When, if ever, did the Children of Israel follow God lovingly, like newlyweds to their homeland? “I lovingly recall the devotion of your youth” Jeremiah nostalgically remembers (Jer. 2:2). So, given their rebellious norms, when exactly do we find even a hint of such devotion in the Torah? 

This week. In our second portion, the outsider prophet-for-hire Bilaam pronounces from a distance “How good are your dwellings, your resting places (Num 24:5). The Children of Israel appear to be orderly and reverential. According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, this is the........

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