Study

Establishing a new program of Jewish resistance.

The Levites' city dwellings remind us of the importance of green, agricultural spaces for encountering God's creation.

Moses describes the Covenant between God and the Israelites, urging the Israelites to uphold the Covenant and honor the Torah so that they may be rewarded with life in the land of Israel.

Moses enumerates many laws that relate to topics of family relationships, interpersonal ethics, forbidden mixtures, and sexuality.

Moses reviews for the Israelites their system of justice, the rules of kingship, their relationship to idolatrous nations, and the rules of doing battle.

The laws of the Cities of Refuge emphasize the sacredness and infinite value of every human life.

God gives Pinchas a covenant of peace; God explains the apportionment of the Land of Israel; the daughters of Tzelophechad petition to inherit their father's portion; Moses appoints Joshua his successor.

Korach and his followers rebel against Moses' and Aaron's leadership and are killed; God instructs Aaron regarding laws of the priesthood.

The Bible has a number of models for nonviolent resistance.

Few traditional sources discuss the ethics of fighting noncombatants, but some Jewish laws of war do display a moral genesis.

Deuteronomy 20 permits wars of aggression, but the talmudic rabbis made it difficult to declare one.

When lives are at stake, Judaism permits--and probably requires--fighting.