The Universality Of Sukkot
Speaking of the three pilgrimage festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – Deuteronomy speaks of “joy.” But it does not do so equally.
The Hidden Spirituality Of Tzitzit
This week’s sedrah, Shelach Lecha, ends with one of the great commands of Judaism – tzitzit, the fringes we wear on the corner of our garments as a perennial reminder of our identity as Jews and our obligation to keep the Torah’s commands.
Korach: Power Vs. Influence
For the first and only time, Moses invokes a miracle to prove the authenticity of his mission
The Pursuit Of Meaning
From the perspective of eternity we may sometimes be overwhelmed by a sense of our own insignificance. We are no more than a speck of dust on the surface of infinity. Yet we are here because G-d wanted us to be, because there is a task He wants us to perform. The search for meaning is the quest for this task.
Making Love Last
A key to help unlock the entire project outlined by Moses in Sefer Devarim, the final book of the Torah, from a most unlikely source...
Who Is Honored?
In parshat Tetzaveh, for once Moses, the hero, the leader, the liberator, the lawgiver, is offstage. Instead our focus is on his elder brother Aaron who, elsewhere, is often in the background.
A Sense Of History
The setting: Jerusalem some twenty centuries ago. The occasion: bringing first fruits to the Temple. Here is the scene as the Mishnah describes it.[1] Throughout Israel, villagers would gather in the nearest of 24 regional centres. There, overnight, they would sleep in the open air. The next morning, the leader would summon the people with words from the book of Jeremiah (31:5): “Arise and let us go up to Zion, to the House of the Lord our God.”
Moses’ Death, Moses’ Life
And so Moses dies, alone on a mountain with God as he had been all those years ago when, as a shepherd...
Choosing Human Hospitality
Learning to honor G-d by honoring those made in His image: Humankind.
Food For Thought
After the Flood, G-d gave humans permission to eat meat, but this was a concession, as if to say: Kill if you must, but let it be animals, not other humans, that you kill.
Parshat Yitro: Mount Sinai and the Birth of Freedom
With the revelation at Sinai, something unprecedented entered the human horizon...the politics of freedom was born
On Jewish Character
There is a fascinating feature of the geography of the land of Israel. It contains two seas: the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of life. The Dead Sea, as its name implies, is not. Yet they are fed by the same river, the Jordan. The difference is that the Sea of Galilee receives water and gives water. The Dead Sea receives but does not give. To receive but not to give is, in Jewish geography as well as Jewish psychology, simply not life.
Not Reckoned Among The Nations
Tanach is perhaps the least self-congratulatory national literature in history. Jews chose to record for history their faults, not their virtues.
Following Moshe
Dignity is not a privilege of birth. Honor is not confined to those with the right parents. In the world defined and created by Torah, everyone is a potential leader.
A Nation Of Storytellers
A large part of what Moshe is doing in the book of Devarim is retelling that story to the next generation, reminding them of what G-d had done for their parents and of some of the mistakes their parents had made. Moshe, as well as being the great liberator, is the supreme storyteller. Yet what he does in this week's parsha, Ki Tavo, extends way beyond this.
Living With Trouble
What then are we to make of the phrase, “Pharaoh condemned only the boys to death, but Laban sought to uproot everything”?
The Weighing Of The Heart
Issues of the heart
The Consolations of Mortality: Parshat Chukat
The life-changing idea of Chukat: we are dust of the earth but there is within us the breath of God. We fail, but we can still achieve greatness. We die, but the best part of us lives on.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: The Power Of Art
The name Bezalel was adopted by the artist Boris Schatz for the School of Arts and Crafts he founded in Israel in 1906, and Rav Kook wrote a touching letter in support of its creation. He saw the renaissance of art in the Holy Land as a symbol of the regeneration of the Jewish people in its own land, landscape and birthplace. Judaism in the Diaspora, removed from a natural connection with its own historic environment, was inevitably cerebral and spiritual, “alienated.”
The Cup Of Hope
Pesach represents the start of the great journey of Jewish history – from slavery to freedom, Egypt to the Promised Land.
Jewish Time
Only a civilization based on forgiveness can construct a future that is not an endless repetition of the past. That, surely, is why Judaism is the only civilization whose golden age is in the future.
What Makes God Laugh
Pagan prophets like Bilam had not yet learned the lesson we must all one day learn: What matters is not that God does what we want, but that we do what He wants.
In Search Of Jewish Identity
As Jews became defined by religion, Christians could work to convert them--You can change your religion but you cannot change your race
On The Move
Like our bodies, our souls were not made for sitting still. We were made for moving, learning, searching, striving, growing
Do Not Shame: Tamar’s Righteous Lesson
Tamar realizes Judah has no intention of giving her his last son. Now trapped-an agunah-she acts
The Hope And Promise Of Prophecy
Moshe wasn't the last of the prophets. How would Israel discern his true successors from the false?
God Is In The Details
Wherever the term “and these” is used, it signals continuity. Just as the commands in Parshat Yitro were given at Sinai, so too were the commands in Parshat Mishpatim. Why are the civil laws in the beginning of Parshat Mishpatim placed in juxtaposition to the laws concerning the altar at the end of Parshat Yitro? To tell you to place the Sanhedrin near to the Temple.
Fear Or Distress?
Jacob and Esau are about to meet again after a separation of 22 years. It is a fraught encounter. Once, Esau had sworn to kill Jacob as revenge for what he saw as the theft of his blessing. Will he do so now, or has time healed the wound? Jacob sends messengers to let his brother know he is coming. They return, saying that Esau is coming to meet Jacob with a force of 400 men. We then read: “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed” (Genesis 32:8).
Yom Kippur Thoughts
Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement, is the supreme moment of Jewish time, a day of fasting and prayer, introspection and self-judgment. At no other time are we so sharply conscious of standing before God, of being known by Him. But it begins in the strangest of ways.
Sages And Saints
There was an ongoing debate between the Sages as to whether the nazirite – whose laws are outlined in this week’s parshah – was to be praised. Recall that the nazirite was someone who voluntarily, usually for a specified period, undertook a special form of holiness. This meant that he was forbidden to consume wine or any grape products, to have a haircut, and to defile himself by contact with the dead.