Hal Miller

Shabbat Parashat Maatot-Maasei - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller So Moshe gave to them, to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuven and to part of the tribe of Menashe son of Yosef, the kingdom of Sichon king of the Amorite and the kingdom of Og king of the Bashan, the land with its cities in the boundaries and the cities of the surrounding land. [Bamidbar 32:33] The tribes of Reuven and Gad asked Moshe to allot to them the lands of Sichon and Og, whom the nation under

Shabbat Parashat Pinchas - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller The daughters of Tzelophechad son of Cheifer son of Gilad son of Machir son of Menashe, of the families of Menashe son of Yosef, drew near. And these are the name of his daughters: Machlah, Noah and Chaglah and Milcah and Tirtzah. [Bamidbar 27:1] The daughters of Tzelophechad are listed three times in the Torah and once in Yehoshua, in multiple different ways. What do these differences mean? In Bamidbar 26:33, during the

Shabbat Parashat Chukat/Balak - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller God's wrath flared because he was going, and an angel of God stood on the road as an impediment to him. [Bamidbar 22:22] The angel of Hashem said to Bilaam, "Go with the men but only the word that I shall speak to you, that shall you speak." [Bamidbar 22:35] At first glance it appears that the instructions Bilaam received from on High were contradictory. In verse 22:12, "God said to Bilaam, 'You shall not go with t

Shabbat Parashat Korach - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households and all the people who were with Korach, and all their possessions. [Bamidbar 16:32] They and all that was theirs descended alive to the pit, the earth covered them over and they were lost from among the congregation. [Bamidbar 16:33] Who actually died in this episode, and how? Who did not die? Beginning with 16:21, God tells Moshe that He is about to des

Shabbat Parashat Shelach - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller See the land, what is it, and the people that dwells in it, is it strong or weak, is it few or numerous? [Bamidbar 13:18] And how is the land in which it dwells, is it good or bad, and how are the cities in which it dwells, is it in open cities or in fortified cities? [Bamidbar 13:19] What was the purpose of the sending out of the spies? There are two obvious options, but which was the intent of God and Moshe? The first

Shabbat Parashat Beha'alotecha - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller God said to Moshe, gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and its officers, take them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you. [Bamidbar 11:16] Why is God telling Moshe to collect up a court of elders? Why seventy? This was not the first time Moshe had collected elders for a similar role, nor was it the last time. What happened to the earli

Shabbat Parashat Naso - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter, afflictive waters, and the afflictive waters shall come into her as bitter. [Bamidbar 5:24] He shall cause the woman to drink the water. [Bamidbar 5:26] He shall cause her to drink the water, and it shall be that if she had become defiled ... [Bamidbar 5:27] The case of the sotah, the wayward wife, is both distasteful and strange. One could ask many questions upon it and

Shavuot - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller There is a widespread custom to stand in shul during the reading of the Aseret HaDibrot (Ten Commandments) on the morning of Shavuot. What is the purpose of this custom and exactly how widespread is it? Certainly not every person nor every shul have this custom. Rambam was very emphatic in his criticism of it, saying that any person or any congregation standing should be rebuked and made to sit down. Sephardim for the most part follow Rambam on

Shabbat Parashat Bamidbar - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller You shall give the Levites to Aharon and his sons, given given are they to him from the children of Israel. [Bamidbar 3:9] We can ask a number of questions on our short verse. First, why is the word given repeated? Second, at the beginning of the verse God tells Moshe to give the Levites to Aharon, which implies that it is Moshe doing the giving, but the end of the verse says that they are given from the people. Third, whe

Shabbat Parashat Behar-Bechukotai - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller The resting of the land shall be yours to eat, for you and for your slave and for your maidservant and for your hired worker and for one who resides with you. [Vayikra 25:6] The Torah commands us that we are not to work the land in the seventh year of each seven-year cycle. At first glance, this yields a problem--what are we to eat in that year? Jewish society a couple thousand years ago was very agrarian, and had