Parsha talk Beha'alotkha 2025 5785

Parashat B-ha’alot’kha [Numbers 8:1-12:16] has a number of different topics, including the story where Miriam and Aaron apparently malign Moses and Miriam is punished with tza’ra’at [commonly translated as leprosy] and Pesach Sheni, the provision for the observance of Passover a month later for those who were too far from Jerusalem or were ritually impure when the holiday was supposed to be observed in Nisan. Our focus was mostly on the little story between Hovav [Moses’ father-in-law apparently] and Moses [Numbers 10:29-34], which has a parallel in Exodus 18. We continue to have in our hearts and minds the hostages, dead and alive, who continue to be held in Gaza, may they speedily be returned to their families, and the soldiers defending Israel in the Israel Defense Forces, may they be removed from harm’s way. Shabbat Shalom.