Moshe Kempinski

When Moshe sent the twelve spies into the land to explore its strengths and weaknesses, ten came back with an evil report and Joshua and Calev declared that “the land is very very good”.

It is clear that Joshua had the strength to avoid the pitfall of the other spies because he received a special blessing when his name was changed from Hoshea to Yehoshuah (  Rashi, Sotah 34b) Yet Calev also  did not fall prey to the disheartened spirit that felled the other ten  spies. In fact we hear of Calev,”But as for My servant Caleb, since he was possessed by another spirit, and he followed Me, I will bring him to the land to which he came, and his descendants will drive it[s inhabitants] out.( Bamidbar /Numbers 14:24)

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The ark of the covenant and its impact on the people of Israel is clearly so important ,as we see in the fact that the verses dealing with it are bracketed in the Torah by two upside down Hebrew letter “Nuns ( pronounced as Noons).

The verses read :

“When the Ark would journey, Moshe said ‘Arise, HaShem, and let Your enemies be scattered and let those who hate You flee from before You.’ And when it rested, he would say, return O HaShem among the myriads and thousands of Israel.'” [Bamdibar 10:35-36].”

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In the torah portion of Nassoh we see a return to the accounting of the artifacts of the tabernacle. We were last focused on that accounting in the torah portion  of Shemini (Leviticus 10) during the dedication of the Sanctuary on the 1st of Nissan, almost one year  after the Exodus.

And it was that on the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkan, he anointed it, sanctified it, and all its vessels, and the altar and all its vessels.The Nessi’im  (leaders) of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, presented [their offerings]. They were the leaders of the tribes. They were the ones who were present during the counting,( Numbers 7:1-2)

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President Obama would do well to listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts that were aired prior to the Six day war. This was prior to the formation of the 1967 lines precedent Obama seems to rely on. This was before Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland was returned to their ancestral tenants. Yet in spite of the fact there was not yet an Israeli controlled “west Bank” hatred was overabundant. Yet President Obama will probably not stop to listen, as he is too busy speaking.

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We are entering a time of great upheaval and concern. The world is being stirred by unusual weather phenomenon and revolutions and unrest on every continent. There was a time we would measure the state of the world in terms of decades. The 60’s decade of “flower power” .Then came the  70’s defined  by campus unrest and political changes, followed by  the “Me” decade of the 80’s. We then found that we began to focus on years and marveled how quickly the world had changed from one year to the next.

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