Happy Yom Kippur

A few days ago, someone wished me a happy holiday. Given that the upcoming holiday is Yom Kippur, the somber, serious, even frightening Day of Atonement, my first, unshared thought was that that wasn’t really the appropriate greeting for the occasion. But I thought...
Torah Cannot Be Secret

Torah Cannot Be Secret

When I was in college, there was a woman I knew who was Jewish, but who never participated in Jewish activities. She told me at one point that on Yom Kippur, her father would go into his study, close the door, and read, or whatever else it might be that he did. He...

read more
A World Created for Me

A World Created for Me

"In compensation for your failure to [lit. that you did not] serve HaShem your G-d with joy and with happiness of heart, from an abundance of all.” [Deut. 28:47] There are terrible calamities prophesied in this week’s reading. The Torah tells us why these tragedies...

read more
Fund the Police

Fund the Police

One of the most cited phrases in the Torah is found in the first sentences of this week’s reading: “justice, justice shall you pursue” [Deut. 16:20]. But this is not, despite what you may have read elsewhere, a license for each individual to elevate his or her own...

read more
Commander and Commanded

Commander and Commanded

In this week’s reading, we find the second, longest paragraph of the Shema [Deut. 11:13-21], the daily reading in which Jews commit to follow G-d and His Commandments. The first section, with Shema itself [6:5-9], was part of our reading last week. The Mishnah...

read more
Take it from Truman

Take it from Truman

The Medrash tells us that Bilaam was a prophet, that Hashem, G-d, spoke with him. No one, however, came closer to Hashem thanks to hearing Bilaam’s prophecy. All the Jewish prophets, and of course Moshe himself, caused people to turn to Hashem, but Bilaam was an utter...

read more
No Parallel

No Parallel

“And Korach the son of Yitzhar, the son of K’has, the son of Levi, and Dasan and Aviram the sons of Eliav, and On the son of Peles, the sons of Reuven, took [themselves to the side]; and they rose up against Moshe…” [16:1-2] The Mishnah in the Chapters of the Fathers...

read more

Archives

TorahMedia.com

The Everything Torah Book

Ask About Judaism at JewishAnswers.org!
Designed and Hosted by Project Genesis