This week's Torah reading includes the Shema--the classic statement of Jewish faith: Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. We are commanded to recite this passage each morning and each evening as a confirmation of our "accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven".

We recently returned from a wonderful trip to Israel. As we sat in the waiting area of the BenGurion airport terminal before the flight, we noticed a young family nearby--a husband and wife and their little children aged 12 and under. As could be expected, the children were restless and wanted to run around and play.

The mother, in a soft voice, spoke to the children: It's fine to play, but please remember: everything you do should be a "kiddush Hashem" (a sanctification of God's name). The children understood their mother's message, and they played nicely and quietly.

Among Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s lectures, was one that dealt with the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. “A grandfather stands before his newly born grandchild filled with paradoxical thoughts. Feelings of renewal merge with fading memories of the past.”

The Talmud posits an important principle: the Heavenly court deals with us by the exact same standards that we use to deal with others (Sotah 8b). If we are kind and compassionate, we can expect to be judged by God with kindness and compassion. If we are cruel and unfairly critical of others, we can expect the Heavenly court to deal with us with the same qualities we have shown to others.

When ten of the spies reported that the Promised Land was inhabited by undefeatable giants and fortified cities, the people of Israel immediately lost heart. Panic swept the community. They cried all night. They complained that they would rather have died in Egypt. They even thought of appointing a new leader to take them back to servitude in Egypt. To them, that seemed preferable to entering Canaan only to be murdered by the powerful Canaanite nations.

This week's Torah portion includes a strange episode. In response to Moses' request that others share leadership with him, God rested the spirit of prophecy on 70 elders. Two men, though, continued to prophesy after the others had stopped. " But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them...and they prophesied in the camp." When Joshua was informed of the irregular situation, he called upon Moses to arrest Eldad and Medad; he wanted them silenced. Moses responded: "Are you jealous for my sake?

My wife and I recently had dinner in a fine New York kasher restaurant. At a nearby table, a father and daughter (about 12 or 13 years old) were seated together. How nice, I thought, that this father wanted quality time with his daughter, and took her out to a special dinner. However, the father soon received a call on his cell phone, and he was on the phone for the entire time that we were in the restaurant. The "quality time" with his daughter was not of a very high quality. She was picking away at her dinner, staring off into space, as her father talked endlessly on his cell phone.

This week's Torah portion focuses on the census of the Israelites taken at the beginning of their second year in the wilderness. The census was important for various reasons. It revealed how many men were of age to serve in the military. It helped determine how to organize the various tribes according to their numbers and needs. It provided a psychological boost to the entire nation when the people realized their numerical strength. It underscored the need for each generation to take a census and to reflect on its strengths and weaknesses.