day War, the late Arthur Hertzberg declaimed with unparalleled emotion: I will...
