by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jun 10, 2016 | Lifeline
The Torah teaches that at Sinai, G-d did not reveal Himself to a single individual. Rather, He spoke to the entire Jewish nation. Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, the famed Jewish scholar of over 800 years ago, calls this event the foundation, the “pillar upon which our...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jun 3, 2016 | Lifeline
This week we read a very uncomfortable section of the Torah. G-d warns us that bad things will happen if we don’t keep His rules in His land. Keep the rules, He says, and things will be wonderful. But if you don’t, punishment will come to the Jewish...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | May 27, 2016 | Lifeline
There is a deceptively simple Commandment in this week’s reading: “a man shall not deceive his brother” [Lev. 25:14]. This is distinct from being a false witness [Ex. 20:16], denying having another’s property [Lev. 19:11] and false judgment,...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | May 19, 2016 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, we read about the upcoming holiday of Shavuos, the time of the giving of the Torah to the Jewish Nation. But if you look in the Torah text, you won’t find that this was when G-d spoke to us at Mt. Sinai. Nowhere does it mention that...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | May 5, 2016 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, the Torah takes a lesson from the deaths of the two sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, who brought a “strange fire” before G-d (as described in Lev. 10:1-3). Following their deaths, the Torah tells us: “HaShem said to...
