Month: July 2024

En anglais :

Parasha Pinchas (Numbers 25:10 to 30:1)
and the associated Haftarah (I Kings 18:46 to 19:21).

God reveals Himself to Pinchas and Elijah and rewards them for their fervor and zeal in His service.

I Kings 19:12
וְאַחַר הָרַעַשׁ אֵשׁ, לֹא בָאֵשׁ יי ; וְאַחַר הָאֵשׁ, קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה.
And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, a still small voice.

The Battle of Megiddo in 1918 was decisive. General Edmund Allenby, leading the British forces, defeated the Ottoman army, leading to its collapse and the liberation of the entire region.

Elijah’s Cave is located on Mount Carmel, which is renowned for its natural beauty and lush vegetation. The still small voice of the wind rustling through the trees adds to the peaceful and spiritual atmosphere of the site. The cave, now accessible to everyone (previously restricted to Christians or Muslims at certain times), is reached via a staircase from Allenby Street in the lower part of Haifa. According to tradition, Elijah came here to pray before calling down fire from heaven.

Balak (בָלָק), Numbers, from 22:2-25:9 and Micah 5:6-6:85

This Parasha is named after the king of Moab and Midian¹, Balak. He hires Bilaam, a prophet from Mesopotamia², to curse Israel. Despite his efforts, Bilaam fails and ends up blessing Israel, prophesying about the end of times³.

Numbers 25:5
מַה-טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ, יַעֲקֹב; מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ, יִשְׂרָאֵל.
How good are your tents, O Ya’aqov! Your dwellings, O Israel!

The Ohel Jakob Synagogue (Tent of Jacob) in Munich, the work of Rena Wandel-Hoefer and Wolfgang Lorch, is a modern building made of concrete and travertine, topped with a glass cube. Its interior, paneled with cedar and adorned with psalms written in golden letters, was inaugurated on November 9, 2006, the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht⁴, testifying to the resilience of the Jewish people.

¹ Moav and Midian are regions that today correspond to Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula.
² Mesopotamia encompasses parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait.
³ Numbers 24:15-25: In their commentaries, Rashi, Rambam, Sforno, Malbim, the Talmud, Midrashim, and the Zohar explain that Bilam prophesies about future kingdoms and the Messiah.
⁴ Pogroms perpetrated by the Nazis on November 9 and 10, 1938.