Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Korach: The Dangers of Delusion
We assume we know as well as our leaders less because they have failed to prove themselves or have shown deficiencies than because of our attachment to seeing ourselves a certain way. And, as was true of Korach and his group, we do so to our detriment.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Haazinu: Why Did Yehoshua Repeat Haazinu?
“If God only commanded Moshe to present Haazinu, what was the need for Yehoshua to join in?”
Redeeming Relevance: Esav: The Off the Derekh Patriarch
Rav Hirsch famously criticizes Yitzchak and Rivkah for not educating Esav according to his innate personality, and instead trying to force him to be like Ya’akov. His insight is meant to teach that while it was Esav that made the choice to go ‘off the derekh,’ there is always much that parents can try to do before that happens.
Redeeming Relevance on the Weekly Parsha: Devarim
Words & expressions that don’t appear anywhere in Torah’s first 4 books suddenly appear in Devarim
Redeeming Relevance on the Weekly Parsha: Tazria
For humans, reducing flesh is generally a good thing whereas its expansion is generally a bad thing
Redeeming Relevance: Pesach’s Missing Eighth Day
Appreciate that Pesach is NOT meant to end on the seventh day, but at Shavuot. With that in mind, we need to work harder to accept making the days of sefirat ha-omer into days akin to chol ha-moed
Takes One to Know One
If we are constantly looking for the ideal, we may never find it, but if we start doing the possible, we may find that the ideal is just down the road
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Vaera: Wasn’t Moshe a Prophet?
Moshe complained to God that even though he would have the best human understanding of the Divine will, he had difficulty bringing it down to regular people. That role-"turgaman/navi"-Aharon filled
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Emor II: No Time to Think
The Torah is telling us something here: Though we may sometimes act too rashly, there are times when rash action is the only way to prevent a complete catastrophe.
The Sukkah and Exile’s Positive Side
Sukkot is a holiday that brings a unique inner peace – a peace that would seem to resemble the messianic era, a universal acceptance of God’s moral and spiritual order; an order that is best advanced by helping the Jewish people serve God and further educate mankind.
Redeeming Relevance in the Weekly Parsha: Yitro
Shemot relates the transition from the story of one family-Yaakov’s-to the story of a nation-Israel
I am More than Me, Myself, and I
The concept of “Beshert" in life
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Ve’etchanan: Why These Ten?
Understanding why these Ten Statements were chosen-as opposed to others omitted-could well lead us to a greater grasp of the essence of this venerable text.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Bhaalotekha
Constitutional democracy is a better form of spiritual government than either anarchy or totalitarianism. G-d wanted intellectual diversity and as close to universal accountability as possible.
Gan Eden, The Temple, and Shushan HaBirah
Dressing up
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Terumah: Pythagoras and the Menorah
Seven is possibly the most significant number in Jewish Thought.
Redeeming Relevance in the Weekly Parsha: Vayigash
What did Yehudah say that was so effective that it convinced Yosef to make himself known?
Wisdom of the Longer Path
This is not to say that there is no such thing as a wrong turn. Though we can even learn from a mistaken path, we have good reason to want to avoid it.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Behar-Bechukotai: The Final Step to Holiness
Behar is primarily about ways to prevent Jews from descending into cycles of poverty; Bechukotai reinforces the laws of Vayikra by spelling out the consequences of following or not following the laws
Redeeming Relevance: A Choshen Mishpat of our Very Own
The sages believed each of the Kohen Gadol's vestments brought atonement for a different type of sin
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Re’eh
God's greatest gift for growth & coming closer to Him is "feedback;" Eretz Israel is set up that way
Redeeming Relevance: Ki Tetzeh: Remember Not to Keep People Waiting
Since not saying lashon hara is easier said than done, here is something to help you: Just remember what happened to Miriam!”
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Vayikra: Ownership, Chametz and the Sacrificial Conundrum
There is likely some connection between the prohibition of chametz on the altar and the chametz which is more likely on our minds as we rid our homes of this most challenging foodstuff.
Redeeming Relevance: Parsht Shelach: When Silence is not Golden
Yehoshua and Calev's mistake was what they could have done earlier: They must have known their colleagues’ negative inclination. The Torah’s silence on whether they tried to change the mind of the other spies speaks to their own silence as well.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Bereshit: Why Can’t a Man be More Like a Woman?
Though a woman helps her partner and remains his equal, she nurtures and thereby becomes a man's superior. Paradoxically, therefore, woman may be just a bit closer to the image of God than man.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Metzorah: Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?
Man in his ideal form is described as a speaker. Fitting that the sin most closely associated with tzaraat is misuse of speech.
Redeeming Relevance: Chaye Sarah: What Happened to Yitzchak?
Yitzchak, did not go to Be’er Lechai Ro’ee to pray or meditate. Rather he was on a mission, and that mission was to return Hagar to Avraham in marriage.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Emor: The Challenge of the Rearguard Mother
Long before the Danites’ penchant for connection with gentiles would reach its climax in the days of Shimshon, the Torah warns them of its great dangers
The Lethal Challenge of Learning Torah from Others
The pernicious difficulty of keeping self-love in check and not having it warp the way in which we see others is brought to our attention in the story of R. Elazar
Redeeming Relevance: Vayikra
Though God can’t benefit from gifts to him the best way to create a relationship is by giving to Him