One of the basic goals of classical Zionism was to "normalize" the Jewish people. The feeling was - and for many still is - that life in exile is sick, abnormal, and is an impossible way for a nation, and its people, to live.

In this week's parsha, Ekev, Moshe continues his combined message of reviewing the history of the Jews in the desert - focusing on their failures - while exhorting the people to behave better in the future, once they actually enter and settle the Land of Israel. One of the centerpieces of his speech is the story of the sin of the golden calf.

For centuries, the Jewish people have struggled with the question of what our relationship to the non-Jewish intellectual world should be. There is a Rabbinic demand that we need study חכמת יונית - which literally meansd Greek wisdom, is often understood as philosophy, but may well just mean sign language. On the other hand, the greatest Rabbi of the Medieval period (and perhaps of any other), Maimonides, spent  a tremendous amount of time and energy thinking and writing about Aristotle, while many in his and later generations took exception to his decision to do so.

In recent years, existing western notions of nationhood, ownership of land, and national identity have been questioned. It is fashionable, in some quarters, to see the very idea of the nation-state as a not very old or respectable idea whose usefulness, if it ever had any, is certainly over, and we are on the way to a brave new world world in which the EU, the UN, and Google/Facebook will be the models of government for the future - a world without nation states, without borders, and without the "horrors" of nationalism.

As I imagine you have heard, here in Israel we are currently engaged in an important and fascinating conversation about השוויון בנטל - sharing the (national and social) burden equally. This discussion mostly revolves around the place of the Charedim - ultra-Orthodox Jews - in Israeli society, and touches on a few topics. The first, and most dramatic, is the military. Charedim  currently can get an exemption from army service by claiming to be students in a Yeshiva - a religious seminary.

A Jew is shipwrecked on a desert island. After many long months, he is finally saved. His rescuers are surprised to see two rather large and impressive buildings on the island. "What are these?", they ask him. "Well, that's a synagogue, I built it when I first arrived". "And what's the other building", they asked. "That, that's also a synagogue". "We don't understand, what do you need two synagogues for?" "Are you kidding?", he replied, angrily. "That one, over there, I wouldn't walk into if you paid me!"  - Very old Jewish joke.

This week's parsha, Balak, tells us the story of how the nation  of Moav, located to the east of Israel, in modern-day Jordan, seeing the military success of the people of Israel as they approached the land of Cannan, were afraid that they would be the next nation to be conquered.  To try and prevent this, Balak, their king, hired a pagan prophet, Bil'aam, to curse the Jewish people, in the hope that this will be their undoing.

This week's parsha, Chukat, begins with a well- known commandment, the law of the red heifer. The Torah tells us:  זאת חוקת התורה אשר צוה ה' לאמור.